ISKCON Kolkata to celebrate Janmashtami for four days in New Town

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The ISKCON will celebrate Janmashtami for four days from September 2 at New Town near the city, and the organisers decided to support their ongoing relief work in disaster-hit Nepal.

The celebrations, being held for the third consecutive year on a grand scale in the New Town centre, assume significance as ISKCON marks 60 years of its establishment this year, senior official Gobindo Ghosh Das said.

“All the local ISKCON units in Nepal are actively providing meals, food and other assistance, while other units across its global network of 1,500 centres and 800 temples are also actively supporting various social causes,” he said.

State cabinet minister Dilip Ghosh has been actively associated with the ISKCON New Town branch and will participate in the festival, another official Sivananda Sen Das said.

The Janmastami festival here has been themed “Protect the Cow, Preserve the Village, Heal the Earth”, highlighting what the organisers described as the continuing relevance of Lord Krishna’s teachings on compassion, animal welfare, sustainable agriculture and respect for nature, he said.

The festival will begin on September 2 with rituals like Adhivas and Harinam Sankirtan, followed by spiritual and cultural programmes on September 3.

The main celebrations on September 4 will culminate at midnight with special Darshan on Janmastami, considered the birthday of Lord Krishna.

The concluding day on September 5 will be dedicated to Srila A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of ISKCON.
Gobinda Das expects that nearly two lakh devotees, visitors and guests will attend the four-day festival, during which sanctified prasadam will also be distributed.

Explaining this year’s theme, Ananta Bhgawan Das said the Govardhan model represented an integrated approach in which cows, agriculture, fertile land, water, pastures and communities were interconnected.

The organisers said the model could offer lessons for addressing contemporary concerns over environmental sustainability, rural communities and soil health by promoting a regenerative relationship between cattle, farmers, agriculture and nature.

“Janmashtami is not merely a celebration of a historical event. It is an opportunity to rediscover the timeless values embodied in the life and teachings of Lord Krishna — compassion, harmony with nature, care for all living beings and a life centred on spiritual values,” 

ISKCON Kolkata Director of Communications Ananta Bhagavan Das said. 

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