Lord Chaitanya's Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Lord Chaitanya's Appearance Day! Here is a brief description of what that is for those of you that are confused. :)

This festival celebrates the appearance anniversary of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It is observed annually (in late February, early March) by Krishna devotees all over the world—especially in the area of Mayapur, India, the place where He appeared in the year 1486. This year, Gaura Purnima falls on Saturday, March 19th (in the western world).

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself, appearing as His own devotee, to teach us that we can gain full enlightenment simply by chanting the holy names of the Lord:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Those who witnessed the Lord's pastimes saw Him dance and chant with ecstatic love for God, the likes of which had never been seen before.

Lord Chaitanya encouraged everyone to follow this same process. He taught that anyone—regardless of background or spiritual qualification—can develop their innate love of God and experience great spiritual pleasure by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.

The present-day International Society for Krishna Consciousness continues the work begun by Lord Chaitanya, who predicted that the chanting of the holy names of Krishna would spread all over the world.

Gaura Purnima means "golden full moon," signifying that:
1) Lord Chaitanya was “born” during a full moon, and
2) The Lord blesses everyone with the soothing, moonlike rays of His sublime teachings.

His followers generally observe this festival by fasting and chanting the holy names all day. At moonrise, a special multi-course feast is offered to the Lord and then enjoyed by all.

I was asked to make his birthday cake and could not have been more honored! It was QUITE a stressful morning though. Luckily, I had baked the cake the day before so all that I had to do was decorate it. Sounds simple, right?! Boy, was I wrong. I was pretty disappointed in the way it turned out. Everything I did to it, seemed to go wrong and none of the design worked out the way I wanted it to at all. I was upset with the color scheme, etc. I worked on this from 9am until 12:30...and this was the result. 

This was the largest cake that I've ever done. I didn't think that I needed to shave the roundness off of each layer because it didn't look that bad. The car ride to the temple proved me wrong. This thing shook like a bowl of jelly the ENTIRE time. If felt each and every crack in the road and I have never been so nervous driving in this lifetime. I was in need of a back massage after we arrived and it was in one piece. Whew! So glad that was over!! It turned out that the colors complimented the altar very nicely. Everyone seemed to love it and it tasted quite delicious! :)

The temple was quite full when we arrived at 3. Usually everyone comes in slowly in the first hour that the festivities begin...so we were surprised to see so many people there promptly at 3. So awesome! 

Our little rascal...

He looked so cute!

The Bharat Natyam dancers did a beautiful job (as usual)! I was waaaaayyy in the back so I couldn't get a good shot! 

The Sunday School Class reciting a story about Nimai. 

Little Gopi Mary Catherine. This was MC and Liam's first time to the temple and they had a great time. Liam was exploring outside pretty much the entire time. I think he had a fall in the (shallow) creek early in the day...but was having so much fun that he didn't mind his wet clothes throughout the day. Poor Liam. haha. 

Getting ready to bathe the deities. (Abhisheka)

An explanation:

During an elaborate bathing ceremony a Deity is bathed not only in water, but also with milk, yogurt, butter milk, honey, clarified butter, sugar, and all kinds of fruit juices. After this bathing, the sacred image is dressed, ornamented, fed and praised with hymns accompanied with bells, drums and other instruments.

Gracie and Mary Catherine in line to bathe the deities. 

Our little Gopi's! :)

All dressed up for the play. This is Nimai, Kamala, and Gracie. 

During Mitra's nice lecture...

Again, I was far in the back and unable to get good pictures. The play began and Gracie was quite nervous. She did so well though. I was a proud mata. :)

The temple seemed to swell as the day went on. It was so nice and everyone was so ecstatic during kirtan!

 Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, the two-headed mrdanga or pakawaj drum, and karatal hand cymbals. 

Quick, quick shot of the birthday cake on the altar. I didn't get a good shot of the deities and I'm so sad about that. If anyone has a nice one, please forward to me. Thanks so much! :)

After the (HUGE) feast...we wandered outside for the fireworks and the "Super Moon" :)

Doesn't look so "Super". It was quite impressive in person, but my lame lens (and juvenile photography skills) did not capture it. It was a foggy sky also. Oh well! Hopefully we will be around for the next one and I will have had a few photography classes under my belt. :)

Hope you enjoyed!