Dear God-family, and well-wishers of H.H. Jayapataka Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Sub : VP location – CHENNAI (Chaitanya Nitai desh) – as agreed by Guru Maharaj.
After considering his health and recommendation of JPS SC, and capability of the organising committee, Guru Maharaj has agreed for Chennai (Caitanya Nitai Desh) to be the venue for this year’s Vyasa Puja. The main consideration was for Guru Maharaj’s need to be close to the hospital in Chennai. However, Guru Maharaj was concerned with changing the Vyasa Puja venue so late, which will impact the travel plans for many including the large base of disciples in Sridham Mayapur and nearby places.
As usual, the VP festival will be held over 26th evening for Adivas and 27th for a whole day event and those who would like to stay on for a Dvadasi feast on the 28th March. At the same time we want to clearly state that Guru Maharaja’s physical participation will be very limited and with all the necessary precautionary steps to avoid any health complication for him.
There will be a large VP event simultaneously held in Sridham Mayapur and the organisers are working on a live telecast of the event and a specific address by GM to the Mayapur devotees, and for that matter, devotees around the world who will be able to watch this online on Mayapur TV. Hopefully that will compensate and satisfy the need for enthusiastic devotees to travel to Chennai.
Our God brothers in Chennai who did the initial research will need to further discuss the facilities required and will also reach out to all the leaders in South India for support in terms of volunteers and necessary funding. Sridham Mayapur and Tirupati have already volunteered to support with manpower and expert managers to assist the Chennai devotees on the festivity and other organisational needs.
Our Chennai devotees are confident of handling a large number of devotees coming for the event, in terms of accommodation facilities that can be sourced nearby, the logistics of handling guests, the festival and taking care of Guru Maharaj’s needs, prasadam for all, etc. This will be a jam packed event with Guru Maharaj’s brief presence, glorifications, lectures by senior disciples and attending to the individual requirements of devotees with special needs.
To effectively handle devotees, they would start communicating with other leaders in South India and around the world and set up communication channels for individuals to be able toconfirm their presence. While this whole change is on a relatively short notice, the team will need to be supported by sufficient notice of the arrival of devotees.
Kindly watch out for more communication in the following days.
Your servant,
Vijaya Venugopala dasa
(Chairman, JPS Seva Committee)