rath yatra (12)

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By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

ISKCON Auckland, New Zealand, orchestrated a splendid series of Rath Yatras spanning from November 25 to December 16, 2023. This grand celebration magnetized thousands of people who assembled fervently around the majestic chariots carrying the Deities of Lord Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra.

In 1976, Srila Prabhupada installed the deities of Lord Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra in Auckland, and since that auspicious installation, the annual Rath Yatra, a f

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By Kaliarupa Jagannath Dasa

ISKCON Hamburg on the 19th August 2023, celebrated their Annual Rath Yatra Festival starting from Saturn, Mönckebergstraße. Amongst the participants were Sri Shashi Tharoor – Indian Member of Parliament & Smt. Soumya Gupta – Consul General of India in Hamburg, Germany. Sri Shashi Tharoor was ecstatic & shared “Delighted to participate in a Rath Yatra in Hamburg organised by ISKCON & do my share of pulling Lord Jagannath’s chariot through the neighbourhood! Smashed t

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There are several interesting episodes about the origin of Rath Yatra stated in Vedic scriptures.

(1) In the Vedic scripture 'Srimad Bhagavatam', it is said that devotees celebrated this day when Shri Krishna and Balram left Gokul for Mathura in a chariot. This was known as Rath Yatra. 

(2) After Lord Krishna delivered the evil Kansa, he gave darshan to devotees in a rath with Balram, in Mathura.

(3) When Lord Krishna was in Dwarka, on the west coast of Saurashtra, he once took his sister,
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Ever since the pandemic, it has been extremely difficult for us to come together and be in association of devotees and to celebrate the various occasions that we otherwise did with so much of grandeur. Nevertheless, we have been trying our best to bring to you every celebration in the best possible way. We felt that even this year, we wouldn't be able to have a Ratha Yatra like we usually did, but Lord Jagannath had other plans. 
 
Although the whole intention of Ratha Yatra is that everyone ge
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By Kasisvar Das

On June 26th over five hundred devotees from Alachua and other ISKCON communities gathered in Daytona Beach, a picturesque vacation place in Central Florida, for joining the Ratha Yatra Festival. It was a long-awaited event indeed.

The Covid-19 pandemic delayed everything in the world and many festivals and events were placed on hold for months. Millions of people have been pulled out of their comfort zone to realize what Bhagavad-Gita calls the reality of this temporary miserab

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Our life is like a yatra – a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey towards the Divine. Our body symbolises the rath or chariot, through which we embark on the journey towards serving and attaining eternal love of the Lordships. Though we live in this material body or ‘rath’, the bonafide shastras and acharyas advise us to surrender its control to the all-merciful Lord Purushottama.  Thus, by sincerely following their instructions, we earn their blessings and eventually we are able to blissfully maneu

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6954214071?profile=RESIZE_400xIn what is normally an event with 30-40,000 people in attendance, the Festival of India/Chariots was down scaled substantially due to the epic Covid-19 epidemic. That’s the reality today—learn to adjust. 

The organizers of this year‘s program in Toronto operated as cool as cucumbers, as usual, and their approach to this beloved event was full of innovation.  Deities of Jagannath were stationed in a convertible and were taken for a ride down the customary route of Yonge St to the waterfront at Su

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By Raas Raman Krishna Das

Amidst the uncertainties, whether there would be ‘Rath Yatra 2020′ or not, holy Puri’s three chariots were taken out in grand procession. Lord Jagganatha not only came out with his siblings but also maintained the continuity of the age old festival.

Devotees around the world got satiated after their lordships’ darshans though it was all virtually. Year 2020 is really going quite heavy for not only material persons materially but also for the devotees’ community spiritua

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By Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: With flames of protest erupting in Odisha over the untimely Rath Yatra organised by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on the occasion of Basant Panchami in Mumbai, Yudhistir Govinda Das, national director of communications, ISKCON (New Delhi) has finally released a statement mentioning that the chariot fest of the Holy Trinity is being observed as per the scriptures.

“Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb in November 2019 had sugge

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The Purple flower

The following article was written by my wife Shefali Jandial in June,2013 which talks about her experience of Krishna Consciousness through Kirtan/Kirtan Mela and an incident which strengthened her faith in Krishna. She recently left her body in an unfortunate accident.

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Where is the joy?

Oh! Just around the corner.

I turn the corner-

Where is the joy?

Oh! Up there & yonder.

Closer I wander…

I hear Krishna’s heartbeat,

Radha Rani’s anklets

I hear vibrating mridangas

& tinkling kartalas

Oh

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By Madhava Smullen
 

During a visit to Los Angeles for a political function, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Congresswoman from Hawaii, addressed a crowd of about four thousand devotees and members of the public at the L.A. Rathayatra festival on August 4th. 

Gabbard is currently campaigning for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2020. According to USA Today, she was the most Googled candidate after both the first and second Democratic debates. It remains to be seen if

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