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WORLD  Mayapur Festival Commitee Finalizes Preparations BY JANMASTAMI DAS  MAYAPUR, INDIA, Mar 7 (VNN) — In a few days many devotees will start arriving in Mayapur for the 30th Anniversary of the Gaura Purnima Festival. The Mayapur Festival Committee has been planning the festival all year. Now it is meeting several hours daily to insure that every detail of the festival will be favorable for devotees having an ecstatic and trouble free festival.Bhakti Purusottama Swami, the Festival Coordinator, just told me, "The primary function of the local Mayapur devotees during the festival is to make sure visiting devotees feel welcome and well cared for." My guess is that this festival will establish Mayapur as a center that really knows how to host devotees. We have heard some reports that due to recent violence in Gujarat between Hindus and Muslims, some devotees from abroad fear Mayapur may not be safe. West Bengal, however, has not been at all affected by these troubles, and there is no evidence to suggest there will be trouble during the festival period. If you are unsure whether you should risk traveling to Mayapur, I recently read these relevant, persuasive quotes and they may help you make up your mind: "Sometimes the members of the Krsna Consciousness Society are afraid of the impending danger of world war and ask what would happen to them if a war should occur. In all kinds of danger, they should be confident of their protection by the Visnudutas or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktaH pranasyati [Bg. 9.31]). Material danger is not meant for devotees." Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.18 Purport "Although material nature is subject to repeated creation and annihilation, that spiritual nature remains as it is eternally. In the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, that spiritual nature, the spiritual world, is described as Vrndavan, Goloka Vrndavan, Vraja-dhama, or Navadvipa-dhama." Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.1.1 Purport So what safer place is there than Sri Dhama Mayapur? Furthermore, Lord Nityananda says (in the Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya) that "materialistic persons cannot enter the dhama, nor is there any material influence there; maya has eternally covered the dhama with a film of dull matter." The "film of dull matter" prevents materialists from entering the dhama, and nowadays this covering might include the fear generated by the media's coverage of the conflict between the Hindus and Muslims. Please don't be frightened away by maya. Come to the 30th Anniversary of the Gaura Purnima Festival. Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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