We have been organizing a day-long Harinam festival once in three months at the temple as one of the means of distributing the holy names of Lord Krishna.
Chanting the holy names of Lord Krishna is recommended in the scriptures as the only effective remedy for counteracting all the vices in this Kali-yuga.
The Harinam festival is organized in order to spread this awareness among people and inspire them to take up this devotional practice for their ultimate benefit-both material and spiritual. This is the best welfare activity and also the yuga-dharma of this age.
During the festival many teams of devotees take turns in singing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in different tunes to the accompaniment of musical instruments. This also includes a batch of children who devotedly perform sankirtan proving that devotional service to the Lord is not restricted to any particular age of the person. Hundreds of devotees join this celebration and the whole atmosphere becomes vibrant with the loud chanting of Krishna’s names.
The melodious and spiritual sound vibrations of the Hare Krishna mantra engross the devotees and the general public alike. This indicates that the all blissful Lord Krishna is present in His holy names. The kirtans are interspersed with a number of quotes cited from scriptures and the teachings of the acharyas, glorifying the holy names. Songs composed by the Vaishnava acharyas are also sung on this occasion. Participants listen to excerpts from Srila Prabhupada’s (Founder-acharya of ISKCON) lectures wherein he enlightens us about the spiritual potency of the holy names on the basis of Vedic scriptures.