Kalpataru Utsav: Thousands of devotees throng Cossipore Garden House, Dakshineswar

Kolkata: Thousands of devotees visited Cossipore Garden House, Dakshineswar and several other temples and also Belur Math on Kalpataru Utsav on Wednesday.

The devotees waited in long queues and visited the room where Sri Ramakrishna used to stay and breathed his last. A special puja was held and well-known vocalists presented devotional songs at Cossipore Udyanbati. It was on January 1, 1986, Sri Ramakrishna blessed the householder disciples who had assembled at the Cossipore Garden House. Sri Ramakrishna was suffering from cancer and on January 1, many of his householder disciples had come to see him. Sri Ramakrishna had come down to the garden from his first floor room and blessed his disciples, saying “be conscious.”

Devotees visited Belur Math and visited the Ramakrishna Temple along with the temples of Ma Sarada, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Bramhananda. A large number of devotees also thronged at Kamarpukur JoyramBati. Many devotees visited Dakshineshwar Temple and offered puja to Ma Bhabatarini on Wednesday.

The devotees waited for hours on the courtyard and offered their puja. They also visited 12 Shiva temples and also the room where Sri Ramakrishna used to stay. People also visited Kali temples and offered puja on the first day of the year. Hundreds of devotees offered puja at Lake Kalibari as well. The devotees gathered at the temple premises from early morning and offered puja. Devotees also thronged around Karunamoyee Kali Temple and offered puja.

The state government deployed more launches to ferry the devotees from Kolkata and Dakshineswar to Belur Math. Special arrangements were made by the police so that the devotees could visit the temple smoothly. Many clubs celebrated the day by offering food and clothes to the people coming from economically challenged backgrounds.