The Uttar Pradesh Department of Culture held a program in honor of the 100^th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. This program, called the Barkha Bahar Cultural Program, was held at the Ramkrishna Mission Sevashram’s auditorium. State culture minister, Lakshmirayam Chaudhry expressed the desire of the state government to promote the culture of Braj.

A decision was taken to institute the cultural program in order to spread awareness of Braj culture and to help preserve it. Braj artists put up songs and dance pieces on the subject of monsoon. The famous singer of Braj, Govind Ji, opened the program with the Krishna Vandana. After that there was the famous Charkula dance by Murarilal Sharma. Kajri geet was also featured in the program.

The Director of Vrindavan Research Institute Shri Satishchandra Dikshit, Shri Lakshminarayan Pathak, Shri Rajesh Pandit, Shri Sunil Chaturvedi, Dr. Vinod Bannerjee, Shri Kapil Upadhyay, Shri Vinay Goswami, Shri Mridulkant Shastri, and Shri Sudheer Shukla were present on the occasion.

The ritual of mahabhishekam with 108 silver pots of water was performed at the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Vardaraja Temple during the anniversary celebration of the consecration of the temple. Priests from the southern part of India performed the mahabhishekam under the aegis of Swami Jai Krishnacharya. The ritual took two hours and the Lord was bathed with panchamrita, panchagavya and other items.

The entire temple echoed with the vedic chants during the ceremony. Devotees were very excited for the darshan. The temple was decorated with fragrant flowers and the walls were adorned with pictures and montages of Krishna’s pastimes. The altar looked resplendent with exotic flower arrangement and decorations.  Celebrations also included a homa, a reading of the religious texts of the Vedas etc.

Discourses on the religious texts were given by special guest speakers. All attendees felt the atmosphere of bhakti and a rejuvenation of their faith. They found bliss in participating in the event. Prominent devotional singers mesmerized the devotees with melodious bhajans in the evening.