Sri Ram Navami Celebrations: Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Math & Shri Sita Ram Foundation

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HOUSTON: Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Matha celebrated Sri Ram Navami, the auspicious Appearance of Lord Sri Ramachandra, with several events over two weekends. Lord Sri Rama appeared in Treta-Yuga to annihilate the demoniac and establish the eternal principles of religion, social and political morality and family ethics. He demonstrated these by His own example and instructed others to follow and practice the same.

The celebrations started at the temple with Mangal Aarti at 5:30 am on March 28th, the day of Sri Ram Navami. This was followed by kirtan, bhajans and glorifications of Lord Rama’s pastimes. The devotees had decorated the entire temple as well as the temple grounds with colorful decorations, balloons, and lights. Their Lordships (Sri Radha Govindaji, Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sita Rama Laksmana Hanuman) were offered a beautiful new dress that was sponsored by Dr. Arun Verma and Vinni Verma. Everyone was mesmerized by the divine, transcendental beauty of the Lord.

Abhishek of the Lord’s ‘vijay-vigraha’ Deities was performed at 12 noon, the time when the Lord appeared in this world. After the Bhoga Aarti, the devotees broke their fast by honoring Ekadashi prasadam.
Lord Rama’s pastimes are described vividly by Tulasidas in Sri Ramacharit Manas. This scripture is like an ocean with valuable jewels of Lords’ pastimes and instructions. A seminar, called ‘Sri Ramacharit Manthan’ (or, churning the ocean of Sri Rama’s transcendental pastimes) was organized at the temple from 2 PM onwards to present these jewels. The seminar was conducted by Dr. Om Gupta. Over a dozen presentations were made on different qualities of Lord Rama, such as, Lord Ram as a Warrior (Mr. Puvvada), as a friend (Dr. Sen Pathak), as a Husband (Vishnu Das), as a King (Narayan Dave), as a Guru (Vimla Dasi), etc. Each presentation was followed by a question answer session.

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The speakers and the attendees felt spiritually nourished and enlivened by the in-depth, focused study and presentation of Lord Rama’s qualities. It was decided to conduct another seminar at the Temple next year also and encourage greater participation from young adults.

Another major celebration was held the next day (March 29) in the evening from 5 – 7:30 PM in which bhajans and hari katha were focused on glorifying Lord’s pastimes as explained by the Gaudiya Matha’s founder, Srila BV Narayan Maharaja.

The following weekend started with ‘Akhand Ramayan Paath’ (non-stop 24 hour reading from Sri Ramacharit Manas) and Ram Navami celebrations sponsored by Shri Sita Ram Foundation. The reading was initiated at 10 AM on Saturday, April 4th with elaborate pooja conducted by Hanuman Swami , invoking the Lord’s mercy to make the sankalpam (vow to non-stop read Ramacharit Manas) of the devotees successful. It was also Hanuman Jayanti, so prayers were offered to Sri Hanuman, who is the greatest devotee of the Lord in ‘dasya-bhava’ (mood of servitorship).

For the next 24 hours, till 10:30 AM on Sunday, over two hundred devotees took turns to read Sri Ramacharit Manas. The readings were accompanied by melodious playing of kartals, mridangas and chants of ‘Jai Sri Rama’. After the conclusion of the reading, aarti was performed of Sri Ramacharit Manas.

This was followed by a beautiful Kathak dance performance by the students of Harihar Dance School of Rachna Vysas. It was now time for the Lord’s Abhishek. Ram-janma stuti was sung while the Lord was bathed with milk, honey, ghee, yogurt, water; overseen by Seshu ji and the temple priest Puneet Prabhu. The Deity of ‘Baby Rama’ was then dressed in new clothes and seated on a swing. Devotees sang traditional ‘badhai geet’ while everyone took turn to swing the Lord.

The program was concluded with Aarti and an elaborate feast prepared by the Temple devotees. The two weekends of chanting, hearing and remembering of Lord Rama’s pastimes made everyone extremely blissful and spiritually surcharged.

Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Matha temple is located at 16628 Kieth Harrow Blvd, Houston, TX 77084. Every Sunday bhajans and kirtan start 5 PM; Vedic lecture (English) at 6 PM; aarati at 7 PM followed by delicious healthy prasadam. Gurukula for children in grades K-12 is at 5:45 PM. Hindi classes (levels 1 and 2) are at 5 PM. For more information, please visit our website:  www.sggm.org  or call  (832) 464-4686.