Newsletter December 2023

Hare Krishna dear Friends and Well-Wishers of Sri-Sri-Radha-Madana-Mohan,

Please accept our most respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Somehow or other we missed last month’s newsletter, we apologise for that. So many things needed to be taken care of during the month of Kartik. Nevertheless we hope to make up with this one.

The holy month of Kartik just ended a few days ago and we look back at a month full of loving devotion, expressed by from the hearts of so many Devotees. There were beautiful darshans, such as the one from Bahulastami or Govardhan-puja and of course also the one from Gopastami, where Srimati Radharani, as every year, turns into a sweet, charming cowherd boy with turban, dhoti, equipped with cow-herding-ropes and stick.

Then there were the daily evening-kirtans with the Damodarastakam-prayers and offerings of ghee-lamps.

There were the little celebrations such as those for Govardhan-puja and for Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance-day. Although Govardhan-puja was during the week it was still very well attended by approximately 100 guests. That day we also had H.H. Bhakti Ananda Tirtha Maharaja visiting Goloka Dhama. He enthused the audience with some joyful episodes from the Govardhan-pastime.

Sri Radha, an expert dancer and actress performed the Govardhan-pastime with some of our adult congregational members – we still remember King Indra played by our dear Vika - and of course our kids, who enthusiastically participated for Giriraja’s pleasure.

Some guests were there for the first time. They expressed their amazement and deep appreciation for arranging such a sweet drama. Thank you very much to all the actors for taking their valuable time to come together and practice for the performance! Well done!

The offerings to Giri Govardhan were this year not quite as many as in past years but nevertheless it was a good variety and especially a huge amount of sweets, which definitely satisfied Giriraj and all the assembled guests as well.

Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance-day was just three days after Govardhan-puja and because of the intensity of the Govardhan-puja-festival the announcement for the little celebrations for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada came out late. Still around 40 devotees attended, a number of guests had never seen that day’s occasion before. We had a sweet abhishek (bathing-ceremony) with a small murti of Srila Prabhupada, accompanied by kirtans and followed Prabhupada-katha by Madhava-priya. – After the evening-kirtans delicious cake, Srila Prabhupada-maha-prasadam, and Caranamrita was served to the devotees.

Included in the sweet events during Kartik was also the Friday-evenings, 8 pm night-darshans of Sri-Sri-Radha-Madana-Mohan. The Divine Couple already in Their night-dress, with beds arranged and night shoes ready, the altar lit only by ghee-lamps – heart touching moments, nourishing our feelings of longing.

Let us now turn to the month ahead of us. On December 23rd will be the celebration of Gita-Jayanti, the appearance-day of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. See the attached flyer for more informations.

One of our major yearly events is definitely the Sanga-mela-celebration. A festival taking place at the end of the year, 28th Dec. until 1st of January 2024. Under the expert and loving guidance of H.H. Sacinandana Swami and other exalted Vaishnavas we will again come together to sing the holy name, to listen to the nectarean pastimes of the Lord, to have inspiring association with other devotees, to honour tasty prasadam and, last but not least, to start the new calendar-year 2024 in a spiritual atmosphere.

If you feel inspired to join us on that auspicious event, please check on our web-page, www.Goloka-Dhama.de for registration and more information or book a room in a nearby Guesthouse. We are looking forward to meet with all of you for that occasion!

Hare Krishna

Your servants from Goloka Dhama