Spiritual programme, safety of community are priorities
THE Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple in Chatsworth will reopen completely once the bulk of people in the country are vaccinated or the pandemic has receded.
Swarup Damodar Dasa, the president of the organisation, said: “While we would love nothing more than to return to our usual services, the safety of our communities is our priority. We will continue to balance their physical safety with their emotional and spiritual needs during the course of this pandemic. We will regularly review and adjust our activities to offer optimal spiritual care and engagement to our congregation and to the various people we sweepingly connect with.”
Damodar Dasa said the temple was currently open to the public for darshan, which was the viewing of the deities.
“The services to the deities continued unabated throughout the lockdown – six offerings and aartis (rendering prayers and devotional songs) and two dressings daily. Our morning spiritual programme continued with devotional, meditation, scriptural discussions and worship of the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.”
He said the organisation’s takeaway, Govinda’s, had been functional for most of pandemic after level 5 of the lockdown was lifted.
“The takeaway provided support for the community and financial support for the temple maintenance. Our ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Food For Life distribution increased tremendously during the pandemic, with millions of plates being distributed over the past two years.”
Damodar Dasa said attendance had dropped. “During the low infection number periods, we began weekly service gatherings, which attracted about 100 people each week. Our Krishna Janmastami prayer in 2020 attracted 1500 devotees compared to 20000 in 2019.”
Before hosting any major prayers, the organisation would look at the infection rate, and if it was still high, the prayers would be live-streamed on social media.