Devotees throng Hyderabad ISKCON temple to offer prayers on Janmashtami

Hyderabad: On the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami, several devotees gathered for darshan at the ISKCON temple in Hyderabad on Monday.
The ISKCON temple manager Shambhu Vaishnav Das welcomed all the devotees to this festival, celebrated as the birth of Lord Krishna. "We welcome you all on this grand and auspicious festival of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Shri Krishna," Das told ANI.
There have been elaborate preparations for the devotees who have come in, with two queues being made, one for the general population and another for coupon holders or lifetime members of ISKCON. The temple expects to have around 1.5 lakh devotees to visit the temple today. "We have made elaborate arrangements for all the devotees who are coming in. We have made two queue lines, one is for the general queue, and the other is for the special queue, that is for coupon holders and life members and the police are also very cooperative in the sense that they have deployed their forces and we are expecting around 1.5 lakhs of devotees today." added the temple manager.
Speaking on the significance of the temple in Abids, Hyderabad, the temple manager said that out of the 4 ISKCON temples in India, this one had been inaugurated almost 50 years ago and that the deities had been installed by the founder of ISKCON, Acharya A.C. Bhaktivedanta.
The organization has a total of 108 temples across the world, out of which 4 of them are in India.
The temple plans to have programs throughout the day and night. With an Abhishekam planned at midnight and a Maha Aarti commemorating the birth of Lord Krishna.
"We are conducting this festival for three days, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Today is Janmashtami, and tomorrow is Nandotsava. The reason it is known as Nandotsava is Nand Maharaj was born at midnight, he could not hold the feast for all the vrajvasis so he said the next day of Janmashtami no one should cook in their houses, so there is a feast for all." explained the temple manager.
The devotees in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh also thronged the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi temple to offer their prayers to Lord Krishna on this occasion.
President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also extended their greetings on the occasion of Janmashtami.