Community Development

KRISHNA CLUB

Although London Rathayatra was sadly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Krishna Club children were given a fun project of making their own Rath cart for Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Subhadra Devi and participating in the festival in their own homes. Alternatively, they could write a letter to Lord Jagannatha. Below is a letter written by Narahari and Rath carts made by Thanushri (middle) and Tungavidya (right).

SRI SRI RADHA-LONDONISVARA JAPA SANGA The daily japa sanga, which started on Friday 27th March and is facilitated by Devaki devi dasi, has continued to take place every day on Zoom from 6.00pm to 6.40pm. At the start of each session, there are prayers for those who are unwell or who have sadly passed away. This is followed by a short reading about the holy names and then 30 minutes of group japa. Afterwards, devotees share realisations on the sanga’s WhatsApp group. Devotees find the japa sessions a nourishing part of their daily schedule and many have said how it has helped them improve the quality of their japa.

If you would like to participate, please join the WhatsApp group using the following link: https://bit.ly/esanga-japa

LONDON MELLOWS 2020: A GLOBAL OFFERING OF LOVE FOR SRI SRI RADHA-LONDONISVARA

This year our annual kirtan weekend went online due to the pandemic. On Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June, the London Mellows team organised an amazing and uplifting weekend of kirtans by kirtaneers from across the globe for the pleasure of Their Lordships and the global Vaishnava audience.

The event kicked off with a welcome message streamed live from the Temple Room and joyously led by the Temple residents. On both days, live darshan was streamed. Their Lordships and the altar were beautifully decorated in a holy name theme.

World-renowned kirtaneers performed throughout the event, including Sacinandana Swami and Kadamba Kanana Swami from Europe, and Acyuta Gopi devi dasi, Amala Harinam dasa, Gaura Vani dasa and Nadiya Mani devi dasi from North America. International kirtan groups Kirtan Dubai and Vrindavan 24 Hour Kirtan Mandali also joined in as well as regular contributors to local mantra music projects and festivals including Abishek Singh, Ananda Monet, Caitanya Cintamani devi dasi, Kishori Jani, Radhika Ranjana dasa and Sri Prahlada dasa, many other seasoned kirtan artists and talented performers also came together via the online streaming.

This year’s event was dedicated to the recovery of Rama devi dasi, a Srila Prabhupada disciple and longstanding resident in Sri Mayapur Dhama, who was unwell. She served here as a seamstress for Their Lordships during the early days.

You can watch the playlist here: https://bit.ly/ldnmellows2020-playlist

“On behalf of our London Mellows 2020 team I am ever so grateful to all the wonderful kirtaneers from across the globe for making this year’s offering possible to Sri Sri RadhaLondonisvara. Although it was our first online event everyone was extremely excited knowing that the kirtans were being played live in the Temple to the Deities directly! It was truly a global offering and we cannot wait to see everyone next year!”

Gopibhava devi dasi, Event Organiser