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Pascatya-desa-tarana Mahotsava
Festival Commemorating Srila
Prabhupada's Deliverance of the West
By Premananda dasa

Dear Vaishnavas,

We would like to invite the devotees and friends of ISKCON to a special two-day festival marking the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada's Arrival in the USA at Boston's Commonwealth Pier on Saturday and Sunday, September 28 and 29, 2002.

Special guests will include His Holiness Candramauli Swami and Her Grace Malati devi dasi.

Srila Prabhupada's mission, as given by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami and immortalized by Srila Prabhupada in the second stanza of his own pranam mantra, was to deliver the Western world from impersonalism and voidism: namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine, nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine. Srila Prabhupada's arrival in the West at Boston after a 35-day ocean voyage upon the Scindia cargo ship Jaladutta, offers us a time to reflect on the great sacrifice Srila Prabhupada made to fulfill his spiritual master's order, how we have benefited from that sacrifice, and how we can carry on that mission.

The Pascatya-desa-tarana Mahotsava will attempt to recapture some of the visceral feeling of Srila Prabhupada's journey with a tour of Boston Harbor and Commonwealth Pier aboard a chartered boat. The program at sea will include the worship of Srila Prabhupada's murti, guru puja, kirtan, a reading of his journey and the Bengali poem he composed aboard the Jaladuta while docked in Boston, Markine Bhagavat Dharma (Teaching Krishna Consciousness in the West).

The following festivities are scheduled:

Saturday, September 28

Morning

5:30 Kirtan or japa at Commonwealth Pier (the time Srila Prabhupada

arrived)

6:10 A brief reading of his arrival

7:00 Guru Puja and Kirtan at the temple

7:45 Class and memory sharing

9:30 Breakfast

10:45 Depart for Rowes Wharf

11:30 Board boat (the M/V Samuel Clemens)

Afternoon

12:00 Set sail with Srila Prabhupada

12:15 Guru Puja and Kirtan on the boat

1:15 A full reading of Srila Prabhupada’s journey and arrival

2:00 Memory sharing and homages

2:45 Sri Sri Gurvastaka

3:00 Boat docks

4:30 Return to temple with kirtan

Feast to follow

*************

Sunday, September 29

Morning

7:00 Guru Puja

8:00 Class

Afternoon

2:00 Prabhupada nectar from disciples

4:30 Sunday Feast program

We invite devotees from all over the West to join us in this celebration. If you are unable to join us, please be with us in spirit. With your blessings, we may perhaps please Srila Prabhupada and inspire the Vaishnavas.

If you would like more information or would like to contribute toward the costs of the festival, please contact me at premanada@juno.com.

Your aspiring servant,
Premananda dasa
Co-President ISKCON-Boston

© CHAKRA 23 September 2002