As several hundreds of devotees thronged the ISKCON Bangalore temple on Tuesday evening; the soothing rays from moon showered upon them a sense of devotional spirit, so pure, pious and aptly suited to celebrate Sri Rama Navami. Lord Rama, an example of a perfect monarch and often referred to as Maryada Purusha literally the Perfect Man or Lord of virtue, appeared on the ninth day of the shukla paksha, or bright phase of the moon, in the lunar month of Chaitra (April-May). The Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnated Himself as Sri Rama, appearing as the son of His pure devotee Maharaja Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. Lord Rama descended along with His plenary portions, and all of them appeared as His younger brothers. In the month of Chaitra on the ninth day of the growing moon in the Treta-yuga, the Lord appeared, as usual, to establish the principles of religion and to annihilate the disturbing elements.

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The Krishna Balarama Deities in the main temple hall of ISKCON Bangalore were adorned with Sri Rama Lakshmana alankara. Lord Krishna dressed as Rama and Lord Balarama dressed as Lakshmana. The Deities were magnificently decorated with ornaments, earrings, crown, a bow and a quiver of arrows. Devotees maintain a fast till evening.

Festivities began in the evening with the Rama Tarak yajna. Devotees chant the Rama Tarak mantra 108 times during the yajna. All the devotees rejoiced in ecstasy by performing enchanting kirtanas from Valmiki Ramayana.

As the Yajna concluded, devotees present in the temple also received an opportunity to hear lecture of Srila Prabhupada, The transcript of the lecture explaining the importance of Sri Rama Navami was displayed on a giant screen in the main temple hall. On this auspicious occasion, devotees also celebrated the unparalleled devotional service of Sri Hanuman to the Lord. They worshipped and paid reverence to this foremost devotee of Lord Rama and sought his blessings for advancement in devotional service.

Click here to read about Srila Prabhupada's lecture on Sri Rama Navami