An Unforgettable Night – Candlelit Sunday Feast

With the City of Toronto in the throes of city-wide power outages due to a massive ice storm which had hit the city overnight on Saturday, there were more than a few pensive moments as the temple scrambled to keep things going with no power.  The lack of power meant no lights, no heat, no hot water in the temple.

However, spirits remained high and all of the aratis (services) and offerings for our beautiful Deities, Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha, went right on schedule.  As Sunday wore on, it became evident that we wouldn’t have power for our weekly Sunday Feast.  At first, we thought nobody would show up, but we decided the show must go on and planned a simple evening program.  Of course, the temple was hosting HG Vaisesika prabhu and HG Nirakula mataji and their presence took things from “simple” to “simply wonderful”!

What played out was a stunningly beautiful Sunday Feast, with (amazingly) approximately 100 guests present.  Candles were placed ALL around the Temple Room and with no microphones, it was pin-drop silence that welcomed each inspiring word that HG Vaisesika prabhu spoke.  Everyone’s collected voices chanted in kirtans that warmed the heart, if not the entire body!

Of course, words can only say so much.  So allow us to present some stunning pictures from the event.  Captured with high exposure and wide aperture settings (thanks to Tarun and Manish prabhus), we were able to capture some incredible visuals from the program, despite the very low lighting!  These might very well arguably be some of the best photos of 2013!  Check them out: