Thanks to your generous support, we were able to offer prasad (blessed foods) to pilgrims at the Govardhan Hill on this year’s full moon Christmas Day! Our esteemed guests Janaki (pictured with a sacred cow) and Simha (photo and video credits) were able to participate and enjoyed the scene very much. It got a little intense for a moment there, as you can see in this video. People clearly love prasad!

If inspired to share prasad with others please do consider supporting this prasad project.

Shyamdasji has given us a glimpse into these sacred celebrations in his book, The Path of Grace, the cover of which depicts the Annakut celebration as it takes place in Nathdvara.

DIWALI
Kartik Krishna 15

This major festival of the quarter marks the end of the Hindu calendar year. Shri Krishna wears clothes of silver brocade and a fan-shaped plume of peacock feathers. His ornaments are made from diamonds, rubies and emeralds. Cows are also ornamented and brought into the temple. For some days before this festival, Shri Krishna sits in a Hatari, a pavilion of mirrors where Krishna sells various sweets and other goods and tries to attract the Gopis. He bargains in the currency of love. The bhakta poet Paramananda Das sings of the occasion:

Raga Kanharo

Today is the auspicious day of Diwali.
The Vraj ladies gather and sing auspicious songs.
They decorate the courtyard by the auspicious gate.
Fruits, nuts, sweets and fried foods
are brought on a golden tray.
Paramananda Das follows Shri Krishna,
who is adorned with precious garments and jewels.

[Listen to Shyamdas’ kirtan teacher Mishralalji singing this poem by clicking here]

ANNAKUTA
Kartik Shukla 1

This festival takes place on the day after Diwali and is the most renowned festival of the Pushti Marg. It is the day when Shri Krishna persuaded the inhabitants of Vraj to worship the Govardhan Hill and cows instead of Indra, the rain god. Then Shri Krishna Himself became the Govardhan Hill, and with a thousand arms, enjoyed all the offerings. In a jealous wrath, Indra showered destructive rains on Vraj, and Shri Krishna lifted the entire Govardhan Hill with one finger, protecting everyone. In this Lila, Shri Krishna directs the bhaktas’ worship away from the material divinities, towards the Supreme Brahman.
To this day, a huge mountain of rice and many other items are all offered to Shri Krishna. Cows are beautifully decorated with peacock feathers on their heads and brought into the temple, with anklet bells tied to their hooves. The backs of the cowherds and the cows are marked with red handprints, for red is the color of love.

Raga Sarang

See Hari eat with a thousand arms.
Over there He is talking with the Gopis.
Lalita says to Radha, “See, there He is!
The One who inhabits your heart.”
Blessed are all those who live
with the Lord of Gokul.
Nanda is elated to see Him eat.
All the men and women of Gokul are also full of joy.
Sings Surdas, “Krishna is an ocean of bliss and full of virtue.
Now He dances to the beat of the Gopis’ clapping hands.”

[Listen to Shyamdas’ kirtan teacher Mishralalji singing this poem by clicking here]

If inspired to share prasad with others please do consider supporting this prasad project.

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Our deep thanks to Sridhar, Amy, Mark, Samantha and the rest of the Bhaktifest production crew for allowing us to attend and represent the Foundation, and to Narayan, Vitthaldas, Madhu, Amit, and Yoga Now Chicago for the inspiration and support getting there. I was invited up to the main stage on multiple occasions to speak, read from Shyamdas’ books and invite everyone to our upcoming Kirtan Retreat at Ananda Ashram.

Bhaktifest Midwest artist David Newman (Durga Das), whom we are thrilled to have sing for us on Sunday afternoon at our Ananda retreat this fall, spoke lovingly of Shyamdas during his beautiful acoustic bhakti workshop, which was one of the highlights of the weekend in my book!

Saul David Raye, a dear friend and frequent guest at Shyamdas’ residence in Braj, eloquently offered his gratitude and admiration for Shyamdas during his absolutely ecstatic mainstage performance.

Govind Das, a true bhakta and loving host of our Bhakti Yoga Shala event last week, remembered Shyamdas sweetly at Bhaktifest Midwest and continues to support the Shyamdas Foundation and our future trajectory.

Nina Rao, who delighted all as usual at Bhaktifest with her Hanuman Chalisa workshops and kirtans, offered us her invaluable advice for the planning of the Foundation’s upcoming kirtan festival and will join us there, September 25-27 at Ananda Ashram…Hope you can all be there too!

Until then, jai ho, and stay in the bhava!

Shri Prathameshji performs his daily sandhya prayers with a painting of Shri Vallabhacharya in background

In honor of this blessed occasion we have uploaded a kirtan sung by Prathameshji, recorded by Shyamdas. Besides Shyamdas and the others present at that time, it has probably never been heard before. It is one of the longest and perhaps richest tracks available of Prathameshji’s captivating, bhava-filled singing.

Click to enjoy this audio-restored first-time release of Prathameshji singing “Banaṭhana kahā ju cale ho.” Experience more of the sacred guru-disciple relationship and teaching treasures of Prathameshji by listening to Shyamdas’ “Island Talk” in which he describes their meeting and lives together. You may also enjoy this photo album of Prathameshji and Shyamdas, as well as the following excerpt from the book Ocean of Grace: The Teachings of His Holiness Shri Prathameshji:

I had the extreme pleasure of living with His Holiness Goswami Prathameshji, a direct descendant of Shri Vallabhacharya and the head of the first seat of the Vallabh Sampradaya, for eighteen years. Although his physical form disappeared from this world in 1990, Prathameshji’s devotional teachings remain with us. His knowledge was vast. He was a pundit of Ayurveda, Vedanta, as well as the Shrimad Bhagavatam. He was a master of Sanskrit, Urdu, Gujarati, and Vrajbhasha languages and an accomplished classical musician.

