By Basu Ghosh Das
Pictures posted on the internet: http://tinyurl.com/p527h3n
On Sunday, June 29, 2014, corresponding to aashaadh shukla dvitiya, ISKCON Baroda organized a massive Jagannath Rathayatra procession and festival through the streets of Baroda City.
Before the Rathayatra procession began in the afternoon, prominent political and social leaders of the city visited the Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Mandir at ISKCON Baroda in the morning for darshan of the Deities at 8:00 am.
Among the dignitaries were newly elected Deputy Mayor Smt. Ranjanben Bhatt, Baroda MLA and Ex-Minister Sri Jitubhai Sukhadia, , Leader of the opposition Congress Party in the Baroda Municipal Corporation, Sri Chandrakan “Battubhai” Shrivastava, Vuda (Vadodara Urban Development Corporation) Chairman Sri Naranbhai Patel, Ex-MLA Dilubha Chudasma, BJP Party leader in the Municipal Corporation Sri Dilip Nepali, City BJP General Secretaries Ashok Pandya and Pravinbhai Patel, and a number of Municipal Councilors, political leaders, and businessmen and their families.
Prasad was served to the dignitaries and all the visitors to the temple in the morning. Prasad consisting of spiced flat rice, kachoris (a stuffed savory), alu (potato) subji (vegetable preparation) and jalebis (sweet).
Later on, approximately 3,000 guests took lunch prasad at the temple before inauguration of the Rathayatra procession.
At 2:30 PM, the Mayor of Baroda, Sri Bharat Shah swept the road in front of the Rath, folllowing the ancient tradition at Jagannath Puri, where the Gajapati Maharaja (the King of Puri, sweeps the cart with a golden broom), inaugurates the Rathayatra.
As usual, huge crowd of several thousand devotees of Lord Jagannath - citizens of Baroda — gathered at the Baroda (Vadodara) Railway Station, where for all these thirty three years, the Rathayatra procession begins.
Baroda administrative and political leaders attended the inauguration of the Rathayatra at 2:30 PM at the Baroda railway station in large numbers.
District Magistrate and Collector, Sri Vinod Rao (IAS), Mayor Bharat Shah, newly elected Deputy Major Ranjanben Bhatt, Vadodara Urban Development Authority Chairman Naranbhai Patel, Baroda City BJP President Bharat Dangar, Leader of the opposition in the Baroda Municipal Corporation, Sri Chandrakant “Battu” Srivastav, Leader of the BJP (Majority) party in the Baroda Municipal Corporation, Sri Dilip Nepali, Congress Party leader Sri Chiragbhai Jhaveri, and a number of Municipal Councilors and other dignitaries and Police Officials in large numbers attended the inauguration of the Rathayatra procession.
A host of media personnel were also present filming the inaugural period of the Rathayatra, and the Rathayatra got good local and all India electronic and print media coverage.
Senior ISKCON leaders, ISKCON GBC Global Minister for Padayatra HH Lokanath Swami, HH Bhakti Vikas Swami, ISKCON Gujarat zonal seretary Jasomatinandan Das, ISKCON GBC Global Minister for Fund Raising and U.P., Rajasthan, and Bombay Zonal Secretary Devakinandan Das, and ISKCON Juhu temple president Braja Hari Das participated in the Rathayatra.
Also Murlimohan Das, Co-TP of ISKCON Vijayawada, Surapati Das, Co-TP of ISKCON Lucknow, Vrajendranandan Das, Vice President of ISKCON New Delhi, Sachidananda Das, President, ISKCON Vallabh Vidyanagar, and Radharanjan Das of ISKCON Lucknow/Kanpur also attended.
A large number of ISKCON devotees from New Delhi, Chandigarh, Vrindavan, Bombay, Vallabhvidyanagar and surrounding areas were present and performed long hours of kirtan in front of the Rath throughout the procession. HH Lokanath Swami, HH Bhakti Vikas Swami, Narsingh Das and others from Vrindavan all led kirtan in front of the Rath.
The crowd gathered at the beginning of the procession continues to be quite large and impressive. There was a group of thousands that accompanied the Rath from the Railway station, through Sayajiganj, in front of the Maharaja Sayajirao University campus, to the Kala Ghoda (”black horse”) Circle, near the Sayaji Bagh (public garden, named after locally famous Maharaja (King) Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III - who lived from 1863-1939).
From there the procession was met by one group after the other. They included the Vishwa Hindu Parishad at the Sayaji Bagh itself, the Muslim community leaders at Macchipith, Municipal Councilor Ashok Pawar at Raopura, “Mamaji” of the famous Dhuliram Pedawala sweetshop at Raopura, the Raopura businesmens association at Raopura, Jubilee Bagh, Sri Padmavati Shopping Center businessmens association, on the East side of the Sur Sagar lake.
Sri Ghani Kureshi, a local Muslim leader and his group of Muslims of the Komi Ekta samiti greeted the Rath at Nyaya Mandir (Court Building). Sri Ghani Kureshi spoke from up on the Rath and expressed his hopes for peace between Hindus and Muslims. He loudly chanted “Jay Jagannath” and garlanded Lord Jagannath!
Also, the Bar association in front of the “Nyaya Mandir”, unofficial municipal employees greeting in front of Khanderao Market, the Muslim community of Dudhwala Mohalla, near Bhagat Singh Chowk (in front of the Nyaya Mandir), the Mahant of the Ramji Mandir, Madan Zampa Road, Kahar Samaj at Pattar Gate, and the head of the Siddhi Vinayak Mandir near Jairatna Building.
There were many others who greeted the Rath at various places who’s names are in fact, unknown to us and/or too numerous to mention.
There were countless residents of Baroda who, along the way, also greeted the Rath and offered fruits - especially “kala (black) jamuns” (a type of large berry), flower garlands, sprouted mung, and sweets to Lord Jagananth, Baladev, and Subhadradevi.
Once again, as always, the festival passed off peacefully. The Police and RAF [Rapid Action Force] forces who were deployed in large numbers served “above and beyond the call of duty”, as they continued to accompany and protect the procession.
At the conclusion of the procession at the Baroda High school, HH Lokanath Swami, Jasomatinandan Das, Devakinandan Das and HH Bhakti Vikas Swami lectured to the public for almost half an hour, from on top of the Rath, in front of Their Lordships.
Arati to Their Lordships was performed to conclude the Rathayatra.
After the Rathayatra procession , thousands of residents of Baroda were served a full plates of (bhojan) prasad at the ISKCON Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Mandir. Due to the lack of rainfall, huge crowds thronged the temple and we estimate that more than forty thousand citizens of Baroda took prasad at the temple. Around fifty thousand visited the temple for darshan of (to see) the Deities here.
The following volunteers and donors once again rendered exceptional services to the Rathayatra festival and it is fitting that their names be mentioned here. They are Sri Gopal Shah, Sri Chirag Thakkar, Sri Mayurbhai Shah, Sri Ketanbhai Patel, Sri Chirag Barot, Sri Bharat Patel, [both municipal councilors from municipal ward 13, where ISKCON Baroda is situated], Sri Sushil Agarwal, Sri Rasikbhai Kotak, Sri Rajesh Agarwal, Sri Dhirubhai Patel, Sri Nrupesh Patel, Sriman Seva Vilas Das, Sri Manish Patel, Sri Shivlal Goyal, and Sri Dinesh Dalal.
Once again, as always, the Rathayatra festival was a grand success, and enlivened hundreds of thousands in Krishna Consciousness here at Baroda!
Jagannath Swami ki jaya! Jagannath Rathayatra Mahotsav ki jaya! Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra, Sudarshan chakra ki jaya!
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