Newsletter November 2024
Dear friends of Goloka Dhama,
Today I would like to tell you about a regular event in the Krishna Consciousness Movement that has become so commonplace for many that its magical, transcendental nature seems to be somewhat lost in the mists of routine.
The event is called: The Sunday Feast.
My personal experience
“You always shine so joyfully when you've been to the temple!” Proclaimed my mother, sitting relaxed in the living room armchair watching “Crime Scene”. These words still echo in my ears today, which I often heard when my brother and I returned to Frankfurt am Main from a visit to the Heidelberg Sunday Feast - at that time still in Kurfürstenanlage 5 - to our shared parental home. The Sunday Feast gave spiritual strength through mantra meditation, enlightenment through the transcendental lecture, purifying sensual joy through the prasadam and soothing conversations with the devotees. The Sunday Feast was balm for the soul!
The Sunday festival was an inspiration, indeed, it was the highlight of the whole week! The Bhaktilata, the plant of devotion began to germinate, the desire to become a devotee grew. For me and many others, the Sunday festival was the turning point from material to spiritual life. It was the springboard for diving into the spiritual dimension.
Srila Prabhupada's idea
Srila Prabhupada called it the Love Feast in the pioneering days of the Hare Krishna movement. Prabhupada first expressed the idea for a love feast when he was still living in the attic of a run-down house in the Bowery, before he moved into the former “Matchless Gifts” store at 26 Second Avenue. As he sat with Mukunda and a few other guests, he asked them, “I was thinking of having a love feast, with singing, dancing and a big meal. What do you think?” (Miracle on Second Avenue/ p.34)
Although those present reacted somewhat reservedly, Srila Prabhupada made an announcement a few days later, after the evening kirtana: “So, on Sunday afternoon we will have a love feast here, everyone please come!” Srila Prabhupada cooked and personally distributed the prasadam to everyone. During the feast he moved around the room very energetically. Always with a pot under his left arm and a ladle in his right hand, he served the guests. ( Miracle on Second Avenue/S.36)
The Sunday Feast in Goloka Dhama
In Goloka Dhama, the Sunday Feast was introduced just one year after the opening of the temple, in 1996. On the one hand, it serves to bring together the members of the community living outside the temple, and on the other, it is a refuge for the ever-growing community of devout Hindus from India. We are also very pleased to see that new guests come to the Sunday Feast almost every week and often become regular guests at Goloka Dhama. My special thanks go to all the cooks, the temple and the community who have volunteered for so many years to perform this wonderful service for Krishna's Sunday Feast.
The Sunday Feast team meets regularly and coordinates the individual features of the Sunday festival: who cooks, who shops, who does the bhajans, who gives the talk, who translates, who distributes prasadam, who cleans, who makes the announcements, who sets everything up, who films.
The feast is financed by the visitors who put a donation into the basket on the prasadam table on Sunday. It works well. In the past, there were two other ways of doing things: a) Free Sunday Feast for everyone, the temple pays for everything. b) Fixed entrance fee, everyone has to pay a fixed amount. The donation version has proved to be very satisfactory for everyone involved.
It is also very pleasing that the number of visitors has increased considerably over time.
At Prasadam, we are able to entertain between 60 and 90 guests every Sunday. During the bhajans and the lecture, there are slightly fewer... Prasadam is simply unbeatable! At Bhaktivedanta Manor, the largest temple in England, the rule is that the feast is only served to guests who attend the entire Sunday program. But even those who, unfathomably, don't manage to be in the right place at the right time are catered for.
A portion of nutritious, well-seasoned kichari is served in reserved rooms for those who arrive late. No one goes away empty-handed! (Don't worry, I won't tell our Sunday Feast team about this alternative). We at Goloka Dhama welcome all our guests, but recommend the “all inclusive” package, as all parts of the Sunday feast are extremely auspicious.
New ideas
We are also open to new ideas that enrich and embellish the Sunday festival. For some time now, we have been doing a kirtana after the lecture until the prasadam is served. During the kirtana, everyone can light a gheestick and offer it to Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana.
All guests participate with great joy. The gheesticks are made by Manjula-mani d.d. from wooden sticks, absorbent cotton and butterfat. This year, to the delight of Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana, 1200 gheesticks have already been offered. Guests attending the Sunday festival for the first time receive a book by Srila Prabhupada as a welcome gift.
At the installation festival of Lord Jagannatha in San Francisco, Srila Prabhupada instructed the devotees and guests to offer a large candle by circling it in front of the image. When the first person had finished his circles, he was to pass the candle to the next person and so on. - until the kirtana would be completed. (Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita, Volume 3/S.99) So it seems that our ideas fit very well with those of Srila Prabhupada.
Even the sage Confucius said: “Tell me something and I forget it, show me something and I remember it, but let me do something, then I understand it!”
A place of encounter
Goloka Dhama is a meeting place and so you can always expect guests: Hindu bus tour groups, workaways, hikers, truth seekers and many others... We are not a private club where you only feel comfortable among your own kind. Even in the old Heidelberg days, we occasionally received this criticism from guests who had the feeling: “Oh, am I actually welcome here, or do these Hare Krishna people prefer to be among themselves?”
To counteract this, Anuradha d.d. established a very nice welcoming bay table at our Sunday festival. This was then continued by Divyanama d.d.
The Sunday Feast kirtaneers sit facing the deities and the guests. Otherwise, when the devotees are seated as usual, singing for the deities, the guests would have to look at the backs of the devotees for an hour. The Bhagavad-Gita lecture is a particular challenge, as there are often older devotees in the audience on the one hand, but also new guests who may not yet know anything about Krishna consciousness on the other. Nevertheless, the devotees usually manage to achieve this balancing act and reach all the listeners.
Please come and let us sing, dance, enjoy the feast and glorify Krishna together.
Your servant, Adisesa dasa
for and on behalf of Goloka Dhama.
Srila Prabhupada said about the Sunday Feast:
“And they came to Sunday Love Feast, right from the very beginning, when I was living at 26 Second Avenue, I was cooking. That was the beginning of my movement. I made this movement a success, simply by the Sunday Love Feast”
( Srila Prabhupada and his Disciples in Germany/ p.390)
Upcoming events:
- 17th October - 15th November Kartik
- 1st November Dipavali
- 2nd November Govardhana Puja
- 5th November Srila Prabhupada Disappearance
- 28th December 2024 - 1st January 2025 Sangamela with H.H. Sacinandana Swami
- 1st - 6th January Be a monk challenge
- 2nd - 17th January Bhakti Vibe with EU volunteers
- 7th - 12th February Sri Nityananda Trayodasi and Vyasa Puja Festival of HH Sacinandana Swami
- 2nd - 7th March Be a monk challenge
- 17th - 21st April Bhakti Immersion Retreat with HH Sacinandana Swami and Hari Parsad Prabhu
- 7th - 10th June 50th anniversary of Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan installation festival with HH Sacinandana Swami and other guests of honour
- 19th - 22nd June Bhakti Festival
- 27th July - 1st August Be a monk challenge
- 13th - 18th August Sri Krishna Janmastami Festival
- 24th -29th August Be a monk challenge
- 31st August Radhastami