The Sri Krishna Jayanthi Janmashtami, took place on Saturday, August 11 from 6:30 to 11 pm.
Program:
Devotional Program: 6:30 pm
Slokas, Songs, Bhajans : 7 pm
Aarti: 7:30 pm
Govinda’s Treat 7:45 pm – Outdoor pyramid sport for kids with breaking of Pinata for treats
Prasad/Dinner: 8:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Cultural Program : 9:30 – 11:30 p.m. Scheduled contributions: Songs, Stories, Bhajans
Open Time – Floor contributions welcome, Aarti : 12:00 am.
Adapted from Shanthi Sandesh, Volume 7, no. 3 by Maya Cutkosky:
To celebrate Janmashtami at Shanthi Mandir, two Krishna statues were placed on the stage on podiums. Plates of fruit, prasad, and flowers were placed in front of the Krishnas. People brought food and flowers, and make garlands to put around Krishna.
At around 6:30 the program started. Several slokams were chanted, including the 40 makundamalai, written by King Kulasekara Azwar. Ashtothra (108 names of Krishna) puja with Pushpa archanai ( flower worship) was performed by Neeta and Maya, who gave flowers to Krishna while Hema Srinivasan and Kalai Kumar chanted. The Puja ended with Krishna Jayanthi aarti: “Madhava Bhavatu te jaya mangalam.” Anusha and Ajay each sang very pretty songs about Krishna. Then, we ended with a well known aarti: “Jaya Jagadeesha hare.”
Everyone went outside to reenact Krishna’s butter stealing antics. We used a piñata instead of a butter bowl and it was filled with candy instead of butter, a much less messy and for most kids more appreciated treat. A little kid was raised by an adult to smash the piñata.
After that came dinner. Since Krishna was so found of butter, there were lots of milk sweets like payasam. Lots of people left around 10:00, but some people stayed past midnight, singing more songs in praise of Krishna.
