Seattle Gaura Purnima Festival

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His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada
Founder-Acarya of the
Hare Krishna Movement

Even though there were only four of us, it really doesnt matter. If you chant Hare Krishna in unison with Prabhupada in the center, the people respond very nicely. Damaghosa dasa (03-20-03)

We had our Gaura Purnima festival yesterday, monday, march 17th. The day before in Seattle we had a very ecstatic Hari nama. Even though there were only four of us, which really doesnt matter if you chant in unison with Prabhupada in the center with the Holy Names, the people responded very nicely to us. As we chanted down the sidewalks one local businessman who runs a Buddhist type store invited us in and he and his two lady friends as well as us, had a very sweet kirtan in his store while passerbys looked on amazed and probably amused as well. He had pictures of Krsna, Buddha, Om objects , and similar paraphernalia all over in his store.

I dont know why he invited us in, but I do know, that for many days, I was wanting to go in his store while we chanted past his storefront. Maybe Krsna had something to do with it? They were highly appreciative of our presence there and thanked us for coming, then we left and continued on.

Then a nice lady who was probably some Chrtistian type (she had crucifix earrings on) asked us is she could sing with us. We gave her a mantra card and she did kirtan for a while with us , then gave me a donation and left, a little happier for the experience. We also met one old Prabhupada disciple who is now the manager for a local drug store and he also chanted for a while with us and promised to come to the Gaura purnima festival.

Meanwhile back at our temple, in Sedro Woolley which is about 75 miles north of Seattle and out in the country, we had a very very ecstatic set of kirtans and everybody participated in them with full enthusiasm. I gave a class on the effects and nature of mantra meditation, how mantras have four levels of consciousness, how we got ourselves into this messy material world and how by mantra or sonic theology, vaisnava dharma, we extricate ourselves back out of this material world through the thread like apparatus of transcendental sound. When I talk with devotees my aim is really only to emphasize the chanting, and how Prabhupada stresses over and over again in so many places that he, Krsna, and the whole param para are accessed or appreciated, through sound-as physical presence is immaterial. It's appreciated when present, but in the ultimate sense, its the message that the acaryas bring that should be our main concern.

Anubhavananda prabhu wrote another wonderful poem and played it on tape to background music for us-his devotion to Krsna and Prabhupada is fixed and unwavering. Bhakta Bud and his wife gave very beautiful necklaces and earrings for the Deities.

And now--The Feast-yes the famous Hare Krsna feast, it would take me about 25 minutes of typing which I'm not going to do, to explain what we offered to all of our Deities. And if you are reading this my dear friend Makhancora, you really missed another good one!! I think my wife said we offered somewhere around 115 preps to Sri Krsna Caitanya Gauracandra. My good wife and friend, read the list off prior to serving out the feast which is customarily what we do. Kind of gets the juices of enjoyment flowing if you know what I mean. So there was sweet rice, sak, gauranga potatoes, pumpkin lasagna, three kinds of pakoras, about 5-6 chutneys, 28 kinds of burfy, gulab jamuns, a special spiced drink, rices, various kinds of cookies, sweetend nuts with coatings, a fruit plate, crudites, dips, sauces, and on and on and on,,,,

The Deities also received a very beautiful new blue silk outfit which again, my wife made (finishing it late into the last night) and this picture will be included with this post for you to all see. I must admit that in my ignorance , I forgot to take any pictures of the devotees while we were chanting, during the abhisek of our Kaliya Krsna and Sudarshan and Govardhan silas, or during the feast. The camera was put there but it completely slipped from my mind. But anyway, you can all see the Beautiful forms of Lord Gauranga and Lord Nityananda in the included picture.

I feel very blessed to have all that I do in my humble life. We make a very humble effort to continue what Prabhupada taught to us and our local friends seem to appreciate our efforts. Even some of our not so local friends like Mother Dinadayadri who kindly gave us a nice donation for the feast program also helped out.

I send these reports not to glorify ourselves but to encourage other devotees to do the same in their location.Again, by hearing about sankirtan, we should want to take part. It is not difficult, and the rewards are beyond this writers explanations. We are never the losers in any endeavors we make in the transcendental realms. And the reciprocation we get from Sri Krsna and Prabhupada are worth the efforts.

Hari bol

Damaghosa das
Sedro woolley, Wa.

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