On the 24th August 2011, more than 2500 devotees and members of the public took part in the Jaganatha Ratha Yatra festival organized by Caitanya Cultural Society in Singapore.
A huge 15-feet high silver ratha (made out of 4500kg of silver) was brought from the Perumal Temple and was initially meant to be used for the Ratha Yatra. However, owing to its height the Silver Ratha could not enter the Toa
Payoh stadium. With immense enthusiasm and within a few hours time the devotees made another Ratha cart suitable for stadium and improvised a new program.
The first part of the program was an hour-long ratha yatra procession in the parking area outside the stadium starting at 5 p. m. Sri Sri Gaura Nitai were placed in the Silver Ratha and all the devotees was in ecstasy seeing their beautiful forms. It was the desire of Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura Nitai to bless the audience.
Then at 6 p. m. all the devotees entered the stadium with kirtan. HG Charu Chandra Prabhu (General Secretary, ISKCON Bangladesh) performed Maha aratika for Their Lordships Sri Sri Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra Maiya who comfortably seated on the newly built ratha. Then, with the auspicious sounds of the conch shell being blown and a melodious Hare Krishna Maha mantra Kirtan led by Mathura Jivan Prabhu from Vrindavan and Cidananda Krishna das from Bangladesh, the devotees began the second ratha-yatra procession.
Many dignitaries attended the Ratha Yatra festival and performed puja and abhisekha. Among them was the retired SP Mr Raja Gopal, DSP Mr Ram Singh, and the president of Bengali associates Mr. Nikhilesh Gupta. Mr. Ranjit, a lawyer from Singapore, was the co-ordinator for this Ratha Yatra festival and is helping devotees to legally establish Krishna consciousness in Singapore.
While the procession was marching ahead, respected people from Singapore came forward to worship Sri Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra by offering a lamp, garlands, fruits and other bhoga items. (There was a counter opened for Bhoga offerings).
As soon as the lights were turned on at 7:00pm the whole stadium looked like Vaikuntha (see photos). The procession rounded the stadium four times with ecstatic chanting and dancing and at 8:00pm the festival came to an end.
HG Charu Chandra Prabhu explained the significance of Ratha Yatra and also quoting from ancient Vedic literature mentioned how Ratha Yatra is the oldest festival celebrated on the earth. The first Ratha Yatra procession took place approximately 3.5 crore years ago. The other speakers, namely HG Bhadra Govinda Prabhu, HG Chidananda Prabhu and myself spoke about the other details of the festival and highlighted the importance of maintaining the spiritual culture of the nation and bringing all people closer to God to experience a life of inner fulfillment.
At the end more than 2000 plates of delicious Prasadam were distributed. At around 9 p. m. the silver rath cart was towed back to the Perumal temple for a distance of about 12 kilometres by a pick-up van which had the Hare Krishna maha-mantra kirtan resounding from its sound system. The silver rath was moving slowly and was very well lit and nicely decorated. The sight of the rath and the sound of the holy names blaring from the sound system was an unusual experience for the local residents, who came out of the surrounding shops and buildings to see the cart. Some of them stood on their balconies to watch as it passed by. Many of them came forward and offered their respects and obeisances to Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.
Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra ki jaya!
Photo Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/106652055478422838217/SingaporeRathayatra
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