It was a nice, intimate group of devotees that gathered to celebrate the day which is marked as the anniversary when Lord Krsna spoke the Bhagavad Gita over 5,000 years ago.
The tradition at ISKCON Toronto is to read the entire Gita (all 700 verses) as a group and that is how the festivities began. At 5:00pm sharp, the assembled group of devotees began to read the Sanksrit verses and completed the whole Gita after about two hours. The mood was certainly blissful, with ambient lighting and everyone sitting together reading the ancient scripture in unison.
After the reading, everyone stretched their legs and then sat down to enjoy a special treat. HH Bhaktimarga Swami had surprised everyone the day before, at the Sunday Feast, with an impromptu mini-drama depicting the first and second chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. On this evening, he presented the second part of the mini-drama: chapters three to eleven!
Once again featuring the combination of two of our stalwart actors, Rishi and Shashi prabhus, the dramatic voice of Bhaktimarga Swami and some brilliant background music, the mini-drama had the assembled crowd thrilled!
It was a smaller crowd that made it out to the temple on this cool Monday evening, but the intimate group shared a special evening with the Bhagavad Gita and got a chance to experience it in dramatic fashion!
View the Festival Picture Gallery Below: