Pushpa Abhisheka @ ISKCON Pune

Jan 22, 2008.
Sri Sri Radha KunjaBihari , ISKCON Pune
PausyaAbhiseka Festival was celebrated in ISKCON Pune.
The program began with joyous kirtan followed by a lecture by HG Krishnananda Prabhu. He explained the meaning of Pushpa Abhisheka. Krishna is the master of the whole universe and a mere flower doesn’t do him much good. Just like when we offer Ganges water 3 times back in to Ganges, it is not flooded. Similarly no matter what we offer to Krishna, it is negligible in front of his opulences. Even if we offer the whole earth to Krishna, it is nothing as Krishna in form of Maha Vishnu, emanates innumerable universes..

But in Bhagwad Gita, Krishna states “ Patram Puspam Phalam Toyam……”. What does this mean then? In the same verse Krishna uses the word “bhakti” twice. Krishna is also known as “Bhavagrahi Janardana”. It’s the devotional attitude that Krishna is looking forward to. There are many pastimes where Krishna used to snatch morsels from the hands of his Gopa Sakhas, and ate broken rice from his friend Sudama. Similarly in Gaura Lila, Mahaprabhu ate bad smelling broken rice which Raghunath Dasa Goswami had gathered for his prasadam. No matter how fragrant and opulent flowers we offer to Krishna, if they are not offered with devotional attitude, they are no more fragrant, but smell bad.

Similarly when we chant 16 rounds of mahamantra daily, they are like flower offerings to Krishna only. So we should put in our mind and our intelligence in this process. We should offer our best chanting possible. This would please Krishna. The best flower that Krishna likes is chanting of the holy names by his devotees. We are not purified enough for our offerings to be accepted by Krishna. But we should still offer whatever small we can to Krishna, praying that “ O Krishna, though this offering is not fit for you because it is coming from me, but please be merciful upon this servant, and make this offering fit for your pleasure.” Thus by this process we can purify our offerings and our heart.

In this festival, Srimati Radha Rani and Sri Kunjabihari were showered with lots of flower petals. The abhisheka went on for about 30-35 minutes with yellow, orange and pink flowers. And as always the festival was followed by sumptuous feast prasadam.