The Brahmins of Braj took a holy dip in the Yamuna and performed tarpan on the occasion of the beginning of pitru paksha. The members of the Brahmin Mahasabha, led by Shri Suresh Chandra Sharma, were the first to take the sacred bath at Keshi Ghat in the morning of the auspicious day. The priests reached the ghats early in the morning to help the devotees perform tarpan or shraadh for their ancestors.

Following the age old traditions, people donate food, money and clothes to Brahmins and saints so that their ancestors might receive blessings. Pitru paksha is a period of 16 days that is dedicated to the ancestors. According to Hindu mythology, the tradition of offering shraadh or donations during pitru paksha is attributed to Karna. It is believed that during this time the spirits leave pitru loka and reside in their descendant’s home for a month until the sun enters the next zodiac.

Chatthi festival or the sixth day of birth of Radha Rani was celebrated with unmatched exuberance at Radha Vallabh Temple in Vrindavan, besides other major temples. Saints from all over the country visited the temple to sing sohar or songs of birth. This was followed by a special maha aarti of Radha Rani. Samaj Gayan and classical dance was also performed by many devotees during the celebration.

Sevayats dressed up the idols of ThakurJi and Radha Rani before the festivities began and afterwards prasadam was distributed to the devotees. The team at Krishna Bhumi and the VCM team at ISKCON Bengaluru seek Radha Rani’s blessings so that the temple dedicated to her eternal consort and the divine project surrounding it is completed without any difficulty.

Vaman Jayanti, the divine appearance day of Lord Vaman, was celebrated at the Krishna Balaram Mandir with great fervor. There was chanting of the vedic mantras, bhajan and kirtan and the special ritual of the mahabhishek of the salagram shila was also performed. The Vaman Yajna was performed in the temple premises and the 108 auspicious names of the Lord were chanted.

The devotees fasted and observed Vaman Dwadashi. The fasting of ekadashi and dwadashi were observed together. The devotees gathered in the temple from the wee hours of the morning to perform all the rituals and seek the blessings of the Lord. Other temples also celebrated this day but the celebrations here were most noteworthy. Many Brahmin organizations also took out a procession of Lord Vaman.

Lord Vaman being one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu, team Krishna Bhumi was also very excited with the event. Once the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir is completed, the residents of Krishna Bhumi will also be able to enjoy such divine days on a regular basis, as the temple will celebrate all of them. We offer our humble prayers to Lord Vaman and hope that he oversees the building of this haven dedicated to Lord Krishna.

The story of Samudra Manthan, or the churning of the ocean, is an age-old tale from the Puranas (Ancient Hindu texts), where the ocean was churned in order to bring back Devi Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. During this process, fourteen precious things were born; one of these fourteen precious things was Lord Vishwakarma. In the month of September, Hindus all over the country and the world observe a day in honour of Lord Vishwakarma. This day is known as Vishwakarma Puja or Vishwakarma Jayanti. He is also known as Swayambhu, that is, the creator of the world and has been hailed as the divine architect in religious scriptures like the Rig Veda. When Krishna decided he would set up his kingdom in Dwarka, Lord Vishwakarma was called upon for the task.

As per the scriptures, it took only one day for lord Vishwakarma to build the city of Dwarka and have it ready for Krishna, such is his magnificent power. Even today, on this auspicious day of Vishwakarma Puja, anyone whose profession includes using machines, worships him and refrains from using their tools for that day. An idol or a picture of the Lord is placed on a pedestal and is worshipped. Even in this modern age, Lord Vishwakarma remains relevant, so much so that even people who work with new age machines or computers also observe this day and refrain from working.

When Lord Vishwakarma built the city of Dwarka for Krishna in a day, Lord Krishna could find no fault with it. The foundation of our work should be so strong, that no one should be able to find any fault with it. With the Lord’s blessing Vrindavan is going to get its first tallest Krishna temple at Krishna Bhumi Vrindavan, with the same passion we endeavour to create a marvel structure of Krishna Bhumi.

Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir, a world-class icon in making, by devotees of ISKCON Bangalore is going to be Lord Krishna’s tallest temple in the world. It is a herculean task, creating God’s abode and thus we seek Lord Vishwakarma’s blessings to help all involved in making of the monument as flawless as the ancient city of Dwarka.

We invite all of you to be a part of the celebration of Vishwakarma Puja at Krishna Bhumi & together lets praise the Lord and seek his blessings for building a strong foundation & future for ourselves in our line of work. After all Lord Vishwakarma sends the same message to everyone. The message of building a strong foundation, a strong future together.

Lord Dwarkadheesh, along with LalJi Prabhu, has reached Mathura from Rajkot. The Lordships have returned to Braj after a period of 15 years. This occasion was grandly celebrated by the devotees through a kirtan festival. Lord Dwarkadheesh will be in Braj for a period of 38 days during which he will do a Mathura parikrama and the Braj 84 Kos parikrama.

LalJi Prabhu is now resting at Radheyshyam ashram located at Bangali Ghat, he will be leaving for Gokulanath shortly. He is scheduled to visit Jatipura and Anyor. Before starting the kirtan festival, the goswamis and the devotees took a holy dip in the Yamuna. A shobha yatra also took place. Overall it was a grand celebration and the devotees felt happy and blessed.

Girivar Kunj started the tradition of offering a chappan bhog to Lord Giriraj by doing a maha abhishek with the waters of the seven holy rivers, i.e, Yamuna, Ganga, Godawari, Bhrahmaputra, Chinar, Krishna and Alakananda. The abhishek mixture also included milk, curd, honey, herbs and other things. Lord Giriraj was offered 21,000 kilograms of chappan bhog made from ghee from cow’s milk.

The abhishek ceremony was led by Pandit Kameshwar Nath Chaturvedi amidst mantra chanting and bhajan singing by the devotees. The chief guest of the programme was Justice Alok Kumar Mukherjee and he did the maha aarti after the abhishek was over. The programme ended with some cultural programmes. City Judge Shyam Lal, organizer Murari Agarwal and others also did the abhishek and took the blessings of the Lord.