19th March 2017

Griha Pravesha – A Historic Moment

Sri Krishna Brundavana is now Sri Venkata Krishna Brundavana with the arrival of Sri Venkateshwara with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhudevi at the new location 241 Poath Road, Murrumbeena.

20th May 2015 –   Exactly 5 years later, Sri Guru Raghavendra Swamy with Sri Krishna and Vayu Deva made a grand entry to the priest house on 5 Hayes Road in the fifth month of the year!

In this time span of five years, the desire of Sri Raghavendra Swamy devotees slowly gathered momentum and spread to the various nooks and corners of Melbourne. The devotees numbering in hundreds celebrated the Aradhana of the Guru with vigour and devotion every year.

Soon after the bowing to the wishes of devotees who wanted to witness the Aradhana done by priests from Udupi, representatives of Puthighe Matha were invited for Sri Raghavendra Swamy Aradhana. Later the pontiff himself, His Holiness 1008 Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji visited Melbourne and toured Australia in 2013 and 2014 and seeing the overwhelming support in Melbourne decided to open a priest house in Melbourne.

Thus was born Sri Krishna Brundavana Melbourne.

What a grand spectacle it was, on 20^th May 2015 when Sri Krishna with his parivara entered his sannidhana with great pomp and ceremony.

The Griha Pravesha was performed in the most traditional manner when Sri Krishna was given a rousing reception amidst the enchanting rendition of Vedic mantras and stotras and chiming of the bell and in the presence of the most auspicious icons – ‘married couple or ‘dampathi’, the sacred cow, the coveted cradle, the holy thulasi plant, the glittering mirror, the colourful flowers, enlightening deepa and the lovable baby (born on the same Nakshatra Rohini as Sri Krishna).

Sri Prassanacharya the Administrator of Puthighe Matha and the priest Sri Shankar Narayan Bhat facilitated the grand entry of Sri Krishna with his consort Goddess Lakshmi, Vayu Deva and our Guru Raghavendra and formally made Melbourne their abode.

It was an exhilarating and history making moment on this day 20th May 2015 for the devoted members of the community who had gathered to be part of a truly memorable day. It was a strange feeling – mixture of disbelief, excitement, utmost devotion, joy and pride that the combined dreams of so many devotees were unfolding before their eyes on this day.

The Grand entry was celebrated in conventional style when the lady devotees sang about the glories of the Lord and the Guru and performed the ‘milk boiling’ ceremony which was then offered to the Lord.

The first traditional Pooja of the Lord was performed thereafter and after naivedya and mangalaaratahi, devotees were served sumptuous food in celebration of the historic event. In the evening the Thottil Puja to the Lord was performed and bhajans were rendered which was witnessed by an enthusiastic band of devotees.

This was preceded by events of the previous day – the Punyavachana, Vasthu Yanthra Pooja, Navagraha Aradhana and other purification ceremonies such as “Ashta Dik Bali Daana” to all demi-gods in charge of 8 directions, which were performed in the most auspicious and traditional manner.

For those present, these scenes would be permanently etched in their minds, for which the devotees all over Australia need to bow to His Holiness Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji, who made this possible in such a short time.

Now we have in our midst the very first priest house in this continent and members of community will be able to meet, pray, offer sevas, sing bhajans, celebrate events and festivals and perform rituals in the most traditional style.

20th May 2010 – A small group of devotees in Melbourne met and pledged to open a place for offering prayers to Guru Raghavendra Swamy in Melbourne and decided to start Shree Raghavendra Seva Samithi.