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Gaura Purnima 2002

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Gaura Purnima in New Delhi
From Sri Balaram das

Camp: New Delhi

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

We had a wonderful Gaura-Purnima festival today in New Delhi. We had bhajans in the morning, following Shobha-yatra, the proccession where small Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai Deities were taken downtown for harinama sankirtana. The procession took place at 1pm and ended at 5pm. At 6pm there was abhisheka with ecstatic kirtana and then prasadam for everyone. The temple and especially Their Lordships were decorated in the most wonderful way today, and I thought I would share the temple's beauty with all of you today.

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jay!

I hope this meets all of you well.

Your servant,
Sri Balaram das

Sri Navadwipa Mandal Parikram Ends
From Tusti Mohan Krsna das

March 24, 2002

Dear Devotees,

Please be informed that the Sri Navadwipa Mandal Parikram 2002 finished today 24-03-2002 and thousands of devotees from both groups, the Namahatta group and the international group met together after many days of visiting the sacred places of pastimes of the Sri Panca Tattva Bhagavan and their associates from March 17th till today.

The 516th Gaura Purnima Festival
By Tusti Mohan Krsna das

We wish you the best in this very auspicious and blissful occasion of the appearance day of the Supreme Lord Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu from the crest jewel of all tirthas, Sri Mayapur Navadwip Dham ( the appearance site of The Supreme Lord 516 years ago), and we pray to Srila Prabhupada to shower his mercy upon all of You during this day and give us more and more Krsna prema and allow us to do more seva for Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and his intimate associates so we can achieve pure love for Radha and Krsna.

Festival in Sri Santipur
By Tusti Mohan Krsna das

Dear Devotees

March 26, 2002, hundreds of devotees went to Sri Santipur, where the house of Sri Advaita Acarya is, to perform one of the most sublime and devotional services to the Lord, during this day, which is two days before Gaurpurnima. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Prabhu accepted invitations from Sri Advaita Acarya ( all of them are the Lord Himself in different aspects) to honor prasadam at his house in Santipur and many extraordinary pastimes happened there, but the most important thing for a devotee is the special blessings that Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu gave: that everyone who takes prasadam at that place and that day will get automatically Krsna Prema (Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu Ki jaya!).

Dear Devotees

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

The festivities for the Gaurapurnima festival 2002 and celebrating the 30th Anniversay of the Gaurapurnima festival began March 24th, 2002.

We have many festivities, stage programs, jhulan yatra, cultural and artistic programs, ranganiketan from Manipur, elephant processions, dramas, exhibitions, amusement park, etc.

We are posting many pics on our website www.mayapur.info. 

Your servant,
Tusti Mohan Krsna das

March 18th– More than one thousand devotees in the international group and about fifteen hundred devotees in the Nama Hatta group left for six days on Nabadwip mandal parikrama. (pics at www.mayapur.info) They will stay out for six nights camping in different island of Navadwip and come back to Mayapur on 24th March. From 24th March different festivities will take place in Mayapur. Very big preparations for different kinds of festivities are in progress.

There will be a very special World Peace Fire Sacrifice every day at 5 pm, starting from 24th March up to 27th March. Devotees can be Jajaman of the Yajna by donating 51 USD, or can get benefit of Yajna at least donating Rs 501 towards the performance of fire sacrifice.

March 12th (tonight) was the inauguration of the activities of Sri Gaurapurnima festival (516th anniversary of the appearance day of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and the 30th ISKCON Mayapur Festival).

The ceremony of lighting lamps was ecstatic and full of bliss, since very senior devotees were talking about their experiences and what Srila Prabhupada wanted with this festival and what are the expectations for the festival and the rest of the festivals.

Present at the opening ceremony were HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Lokanath Swami, HH Gopal Krsna Goswami, HH Giridhari Swami, HH Navayogendra Swami, HG Jananivas Prabhu, and HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami (festival coordinator).

In a few days many devotees will start arriving in Mayapur for the 30th Anniversary of the Gaura Purnima Festival. The Mayapur Festival Committee has been planning the festival all year. Now it is meeting several hours daily to insure that every detail of the festival will be favorable for devotees having an ecstatic and trouble-free festival.

Bhakti Purusottama Swami, the Festival Coordinator, just told me, "The primary function of the local Mayapur devotees during the festival is to make sure visiting devotees feel welcome and well cared for." My guess is that this festival will establish Mayapur as a center that really knows how to host devotees.

We have heard some reports that due to recent violence in Gujarat between Hindus and Muslims, some devotees from abroad fear Mayapur may not be safe. West Bengal, however, has not been at all affected by these troubles, and there is no evidence to suggest there will be trouble during the festival period.

