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The Appearance Day of Lord Nityananda is the first major festival of the year and it celebrates the dawn of the sankīrtana movement (congregational chanting), started by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Nityananda is the “older brother” of Caitanya and His main assistant in the propagation of sankirtan. Nityananda is an incarnation of Lord Balarāma, the first expansion of Sri Krishna. As with most of New Dvārakā’s festivals, this celebration includes a procession of the Deity, agni-hotra(fire sac...

The Krishna consciousness tradition places great emphasis not only on worship of Lord Krishna, but also on the worship of His devotees. Śiva-rātrī is the celebration to honor the foremost devotee, Mahādeva, Lord Śiva. Śivaji presides over the festival in his deity form as well as linga form. Everyone is invited to bathe the Śiva linga. The celebration includes an enlightening discourse on his pastimes, chanting of the holy names of the Lord, and no less than a six course feast. [button...

Śrī Gaura-pūrṇima could easily be called our temple’s most beloved festival. Gaura, also known as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, appears in Navadvipa on the full moon day, to bring “the storehouse of love of God” to every living being. He comes to propagate the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.  Kṛṣṇadasa Kaviraja, one of His biographers, describes that anyone who met Caitanya Mahaprabhu and heard His chanting of HareKṛṣṇa  became a pure devotee of Lord Krishna and in turn he would cause so ...

Śrī Rāma-navamī literally means "Appearance of Lord Rama on the day of the moon". Śrī Rāma-navamī is the famous, most beloved king/avatar of the Lord. He came to show by personal example how to live in the most dutiful way, to uphold dharma even in adversity. His pastimes, recorded in the epic classic, Rāmayana, are chanted by Rāma bhaktas everywhere. On this day in New Dvārakā, the utsava deities of Rama, Lakṣmaṇa, Sīta and Hanumān are the center of the celebrations which include a proc...

Just right of center on theNew Dvārakā temple altar stands the queen of Dvārakā. She is always next to Her beloved Kṛṣṇa, also known as Dvārakādiṣa. On Rukmiṇī Dvādasi devotees take turns to offer a beautiful day of songs, prayers, an elaborate flower garment, flower jewelry, crowns and other accessories.Ror the festival She wears “the golden glove,” a gold hand covering beset with rubies and diamonds designed by a devotee jeweler just for Her. This festival also includes agni-hotra, abhiṣeka, l...

The appearance of Lord Nṛsiṁhadev is unlike any other advent of the Lord, and is a favorite celebration among the Vaisnavas. The half-man, half-lion incarnation appears to protect His beloved pure devotee Prahlada from the demoniac king who was about to kill him. His father, the king, strikes a nearby pillar with his sword and challenges his son, “Can your God protect you now? Is your God here?” Lord Nṛsiṁhadev manifests Himself from within the pillar and proceeds to destroy the heinous king...

The first Sunday of June brings a little-known, but no less beloved festival, when temple president Svavasa prabhu and his wife Tadit “bring their altar to the temple.” They maintain and share with us the worship of the beautiful SriSri Radha-Govinda, Deities worshipped by the late Gouri mataji. Gouri was a sankirtana devotee at New Dwaraka temple and a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Gouri was well known and loved here in New Dwaraka in the 70’s and 80’s. She left her body in Vrndavana Dhama, the...

50th Anniversary of Śrī Śrī Rukmini-Dvarakanatha's Installation

Lord Balarāma is the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa and as such He represents the strength of the Lord as well as the potency of the spiritual master. His special day is celebrated with an exquisite flower garment offered to Him, intense kīrtana, a discourse and a grand feast to include many preparations made with His favorite food, honey.     [button title="Donate For Lord Balarama" link=/sponsor/balarama-purnima/ target="_self" color="orange" align="center" icon="icon-money-line" icon_position=""...

