A very Hare Krishna Janamashtami

We had a great time at Krishna Janamashtami at the Hare Krishna temple. I had never been to an ISKON temple before. They actually had a whole festival sort-of set up with stands with food and gifts, etc. There were Bhajans and Lilas and some Bharatnatyam dance.

I fasted during the day and broke my fast with the prasad at the temple. (Made me start thinking about fasting as a practice. I'd like to learn more about it and do a post on it).

Here is me all dressed up:


This is a new sari and I was extremely pleased that I found bangles that matched it perfectly. You can't see them too well, but they are gold, black, and orange.

At home I drew designs on our balcony. Here are Krishna's footsteps going into our apartment:
(And Thea wondering what's up)

At the temple, my sweetie bought me a brand new puja set. What I have been using for pujas is an old thaali and some bits and pieces put together and I use a tea light instead of a lamp. Take a look at the old "set" verses the fancy new set:




We met up with some friends, and we learned how to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. I thought it was funny that the guy who wanted to teach us was asking, "Did you know that today is a special day?" I thought, "Why else would I be dressed up in one of my best saris and driving an hour to be here? Do you think I was just wandering by in my best clothes?" He had us chanting the mantra to 108 beads (I have a japa mala and I was surprised that the ones he taught us on were actually rough wooden beads).

ETA: Oh, and I realized when we were chanting it, that the word "hare" sounded more and more like "hurray" which was sort of appropriate. I wonder where we got the word "hurray" from... It's interesting that for some reason native English speakers tend to call Hare Krishna "Hairy Krishna." Apparently that's what it sounds like to them. I don't think "hare" sounds anywhere near "hairy." But anyway, it felt like we were saying "yay Krishna!" which was kind of fun.

All in all it was a delightful evening.