Deity Department

WELCOMING COMMUNITY MEMBERS BACK INTO PUJARI SERVICE

On Sunday 27th September, five devotees from the community came to the Deity Department rooms after seven months to render services. It was a trial run to assess that the environment would be safe both for those coming in and the temple residents. Following the success of the trial run, the Sundays during the month of October saw more community members welcomed back to render a range of services from offering arati, cooking, dressing, transfers service, etc. Garland-making took place on both Saturdays and Sundays in a nearby office. Unfortunately coming back for services was short-lived with the Government announcing new lockdown measures starting from Thursday 5th November and lasting for one month. However, once these lockdown measures ended, devotees were pleased to be back in service again.

The Deity Department celebrated Gopastami with a special darshan. Their Lordships were wearing Their classic “Tulasi and Cows” outfit and were surrounded with cows. Srimati Radharani was offered a flower crown and Krishna, Jagannatha and Baladeva were offered flower turban pieces, all of which had cows in! On this day, a new accessory was also offered to Srimati Radharani – a beautiful silver hand mirror.

Despite the pandemic, Their Lordships still got a full Pushpa Abhishek this year, albeit with a small physical audience with only the Temple residents present, and members of the community watching online. It took place in the morning of Sunday 20th December. 8,000 beautiful roses of a variety of colours were sponsored for the abhishek by the Dave family, a flower exporter based in Kenya. Petals from the roses were picked by a small number of volunteers the day before in the Temple Room.

with Bhagavatanand dasa

The Community Newsletter Team had a chat with Bhagavatanand dasa, who has been serving enthusiastically as a Pujari at ISKCON-London for fifteen years. We found out about his first visit to the Bury Place Temple in 1977, preaching during lockdown and how he helped to set up a preaching centre in his hometown in India.

Community Newsletter Team: Hare Krishna Bhagavatanand dasa! Thank you very much for speaking to us. Please tell us about yourself, like where were you born and your upbringing?

Bhagavatanand dasa: I was born and brought up in Gujarat, India. My family religion is Jain. I had a happy childhood.

Q) How old were you when you first came in contact with Krishna consciousness? And how did it happen?

A) In 1977, I first came to 7 Bury Place, Radha-Krishna Temple with my family, when I was 27 years old. Our baby daughter was brought in front of Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara for her first darshan. Bury Place Temple had a small temple room, one quarter the size of ISKCON-London’s current temple room. If 15 devotees attended, the room would be overcrowded. One particular devotee was keen for us to buy the ‘Back to Godhead’ magazine for a small donation.

Q) When did you first start serving in the Deity Department at ISKCON-London? What services have you been involved in?

A) I first started serving in 2005. I did back-up services for Raja Bhoga cooking once a week. I also helped organise the bhoga fridge and polish silver paraphernalia. Later on after my second initiation, I would offer the noon and 4.00pm aratis weekly. I would also assist my wife Vrajkishori devi dasi cooking the Raja Bhoga offering once a week.

Q) What keeps you enthusiastic and motivated in your services?

A) Serving Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara gives that spiritual pleasure!

Q) The lockdown has stopped your regular services at ISKCON-London. Are there any services you been doing during the lockdown? A) I preach on Zoom to Gujarati audiences. I always go out for walks with my chanting bead bag and preach to whomever is willing to listen. Sometimes I give prasadam or distribute a book to people I meet during my walks. I also do the full morning and evening programmes at my home, including Tulasi puja. I daily read Srila Prabhupada and my Guru Maharaja’s books.

Q) Besides Pujari services what other services are you involved in?

A) I serve in the London Rathayatra festival every year and I like to give classes in the Temple Room. I usually spend a few months every year in my home town in Gujarat, India and my spiritual master, Bhakti Vikasa Swami encouraged me and my wife Vrajkishori devi dasi to preach village to village there. We found this challenging at first but learnt how to approach the village heads and seek their permission before approaching village members. We met another couple struggling to preach. My Guru Maharaja encouraged us to get together and we started a small centre. People soon started coming to hear about Krishna consciousness in Gujarati and go on sankirtan. We are happy that some villagers have taken initiation in the last few years and we are happy to serve them.