Bhajan News : : December 20, 2003

Bhajan

This was the last month of the year and thus many devotional bhajans were presented by devotees for Lord's blessing for a Happy and Prosperous New Year. The weather was very comfortable and the deities were in another new "besha". The bhajan by Mahashakti Dasa and Mridangam by his daughter Satyabati were very perfect match.

Children's Program

The children were tested on the complete prayer they were taught in October and November. They practiced the bhajan again and took home the test for completion.

Sponsor

The program was sponsored by Mrs Urmila Mahapatra of Virginia. The prasad was enjoyed by all. Our regular devotees distributed prasad and also helped in cleaning the utensils and temple premises.

Bhajan News : : November 15, 2003

Bhajan

The deities Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were decorated with new cloths and jewelry. The air of the prayer hall had some divine spark that was pulling the mind to observe and just observe the deities. Along with the Oriya families, some families of temple priests also joined the bhajan program.

The devoted bhajan singers tried to be their best. Mahashakti Prabhu and Debaki Nandan Chowdhury ended the bhajan with a sacred touch.

Children's Program

The children were tested on the first stanza of the prayer they were taught last month. They also learnt the other stanzas of the prayer. Their tests were graded by Dr Indu Mishra.

Sponsor

The program was sponsored by Mousumi and Sandip Pattnaik of Silver Spring, MD.

Bhajan News : : October 18, 2003

Bhajan

It was a very nice day, a little cold, but pleasant. Many families joined the bhajan program today. Bhajan mandali singers were in very enthusiastic mood. It was a great joy to listen to the bhajan singing with Mahashakti prabhu in Harmonium and Dr Surendra Ray in "tabla" or "Dhol". Because of the holy month, the temple was observing lighting of the lamps for signifying the "Damodara" role of Lord Krishna. Mahashakti prabhu sang "Damodarastakam" while the devotees lighted the lamps and did "bandapana" to the Lord.

Children's Program

The children were taught a prayer.

Prabachana

In his prabachana Nrusingha chaitanya prabhu told the story of "Jamala-Arjuna". The two brothers were so proud of their charm that they teased Narada Muni. By Maharshi Narada's curse they took the form of trees and were rescued by Lord Krishna.

Sponsor

The program was sponsored by Anjana and Debaki Chowdhury of Germantown, MD.

Bhajan News : : September 20, 2003

Preparation

Our September month bhajan program was held in Jagannath Temple, Baltimore, MD (ISKCON Temple). The effect of hurricane Isabel was still there in many communities with power outage. Many street lights were not working and the police men could be seen at traffic posts. The devotees however were making themselves ready for the bhajan program by arranging emergency lights, batteries for the microphone and torches. The temple was out of power until about 3 pm. The power was then restored and Lord Jagannath's test was over.

Bhajan

It was the right atmosphere for our bhajan program. Temple priest Mahashakti Dash joined us in bhajan singing and sang many beautiful bhajans. He also accompanied in harmonium while others sang. Our bhajan mandali singers Debaki Nandan Chowdhury, Pratap Dash, Bandita Mishra, Sujata Nayak, Bijoylaxmi Dash etc. also sang many beautiful bhajans in GOD's glory.

Children's Program

Mrs Anjana Chowdhury taught Yoga (meditation) to the children. She first gave instructions about Yoga and then made the children practice some postures.

The children presented their throughts about their favorite Gods/Goddesses. Satish Mishra started with Gayatri Mantra. Bagmi Das sang a Shiva bandana, Rajashri Mishra recited Lord Ganesha stuti, Mrunali Das sang "sarbe bhabantu sukhinam", Suman Ojha sang "Ahe dayAmaya" in praise of Lord Bisnu, Siddharth Mahapatra recited "twameba mAtAscha...", and Shashwati Das recited "ShukLAmbaram Dharam Bisnu" in praise of Lord Ganesh. The children were given prizes for their participation.

We had scheduled musical demonstration by Mr Naba Singh, a veteran musician in this area with multiple talents in dance as well as music. However, because of traffic problems we couldn't have him. We plan to schedule him some other time.

Sponsor

The program was sponsored by Drs Kailash and Meena Sahu of Ellicot City, MD.