Shri Krishna Brundavana - Sydney

Shri Krishna Brundavana is a priest house providing various Priest Services to the devotees at Sydney. The silent night air reverberated with the chants of Krishna. Vishnu Sahasranama penetrated the tranquility of Toongabbie on the night of Shivaratri (13 Feb 2018), aptly renamed as Shubha Ratri by His Holiness Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji. The divine atmosphere enchanted the assembled devotees and took them to new heights - a soul stirring occurrence rarely experienced in this part of the world. This electrifiying sequence of events was witnessed by the fortunate devotees gathered for the Thottilu Puja at Smt Nagaveni and Sri Vasudev’s house at Girraween. The family has gracefully agreed to donate their Udupi Krishna idol to the Sri Venkata Krishna Vrundavana, Sydney. But little did they anticipate the way in which Krishna would enter the Vrundavana.

As the devotees gathered for the Thottilu Puja at about 8 pm in the Vasudev family residence, Swamiji was in his element, describing the greatness of the Gita. In this address, he also announced the couple’s kind gesture of the donation of the idol. As soon as the announcement was made, the assembled devotees went through a transformation. The Hall was alive with a renewed frenzy of devotional love towards the Lord. For one such devotee who witnessed the event, the words of Sanjaya in the concluding chapter of Gita sprang to his mind - “ rajan samsritya samsritya… adbhutam romaharsanam ”. Then Lord Krishna was taken in a procession through the streets of Toongabbie from the residence of Nagaveni-Vasudev to the Temple amid chanting of the Vishnu Sahasranam.

The night air was filled with melodious chants of the Lord. And lo behold! The time taken for Krishna to reach Vrundavan was exactly the time required to complete one parayana of Vishnu Sahasranama. This simply reminds us that though God has given the ability to us to make plans, when He plans it Himself, it seems just perfectly aligned! The ever beautiful Sri Krishna came smiling all the way, carried on the shoulders of ardent devotees into the Vrundavana. Later on, Swamiji said this of the incident The single minded devotion of Rayaru in the Vrundavana got Krishna running to him at night, just like the way he travelled from the prison to Vrundavana with Vasudeva . A beautiful articulation of a sensational event.

Swamiji performed the first Puja of Sri Krishna today (14th Feb) and consecrated it in the temple forever.The birds and the bees of Toongabbie are a blessed lot! Every dawn, they wake up to the divine chants of the Lord for years to come.