NOIDA: The ISKCON Noida Govinda Dham and Bhaktivedanta Academy celebrated the festival of Krishna Janmashtami on Tuesday, August 15 from 4:30 am, which will go on till midnight. While the entire temple was lit up with LED lights , flowers (such as Orchids, Roses, Jasmine, Lotus, Marigold, Sunflower and many others) were used to decorate the main altar of the deity along with balloons which were used to decorate the temple.A big lotus made of decorative material was placed behind the deities with dancing peacocks made of colourful flowers on both sides of the alter even as hundreds of devotees thronged the temple complex from early hours. While special guest was Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for tourism and culture (independent charge), MLA Pankaj Singh along with ex MLA Vimla Batham also attended the festival. Others who visited the temple included district magistrate B N Singh, SSP Love Kumar, SP City Arun Kumar Singh, SP Traffic Noida and city magistrate."First darshan of lord Krishna began at 4:30 am amidst huge crowd which had gathered at the Mangla Arati at 4:30 am. People chanted together and participated in the kirtan," said Budhimanta Das PRO ISKCON The festivities which began with the darshan at 4:30 am were followed by shringar (decorating) of the idols of Krishna and Radha. Then at 8:30 am the arti (invocation of lord Krishna) began and continued till 6 pm. This was followed by abhishek (greeting) which was initiated from 4 pm to 9 pm.All this while ecstatic bhajan kirtan followed in the temple complex from in-house followers and worshippers. A special cultural program included classical dance (Odishi and Kathak). The main attraction of the cultural program was the famous Govinda's Rock Band Show. "The Band is famous in ISKCON world for its performance in rock music. They performed Hare Krishna kirtan in different tunes on various western and traditional instruments. Govinda's band is a musical group of ISKCON Noida itself and consists of Hare Krishna devotees," said Das.Special attraction of the day was maha-abhishek (anointment of the deity) in the evening with milk, ghee, curd, honey, fresh fruit juices and coconut water. Later on, charnamrita (prasad) was distributed among the devotees.Many women devotees were engaged in preparing over 108 varieties of bhog that were offered to the deity all day. These included a variety of sweets (ladoos, halwas, kheers, and burfi), snacks (bhujia, samosas, gujia, namkeen), bakery products (biscuits, cakes, patties), drinks (milkshakes, lassi, fruit shakes-assorted), salads (made of seasonal fruits and vegetables and many more continental dishes such as pizza, pasta, lassania, trifle and custard.Over and above 4.5 lakh visitors took the said prasad from a dedicated team engaged in its distribution.Keeping in mind the large number of people expected at the festival, special arrangements were made for the safety and security of the temple and the visiting devotees. A dedicated team of Noida Police was stationed to take charge of security. All arrangements were in accordance with the guidelines of SP (traffic) and Noida Police. Apart from this, private guards and designated volunteers catered to the smooth flow of traffic.Devotees' entry is through two gates - the Vrindavan Gate and Mathura Gate and parking facility is available on nearby Ramlila ground. "We invite all residents of Noida and NCR on this auspicious occasion along with their family, friends, relatives and neighbours to come to ISKCON Noida and receive the blessings of Sri Radha Govind Dev," said Das.The whole festivity was performed in the presence of ISKCON's zonal secretary, Lokanath Swami Maharaj who is the direct disciple of A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder acharya of ISKCON.

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