Festival of the chariots, you know it’s really sweet, when the Lord of the Universe is coming down Main Street!                                                                                  -Song by Nirantara dasa Nothing charms devotees and the public alike more than the Ratha-yatra parade of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra. Approaching its forty-first year, preparations for the Festival of the Chariots at Venice Beach will begin months in advance by obtaining permits, preparing ton...

Festival of the chariots, you know it’s really sweet,When the Lord of the Universe is coming down Main Street!                                                                                  -Song by Nirantara dasa   festivalofchariots.com Krishna, Nothing charms devotees and the public alike more than the Ratha-yatra parade of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra. Approaching its forty-first year, preparations for the Festival of the Chariots at Venice Beach will begin months in advance...

Kirtan Schedule 5:30PM – 6.30PM – 6.30PM – 7.30PM – 7.30 PM – 8.30 PM 8.30 PM – 9.30 PM 9.30 PM – 10.30 PM – 10.30 PM -11.30 PM – 11.30 PM – CLASS BY 12.00 PM – MAHA KIRTAN Main Stage Schedule 7:00 - Temple Bhajan Band 7:45 - Prana Shakti Bhajan Band - Featuring Radhika from Shakti Dance Company singing. 8:30 - Dance presentation with devotee children: Lalita, Swetha and Vishakha 8:45 - Inspirational Movies - "Krishna" High quality animated movie of Krishna Pastimes. / "Joy of...

The auspicious appearance day of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda, the founder-ācārya of ISKCON, is on the day following Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī. Devotees and disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda fast until noon on this day and offer Śrīla Prabhupāda a grand ceremony of puṣpāñjali, abhiṣeka, words of glorification and some favorite food preparations of His Divine Grace. Prabhupāda spent a great deal of his time at New Dvārakā temple translating his books and training disciples, and for thi...

The best worshipper and most beloved devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is Śrīmati Rādhārānī. She is His eternal consort and She appears in this world on the eighth day of the waxing moon in Barsāna in the home of Vṛṣbhānu Mahārāja and Kīrtidā. She is the center of many of the loving pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the cowherd damsels of Vṛndāvana. We honor this special appearance day to get Her mercy so that we may become better and better servants of Kṛṣṇa. This day includes the offering of new cloth embroide...

The story is told in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam of how eight-year-old Kṛṣṇa challenged the long-held tradition in His village to worship Indra to get rain for crops. He asked them, “What benefit is there in worshiping an angry god, because we are afraid of offending him? Instead, why not worship Govardhana Hill, because it supplies all of the needs of the cows and cowherd people of Vṛndāvana.” When the cow herders eventually agreed to this proposal and commenced worship of Govardhana Hill, Indra trie...

On the day of the anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s departure from this world, a festival is held every year to remember and glorify His Divine Grace. Śrīla Prabhupāda established the pure traditional practice of bhakti-yoga in the western world. Śrīla Prabhupāda trained his disciples how to correctly establish the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa and celebration of His festivals. His influence is sorely missed but in separation we feel the compelling emotions that allow us to relive his memory and inspire...

This is the anniversary day of the renowned wedding of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His beloved devotee, Śrīmati Tulasī Devī. There is a long history which leads up to this sacred nuptial agreement and it can be found in the Padma Purāṇa. In short, Tulasī becomes very upset with Kṛṣṇa for an insult to Her. She calls Him stone-hearted and curses Him to take the form of a stone, or śila. Laughing heartily, Kṛṣṇa accepts the curse, but issues a counter-curse. Tulasī, also known as Vṛndā Devī, must in turn take th...

Śrīmad Bhagavad-Gītā literally means the auspicious song of God. Gītā Jayanti is that day when it was first heard. Arjuna took the position of Kṛṣṇa’s disciple and received Kṛṣṇa’s unparalleled words of wisdom. Bhagavad-Gītā has survived through countless ages as a timeless lesson for all mankind. The darkness of ignorance can be destroyed with the shining lamp of knowledge; on this day three agni-hotras are lit, and the 700 verses of Bhagavad-Gītā chanted in unison by our congregation of Gītā e...