Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra to be a Festival of Joy

BY: STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Jul 11, 2010 — VADODARA, INDIA (TIMES OF INDIA) — Amid chants of 'Jaya Jagannath' and Hare Rama, Hare Krishna', Lord Jagannath along with Lord Balaram and Devi Subhadra are set to make their grand journey in the city on their chariot on Tuesday.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), that has been holding the annual rath yatra for the last 28 years, has started the massive preparations to celebrate the 29th annual rath yatra this year as the festival of joy.

The chariot, which has been decorated, will begin its journey from railway station on Tuesday that marks the auspicious day of Aashadh sud bij, as per Gujarati calendar. "The rath yatra will begin at railway station at 2.30 pm, when mayor of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) and Vadodara MP Balkrishna Shukla will emulate the ancient ritual enacted yearly by the Gajapati Maharajah of Puri, in which he will symbolically sweep the road in front of the cart of Lord Jagannath to inaugurate this august event," President of ISKCON Vadodara Basu Gosh das said on Sunday.

From the railway station, the procession will move throughout the main roads of Vadodara, first passing through Sayajigunj, then to Kothi, Raopura main road, Nyay Mandir, Sursagar, Dandia Bazaar, Khanderao market, Lal Court, Madan Jhampa, R V Desai Road, Sardar Baug to Kevda Baug and will end at around 9 pm in front of the Baroda High School, opposite Polo Ground.

"Trucks carrying more than 15 tonnes of shira prasad that will be distributed to lakhs of devotees, who will join the yatra, will follow the rath," added ISKCON Vadodara's Vice-President Nityanand Ram das.

There will be bands, children in traditional dress, bhajan mandalis both on bullock carts, chariots, horses, camels, youth in costumes portraying various scenes from Puranic literature and ISKCON devotees from around the world engaging in continuous harinam sankirtan in the procession that will move in front of the rath.

Interestingly, the festival of chariots is a rage even in Australia. "All main cities of Australia, be it Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane, not only house ISKCON temples but thousands of devotees also participate in the rath yatra there," Sabhapati das from Australia informed media persons here, adding that there are 11 pure vegetarian restaurants in Australia as vegetarianism is fast becoming a trend there.

This Latvian guru will be part of rath yatra

Dressed in immaculate white robes, doing kirtan with devotion during the rath yatra on Tuesday, Guru Nityanand das from Latvia will be one among scores of devotees who will take part in the procession, when the city will witness the festival of chariots again. For das, a follower of ISKCON movement, it will be for the second time that he will be part of the annual festival.

Inspired by Indian culture and philosophy, 27-year-old Artem Khvan had left material life in 1999 and got his new name - Nityanand das. "The Jagannath rath yatra is very famous even in Latvia," said Nityanand, who first started attending spiritual sessions at Hare Krishna Ashram in Riga - the capital city of the country.

This Latvian citizen is married to city-based Jayshree Radha, 22, who does embroidery work. On coming to India in 2000, he began to study Sanskrit language and literature. "Principles of human existence, relationship between nature and man, between God and His creation, the Vedic culture and the constant search for happiness appealed to me and so I decided to study in India," added Nityanand, who as part of his study also translates Vaishnava literature into English.