Lord Nityanada's Appearence Day & Transcendental Cooking Contest
This year we observed both a morning and evening program for the Pleasure of Lord Nityananda.
The morning segment consisted of an Abhisheka (bathing) of Their Lordships, A Class, Arati and Kirtan.
However, for most of the devotees, the most exciting aspect of the day took place in the evening with Lord Nityananda's Transcendental Cooking Contest.
First introduced in Vancouver in the early 70's, Lord Nityananda's Transcendental Cooking Contest has become a regular part of the Lord's appearance day observance.
This year Bhaktin Laura from Bellingham came for the first time to experience this unique festival and based on her experience she compiled the following report.
When I first prepared to go to Lord Nityananda’s cooking contest, I was not expecting to be a judge. I thought you had to be someone special to get the opportunity to taste dozens and dozens of varieties of prasadam.
Fortunately, I was coaxed into doing it by a
kindly devotee who offered to pay for my participance and I was then
so excited! When we first arrived, the stacks and stacks of food
around the alter were overwhelming. It was ecstatic seeing the
devotees entering their carefully prepared dishes all in hope to
please Nityananda and his devotees. I could barely concentrate
during the last few minutes of kirtan as my excitement grew. Soon
enough, the judges were gathered, directions were given, and the
process began. The prasadam was served, one bit after another. It
was difficult to refrain from eating too much of any one thing but I
had been given advice from more than one devotee to be careful! Even
with tiny bites of things you fill up fast! There was so much
prasadam; cakes, dahls, yellow rices, pizzas, decorative sweets, a
few unique and unusual things, and many, many more. I relished the
opportunity to taste so many different kinds of prasadam from so
many different devotees. Some of the dishes inspired me, some
brought me straight back to my travels in
As the last several dishes were served, I was just barely t too full but still doing just fine. I was grateful when the last one was tasted and judged and we could all sit back, digest, and talk about our favorites. All the devotees seemed very pleased with bellies full of prasadam and smiles on their faces, remembering Lord Nityananda and his fabulous transcendental cooking contest.
