Govardhan Puja and Diwali
Yesterday was the day for Govardhan Puja andDiwali. In the morning, when I woke up, I had some worries over money - if I’ve got enough for the rest of the trip etc. The Lord answered by taking care of all my needs all day long, for no money at all! In fact, there was an abudance of everything I need.
First, in the morning, I went to the Iskcon temple and as I was having darshan of Srila Prabhupada at his samadhi, I saw some ukrainian devotees I had met earlier waving at me to come over. I went to say hello and they told me they’re going to Govardhan and asked me if I want to come along - they would pay for the auto-rickshaw. I didn’t have any plans for the day until then so I said yes. Before we left they wanted to have some breakfast and also bought me a slice of mahaprasadam pizza.
An hour or two later we reached Govardhan and went for the Iskcon temple in there. The kirtan was already going on and Govardhan Puja was just about to start. We joined in the kirtan and watched the puja - after wich it was time for the feast, a feast more opulent than what I’ve had in a long, long time. I wasn’t very hungy as I had taken breakfast recently, so the feast was more than I could handle. After the fest we took another auto-rickshaw back to Vrindavan and I wnet back to my ashram to take some rest, being totally bloated by the feast. When I got up, it was about the time for Gaura-Arati, so I headed to the temple. I was also hoping to find my american friends as they had told me there will be a diwali party that night. After the Damodarastakam I found my friends and we got on a motorbike and drove to the party.
Actually the party turned out to be two parties, first one at some (very fancy) private garden, with another feast buffet and the second at the food for life (Iskcon’s charity org.) restaurant, also with free food. I had to skip the buffet, still being full from the feast at Govardhan and at the second party I could have just a small bit of the food for taste.
I stayed at the party until really late, around 1 AM. The party was an odd mix of “ordinary” western style party, Indian Diwali celebration and Hare Krishna festival. There was ecstatic bhajans at a small kutir, a disco with Indian electronic music in a basement and a wild amount of fireworks outside (fireworks are an essential part of Indian Diwali celebration).
