SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – A loud toot from a conch shell kicked off the 51st annual Rath Yatra here July 30 morning, as more than 6,000 Indian Americans and members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness pulled chariots bearing replicas of Hindu deities on the mile-long pilgrimage down John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park.
“This is the one day of the year I can fully celebrate my Indian heritage,” Nikhil Swapan of Cupertino, Calif., who attended the day-long festival with his wife and young daughter, told India-West. “I am proud to share my heritage with whoever wishes to learn about it,” he said, as skaters and bicyclists took a break from their activities and rode beside the parade, often stopping to take photos, while breathing in the incense-perfumed air.
“We can show our children the lighter side of our spirituality. They very much enjoy the singing and dancing,” said Swapan, who has attended the festival for the past decade.
Four generations of women from the Venkataraman family posed for a photo as the chariots wound their way down the street. Sudha Mani Venkataraman told India-West that she and her family have attended the parade since the early 1990s.
The Ratha Yatra is a centuries-old festival, originating in Puri, Odisha. Devotees of Sri Jagannath – the Lord of the Universe – traditionally pull him in his current form as Krishna, back to Vrindavan.
As a child, Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada would recreate the festival for his neighborhood in Kolkata. Arriving in the U.S. in the mid-60s, the ISKCON founder held the first Festival of Chariots in San Francisco in 1967. Similar festivals are now held annually at more than 100 cities throughout the world.
In San Francisco, the parade began with a float bearing intricately-carved replicas of Lord Krishna and his brother Balarama. Flower-strewn carriages bearing replicas of Srila Prabhupada, Lord Jagannatha, Nityananda Prabhu and his devotee Nitai Guaranga, and Sri Baladeva and Sri Subhadra Devi were pulled down the road by devotees, who chanted Hare Krishna and sang and danced to the sounds of drums and cymbals.
The colorful carriages competed with vibrantly-dressed attendees to lend a note of brightness to the gray-sky day. Later in the afternoon, as the festival was underway, the clouds parted to reveal a blue sky and sunshine.
On the parade route, ISKCON members handed out booklets to passers-by espousing the benefits of vegetarianism.
A discordant note this year marred the usually joyful event, as two protestors held up signs bearing the words “Jesus Saves From Hell,” and “Repent of Your Sins. Believe the Gospel. Obey Jesus.” One of the protestors shouted through a megaphone as the parade passed by, declaring the devotees were “sinners” and “Jesus is the only true God.”
Festival-goers attempted to engage the protestors and asked them to stop disturbing the event, noting it symbolizes a peaceful world. But the protestors continued on as the chariots passed by.
“People don’t understand Sri la Prabhupada’s message of peace,” Jagannath Swami Das, who has organized the Rath Yatra since 1974, told India-West. “God has got many different names; he is unlimited,” he said, noting that – when his mother passed away – both a Hindu priest and a Catholic priest performed the eulogy.
“There is a lot of unrest in the world today, and a lack of understanding because people identify only with their bodies. But we are all children of God,” he said, noting that the festival attracts worshippers of all faiths.
The parade ended with a mela at Sharon Meadows in Golden Gate Park. Long lines snaked around the meadow for a free, vegetarian lunch. Equally large throngs gathered around a tent at which the deities had been placed. Many devotees brought offerings of fruit, and prostrated at the feet of the deities.
Swami Das estimated more than 6,000 plates of prasadam were given out during the festival, and noted than ISKCON served up 1 billion free lunches throughout the world during 2016. Das later performed onstage, playing drums alongside sitarist Pandit Habib Khan.
The onstage musical performances offered a tribute to the late George Harrison, a former guitarist, singer, and songwriter with The Beatles.
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