On Monday, August 26th we will be celebrating Sri Krishna Janmastami, the appearance day of Lord Krishna. This occasion marks the biggest and grandest celebration at Toronto’s Hare Krishna Temple. Lord Krishna appeared over five thousand years ago in Mathura. His name means the all-attractive one. He is transcendental, all-knowing, and possesses all the qualities of all the avatars yet He remains as an ever-youthful cowherd boy. His beauty and sweetness know no bounds. Lord Krishna is the spiritual master and friend to all.
We are expecting large crowds as usual and will be making special arrangements for a pleasant experience for all. Beginning at 4 pm there will be special darshans of the Deities; this will continue until 11:30pm with the last admittance to the building at 11:00pm. The process will be for short visits where visitors will have the opportunity to have darshan (audience) of the Deities amidst melodious kirtans. This includes a special darshan of Baby Krishna in a specially decorated swing as well as receive a package of light take-out prasadam. Please see the map below explaining the traffic flow route. We are requesting visitors to leave the Temple after this experience so we can accommodate the crowds in a safe and pleasant atmosphere.
While the main public program will begin at 4pm The Temple will be open all day and buzzing with activity on Janmastami day starting at 4:30am with Mangala arati. Morning festivities also feature Darshan arati at 7am where Thier Lordships are unveiled in thier new outfit as well as a discourse on Srimad Bhagvatam. Additionally, evening celebrations culminate with abisheka at 11:30pm and the final midnight arati. Please note that there will NOT be a fresh flower outfit at midnight this year, this will be offered on Radhastami(September 11th).
On Sunday, August 25th we will have a special pre-festival with Kirtan beginning at 4:00pm and extended darshans till 10:30pm, details can be found in the poster below:
As always we cannot pull off such grand festivities without your support. There are various sponsorship opportunities to serve the deities and guests from sweets, flowers to water etc. Please click HERE to learn more about these sponsorship opportunities!
For more information on parking and directions click HERE