Tattva-viveka
Janmastami in Finland
Bhrigu - September 5, 2007 4:14 pm
This year we celebrated Janmastami at Krishangi's & Kamalaksa's place in Porvoo. Kamalaksa took pictures and will hopefully post some of them, but I promised to write a few words. We were a small crew this time: present were in addition to the hosts and me Tadiya, Krishnavallabha, Tamalkrishna, Aditi, Mahabala, Mohan, Mikko and Jaakko.
Most of us came early to help in cooking and preparing the festival. Tadiya and Krishnavallabha made beautiful garlands for Sri Sadbhuja and K & K's Gaura-Nitai, while Kamalaksa was situated in his constitutional position as the magnificant head of the kitchen department. Tamalkrishna was a great help here. No vegans this year, so we got to use lots of cheese, cream and ghee! 
The program itself began with Gaura-arati at 18.45, after which Krishnavallabha didi gave the first of the evening's classes. Instead of one ordinary class, we had decided to have three short (20 min) classes by different devotees, to make room for more diversity and give more people a chance to speak. Krishnavallabha spoke on Krishna-tattva, especially on why it is Nandanandana Krishna that is svayam bhagavan, drawing on Mahaprabhu's conversation with Venkata Bhatta at Sri Rangam. She gave a nice explanation on how even though all aisvarya is present in Nandanadana, less is shown than in lesser manifestations.
Next was the traditional Gaudiya Matha krama-kirtana, beginning with the mangalacarana-prayers and then different kirtanas glorifying Guru-, Vaishnava-, Nityananda-, Gaura-, Krishna- and Radha-tattva led by different devotees, but mostly led by our expert kirtaniya Krishnavallabha, who brought out the best of even those of us of lesser abilities, such as me.
This was followed by lecture nr. 2, by Tadiya didi. With great feeling and expertise, she spoke about the reasons for Krishna's appearance, making many profound and practical points, drawing from her own experiences. I particularly liked how she applied Martin Buber's idea of "I-Thou" and "I-It" - relationships to Vaishnavism. A very powerful lecture.
Next came abhiseka, for which Mahabala had brought the ingredients. During the bathing, we chanted the Brahma-samhita and then the maha-mantra. I had appointed Mohan and Jaakko official curtain-holders, a task they fulfilled eminently. Krishangi surprised us by leading the kirtana accompanying herself on the harmonium. I didn't know she could play it! After this, puspanjali and the last lecture, on Krishna's janma-lila, by me.
Then, "midnight arati" (it was more ten thirty, but what can you do when most of us had to go to work the next morning). That has always been the high-point of my Janmastamis. Jaya Radhe, Jaya Krishna, Jaya Vrindavan... Next, exchanges of gifts (Mohan and Mikko had brought delicious fruits for Krishna, while Jaakko and Aditi had brought beautiful, fragrant flowers. On Mohan's prompting, we sang the Nandanandanastaka, before finally sitting down to Kamalaksa's sumptous, delicious prasadam! Needless to say, nobody had to leave hungry. 
Syamasundara - September 5, 2007 5:15 pm
:Applause:
This sounds like a hopeful glimpse into the future, with us gathering with GM present only in our hearts, where it counts the most, and still, or therefore making everything perfect.
I liked the class format, and the extended endeavor. Kirtana is more purifying that sravana. How many of us could give some sort of class and don't even know? On big festivals and retreats, some among us could give introductory classes, giving for example the story of a certain lila, and just churning what everybody may already know, but building up to the point when GM comes and gives his class.
Kind of like the Narayana maharaja's group.
Myself I went to see Radha-Giridhari. It was OK, no cow bathing or anything.... I stayed up chanting japa until mangala arati, since I had missed the last bus anyway. The highlight for me was when at the end of the midnight arati they slowly closed the curtain in front of Radha-Giridhari, and then they quickly reopened them, and everyone gasped in excitement, although it looked like they normally do that. They did that three times, I had never seen that, other than maybe bankebihari.
Kamalaksa Das - September 5, 2007 6:36 pm
At this moment of the evening Tadiya was still in full effect, giving a talk about making every day to be like Janmastami. Later on her combination of a body pumped full of anthibiothics and fasting made her retire upstairs pale as a ghost. We hope you are feeling better now, Tadiya!
And a second picture of our surprisingly eloquent Tadiya, who usually is more on the quiet side. Not on this lecture though, as her shyness was notable only by its absence. Faith moves mountains.
Kamalaksa Das - September 5, 2007 6:42 pm
And in our chronologically incorrect manner we now move backward in time to our first speaker of the evening, Krishna Vallabha, a disciple of Narayana Maharaja.
