The KwaDukuza Branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) held a three- day festival, which commenced on Friday 1 April 2011, at the Glenhills Multi-purpose centre.
The Festival of India, as it is commonly known, was packed with dances, sketches, Vedic discourses, ecstatic kirtans and superb bhajans.
Saturday, 2 April 2011 saw hundreds of people of all races on hand to participate in ‘sankirtana-yoga’ (congregational chanting of God’s name) in what could only be described as a taste of spirituality. By the third day over 500 people attended the event.
The guest speaker and founder of the concept, His Holiness Partha Sarathi Das Goswami, an ISKCON spiritual master who has travelled the globe on many occasions, going as far afield as the USSR, as it was known in the Cold War period, delivered a Vedic discourse. He recited several verses from the ‘Bhagavad-Gita’ with an audience that was in awe with the ageless wisdom and eternal knowledge delivered. The discourse was very interactive with questions posed to the Guru indicative of the people’s strong need to unearth their latent love of God - what Hindus call ‘prema’.
One of the plays showcased the strength of devotional service to God against insurmountable physiological and psychological odds. In the play we find the devotees of God blissful in spite of the hardships they endured.
Proceedings came to an end when ‘Food for Life’, the humanitarian organization that feeds the poor and the homeless tirelessly in and around KwaDukuza, provided sumptuous vegetarian meals to all guests throughout the three day event. The meals were nutritious and surprisingly delicious. According to devotees these meals are known as prasadam (holy food) or food that has been sanctified by offering it first to God.
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