If you are unsure whether you should risk traveling to Mayapur, I recently read these relevant, persuasive quotes and they may help you make up your mind:

Dear Maharajas, Prabhus, and Matajis,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Even though in Vrindavan, the Kartik Festival has become more prominent and much bigger than the Gaur Purnima Festival in the last few years, with over three thousand devotees participating, the Vrindavan management is making special arrangements to make this year's festival a memorable one.

As in recent years there will be no festival fees, but devotees should pay for accomodations and prasadam. Some of the highlights will be parikramas, free seminars, durlabh satsang, and the Boat Festival.

This Year’s Festival Attendants And Accommodations

In previous festival years, we normally have received 40 to 50 advance bookings. Last year the total attendants at the Mayapur festival were approximately 400 to 500 registered devotees.

This year according to guesthouse room-booking reports, as of February 17th, around 600 devotees from 32 different countries have booked their accommodations. Most of these devotees are arriving by March 12th and leaving by March 30th. Every day we are getting more and more bookings. Many leaders are staying in Mayapur after the GBC meetings for the festival seminar.

Welcome to Sri Mayapur Festival 2002.

This is the only place where devotees from around the world get together along with all the leaders to celebrate Goura Purnima Utsava. In order to exchange various spiritual items, we have created a facility where all the devotees can bring spiritual books and paraphernalia and have it on sale.

The place to sell things is known as Mini market and will be open from the 10th March to 29th March.

It will cost Rs 2500 to rent a stall for the whole duration of the festival. To sit in the market area with a table will cost Rs1000.

Gaura Purnima will soon be here, and devotees from around the world will converge on Mayapur for the GBC meetings and to celebrate the 30th Annual Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival.

If you are planning to come, please remember the facilities the Mayapur Institute of Higher Education (MIHE) offers devotees to improve the quality of their devotional lives. This year the MIHE will offer 31 courses in three languages beginning on February 14th and continuing through March 17th. These courses will help devotees increase their sastric knowledge and devotional realizations, as well as their devotional and life skills.

Please book your accommodations in Mayapur well in advance to get the rooms of your choice for the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Gaura Purnima Festival.

This year the Festival Committee will not build any temporary structures for the festival, as they are very expensive. Accommodations are available only within our existing Guesthouse buildings. Otherwise, devotees with friends in the housing area of Sridhama Mayapur may be able to contact them and arrange to stay there.

Please note that all the room fees in the table below refer to room fees per day, and not the fees for each person per day, as it used to be before. The fees for other types of cheaper "Class C" rooms, which will be made available during the festival, cannot be summarized here, since each room differs from the others in size and quality.

Please come to the 2002 Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama

March 17th - 24th

In celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Srila Prabhupada's Gaura Purnima Festival, the Festival Committee is expecting over 25 sannyasis, GBCs, and other ISKCON leaders to participate in this year's parikrama. With the number of ISKCON leaders planning to attend the parikrama and the number of others already registered, this year's parikrama looks like it will be the best attended and most ecstatic parikrama in recent years.

New MIHE Course Offerings 
and Application Deadlines
by Janmastami Dasa

The Mayapur Institute of Higher Education (MIHE) adminstration is pleased to announce a large number of new course offerings for our upcoming MIHE semester. We have posted them on our website along with many other updated files.

If you are attending the MIHE Bhakti-sastri course, we kindly request that you submit an online application at our website by December 24th.

Mayapur Website
From Tusti Mohan Krsna Das
[from Free Forum]

This is to announce that by the mercy of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Sri Panca Tattva Bhagavan and Srila Nrsimhadeva, the presiding Deities of Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir, we now have online a complete website exclusively about Mayapur, < www.mayapur.info >. We begin this service by posting the activities, attractions, facilities, and contacts for the 2002 Sri Gaura Purnima Festival.

Update
Coming Together:
30th Anniversary of the Mayapur Festival
by Janmastami Dasa

The Mayapur Festival Committee has intensified its planning and organization for this year's festival to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival. This coming Mayapur Festival will therefore be particularly ecstatic!

30th Mayapur Festival
[from Free Forum]

The Mayapur Festival Committee has intensified its planning and organization for this year's festival to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival. This coming Mayapur Festival will therefore be particularly ecstatic!

Here are some highlights:

· Already 15 GBC's have committed to stay on after the GBC meetings to participate in the seminars.

Come churn the nectar with us in Mayapur for the 2002 Mayapur Institute of Higher Education (MIHE) Courses.

The MIHE has arranged its schedule so that the devotees can enter the MIHE at the beginning of any week of the semester since new courses start each week. The schedule also allows MIHE students to fully participate in the Gaura Purnima Festival.