Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Eden Terrace hosted a magnificent Shri Krishna Janmashtami celebrations for three days on the festival of Krishna Janmashtami.
The celebrations and prayers started with three days of Shri Krishna Charitra Katha by Shashtri Dr Devrambhai Raval, the priest of the temple.
On Monday, September 3, the temple received more than 500 devotees to attend the mega festival. The temple was open all day for the darshan of the idols which were specially decorated for the occasion.
The Radha Krishna Temple was also decorated in a manner that was redolent of the ambience and looks of Gokuldham, the birthplace of Lord Krishna. To make the event even more festive devotees also came dressed as gopis and wore different ethnic dresses to bring the feel of being in Gokuldham.
Two groups, the Pushpanjali Group and Jalaram Samithi Bhajan Group sang beautiful bhajans in different sessions till after midnight making the event even more vibrant, and devotees brought the feeling that they were actually celebrating Shri Krishna Janma in Gokul.
The temple priest Acharya Shri Dr Devrambhai Raval also enchanted devotees with beautiful Krishna Leela.
President and vice-president of Auckland Indian Association Narendra Bhana and Dhansukh Lal were amazed by the enthusiasm and devotion of the visitors to the celebrations.
“Men, women and children clad in colourful ethnic dresses came with fruits and sweets to celebrate this big festival,” AIA Inc.president Narendra Bhana told The Indian Weekender.
“We are very proud devotees who came to the celebrations and made the puja and the complete event wonderful,” he added.
The temple also conducted Maha Aarti of Shri Krishna Chandra at midnight which most of the devotees stayed back to observe and pray.
All the office bearers, Board of Trustees, committee and subcommittee members of the Auckland Indian Association also participated in Krishna Janmashtami celebration.
“We had members who were stationed at the gates of the temple from 6:30 in the evening till 1:30 in the morning distributing sweets to the attendees of the event and we have received a very positive response from our community members for hosting such a beautiful event at the temple,” Mr Bhana added.