During her designated twenty minutes she spoke about the difference between Narayana and Krishna, citing a discussion between Mahaprabhu and Vyenkatta Bhatta (at least I think so, please correct me if I'm mistaken). A story that pleased especially Bhrigu, as he had been thinking about the lila earlier on.
Kamalaksa Das - September 5, 2007 6:53 pm
Three pictures from the abhiseka. Bhrigu functioned quite selfevidently as our brahmana and master of ceremony, making sure everything went by the ways laid down in Manu samhita and other slightly obscure scriptures.
First picture shows Mohan bathing the Lord with one of the six prescribed items.
During the abhiseka those who were not upfront with a conchshell in their hand recited the Brahma Samhita. Here the boys and Krishangi, who got to hold the book.
And the final shower. Bhrigu and Mahabala let the nectar, well no, actually fruit juice flow.
Kamalaksa Das - September 5, 2007 7:03 pm
As one of the final things on the menu was the puspanjali ceremony, with flowers flying all around. The nice part was that everyone brought something to the festival, be it flowers, fruits, or in Bhrigu's case even some lingonberry jam he had cooked himself to be offered. (Which I, for my own reasons did not taste...)
I don't think we've ever seen the deities so wrapped up in flowers as this Janmastami!
Kamalaksa Das - September 5, 2007 7:21 pm
A belly filled is a belly pleased.
One nice thing with having your guests fasting for a day is that whatever you serve out will probably taste heavenly to them. At least judging from the way discussions promptly ended when the plates were placed in front of people testified that prasadm seva was something to be taken seriously.
The menu for the day included
Subji made from deepfried eggplant, deepfried curd in tomato cream sauce with fresh herbs
Bhrigu's subji, made from zucchini and curd in cream sauce
Subji with oven-baked potatoes and spinach in cream sauce (a patterns starts to emerge...)
Potato-tapioca patties (my ekadasi favorites)
Coconut chutney
Oven-baked cajun style potatoes with fresh herbs
Tomato soup with curd
Nimbu Pani
Caranamrita
Burfi
Two types of fruit halva
Sandesha
Oven-baked apples with cinnamon in coconut cream
*
To my delight the pots and kettles were emptied at an admirable pace. And yet everyone ws able to walk out on their own feet. At the end we even saw a clach of the titans, as Mahabala took on Mohan in our inofficial "who eats the most" competition.
Tadiya Dasi - September 8, 2007 10:54 am
This year's Janmastami was really special and great, in many ways (though the end was not so glorious to me 
).
I was glad to be making the flower-garlands for the Deities with Krishnavallabha, who happens to be quite an expert in this area and got the chance to steal some tips from her 
And, also, because unlike kitchen-seva, this happens to be a seva I both enjoy and can actually come up with something half-decent...
As Bhrigupada already explained, I was one of the people who gave a short class. I only agreed to give a class by the kind, yet stubborn prompting of Krishnavallabha and Bhrigu, and in the end, I am really glad I did, because it turned out to be the key factor of making this Janmastami special. Not only did it force me to dwelve deeper into Krishna's birth-lila and reasons for his appearance but it also forced me to grow and put aside some of my self-interest (which would be to be on the back ground enjoying hearing the wonderful harikatha of others, more senior and expert than myself. Not to mention, that by nature, clearly, I am not one's first and foremost choice to be a public speaker 
)
But my point is that by promising to give this class, I also put myself into a position where I had to think about the subject matter of Krishna's birth more deeply and really think of it in terms of my own life, experiences, etc. This certainly made me appreciate Janmastami more, and made it only that much more special.
As for the experience itself, I have to say that Bhrigu is being very generous with me here in his description. But I kind of surprised myself as well by giving this lecture and not reducing into a panic-attacky mess in front of everybody So, Syamasundara, you are definetely right...I believe that everyone could give a class, and be benefited by doing so.
I recall feeling slightly headachy already during the kirtana prior to my speech but when I gave the class, all of it vanished. I don't even remember half of the stuff I said and I certainly lost track of time, but I do remember getting really excited and elevated at some point. The great thing about harikatha is that the subject is so great that it transcends the speaker. All in all, the experience was quite overwhelming and humbling to me at the same time.
As has been said, the Deities were practically swimming in flowers, and they looked very beautiful. The abhiseka -ceremony was wonderful and Sadbhuja looked radiant and beautiful...especially in his new outfit, made by Krishnavallabha, after the ceremony.
I truly appreciated Krishnavallabha's class, and she's a really wonderful, intelligent and thoughtful devotee, well versed in sastra - and it showed in her speech. She also had the difficult position of being the first speaker of the night, but she certainly raised the bar for me.
As for Bhrigu's lecture. We all know of Bhrigu's expertise in sastra, but what touched me most in this years lecture, was seeing the other side of him come out. The wisdom of the heart and years of experience. In his narrative of Krishna's birth-lila he managed to make me laugh, pause to think more deeply, and offer fresh perspective. Not to mention that he's quite an story-teller and expert in creating the right kind of mood.
