Radha Gopinath Mandir managed to grab the Green Temple Award this year! The green warriors of Vraja Bhumi were felicitated in a ceremony organized in the auditorium of the Rama Krishna Mission Sevasharam. The Vrindavan Green Awards are given to the organizations and individuals that play a significant role in restoring the ecology of Vraja Bhumi.
The 4th Vrindavan Green awards ceremony was organized by Friends of Vrindavan in collaboration with the Vrindavan Today Foundation. Every year this award is given on the occasion of Varaha Jayanti. In a meeting of the Selection Committee last month, the chairperson, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, announced the nominees. For the last four years, Friends of Vrindavan has been celebrating Varaha Jayanti as Vedic Earth Day.
This year, Vrindavan Today also joined hands with Friends of Vrindavan to celebrate the day when the Earth was saved by Lord Varaha. Five green awards were given out this year. The deity of Lord Varaha was worshipped in the beginning of the event. The traditional Varaha dance of Vraja was also performed by a local artist. Shri Radha Gopinath Mandir, one of the Sapta Devalaya Temples, was chosen for the green temple award.
Shri Gopinath Lal Dev Goswami, the head sevayat, received the award on behalf of the temple. Dr. B.K Nangia received the Green literary award for his writings that have had an effect in preserving the ‘swaroop’ of Vraja. Dr. Nangia is the editor of the monthly magazine ‘Shri Harinam’. MRC Vrinda Charitable Trust received the Green Campaign award.
Dr. Abhishek Sharma, the president of the trust accepted the award. More than one thousand trees have been planted by the MRC. Shri Gopeshwar Nath Chaturvedi received the Green Award for legal intervention. Shri Chaturvedi has been fighting the legal battle in the Allahabad High Court to stop the sewer discharge from going into the Yamuna.
The GLA University received the Green School Award for the year of 2016. Prof. A.M Agarwal, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University received the award on behalf of the institution. Shri Bhaktivedanta Madhusudhan maharaj, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Anurag Goyal and Bihari Lal Bashishtha presented the Green Honour to the nominees on behalf of the organizers.
After the award ceremony, there was a cultural program where the Gotipua dance was performed by the students of the Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and Odissi was performed by the students of the Venu Nad Kala Kendra of Vrindavan.
