The Flower Festival

Our Jivamukti Teacher Training began in Mumbai, in part, so that we could experience the Flower Festival. When we arrived at the Chowpatty Temple, we were offered a delicious vegan lunch served by the devotees. Their vegetarian restaurant is next door to the Temple. The meal we received spoke well of the restaurant's offerings!

We were shown the upstairs Temple, where we could assist in prepping for the festival. We weren't told much about it. I had heard about it some from my teacher, Beth, via her friends, Sri Kirtan. They had lead the kirtan for last year's festival.

Many had donated flowers or money for flowers. There were absurd amounts of flowers! We sat down in circles to prep. I opened a bag of flowers and felt their warmth! They were composting! Next to me was an engineer and mother from Bangalore. She had traveled for the festival. She told me that she comes to Mumbai periodically to worship and celebrate. I asked her how I should prepare. She told me to sit in sukhasana, or cross-legged, so that my feet were not towards the altar. I asked if I should recite mantra while prepping. She said that was best, though many were chatting and laughing. She had serious strategy to efficiently pull all the petals. We went through a lot of flowers!

Periodically, a monk would come by and collect the basket of petals. Others would collect the flower stems and leaves that we had set aside. Still others would deliver more flowers for us to de-petal.

This was the beginning of me feeling pain at sitting on the floor for lengths of time. While in India, I came face to face with my own impatience a lot!

Radhanath Swami, a spiritual leader and author of The Journey Home, was in attendance. I heard monks whispering that at festival times he often slept only 3 hours a night. He looked rested and present. He wandered around. Many people approached him. I was tempted to but didn't know what to say. I think everyone wanted some of his attention. I only wanted to disturb him if I had something to offer or a serious query.

Unexpectedly, we had another period of free time. My early break was devoted to visiting Ghandhi's house. Some members of the group went to a nearby Temple devoted to Shiva. I was tempted but I also felt like I needed to try to find gifts for my friends and family. Having seen the area around the Temple, I felt like I would be OK venturing out by myself. I also knew I would be far quicker! I stole away and went in the direction where I was told there was a good shop.

I passed by Ghandhi's house again, all the construction, all the traffic. I passed by shops for electronics and chai stands. I saw a lot of shops advertising jewels but nothing that seemed like a good contender for gifts. Finally, I came to a busy intersection. There were restaurants, offices, and computer repair shops. Still no real shopping. I stopped when I saw thick crowds of a parade. I read their signs-- it was a Pride Parade!

I watched the parade for awhile. I was scared to go further afield. I didn't want to get turned around or be late for the Flower Festival. I went back to the Temple. 

There was a small, crowded gift shop in the Temple. I made one last stab at this mission. Inside were beauty products made from cow dung and cow urine. There were so many depictions of Radha and Krishna. I began gathering items. I had to sort of push my way to the cashier where he wrote down every item by hand in a notebook. I had gifts!

Upstairs, crowds were assembling for the Festival. Long lines wound through the Temple and outside. In the courtyard, a huge screen had been installed to show the Festival for those who couldn't fit inside the Temple.

I entered and found a seat close to the altar. Radhanath Swami emerged to explain the Festival to those of us visiting. He shared that the sacred texts, or Shastra, that he studies indicate how to worship Krishna. At various seasons, there are different offerings a devotee can make. A few years ago, he read a passage instructing the devotee to bathe Krishna in flowers. This is how the Flower Festival was born. 

During a later reading he realized that he misunderstood the Sanskrit of the source text. From what I remember, Sri Radhanath Swami discovered that a more accurate understanding would be to bathe Krishna in water, not flowers. However, at that point the Flower Festival was born and had become one of the most popular events at the Temple. Even though it stemmed from a misunderstanding, it remains!

As I would hear so many times during my time in India, the Maha Mantra began: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare." We sang call and response. The pace and rhythm of the chanting shifted as determined by the kirtan leader.

The curtains opened and the crowd gasped at Sri Krishna and Radha. A screen behind the two opened. In this photo, you can sort of see the two monks behind them. They spent HOURS showering the deities with petals. They poured the petals over them, periodically pushing them out of the deity's faces, or adjusting their garlands. They offered considerable care.

We chanted and petals rained over the deities. Petals would gather three feet high and the monks would push them forward into a sort of empty pool at the deities' feet. 

When the once empty pool in front of the deities' filled with petals four monks waded in. They bowed down, scooped petals, and quickly threw them into the air. Over and over and over again. These monks were working HARD. Imagine digging, fast. It was an obviously devotional practice. The petals began raining on those of us close to the altar. The chanting crescendoed.

As petals fell on those around me, they scooped up the petals from their laps or the floor and threw them up again. In this way, the petals fell on more and more of the crowd. 

This little girl was bathing me in Bhakti! Bhakti is a practice of yoga, known as the practice of feeling. Bhakti is devotional practice. ISKCON is a society of Bhakti practitioners. Devotees consider their every act to be an offering to the Divine. The purpose of this Festival was to offer love and devotion to the Divine. The petals were offered first to the deities and then to each of us in the crowd. As the monks scooped and sent the petals scattering, they were pushing more devotion to each of us. This little girl scooped petals again and again and rained them over my head. It became a game-- I drenched her, she drenched me.

One of our facilitators, the amazing Jules Febre, with a huge pile of petals ready to go in his hands. I am standing behind him, unsuspecting.

My friends Hari and Elizabeth were at the Festival, which was such a treat. Hari leads the 500 hour teacher training at my home studio, Yogawood. He and his partner, Elizabeth, lead a pilgrimage throughout India. It was a comfort to see a familiar face so far from home!

Do you see those little balcony window boxes? Monks sat in each box. As the petals flew and the fervor grew, they suddenly poured baskets of petals over the whole crowd. We were all covered! The air was a big swirling mass of rose and marigold petals. As they fell on us, we scooped more up from our clothes and the floor to send them back. Imagine a huge water fight but with flower petals. 

I am still finding petals in my clothes a month later. Jai!

Afterwards, we went downstairs for dinner. The air was buzzy with excitement but we were also tired. Jetlag and adrenhaline peaked and waned. There were many groups eating dinner with us-- Hari's group on pilgrimage, a group traveling with Raghunath Cappo, and kirtaners traveling with Gaura Vani. There may have been more too but those were the stories I collected.

Sleepily, we boarded our buses back for Hotel Lalit. The following day we were headed north to Govardhan EcoVillage. There our study began in earnest.