Bhaktivedanta Manor celebrates Janmashtami
TENS of thousands of visitors attended the annual Janmashtami festivities last month at the Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, outside London.
The three-day programme (2830) saw around 35,000 visitors, but there were no more than 4,500 attendees at a given point of time. Organisers implemented Covid protocols, including social distancing, hand sanitising, temperature checks, and face masks for visitors who celebrated the birth of Lord Krishna.
The temple management worked with the local health authorities and the Hertsmere Council to ensure that staff and visitors enjoyed the three-day festivities.
Traffic management was also put in place in order to avoid congestion in the area.
Temple president Visakha Dasi said, “It is wonderful that so many people were able to experience the atmosphere and spiritual upliftment of visiting Bhaktivedanta Manor. I want to thank the hundreds of volunteers who have made the festival possible by their dedication and service.”
Ambika, a 21-year-old from Brent, who served as a volunteer in the car-parking team, said, “I have not been able to serve at the temple for over a year and now it is so exciting that I could spend time with my friends to volunteer to make this festival safe and successful.”
Age was no bar for Lilaben Patel, 83, from Harrow, who helped in one of the temple’s three kitchens by chopping vegetables. She also volunteered to help prepare vegetarian food offered for free to guests. Twenty tons of vegetables were used during the festival, with volunteers manning stoves around the clock.
Following a brief pause at the beginning of the first lockdown in the UK in March last year, the Bhaktivedanta Manor has remained open for private prayers.
The temple, originally gifted to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness by the late Beatle George Harrison, sits on 77 acres of land outside Watford.