Important Information about Mayapur Festival 2003
Posted December 10, 2002

Festival contacts:

Festival sponsorship, donation and Festival general information: Bhakti Purusottama Swami — bps@pamho.net 

Accomodations: Naru Gopal Das — naru-gopal.jps@pamho.net 

Transportation: Purananda Das — purananda.JPS@pamho.net 

Children’s cultural programs: Sankalpa Devi Dasi — sankalpa@pamho.net 

Ex- Gurukuli’s accommodations: Vedasara Das — vedasara.bgv-mva@pamho.net 

For room reservations in guesthouse please contact:
ISKCON Guest House Manager
Naru Gopal Das naru-gopal.jps@pamho.net 

Free accommodation: All free accommodations are subject to availability and prior booking with confirmation only. Accommodations will be available from 1st March to 19th march 2003.

For those devotees who cannot afford to stay in the Guest house, free accommodation will be available in the big dormitory or in Gaudiya math guest house. For all Vaisnavas there will be a big hall and for all Vaisnavis there will be a big dormitory available. Devotees interested must book in advance and are requested to bring their own sleeping bag. Lockers for putting valuables and beddings will be available on a rental basis. There will be no free accommodations available for families to stay together.

All devotees must contact us as soon as possible for confirmation of their free accommodations. They must bring the printout of their free accommodation letter to make it convenient to the management. January 31st is the last date for booking your accommodations.

For all Ex-Gurukuli’s accommodations, contact Vedasara Das in Mayapur.

2. Prasad:
Festival free prasad will be available to all registered devotees. Prasad will be served twice daily at the prasad hall.

3. Transportation:
Roundtrip transportation from Kolkata to Mayapur can be arranged through Purananda Das. For transportation booking, please co ntact Purananda Das— purananda.jps@pamho.net. 

The transportation rates are as follows:

4. Registration:
There will be no registration fee charged this year for the festival. As the festival costs a lot of laksmi, devotees are requested to generously contribute to make the festival a great success. All festival donors will receive a gift, and their names will be placed on a festival display board. Devotees are requested to register individually on their arrival at Mayapur.

5. Sraddha Samskar and Immersion of Ashes of Departed Souls:
This year on March 16th, Ganga Puja Day, Srila Prabhupada will be taken to the Ganga with a big procession, where he will take a bath. A special puja to mother Ganga will also be performed and all devotees can bathe in the Ganges as well.

On the same day, devotees who would like to immerse the ashes of departed devotees or their relatives in the Ganges can participate in this very special program. They are requested to bring the ashes of the departed souls or they can perform a special sraddha ceremony to offer to the departed souls. Please contact Bhadra Caru Das bhadra.charu.jps@pamho.net for details and to register your name for this.

6. Children’s Cultural Programs:
Similar to last year, different programs for children will be available during the festival. Various competitions will be held among the children, including the following activities:

Magic Show, variety of Krsna Art Projects, Coloring competition, Face painting, many Krsna games with prizes, Field trip to the goshala with picnic, Ox cart ride with Harinama.

For detailed schedule please contact Sankalpa Devi Dasi sankalpa@pamho.net 

7. Parikrama: Navadwip Mandal parikrama will begin as of March 7th. On March 6th, all devotees will visit Yoga Pith to pay homage to Lord Gauranga and to obtain His mercy for a successful parikrama.

Devotees will camp outside during the night. If anyone wants to return daily from the parikrama and then join parikrama again the next morning, there will be a daily bus service. Everyone must register in advance.

Parikrama registration fee: US$35

8. Seminars:
Many sannyasis, ISKCON leaders and gurus will give seminars on many topics during the seminar period from March 2nd to March 6th. There is no seminar fee for attending these seminars. Devotees are requested to bring their own notebooks and pens.

For the sake of clarification, the Festival and MIHE seminars are separate in that the Festival seminars are directly under the Mayapur Festival Committee, and the MIHE seminars are under the MIHE Administration.

For more details on the Festival seminars please go to www.mayapur.info,
and for more details on the MIHE courses please go to www.mayapur.org/mihe/

The following ISKCON gurus, sannyasis, and leaders will give Festival and MIHE seminars:

Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami
Bhakti Vikas Swami
B.V.V. Narasimha Swami
Danavir Goswami
Deena Bandhu Das
Gopal Krsna Goswami
Jayapataka Swami
Kavicandra Swami
Kesava Bharati Das
Lokanath Swami
Madhavendra Puri Das
Prahladananda Swami
Prabhavisnu Swami
Radha Govinda Swami
Radhanath Swami
Vijaya Prabhu and many more...

Festival seminars start from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm and MIHE seminars as follows:

9:50 am to 11:20 am,
11:30 am to 1:00 pm,
2:50 pm to 4:20 pm
and 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm.

9. Detailed Festival Schedules:
This is a tentative list and the final one will be given to the devotees on their arrival to Mayapur.

7:00 pm Festival Inauguration Ceremony at the main pandal

6:00 am Srimad Bhagavatam Class

8:00 am Utsava Dhwaja Arohanam — Festival Flag Raising

10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm Seminars

6:00 pm Gaura Katha at the main stage

7:00 pm Congregational Preaching Night

10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6.00pm Seminars

6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Gaura Katha

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Book Distribution Awards Night

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Gurukula Night

7:00 pm Global Excellency Awards Night

4:00 pm Visiting Yoga Pith

7:00 pm Parikrama Istha Gosthi

6:00 am Parikrama group will leave from main gate

12:00 noon Reception for Parikrama devotees at Main Gate

4:00 pm Viswa Santi Maha Yajna

5:00 pm Sri Sri Radha Madhava Swing Festival

7:00 pm Cultural program at the main stage

6:00 am Srimad Bhagavatam Class

8:00 am Maha Hari Nam at the Big Temple site for invoking Lord Gauranga’s mercy.

5:00 pm Sri Sri Radha Madhava Boat Festival

7:00 pm Cultural program

6:00 am Leave by bus for Santipur

7:00 pm Elephant Procession

10:00 am Procession to Ganga followed by Ganga puja and immersion of ashes of departed souls

5:00 pm Boat Festival

7:00 pm Cultural programs

10:00 am Ratha Yatra

5:00 pm Sri Sri Radha Madhava Boat Festival

7:00 pm Cultural programs

Many devotees, each carrying a pot, will go to Ganges along with Srila Prabhupada in a large procession. Devotees will offer Puja to Mother Ganga and each will bring a pot of Ganga water. There will be one thousand pots of Ganga water placed next to the Abhiseka platform on the day of Adivas (the day before Gaurapurnima).

9:00 am Free Prasad Distribution

4:00 pm Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu Sahashra Kalash Abhiseka

On Gaura Purnima day, at the most auspicious moment of Lord Gauranga’s appearance, devotees will perform abhiseka with Ganga water along with many other ingredients including yogurt, milk, and honey.

Om Tat Sat

dipika.org December 10, 2002