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By Jayabhadra Devi Dasi

Jagannatha Ratha-Yatra, the Festival of Chariots, is celebrated originally in Jagannath Puri (Odisha) from time immemorial. Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON introduced this Ratha-Yatra festival in ISKCON centers around the world. He said, “If you participate in these chariot festivals and see the Deities riding on these chariots, you will go back home, back to Godhead at the end of this life.”

This was the second ratha-yatra organized by ISKCON Amravati. First one was organized in the year 2017. The New Year in Maharashtra starts with ratha-yatra. We can say that ISKCON Pune is the opening batsman in the series of ratha-yatra organized all over Maharashtra.  They have their ratha-yatra in the first week of January. Ratha-yatra is a festival of sharing joy of the holy name and darsana of Their Lordships. The congregation devotees kept on asking the temple management, “Will we have ratha-yatra this year?” Because after 2017 we did not have ratha-yatra in 2018. So after a small meeting of the temple management, it was decided to organize ratha-yatra. Main was to check the availability of our Gurudev, Lokanath Maharaja. Every year ISKCON Nagpur organizes ratha-yatra in the auspicious presence of Lokanath Maharaja. So a date one day after their ratha-yatra was decided. This year the festival was held on February 11^th.  The preparations started two months back. Temple management had arranged sankirtana thrice a week to create awareness about the ratha-yatra festival along the route of ratha-yatra. All the congregation devotees were enthused to join sankirtana.  We had made three teams, under the meticulous guidance of Srigovind Dasa, our vice president and our temple commander Madhupati Dasa. One was sankirtana team which will walk on the left side of the road performing sankirtana. The other two teams of matajis and prabhus, one would go one right side and other on the left side distributing the invitation cards and asking for donations and telling them in detail about the ratha-yatra. Thus every shop of the road was covered, some would greet us with respect and also give donations and would also agree to give services like providing water to the walking devotees. We also told them, “The Lord Himself is going to come to give you darsana.” But some would just say please come latter. Devotees still invited them to pull the chariot on the ratha-yatra day. Thus sankirtana was performed regularly on the route of ratha-yatra also in other places of the city.

Hundreds of banners, posters and hoardings were printed to display all over the city. ISKCON youth forum boys diligently handled the service. A group of young boys would go every evening to put on the banners and hoardings. They also posted the banners on the auto-rikshaws, as autorikshaws travel throughout the city thus spreading the news of our ratha-yatra. Many people called in the temple saying we saw the banners on the rickshaws; please let us know the details. Also when the devotees would see the banners on the rickshwas they would exclaim “Jai Jagganatha.”

Invitations were sent to the nearby centers and temple like Nagpur, Dhamanagaon, Wardha, Akola, Yavatmal. Every Sunday till the ratha-yatra, Anantsesa Dasa our temple president had called upon meeting of the congregation devotees to discuss about ratha-yatra. Delegation of services was done and all congregation devotees, all the temple devotees Padmanabh Dasa, Madhupati Dasa, Ajagovind Dasa, Ranchod Krsna Dasa, Sacipran Dasa worked hard to collect donations and inviting the guests for the festival. Haripran Dasa was looking after the prasadam services.

As the days were coming near the eagerness was increasing amongst the devotees and whenever they met each other they would say, “Jagganatha aa rahe hai” meaning Lord Jagganatha is coming. We even got posters made which read as “Jagganatha aa rahe hai” to keep the enthusiasm burning in the hearts. The festival started with the katha of Radhashyamsundar Dasa from Vrndavan. He arrived on February 6^th, and on 7 and 8 he spoke on the glories of Jagganatha that marked the beginning of the festival. Devotees from different places arrived on the eve of a day prior to ratha-yatra day. Mayapur international preaching team was invited. They were 12 devotees from different countries under the guidance of Nitya Kishore Devi Dasi. Senior devotees Eklavya Dasa, Sundarlala Dasa, Radhashyamsundar Dasa and Krsnabhakta Dasa also arrived to grace the festival.

Lord Jaganatha, Baladeva, Subhadra came from Nagpur and also the ratha was brought from Nagpur. The devotees decorated the whole temple with flowers to welcome Their Lordships. A separate altar was made for Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra. Their Lordship was welcomed with a powerful sankirtana and shower of flowers. Once they were installed in Their altar, arati was performed after that 56 bhogas was offered to Them. The congregation matajis had made more than 56 bhogas to offer to Their Lordships.

