{"id":2817,"date":"2016-10-06T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T11:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2016-10-07T08:29:01","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T02:59:01","slug":"the-all-india-padayatra-celebrated-janmastami-in-srirangam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/the-all-india-padayatra-celebrated-janmastami-in-srirangam\/","title":{"rendered":"The All India Padayatra Celebrated Janmastami In Srirangam"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Acarya Dasa<\/p>\n

On August 25th<\/sup> we traveled to Srirangam also known as Rangakshetra, in South India. Srirangam is an island surrounded by the Kaveri River on one side and the Kaveri tributary, Kollidam, \u00a0on the other. The island forms part of the city of Tiruchirapalli. This place is home to a beautiful temple housing the deity of Sri Ranganatha Swami. Sri Ranganatha is a two-armed form of Lord Vishnu reclining on the divine serpent Ananta Sesa.<\/p>\n

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Lord Caitanya in Srirangam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited Srirangam during his South India pilgrimage. He spent four months there in the monsoon season during the months of caturmasya vrata <\/em>and stayed at the home of a brahmana <\/em>named Vyenkata Bhatta. Vyenkatta Bhatta’s son, Gopala, who was seven years old at the time, served Lord Caitanya continuously during His stay, and as a result, the boy developed an intense love for the Lord. While staying with Vyenkatta Bhatta’s family Lord Caitanya longed for Lord Jagannath in Puri. In this mood of separation, Mahaprabhu lovingly carved His own set of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra deities, which to this day, reside not far from the Bhatta family’s original home. The family descendants of Vyenkata Bhatta also continue to live in Srirangam.<\/p>\n

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Janmastami celebrations<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an ISKCON temple in Srirangam called Sri Jagannath Mandir. The devotees there arranged our accommodation at a life member\u2019s house. They were very happy to receive our p<\/em>adayatra<\/em> party in their town. We stayed and celebrated Janmastami at the temple all padayatris<\/em> chanted 64 rounds and went on sankirtana<\/em> with their Lordships. We also had ecstatic kirtan<\/em>a<\/em> in the temple courtyard with all the devotees who had come to take darsan<\/em>a <\/em>that day. Initially, when they saw our party, they thought we were there to take dar<\/em>s<\/em>an<\/em>a<\/em> but when we told them we were doing padayatra <\/em>they were very inspired. Many of them joined us on sankirtan<\/em>a<\/em> and guided us around their city. We went on sankirtana <\/em>in the city and to the places where Caitanya Mahaprabhu had visited. Thus we remembered the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu while we were there. In the evening there was abhishek <\/em>at the temple of the Sri Sri Radha Krsna deities followed by katha<\/em>, kirtan<\/em>a<\/em>, and cultural programs. This was how we celebrated Janmastami in Srirangam under the shelter of Lord Ranganatha.<\/p>\n

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