GEETHA PATIL
CHICAGO: The Hindu Mandir of Lake County celebrated Diwali with a series of traditional special pujas and rituals from October 25 to November 2 culminating with Annakut with great devotion and splendor by hundreds of devotees.
The Annakut program started with the singing of melodious bhajans by Kaushika Shah and Vasu Choksi. Many women devotees performed Raas Garba in front of the deities. This was followed by the performance of special pujas and archana to Lord Ganesh, Lord Krishna and Ma Radha by Pandit Anil Joshi and priest Yogesh Pandey. Pandit Joshi offered Naivedyam of different home-made traditional Indian foods prepared by several devotees to the deities.
This year’s unique thalis of vegetarian delicacies included 150 items that comprised fruits, snacks, and sweets, salads, and fruit drinks and were offered to Lord Krishna seeking his blessings for the year ahead. After aarati, the offered dishes were served to the devotees and visitors as prasadam.
In his brief discourse on the importance of the event, Pandi Joshi said that Annakut literally meant a mountain of foods. On this day, a nicely decorated mountain of Govardhan is usually made with cooked rice. Lord Krishna had asked his devotees to worship and offer food to the nature that fulfils all their needs and feed the poor first.
Pandit Joshi thanked all devotees for attending and participating in the event and making it a grand success.
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