The day after the Ratha Yatra in Soweto, despite aching feet and bones, festivities continued at the temple in Pretoria with the celebration of Radhastami (21 September). Due to it being a working day, the program began at 18:30 with a full-house in attendance! After a short rendition of Jaya-Radha-Madhava, Kadamba Kanana Swami began the lecture by saying what a special day it was, “Janmastami is for the public. Everyone knows about Janmastami but Radhastami is for the devotees. It is an in-house festival!”
He went on to mention that the themes for Radhastami are unalloyed devotional service as Srimati Radharani is the topmost devotee and compassion since there is so much mercy available on the day. He encouraged the audience to introspect as well as to recommit and increase our devotional service. Then he shared sweet pastimes of Krsna, Radharani, Abhimanyu, Mother Yashoda and the famous Jatila & Kutila.
As part of the Radhastami festival, an initiation ceremony took place and Kadamba Kanana Swami spent the last half-hour of his 90 minute lecture focusing on that. Amongst many inspiring words, Maharaj emphasized how our vows are eternal and that they are made to Krsna and not just to him, as the spiritual master.
Nicole from the KKSBlog team received the name Naimisaranya dd, her husband Kody is now Gopala Campu das, Akira was renamed Kisori Kunj dd, Sipho from Bloemfontein received the name Saunaka Muni das and Brhat Mrdanga das from the Sandton temple received second initiation. After the fire-sacrifice and final kirtan, devotees enjoyed a wonderful feast prepared by the Pretoria devotees which brought an end to the day.
On 22 September, Kadamba Kanana Swami travelled to Cape Town and stayed for a week. On his way out of South Africa, he spent the last night again in Johannesburg where he met with disciples for an evening program. On Tuesday, 20 September, he departed for Australia.
Photos
Visit Flickr to see the full slide-show of pictures from Radhastami and other programs around Johannesburg.
Audio – Radhastami
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KKS_PTA_21Sept2015_Radhastami_Lecture
Audio – Other recordings from Johannesburg
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KKS_JHB_19Sept2015_Midrand_Evening_Lecture
KKS_JHB_20Sept2015_Soweto_RY_QandA
KKS_JHB_28Sept2015_DiscipleProgram_Lecture
KKS_JHB_28Sept2015_DiscipleProgram_Kirtan