By Padsevan Bhakta Das
Residents of Gurugram, the IT capital of India, got a unique opportunity to experience and immerse in devotional culture recently. From 6th July till 15th a total of 11 Rath Yatras were organized in different parts of Gurugram. Scores of people from all age groups and different strata of society got to participate in the festival.
Gurugram is considered the IT Capital of India, and is home to India HQ of scores of about 250 of the Fortune500 companies. Most people living here are Corporate Employees with hectic work schedules through the week. But lack of opportunities to engage in social, cultural and spiritual activities have led to increasing cases of stress and depression amongst residents here.
Also, due to a recent direction by the ISKCON ICC ( Indian Continental Committe) all temples were required to organize Jagganath Rath Yatras only within a stipulated time period. This was from second to tenth day of Asadh month. This came as a setback to most ISKCON leaders as earlier each temple could organize two-three Rath Yatras at the time of the year best suited for mass participation.
But devotees at ISKCON Gurugram under leadership of the President, Rambhadra Das, considered this as an opportunity for Gurugram. A city whose residents may not have the time and enthusiasm to participate in a Rath Yatra at a remote location in the city, and with crowd of thousands of people. As the 11 Rath Yatras were held in different parts of the city so the participants did not have to bother themselves with travelling long distance after a hectic day at work.
They planned to organize a rath yatra on every day of allotted slot, and on two days out of these two Rath Yatras were hld. This way they could get Jagganath’s blessings to more people than was possible through two or more grand Rath Yatras spread throughout the year. They had a new Rath prepared by modifying an mini- Truck, selected venues, and allotted responsibilities to volunteers and participants.
The response was much more overwhelming than anyone had imagined. Each Rath Yatra had scores of participants. There were cultural performances by young kids before each Rath Yatra began, this was followed by devotional arti offerings by elder residents, many of whom could not believe that the Lord had appeared so close to their homes. As Rath progressed amidst melodious sankirtan, led by ISKCON Kirtan Ministry head – HH Sri Krishna Chaitany Swami, and HG Sundar Gopal Prabhu, GBC Zonal Supervisor for Gurugram, throngs of people joined from balconies to welcome the Lord who had come closer to their homes than ever before. This was also an opportunity for many busy parents to introduce their kids to the glorious devotional culture of India. This opportunity is not generally available to them due to cosmopolitan nature of the city and their own hectic work schedules. Many families came to engage in cleansing of Rath Yatra road with golden colored broomstick as symbol of devotion to the Lord.
Each Rath Yatra ended with distribution of sumptuous prasadam to all participants. As each Rath Yatra came to an end devotees from Temple’s organizing team cherished the devotional memories they experienced and shared with people, and mentally prepared themselves for another amazing Rath Yatra scheduled for the next day.
____________________________________________________
Combined Video of All Rath Yatras :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zqOUa9_zchUscodHHilFYrbLPZQyAiXF/view?usp=sharing
Individual Rath Yatra Clips
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=112740
Comments