Radhastami, Mysore

Sri Sri Radha-Govindadeva, Mysore, Karnataka

The Radhastami Festival this year was in Mysore, Karnataka. Of course, there were a lot of Radhastami Festivals celebrated all over the world, but for us, the most significant celebration was at His Grace Radha-Krsnacandra Prabhu's house in Mysore, because that's the one we attended.

After a comfortable train trip from Udupi, we arrived at the Mysore Railway Station on the morning of September 9th, the actual day of the festival. Radha-Krsnacandra Prabhu (affectionately known among close friends as RKC Prabhu) picked us up, packed our copious luggage into his car and drove us to his home. (Now you might wonder why we had a lot of luggage if we were just spending the weekend in Mysore. But Mysore was just our first stop on a long tour up to Mira Road Temple for the Kirtan-Mela, then over to Udaipur to visit Madan Govind and Daivi Radha along with all the other enthusiastic devotees of Udaipur yatra, then down to Belgaum for an intense week of home programs. Thus, the large quantity of baggage.)

Srimati Divya-shakthi Mataji, Radha-Krsnacandra Prabhu's good wife, and several other devotees were engaged in making preparations and decorations for Radhastami. The main room of the house where we usually enter was filled with mountains of ferns, African daisies and roses, so we had to bypass that room and enter through another door.

Radha-Krsnacandra Prabhu led us to the guest room. After we bathed and sorted our things, we went downstairs to break our half-day fast (Srimati Radharani is famous for Her soft-heartedness. She doesn't want Her devotees to have to fast all day long, so on Her special day, we only fast until noon). Divya Mataji had cooked and offered to Radha and Krsna with love and devotion a delicious palak-paneer subji, and served it with hot buttery chapatis. She apologized for the simplicity of the meal, but we raved about it. My husband and I love simple prasadam, and Divya's lunch was "just what the doctor had ordered."

The festivities were to start in the evening, so we spent the daytime preparing for our talk about Srimati Radharani, and catching up on laundry, japa, emails and rest.

The evening program started with lively kirtan interspersed with nectarean talks about the miraculous appearance of Srimati Radharani from a lotus flower and the appearance of Her famous mystical bathing ghat, Radha-kunda. The temple room, which is a large, handsome room tastefully decorated with original paintings of Krsna's pastimes and inspirational scriptural quotes from various scriptures, was packed with enthusiastic, happy devotees.

The Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Govindadeva were brightly polished so that Their Lordships shone with a brilliant effulgence. They were dressed in flower outfits which had been lovingly crafted by the expert hands of Mother Divya-Shakthi (her husband told us she had stayed up all night stitching Their clothes!). Their Lordships' elegant flower dresses were studded with tiny red roses and pure white jasmine buds, so closely crowded together that they left not a square centimeter of room for the underlying cloth to be seen. Even though red roses and white jasmines were the predominant flowers used, the overall effect was multi-colored, because along with the red roses and white jasmines were occasional miniature yellow mums, purple lobelia and pink bachelor's buttons. Adding to the multi-colored scheme was Krsna's turban, which was a rich wrap of variously colored silky twists studded with tiny white flowers and sporting a lovely peacock feather slightly tilted to one side. Their Lordships' pearl-and-ruby necklaces complemented the dresses perfectly, and the altar itself was an explosion of color with a custom-crafted criss-cross wire frame mandap richly adorned with lush green ferns and studded with miniature red and yellow roses. The little mandap perfectly surrounded the Deities like a little forest house built by Srimati Vrnda devi herself.

Not to be overlooked, the most eye-catchingly unique feature of Sri Sri Radha-Govindadeva's alankar was a stunning crescent-moon-shaped cradle on which Their Lordships gracefully stood. The crescent moon was bordered by miniature white Christmas lights (or since we're in India, I guess you could call them Diwali lights) and draped with translucent white silk cloth that gave it the appearance of being surrounded by misty, filmy clouds. It appeared that Sri Sri Radha-Govindadeva were taking an evening ride in a brilliant moon-shaped boat floating on a river of milk.

After Sri Sri Radha-Govindadeva were offered a sumptuous feast lovingly cooked by His Grace Radha-Krsnacandra (who, like Bhimasena himself, has a reputation for cooking big feasts!) and assisted by several capable helpers, arati was performed while a heart-meltingly soft kirtan was led by His Grace Haripada Prabhu.

The glorious evening concluded with a mouth-watering feast of Krsna prasadam served upstairs on the terrace. Devotees honored prasadam up to their necks, which, according to many accounts in the Caitanya-caritamrta, is actually bona fide on feast days!

I can't remember what time we finally hit the sack, but it was late. We found out the next morning that several devotees had stayed up even later cleaning up after the festival and the feast. Srimati Radharani especially notices devotees who "go the extra mile" in their service to the Lord and His devotees, e.g., staying up late sewing, decorating, cooking, cleaning, etc. She tells Lord Govindadeva about them, and asks Him to bestow upon them some special mercy.

All glories to Sri Sri Radha-Govindadeva! All glories to Srimati Radharani's glorious appearance day! All glories to the devotees of Their Lordships, who serve Them with such love and devotion, making unbelievable personal sacrifices to give pleasure to the Lord and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani.