By Uddhava Bandhu Das
The yearly boat festival in Vrindavan, part of the Gaura Purnima celebrations, is most popular amongst the devotees. The sunken courtyard of Krishna Balaram Mandir is flooded and becomes a beautiful kund where small Radha Shyamasundara are taken on gentle ride on Their swan boat. They glide to every corner of the lake to the sounds of resounding kirtan to see all Their devotees and admirers.
The surface of the temple lake is completely covered by flower petals by artisans in a beautiful flower rangoli design that mysteriously stay in place. This year’s design includes a huge lotus motif in rose petals with the ISKCON lotus-tilak symbol done in golden flower petals bordered by real floating open pink lotuses.
Seven-hundred kilos of flower petals were used to decorate the temple room and used by devotees to rain down on their Lordships that created a festival for the eyes. In total, over one-hundred thousand individual flowers were used for the festival decorations, taking sixty devotees about thirty-six straight hours.
The Vrindavan boat festival originally started in 1979, but we learn from long-time resident Daivi shakti Mataji that interestingly, the temple was purpose-built by Surabhi Prabhu to be flooded for a boat festival from its inception.
In the early days of the festival, devotees would perform dramas and place bhoga on the different banks of the temple lake. The Deities would then stop in Their boat to view the dramas and accept the devotees offerings.