Sri Krishna Janmashtami is the most important festival of the temple. The entire world celebrates the divine appearance of Lord Sri Krishna. In this temple, the arrangements for the festival started well ahead. The entire temple is cleaned and painted, worshippers perch themselves at various places to hook up the lights which will dazzle the onlookers. The temple hall is decorated with flowers and festoons. Truckloads of vegetables, grains and fruits arrive at the kitchen. Numerous people are engaged in various culinary activities.
Believers fast rigorously by eating just a single meal a day before the festivities. They also sing devotional songs and maintain a vigil into the night. They break the fast on the next day when the Ashtami Tithi is over. The devotees prepares a list of dishes to offer to the god. After the offering, this is then distributed and shared among the devotees after the fast.
Every year, the festival of Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated with same dedication and rituals. Hopefully, this Janmashtami of 2017 will again witness the same festivity. People believe that Lord Krishna was born at 12 midnight, so I believe all my fellow friends here will also remain awake and wait for the Balgopal to come. The celebration of Janmashtami is just the same as people wait for the birth of a newborn in their family.
I'm really blessed to be invited to most events and festivities by our Indian community here. My dear friend Reverend Phrabu, will always keep me in track. Unity through different culture and religion has never been more cohesive than this community relationship we've been building over the years. And for this, I thank all my community friends and supporters for your undivided support and constructive suggestions.
Through events, we learned your culture, through your culture, we learned love and unity. And on this special day, we are also celebrating the beauty of diversity and differences.
Only unity makes us all stand on the same line, united by our faith that we will be a much better place when we come together, share and get to know one another. You are definitely believers in building a better environment and community.
Bridging those divides within a community, are more important than biased politics and things that divide us. There are an escalation of people like yourselves, who reject divisive politics and simply want to bring our communities together and celebrate all that unites us.
Once again, I want to Thank Reverend and all committee for this invite. Let's celebrate this Janmashtami 2017 with the same enthusiasm and devotion as the Lord Krishna devotees feel.
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