India GOAarti in Vrindavan
Mangala Aarti at Krishna-Balaram Mandir
The first service of the day in a Krishna temple: the curtains open before dawn, the deities are greeted with lamps, incense, a conch and drums, and everyone present sings together for half an hour. It is the least touristy hour in Vrindavan and, for many visitors, the one that actually lands.
Daily at 04:30, in the dark, with the temple opening around 04:00. Tulasi aarti follows around 05:05 and the morning class around 08:00.
Mangala Aarti at Banke Bihari (once a year)
In most Krishna temples the mangala aarti is the daily pre-dawn service that wakes the deity. Banke Bihari deliberately does not have one: the god here is a child who is left to sleep. The single exception is Janmashtami night, when he is woken at midnight for the one mangala aarti of the year. That rarity is exactly why the crowd is enormous.
Only on Krishna Janmashtami, at midnight, the moment of Krishna's birth. On that night darshan runs roughly from 02:00 to 06:00. Janmashtami falls in August or September; the date moves each year.
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