Author Archives: Smruthi Venkateshan

A Magical Evening Celebrating the Appearance of Lord Nityananda!
Festival Report by: Smruthi Venkateshan
Pictures by: Sahil Srivastava

This past Saturday, February, 20^th, Toronto’s Hare Krishna Temple celebrated the appearance of Lord Nitayanada with a special twist. 

The event started out with an arati ceremony where the stars of the event Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai beamed brighter than a 1,000 full moons, beside the ever gorgeous Deities of Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha.

After the arati, the guests settled in for an evening of storytelling with a stunning visuals, inspiring speakers and innovate stage setup. The program involved four stations around the temple room and devotees turned to face each station where different stories of Lord Ntityananda were told.  Meanwhile, artwork depicting each story was lowered from the balcony!

This unique twist was organized by a group of teens from the community (Anjali, Krishna, Bagyashree and Aditi) who have formed the new festival team for the temple. They rounded up all their talents to put together stunning artwork, creative visuals and an awesome experience for the guests.

Despite this being their first time organizing a festival the hit it out of the park! As the teens put it, they felt “accomplished” and thankful for the success of the event. Upon hearing the enlightening past times of the Lord the devotees proceeded to a have an enthusiastic closing kirtan follow by scrumptious feast.

As the evening was coming to a close one of the young members of the Festival Team, Bagyashree, remarked on her experiences and she felt “more confident about the future and what is to come.”  It is surely safe to sat that the Toronto Hare Krishna Community feels just as confident and excited about its upcoming festivals!

Honouring Srila Prabhupada to Kick Off 2016
Festival Report by: Smruthi Venkateshan
Pictures by: Sahil Srivastava

Though many of us may have been a bit tired after ringing in the New Year, the Toronto Hare Krishna community gathered up all their energy and enthusiastically celebrated the annual Srila Prabhupada Festival on the evening of January 1st, 2016!

The festival is celebrated annually to give tribute and thanks to Srila Prabhupada for starting the Hare Krishna movement in the West thereby delivering the message of Sri Krishna worldwide. When he was 70 years old, Srila Prabhupada traveled by a cargo ship to the West, following the instructions of his spiritual master to spread the message of Krishna Consciousness to the Western world.

On the evening of January 1, 2016 the devotees at the temple started the Srila Prabhupada Festival by collectively offering flowers to the feet of Srila Prabhupada. During this ceremony the Deity of Srila Prabhupada beamed with delight and was surrounded by a sea of beautiful flowers.

Shortly thereafter, Bhaktimarga Swami showed a video honoring Srila Prabhupada’s contributions to ISCKON and lectured on what devotees can do in their lives to further Srila Prabhupada’s vision.

With renewed spirits and new oaths the devotees all joined together in an ecstatic kirtan and closing kirtan (arati). Later, a vegetarian feast was served to all the devotees and it maintained a simple cooking style while having a high taste.

As the festival concluded all the devotees left with more energy than ever before and seemed ready to embrace the New Year and its new beginnings!

Festival Pictures (downloadable pics here):

Radhastami Celebrations Captivate Devotees’ Hearts!
Festival Report by: Smruthi Venkateshan
Recordings by: Hitesh Patel
Pictures by: Sahil Srivastava

Click Here to View Festival Audio & Video

On Monday, September, 21^st the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple celebrated Radhastami which is the appearance day of Srimati Radharani. Radharani is the female counterpart of Lord Krishna, and She is the embodiment of feminity in nature. In a countless number of temples around the globe, devotees gathered to celebrate this auspicious day and wish Radharani a very happy birthday. The Toronto Hare Krishna temple also took part in the celebrations with guests from all over the world, including the US.

During the evening festivities, there were many highlights. Namely the lecture given by Mother Praharna highlighting some of the wonderful past times and qualities of Srimati Radharani and Krishna.

Following this lecture, the devotees who were assembled were engaged in an uplifting kirtan glorifying Radharani.  As the kirtan was going on the festivities reached a climax with the annual tradition of opening of gifts for the Deities. All throughout the evening devotees from all around, brought in wonderful gifts for Radharani.

With the kirtan playing, each gift was carefully revealed by the pujaris (priests) to the eager crowd of devotees. The gifts ranged from household items for use in the temple kitchen, to opulent necklaces and tiaras for the Lordships Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha. After the gift opening ceremony, there was a closing kirtan with a stunning aarti. Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha bedazzled all the devotees in their gorgeous flower outfits. The aarti was then followed up a sumptuous vegetarian feast that all those gathered got a chance to enjoy.

All in all, this Radhastami was one of the most exciting and enlivening spiritual experiences. All those who were gathered got a chance to truly experience all of the wonderful qualities of Radharani.

Festival Recordings & Pictures: