As the very name of the event suggests, Houston Namadwaar was filled with the presence of our beautiful Gopas and Gopis on Gopashtami. They were dressed in bright, colorful costumes and almost brought in such radiance to the very venue that we could only begin to imagine the serene divinity created by the presence of all the Gopas and Gopis in Brindhavan with our Lord Krishna.The satsang started off with the blissful chanting of Nama .The rhythmic chanting of Nama by all the devotees was not only food to ears but to the souls as well. Nama was followed by a small pravachan by Zeniji. Starting with significance and importance of Gopashtami, she dealt with the beautiful Venu geetham from Bhagavatam adding to the ambience of the celebration! It was the grace of our Guru Maharaj that gave us the wonderful chance to recite the entire Venu geetham and discuss a little about it as well!
The pravachan was followed by “Kaliyaiyum bali kollum” and then the Aarthi. Delicious prasad was offered. The best was yet to come! The kids of Houston Namadwaar had all dressed up as Gopas and Gopis. Vishnuprriya, Muktha and Nithya were the Gopis while Vishnu vardhan, Mukund, Adith, Vyas and Bharat were the Gopas . What kind of a Gopashtami celebration would it be with out Krishna amidst us? In fact we had 2 Krishnas! Karun was the adolescent Krishna while Bharat was our little baby Krishna.
The kids started off the celebration with Nama followed by dhyana slokas. They rendered beautiful and melodious Kirtans – Krishna Janardhana Gopi Ramana, Namavai paaduvom and many more. The kids beautifully depicted a skit narrating the Govardhana Leela. Vyas and Muktha played the roles of Nandha baba and Yashodha. Karun was their son Krishna, Vishnuvardhan was Lord Indra, Vishnupriya and Nithya were gopis, Mukund and Adith were gopas and Bharat was little Krishna. The kids so truly enacted the entire Govardhana Leela that everyone present there were completely thrilled and grateful to be witnessing the Leela on such an auspicious day like that of Gopashtami!
The skit aptly ended with the glorious coronation of Lord Krishna as GOVINDA and the joyous dancing of all the Gopas and Gopis of Brindhavan around Lord Krishna singing GIRIDHARI GIRIDHARI GOVINDHA GIRIDHARI.There was more to the celebration as after the skit the Gopis – Vishnupriya, Muktha, and Nithya — so gracefully expressed through dance the importance of how one should not become a prey to any kind of ego on their path to attaining Lord Krishna through Guruji’s Kirtan – “Paadi thirivaai maname kannanai”!
Namadwaar turned into Brindhavan and all the devotees present there experienced being a Vrajavasi enjoying Lord Krishna amidst them by these wonderful performances of the kids .The celebration of Gopashtami invoked bhakthi and joy in the hearts of everyone present there. Finally the kids chanted Nama and brought the celebration to a conclusion. Devotees left Namadwaar filled with great satisfaction and with the inner awareness that to all those who surrender truly unto Him, Lord Krishna will lift any Govardhana hill to save and protect them from any misery!
