Kurma

It's Sri Krishna Janmastami and I'm having a ball here in Melbourne. Our first big celebration of the day was mangala arati, the joyous chanting commencing at 4.30 am. The temple was so packed that it was very dificult to get inside. There must have been 300 attendees, which is a record for such an early-hour Melbourne Temple event.

The kirtan, led by myself was recorded on Mp3, and I'll try to share it with you. I led some more chanting from 7.30-8.30 am also, and that was also recorded. Let's see how it turned out.

Since then I've been cooking for tomorrow's festival, the Birthday of Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of the Hare Krishna Movement.

I was able to get a special backstage pass to photograph some delicacies that were offered to Krishna this morning at 4.00am and again at 7.00am. There will be 1008 different foodstuffs offered throughout the day.

All you see here have been distributed by now, so all that remains of them is a memory, plus these photos.

There's a long evening ahead and the bulk of our 10,000 guests are yet to arrive, peaking at the midnight festival.

I'll be excusing myself after my scheduled chanting this evening between 7 and 9.30, since I have be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 4.00 am tomorrow to cook.

"A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill?" John Steinbeck, 1902-1968

"Bhajana kara sadhana kara, matte janle haya" Translation: "Whatever you do for perfection will be tested at the time of your death." Bengali proverb.