Dear devotees,
Please accept my best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
We are on the brink of a historic event within ISKCON in KZN and South Africa. This year not only do we are celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Durban Festival of Chariots but we attempt to do what no other religious organisation in South Africa has ever done: organise a coming together of all ethnic and religious groups with the purpose of recognising our common bond as children of God.
We are blessed to have one of ISKCON’s foremost visionary preachers, HH Indradyumna Swami, take the festival under his wing, and carrying it to new heights. Maharaj has successfully secured the prime location, Bay of Plenty on the North Beach that will play host to the four day Easter weekend festivities and has inspired the eThekwini Municipality to support the festival in unprecedented ways. Many prominent religious and cultural leaders have accepted our invitation to attend the event. These include His Holiness V. V. Shembe, Bishop Rubin Phillips, A. V. Mahomed and Dr Ngobese. The theme, “Culturally Many – Spiritually One” will be carried throughout the festival. His Majesty, King Goodwill Zwelithini has already graciously accepted our invitation to attend as the guest of honour.
The ISKCON Community is now presented with a rare opportunity to present Krishna consciousness culture and hospitality to a wide cross section of the population of KZN as well as to the many highly influential business persons. People from various racial, cultural and spiritual backgrounds will all be exposed to Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON.
This is a wonderful occasion for us as the hosts of the festival to put our best foot forward. Please come forward to take on the various services that are available. See how you can become involved in presenting Srila Prabhupada’s movement to people outside our community. Our presentations may not be as overt as we are accustomed to. We want to use this festival as an opportunity to strongly establish Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON as a major movement within South Africa.
As of the 23rd, you can refer to the website www.festivalofchariots.net to get more details of the festival. There are many events which may not be directly Krishna conscious in nature, but they serve to attract many more thousands of people to the festival. And when they do come they will be blessed by pure Krishna prasadam, the pure Holy Names of Krishna and the pure association of devotees. We appeal to all of you to use whatever contacts, time and facility in becoming connected to this wave of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy that will definitely take Durban by storm.
Here is a list of names of devotees acting as heads of different department:
Overall Festival Management
Anuradha Dasi (GRS) 081 396 5092 anuradha1008@gmail.com
Balaram Das (KDS) 082 881 4521 binesh.rambaran@sunchemical.com
Swarup Damodar Das 083 778 3328 swarupdamodar@gmail.com
Umesh 082 897 1382 umesh.prakash@kaefer.co.za
Cultural Entertainment
Anuradha Devi Dasi (BCS) 082 728 5154 idgovender@telkomsa.net
Culturally Many Seminar Tent
Balaram Das (PSDG) 082 877 0753 golokaconsultants@gmail.com
VIP Management
Champakalata Dasi 082 824 2203 champakalata@telkomsa.net
Freelance Entertainment
Devaki Dasi 082 776 1254 chunilallm@saps.gov.za
Retail
Ramvijay Das 084 550 4101 rajiv@nitai.co.za
Youth Engagement
Rukmini Dasi 084 579 1080 rukminidd@yahoo.com
Govinda’s Food Stalls
Sangita 083 3142939 harekrsna@telkomsa.net
Preaching Initiatives
Sri Hari Das 083 656 2172 shd@telkomsa.net
Spiritual Literature
Sudama Das 084 477 1817 sudesh.sheodass@altech-multimedia.com
Lifestyle
Sunil Mohan Das 083 775 0171 practice@surgeon.co.za
Free Food Preparation and Distribution
Uagan 084 464 1285 uagan@impactfreight.co.za
Chariots repair
Anil Churran 082 320 9705 churranac@elec.durban.gov.za
Float and Parade
Ajith Persadh 084 580 9279 PersadAK@eskom.co.za
Kirtan Arena
Kamil Nagasar 082 350 8675 kamilshikhar@yahoo.com
Site Cleanup by devotees
Divesh Maharaj 074 162 6834 maharajd@ukzn.ac.za
Dramas with Bhaktimarga Swami
Rasa-sthali Dasi 031 403 3328 rasasthali@nitai.co.za
Should you want to be involved in any of the above services, please contact the relevant person. For any other queries please contact Bhava Bhakti Dasi on 071 234 4179 or write her at bhava.dfc@gmail.com
Due to the increased scale of the festival and the higher quality of the presentations, it will require significantly more donations, devotees and energy to put on this festival. Please do what you can.
If you are able to contribute financially towards the festival or encourage others to, please contact Bhakta Rakesh on 071 511 8811 or write him at dfc@iskcondurban.net
Hare Krishna.
May this find you all well.
Your servant,
Swarup Damodar Das
Durban Festival of Chariots
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