Report Ahmedabad, India, 2016

|| Hare Krishna ||

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ! 

Dearest & Most Respected Guru Mahārāja,

Please accept my most humble prostrate obeisances at your glorious feet,

All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!

At Śrī Rādhā Govinda Dhāma, ISKCON Ahmedabad, like every year, the Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony commenced at 9.30am with Kīrtana along with the live telecast on a big screen of the Vyāsa pūjā ceremony from Śrīdhāma Māyāpur. Usually we have two sessions for glorifications, one during the ceremony and the other during the feast. Hence, the morning glorification session was inaugurated by His Grace Dr. Sārvabhauma Prabhu (Vṛndāvana) followed by His Grace Viśvarūpa Prabhu (GKG), His Grace Raivata Prabhu (GKG), His Grace Murali-mohana Prabhu (LNS), His Grace Vicāru Prabhu (GKG), His Grace Visnunama Prabhu (GKG – Vice president, ISKCON Ahmedabad), His Grace Muralī Murāri Prabhu (JPS – South Bangalore), His Grace Dr.Sacisuta Prabhu (GKG) and His Grace Padmamali Prabhu (LNS). Thereafter the bhoga offering, abhiṣekam, puṣpāñjali and ārati were performed. This is the first year that we celebrated the Vyāsa-pūjā only on one day, the Ekādaśī day, being a Sunday. Nevertheless, in all around 1,500 devotees (500 in the morning & 1,000 in the evening) honored sumptuous Ekādaśī prasādam, prepared lovingly by your disciples and followers.

The evening program started with Kīrtana and Video Projection of pre-recorded videos. His Grace Dr.Sārvabhauma Prabhu started with the evening glorification speech, which strengthened our faith in guru-tattva, due to the scriptural references his grace utilized for establishing your position as a bona-fide guru. Later, His Grace Śrī Yaśomatī-nandana Prabhu (ACBSP) (Temple president – ISKCON Ahmedabad) kindly arrived, though his health condition was very poor, and started with a Vaiṣṇava bhajana, followed by his glorification speech to honor Your Holiness. With lots of love and respect for you, his grace narrated wonderful incidences from your life and many of those were absolutely new for most of us. His grace was actually struggling to speak, due to his weak health, but still he went on and glorified Your Holiness as much as he could. He also mentioned about your meeting each other in Mumbai a few days back and informed us that your holiness will very soon grace us here in Ahmedabad. Thereafter, a huge milk cake was brought in front of him, which he very kindly cut on your behalf and he himself distributed the same to all the devotees. As I mentioned earlier, around a thousand devotees honored prasādam and appreciated the arrangements and the preparations a lot.

The disciples who took the lead in the arrangements are His Grace Lalitā Prabhu (hosting the program), His Grace Ujjvala Narasiṁha Prabhu (funds raising and general management - though physically he was not present on the day), His Grace Bālagopāla Prabhu (overall management), His Grace Narahari Karuṇā Prabhu (GKG – prasādam management), His Grace Dīnabandhu Prabhu (head pūjārī), Her Grace Jayoda Sundarī Mātājī (cooking management), His Grace Naresh Chouhan Prabhu (overall management assistant) and other team members. 

Due to Kṛṣṇa’s mercy and your blessings, over all the celebration was very successful and probably has satisfied many Vaiṣṇavas. 

With sincere prayers for your ever well-being and ananta koṭi daṇḍavat praṇāmas,
Your most insignificant servant in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness,

Dāmodara Dhanañjaya Dāsa