WIth the grace of Sri Swamiji and Thakurji, a 6-hour Akhanda Nama sankirtan was conducted on February 20th at the residence of Sri Sriram and Smt. Nisha on the occasion of the 4th birthday of their daughter, Madhura. Mahamantra was chanted from 6 AM to 12 Noon with prayers for Madhura and all her young friends. Sri Ramaswamy, who was visiting from California, then gave a short talk on Nama Mahima.
After arati, neivedyam and lunch, the stage was set for a “home-made” puppet show for adults and kids alike. With Madhura’s dolls playing different characters, the show was based on a couple of incidents from the life of Sant Jnaneshwar. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves especially when the buffalo (which was actually a cow soft toy in disguise!) chanted the Vedas. After the puppet show, the children were next treated to many different games that included Nama Bingo and a Krishna treasure hunt that had the kids running up and down the house. Cheetos, chips and candy were the prizes, with the grand prize for the Bingo winner (3 year-old Anjali) being an Indian Folk Tales VCD.
The final event of the day was “uriyadi” or breaking the pot of butter, except this time it was a pot that looked like it contained butter but actually contained loads of candy. The kids had fun breaking the pot open and grabbing all the candy that showered down.
Another highlight of the day was the Krishna-Peacock cake that enthralled the youngsters. Overall it was a fun and blessed day for the 60+ people who attended the event.
