MAYAPUR GAURA PURNIMA FESTIVAL.....!!

      The Annual Gaura Purnima Festival is the most exciting event of the year in Mayapur. Mayapur is the appearance place of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir serves as the international spiritual headquarters for ISKCON.
      The festival officially begins after the GBC meetings. The festivities extend to about three weeks. But many devotees start t arrive in Mayapur about a month before Gaura Purnima and Mayapur is flooded with devotees from all over the globe. The first week of the festival focuses on the " 5 - day Kirtan Mela." The second week, the devotees perform the annual "Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama." The third week is filled with festivities and cultural programs. 
       This year, the Mayapur  Gaura Purnima Festival goes on from the 24th of February to the 18th of March 2014. The schedule for this year's festival is as follows :-

 24 - 27 Feb : Svarna Utsava

 27 Feb : Devotee arrival,  Kirtan Mela Adivas Ceremony

 28 Feb - 4 Mar : Kirtan Mela

 3 Mar : Pancha Tattva Maha Abhishek

 4 Mar : Parikrama Adivasa ( 25th year)

 5 Mar : Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama begins

 11 Mar : Navadvipa Parikrama ends

 11 - 16 Mar : Festivities and Cultural Programs

 11 Mar : Sri Radha Madhav Boat Festival

 12 Mar : Elephant Procession, Immersion of ashes of departed souls

 13 Mar : Santipur festival

 14 Mar : Ganga Puja

 15 Mar : Ratha Yatra

 16 Mar : Gaura Purnima Festival

 17 Mar : Jagannath Mishra's Feast

 18 Mar : Devotees depart

Course of Devotion...!!

Hare Krsna.....!!

       Krishna, the eighth incarnation of the Hindu God, Lord Vishnu, has moved on with time - from thriving on butter or yogurt stored in earthen pots dangling from the ceiling to feasts of Italian pasta, Bruscheta, Chinese stir-fried noodles, Russian salad, American burgers, French coffee walnut mousse, etc. 

        This is just a few samples of the offerings at the Bangalore temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON. After being blessed by Krishna, the food finds its way to The Higher Taste, the temple's fine dining restaurant, where the bhajans are playing in the background to remind the guests of the food,s higher purpose - helping diners reach a higher level of consciousness. Here, Eating and Divinity are closely related.

        Various centres of ISCKON ( at present, there are 400 centres all over the world) run 100 such restaurants all over the world, promoting what it calls "Sattvic Vegetarianism." Hence, ISKCON's cuisine does not include onion, garlic, high- protein pulses and caffeinated drinks. 

         ISKCON is a non- profit organisation, but had it been a commercial organisation, its food business would be the largest in the city - through its sales from temple counters, restaurants, stores and catering, it generates a revenue of Rs 16 Crore every year. 

         Cooking at ISKCON is a complex operation and is overseen by devotees who are passionate about Food. Since the food must be offered to the Lord, the chefs cannot taste it while cooking. Hence, the chefs must perfect ISKCON's version of molecular gastronomy - a scientific cooking method which requires strict adherence to temperature and proportions of ingredients.  

         When asked how ISKCON maintains quality given the staff churn, pat comes Chamari Devi Dasi's (one of the devotees who help run the revenue - generating kitchens) reply : "Krishna is in charge. He's managing it." 

          Cooks and Devotees constantly try out new combinations in the in-house food lab, started in 2005, to keep the Sattvic Cuisine alive and kicking. One of the experiments was on Biryani : How can you create an authentic Biryani taste without using meat, onion or garlic? The result was 'Kabulistani Biryani', which substitutes meat (goat or lamb) with Cauliflower and Potato.Other innovative items on ISKCON's menu are: 

Chandan ka Sarbat :- a mocktail with a hint of Sandalwood, Mango Rasgulla Chaat :- a starter for those with a sweet tooth, Paan Ice cream :- with the traditional flavor of betel leaves and accompanying spices, etc.