Our spiritual master Lokanatha Maharaja also arrived on February 10^th.  Motwani family did all the arrangements of the accommodations and prasadam. Many devotees arrived early morning on the rathayatra day. In the temple prasadam in charge were Dayalgauranga Dasa and Srutadev Priya Dasa.

On the rathayatra day

It was a special day; we were waiting eagerly for this day since months. All the congregation devotees came for mangala arati. On this day we had two mangala aratis in the same temple. Devotees were trying to hold the auspicious darsana in their hearts. Eyes were running from this altar to that drinking the nectarine darsana.

All the devotees were busy in their respective services. The ratha was sent in the night to the spot from where ratha-yatra was going to start. IYF boys decorated the chariot. A stage was made for the inauguration ceremony.

Invitees had arrived that included Mr Himanshu Ved (member of Senet SGBAU) Mrs Seema Savle, Mr Shivraj Kulkarni, Mr Tushar Bhakrtiya and Mr Parneet Soni (Leaders of BJP) and Mrs Navneet Rana. All of them glorified ISKCON for organizing such festival. They were honored by garlands and shawls. After the maha-arati by Lokanath Maharaja the rathayatra started.

This time the route was changed as we were expecting a good attendance. The best hall of Amravati was booked named Saint Dnyaneshwar Sanskrutik Bhavan.

So the route was as follow:

Rajapethe--Ambadevi temple—Gandhi square—Rajkamal square—Shyam square—Jai stambha—Irwin square-- Saint Dnyaneshwar Sanskrutik Bhavan

All India Padayatra was in Nagpur so they were also invited, about 20 of them joined the festival. They are famous for their sankirtana. All of them sang and danced with all their hearts. All the devotees and also onlookers sang and danced. The chariot was being pulled enthusiastically by the devotees. All were blessed by the darsana of Their Lordships.

There were difffernt jhakis, like Caitanya Mahaprabhu dancing in front of the chariot, Radha Krsna, Vitthal Rukmini, Ram Laxman Sita etc. Scholars convent did their Lezim (Lezim  is a folk dance form, from the state of Maharashtra in India). Sometimes also spelt as "Lezium", Lezim dancers carry a small musical instrument with jingling cymbals called the Lezim, after which the dance form is named) presentation along with Warkaris jhaki. This made all of us remember the padayatra which walks towards Pandharpur during month of ashadi. Many matajis were also carrying tulsi plants on their heads.

As it is said,

rathe ca vamanam drstva punar janma na vidyate: Simply by seeing the Lord on the chariot, one makes advancement for stopping the repetition of birth and death. Devotees danced enthusiastically in front of the Ratha Yatra cart. 

The main attraction was the Mayapur international team; they danced and sang in front of the chariot. People were inspired to see the foreigners singing and dancing.  Prasadam was being distributed continuously in the Ratha Yatra. People were running to take prasadam and darsana of Their Lordships. Lokanath Maharaja then after some time came down from the ratha and filled the atmosphere with his melodious kirtana. All the devotees danced and sang with enthusiasm. The roads were decorated with rangoli by the Pune devotees group. IGF matajis distributed books on the route. Flowers were showered on the chariot from above. It was great to have darsana of Their Lordships and Gurudev together. Gurudev was with us in rathayatra for about more than 5 hours. His presence made everything auspicious. As he was distributing prasadam people would run towards the chariot, thus having darsana and prasadam together.

SOME REALIZATIONS OF THE DEVOTEES

1. It was the most blissful event of my life, to have darsana of Guru Maharaja and of Lord Jagganatha, Baladeva and Subhadra maiya. We all IGF matajis enjoyed dancing and sankirtana. Everybody was dancing and singing. It was Lord is His chariot and gopis are dancing in front of Him. Everybody was absorbed in the holy name like they were in some different world. While pulling I felt like Lord is walking with me, because I wasn’t tired inspite of dancing, walking, singing. Overall it was a wonderful experience.
   
