We subtitled the Gita Fest this year The Projector Fest. The new BenQ projector remained on from 6 pm until 9 pm in one capacity or another. From 6 pm until 6:30, as people were arriving, we showed Vrndavan, Land of Krishna on the 9-foot by 12-foot screen. The image filled up the whole screen in sharp, vivid color.

Next, I introduced and explained the concept of Gita Yajna, a sacrifice wherein 108 offerings would be placed on the fire for each of the 108 key verses in the Bhagavad Gita. I asked Sri Sharma, Yogi Shah, and Dinesh and Kalpana Patel to be the yajnamanas. Our process was for me to chant each of the verses from memory and say "Svaha" while the yajnamanas put the samagri (a special blend of herbs) onto the fire. Simultaneously, each verse would appear in English on the big screen. Rajeev would use the remote control to move from one verse to the next, and then he would say the English.

Meanwhile, Jai Krishna was playing the harmonium and leading a kirtan with a half dozen devotees. Rajeev and I were on microphone so everyone could hear (and see) the verses above the sound of the chanting. The effect was so powerful that during the half hour I don't think one person left the crowded temple room. Later, all the devotees and many guests said it was an incredibly powerful sacrifice.

Nor did anyone leave the temple room when we announced the comedy The Scholar and the Boatman. We had done a different version of this comedy before, but this time we opted for Parividha's production from England. It is shorter and has excellent sound effects.

Sydhartha played the role of the boatman, and Jai Krishna played the scholar. I was working the slides from the rear of the screen and didn't see the actors; yet it was easy to tell the audience loved the comedy as they laughed every time they were supposed to and even some times when they weren't. At the punch line, when Sydhartha said (actually, lip synched), "Oh, you don't know how to swim? Then you've wasted a hundred percent of your life," they roared.

I posted two new pictures at the KrishnaKulture yahoo groups site, one of the Gita Yajna and the other of the comedy with the screen image of a cow on the backdrop. Go to yahoo groups and then search KrishnaKulture if you'd like to see them.

As Nitya Trpta suggested, we used the CD rom interactive program on the Bhagavad Gita for the next item. It is very well done. A good crowd of fifty or so watched it till the very end (about 50 minutes) while others gradually drifted downstairs to buy dinner or gifts in the store.

Last, Jai Krishna led one of the best arotik kirtans ever. He played the drum, chanted, and danced so expertly that people were either dancing right along with him or just looking on in amazement.

I saw Kalpana and Dinesh Patel with big smiles and Kalpana dancing with her hands raised in the air. Kalpana and Dinesh are by far our biggest sponsors, having given over $100,000.00. Dinesh is connected to most of the powerful men in the State, and he is a personal friend of Senator Orin Hatch and former Governor Mike Leavitt. I know that on any given Saturday, he and Kalpana have social invitations from several well-placed people, but they either pass them up in order to come to the temple or go to the event later on in the evening.

The crowd was substantial and the profits were good. The crowd wasn't the size we're used to getting for some of our more popular events, but considering it was a festival the name of which most members of the public couldn't recognize or even pronounce, the results were very gratifying— quality over quantity.

Because of all the serious inquires and discussions sparked by the festival, devotees didn't get to bed until near midnight.

© dipika.org December 8, 2003