It was a truly uplifting and festive time for ISKCON of Los Angeles from August 4^th to 7^th recently, with celebrations for both the 40^th anniversary of the city’s Rathayatra festival, and the 50^th anniversary of ISKCON in full swing.

The ISKCON of LA property looked fresh and beautiful for the festival, with temple president Svavasa Das and his brother Naikatma Das completing an ambitious renovation project just in time.

All the windows were replaced and the temple, Govinda’s buffet and kitchen buildings sandblasted and re-stuccoed. The temple entrance received a face lift, with new ornate wood decor, a beautiful stone tile entryway and a grand maroon canopy. The area in front was also re-designed with drought resistant landscaping and stone tile work to handle the increased flow of foot traffic for festivals and general increase in daily visitors.  

It was a welcoming setting for the over 2,000 devotees from North America, Europe, and India who participated in the celebrations leading up to the Rathayatra itself.

Gorgeous renovations were carried out on the temple in time for the 50th anniversary celebrations

A Kirtan Mela ran all day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am till nearly 11pm on a stage in front of the temple, with well-known kirtaniyas like Agnideva, Karnamrita, Amala Kirtan, Amala Harinama, and The Hanumen leading the chanting along with local LA kirtaniyas.

“Simultaneously, we had a series of seminars going on inside the temple,” says Divyadristi Dasi, who spearheaded the multi-day festival. “Devamrita Swami spoke about how to achieve transcendental bliss; Vaisesika Prabhu gave a lot of innovative book distribution techniques; Amala Bhakta Swami talked about the reasons for Lord Jagannath’s appearance; Badrinarayan Swami presented a slideshow on ISKCON’s successs all over the world, and Ranjit Prabhu made a presentation on the history of Back to Godhead magazine.”

“Divyadristi also gave a really sweet seminar called Attitude of Gratitude,” interjects her friend Karuna Dharini Dasi, who helped put the festival together. “She went around the room and had us all speak about how we came to ISKCON, what our feeling is about it, and how we want to express our gratitude to Srila Prabhupada by serving him and his mission. It was very inspiring.”

Devotees chant during the ISKCON 50 Kirtan Mela

Two videos were also presented – one by ITV filmmaker Nrsimhananda Das, glorifying ISKCON’s accomplishments over the past fifty years; and one by Siddhanta Das, a new film in his “Memories” series with senior devotees remembering Srila Prabhupada.

Meanwhile on Saturday Hridayananda Das Goswami took devotees on a bus tour pilgrimage of the spots where Srila Prabhupada took his morning walks while in LA – Venice Beach, Cheviot Hills Park, and the Santa Monica Overlook. They also visited Srila Prabhupada’s garden and quarters at the LA temple.

“Venice Beach is where Prabhupada’s famous conversations with his scientist disciples like Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami, from the book Life Comes From Life, were recorded,” says Divyadristi. “So Hridayananda Maharaja talked a lot about how Prabhupada would have debates with devotees, as they played the role of scientists, and he ‘smashed’ them with spiritual knowledge.”

Hridayananda also told many stories. He recalled how Prabhupada called the Santa Monica Overlook “the nicest place in all of Los Angeles.”  And he told devotees how Prabhupada set him straight when as a fanatical new sannyasi, he questioned his guru, a celibate renunciant, about ‘touching a woman’ by shaking her hand.

“No, she’s not a woman, she’s a spirit soul,” Prabhupada said, educating him about how to see past identification with the body.

People mill about a