Prathameshji masterfully played the tabla and pakhavaja drums, harmonium, sitar, flute, and even sarangi, but most of all, it is the way he sang Dhrupada-Dhamar devotional kirtan songs that still resonates throughout my being. He was a master of “Lila kirtan.” His life and songs emerged from the eternal realm and somehow manifested here in this world. His being was full of Lila-mood. He often sang, in total ecstasy, poems written by great bhaktas who had actually seen and experienced Shri Krishna’s Lila. As he once told me, “To sing of the Lilas of Hari is the fastest flight to God.”

On the evening of His Holiness’ birth in 1930, the outline of Shri Krishna’s lotus footprints appeared, in red powder, on the floor of his father’s temple courtyard in Jatipura. His father, Goswami Dwarkeshji Maharaja, commented at that time, “He will certainly be a very powerful lineage holder.” By the time His Holiness was fifteen, he was already an accomplished pundit, speaker, and musician. I had the fortune of meeting him in his home in Jatipura, near Vrindavan, when he was forty-three years old. I was nineteen.

His Holiness gave me many teachings and amazing explanations of his lineage, the blessed Path of Grace. Whenever he spoke, the meaning of the words filled my heart. My greatest pleasure was to be around him. Some years later, having noticed that His Holiness kept many accomplished scholars, musicians, Ayurvedic doctors, and artists around him, I asked him, “Why do you keep me around?”

He answered, “Your position here is to simply hang out and shoot the breeze with me.” I felt very blessed to be given that appointment. After living with Goswami Prathameshji for several years and reflecting upon his empowerments, I came to understand that the most important thing is not how much you know, but how to apply your wisdom to devotion. He showed me that it is not a matter of how well you sing, but of how much bhava you sing with. It is to always sing for the right reason: for the pleasure of God, and to serve Shri Krishna, for His pleasure. His Holiness pointed me towards the blessed path, wherein everything in life is an effortless offering to the Beloved.

“I have spent many years in this pilgrim guesthouse in Gokul, listening to the satsang of the bhaktas who live downstairs. The monkey bars in their windows and mine are the only barriers between us. The sweet fragrance of their bhakti-soaked voices wafts into my room at about 4:30 am and continues throughout the day and late into the night. Their voices have nourished me. They are my inspiration for undertaking this translation of Gopaldas’ sixteenth century Vallabhakhyan, originally composed in Gujarati. The bhaktas downstairs recite the Vallabhakhyan every evening, and while hearing their songs I look up towards the Vrindavan sky, where Shri Krishna resides as the moon, and I taste a bit of what they have been living. If a small portion of that essence appears in this work, then my efforts in this joyful undertaking have been well spent…”

In this second Akhyan, Gopaldas sings of Shri Vallabhacharya, the incarnation of Shri Krishna’s face and the founder of the Path of Grace. Gopaldas tells us how Shri Vallabhacharya appeared in order to connect grace-filled beings with the blissful lila.

The son of Shri Lakshman, Shri Vallabhacharya,
  is the emperor of devotion.
Bad karmas dissipate simply by remembering him.
He provides the way for souls to get through
  this age of struggle.

The Vedas continually praise his form and profile.
They contemplate his blissful being
  and matchless beauty,
  yet cannot ascertain his end.

Shri Vallabh’s face glows like Vrindavan’s full moon.
He is the incarnation of fire, the chief of the Brahmins,
  and his name is known throughout the three worlds.
He has taken on an incomparable form.

Shri Vallabh is the replete being.
Nectars flow as he bestows his teachings on Vedanta.

He manifests upon this earth
  with unmeasured brilliance and purity.
He is both the sun and the moon.
Shri Vallabh is the saffron tiger
  who shattered the elephant-like pride
  of Shankaracharya’s Mayavadian teachings.

On the pretense of pilgrimage,
  Shri Vallabh was spiritually victorious in every direction.
He uplifted all the holy places
  with the dust that touched his feet.

He set his souls firmly on the path
  and awarded them the highest joy of worship.
He gave them Krishna mantra,
  creating an auspicious sweetness in their mouths.

With his opulent, soft feet like a lotus,
  he toured many lands,
  showering grace upon numerous souls.
Blessed, I say, are the places he visited.

[copyright Sacred Woods, 2002]
Pratham Peeth Publications

We are grateful to all of you for your support and giving us this seva opportunity. We are fortunate also to have the selfless service of Devaki Pran Baba of Radha Kund, who has spent many hours assisting us with planning and planting! He can be seen working hard in these photos, along with manager Prakash and local assistant Shankar. There is much work to do, and more updates to come…

It’s never too late to plant a tree in the Shyam Forest in your name, in memory of a loved one, or as a gift on a special occasion. Click here to contribute to the Shyamdas Foundation’s reforestation seva project today.

The content is of course brilliant. These are Shyamdas’ own favorite teachings: the Bhagavat Purana literature describing the Gopis’ love for Krishna, illuminated by the Subodhini commentary of Shyamdas’ chosen philosopher-guru, Shri Vallabhacharya.