The "midnight arati" has always been my favorite as well. Though, at this point, I was starting to feel ill and nauseous, but just brushed it off as a side effect of fasting, and thinking that I would feel better after having some prasadam. As Bhrigu mentioned, Mohan das sang Sri Nanda-Nandanastakam in a very heartfelt and touching way, and personally, it was one of the highlights of the evening for me. Not to mention Krishangi's harmonium -playing! Like Bhrigu, I was surprised to learn that she even knew how to play it! I've always loved the sound of harmonium, and it added a special something to the kirtana...
The Janmastami-feast was, I'm sure, as always, simply delicious and divine but for my own part it was very short lived. After a few bites and few sips of the caranamrita, I literally felt my insides turn upside down ( ) and had to make a quick exit from the table to the upstairs. I hope you didn't take it personally, Kamalaksa 
Sri Krishna Janmastami ki Jaya 
Vamsidhari Dasa - September 9, 2007 12:56 am
If I was not so close to Audarya I would love to live in Finland despite our difference in temperament. At least when it comes to Krishna katha you guys can't stop talking and that is GREAT! Tadiya you truly look inspired and the rest of the crew looks equally sublime. I absolutely love that triple Deity of Krishna, Can you please tell me the name of that Deity? I can't stop looking at Him!
Ys,
Vamsi
Syamasundara - September 9, 2007 7:17 am
I don't know if that particular one has a name, but the kind of deity is called shad-bhuja (six-armed), because it has two arms holding the flute, two bow and arrows, like Rama, and two holding kamandalu and danda, like Mahaprabhu. It's a form that Lord Gauranga showed to Sarvabhauma if I'm not wrong.
Bhrigu - September 9, 2007 11:03 am
Yes, he is called Sadbhuja Gauranga, just as Shyamu said. His name had actually been mentioned a few times in the postings above, but there is no fault in repeating the Lord's names!
Prema-bhakti - September 9, 2007 3:07 pm
What an inspiring Janmastami festival with everyone so absorbed!!
Tadiya,
I really appreciated your description of your experience giving class. I, too, have had those experiences having the opportunity to give classes regularly in New York. It is highly absorbing. Looking forward to serving with you again at Audarya.
Caitanya-daya Dd - September 9, 2007 3:51 pm
i agree with prema, in terms of inspiration. I find the finnish devotees to be extremely inspiring. Thank you for sharing your janmastami festivities with us :-)
Vamsidhari Dasa - September 9, 2007 5:56 pm
Sadbhuja Gauranga, ki Jaya. Thanks!
Krsangi Dasi - September 12, 2007 5:44 pm
Krishangi surprised us by leading the kirtana accompanying herself on the harmonium. I didn't know she could play it!
I didn't even know myself if I could play it, I was so nervous that my fingers were leaving drops of sweat on the keys of the harmonium. But apparently I was faking it pretty well. People, if your were forced by your parents to take piano lessons as kids, you probably can play the harmonium if you just train a bit! Even if you were really bad piano players like yours truly.
I think I remember Guru Maharaja saying something like that the holy name will first come to us in kirtan, and only later in smaranam. Lately I've really been experiencing this, especially if I'm singing alone at home. It's so much easier to concentrate and to even have some feeling for the names. So I'm starting to think that my parents might have done something right after all...
But anyway: thanks to everyone who came to the Janmastami festival!
Swami - September 13, 2007 12:27 am
I didn't even know myself if I could play it, I was so nervous that my fingers were leaving drops of sweat on the keys of the harmonium.
I think I remember Guru Maharaja saying something like that the holy name will first come to us in kirtan, and only later in smaranam. Lately I've really been experiencing this, especially if I'm singing alone at home. It's so much easier to concentrate and to even have some feeling for the names. So I'm starting to think that my parents might have done something right after all...
But anyway: thanks to everyone who came to the Janmastami festival!
Yes, this is a very powerful practice--to sit alone and sing Krsna nama witht he harmonium. I very highly recommend it. You can do it for hours and know you time has been very well spent. Some of Prabupada's deeper moments were spent in this praictice, as kirtana transported him into smaranam. Really, this is what we are living for.
Syamasundara - September 13, 2007 4:50 am
I don't have much practice with the harmonium, certainly I can't sing and play, but I did notice that it had that sadhana feel to it. The mrdanga is very sweet and it's Balarama, I prefer it many times over to the harmonium, but it's not as easy to play, to hit the heads in the right way, to coordinate the movements, and it kills my neck and back, whereas the harmonium is relatively easier and more gracious, you press a key, and that's the sound it will always make, so you see a cause/effect relationship that is encouraging to go further and in my opinion helpful for our real sadhana.