   
2. I experienced a great pleasure in serving the devotees. Such ratha-yatra should be organaised every year. I will definitely come for the yatra wherever I am.
3. This was the second time Amravatikar's had experienced ratha-yatra. Devotees from more than 15 countries gathered to pull up chariot of the Lord of this universe. This time devotees were more enthusiastic, more energetic and more in numbers to grab this opportunity never to come again. As the chariot began from Rajapeta square people came out from their homes, shops to welcome Lord Jaggannatha and pulled the chariot. The whole Street was filled up with devotees. When sankirtan was lead by HH Lokanatha Swami Maharaja, everyone was surcharged with new energy to again dance more and jump more for the pleasure of the Lord.  Book distribution, food distribution was going on simultaneously.
   
   
4. Ratha-yatra is the most awaited event; Jagganatha, Baladeva and Subhadra were looking so beautiful. I took darsana of Their Lordships and started pulling the ratha. Harinama sankirtana was going on and all the devotees were singing and dancing. The atmosphere became totally spiritual. Devotees were distributing delicious prasadam of the Lord to all. And then H.H. Lokanath Swami Maharaja joined ratha-yatra. He started his melodious tunes of hare krsna maha-mantra and it was miraculous. The devotees who still had not taken part in dancing started jumping and singing loudly. It was a feast for eyes, ears and tongue and soul. Lord Jagannatha blessed all the souls with His beautiful darsana, His sweet prasadam and His sweet nama-sankirtana. We all were fully satisfied and nourished. It was an unforgettable experience. I requested Lord to please come in my heart. Now I am again waiting for next year ratha-yatra festival to experience the joy of Krishna consciousness with all devotees and with Guru Maharaja.
   
   
5. The grand rath-yatra for which everyone was waiting eagerly, finally took place on Feb 11th . HH Lokanath Swami Maharaja and other senior devotees such as HG Ekalavya Prabhu, HG Nityakishori Mataji with her entire troop and other international devotees were also there. Remembering the last rathyatra, I was worried what will happen if it is temperature is hot like last year but as I reached I saw that the chariot of Lord Jagannatha was under a big bridge and even the stage built there was also under the big bridge. This was the answer to my worry. After few minutes HH Lokanath Swami Maharaja arrived and everyone bowed down in respect. After the welcoming ceremony Maharaj ji and other devotees and guests described the glories of Lord Jagannatha. I remember few lines that he told on that day. He said for the one who is less sick goes to the doctor but who is more sick for them the doctor gives a visit and Jagannatha is a doctor for the jivas of kali-yuga who are spiritually more sick. Jagannatha is visiting for them. Usually the devotees says to the Lord,  “mere dori tere hata” but jagannatha is so merciful that He is giving His dori in the hands of devotees and saying take Me where you want, I am all yours. The mesmerizing shower of flowers on Jagannatha and other devotees from the bridge was beautiful. It was actually looking very beautiful. Some matajis were dancing some were pulling the chariot. Everyone was offering some service at the lotus feet of the Lord. Dancing in this kirtana I didn’t even realize how the time flew away. I had lot of experiences to take back in my heart.

As the chariot reached the saint dnyaneshwar sanskrutik bhavan, Ekalavya Dasa again made each devotee dance and also some newcomers by his kirtana. And in the hall there was Guitar kirtana by the international group. People enjoyed their rock kirtana and also danced with them. Then last in the list was prasadam, all the devotees honored prasadam and left for their respective destinations. About 5000 people attended the festival.

Lokanath Maharaja was pleased by the arrangements done by the management, specially the prasadam to be distributed on the chariot. It was unending the distributors were tired but the prasad was full of boxes. Later it was distributed to the devotees. Lokanath Maharaja said, “People were so eager to receive the prasad that they pulled my dhoti, saying uncle please give prasad, so today Lord Jagannatha made me uncle.”  Also we had presented Jagannatha caps to the devotees who joined ratha-yatra, the devotees were glad to receive this small gift, even our spiritual master happily wore it to inspire others.

The founder-Acharya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada decided to make the festival a global event, starting from 1967 in San Francisco, to enable those devotees who can not travel to Puri, get an opportunity to join the festivities in their city or country. Thus many people joined our ratha-yatra also.

Devotees believe that a person who pulls the chariot of Lord Jagannatha attains the spiritual abode after death and the Lord personally comes to take his soul to the spiritual world. Thus they were blessed by the darsana.