By Madhava Smullen
The San Francisco Rathayatra, ISKCON’s first, returned on August 14th after missing the year 2020 due to the pandemic, with a bright and colorful celebration for the Lord of the Universe at Golden Gate Park.
With the exception of last year, San Francisco Rathayatra has been held annually since 1967, when Srila Prabhupada sketched a truck with a four-pillared canopy on the back and organized his early disciples in introducing Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra to North Ame
Ratha Yatra or Chariot Festival'is a festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is the oldest Ratha Yatra taking place in India and the World, whose descriptions can be found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana and Kapila Samhita.This annual festival is celebrated on Ashadha Shukla Paksha Dwitiya (second day in bright fortnight of Ashadha month).The festival commemorates Jagannath's annual visit to Gundicha Temple
The presiding deities o
ISKCON New Vrindaban has started its festival season, which runs from May to September, and draws pilgrims, gives inspiration and association to visiting devotees, helps to maintain the temple, and provides engagement and financial support for devotee staff.
During the pandemic, New Vrindaban, with its 2,200 acres, spacious temple room and strict following of Covid protocols, has been a popular destination for devotees looking to safely experience the deity darshan and temple
By Madhava Smullen
Lord Jagannatha is coming.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was the first year without a New York Ratha Yatra parade in 45 years – instead, Lord Jagannatha was driven down Fifth Avenue in a minivan, along with a virtual online celebration.
This summer, things are beginning to look different. The number of new coronavirus cases in the US has plummeted from a seven-day average of more than 250,000 a day in early January, to a daily average of less than 14,380 during the past
I appreciate the Vaishnav community. I have visited Mayapur in West Bengal. I went to the morning religious meeting at Tala Park of Tala Park Hari Sabha where Vaishnava sing and chant Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is my favorite good. It gives me a lot of happiness to write and sing on Lord Krishna. I love reading the Bhagwad Gita. I appreciate Sril Prabhupad of ISKCON. I really like the prasadam of Mayapur ISKCON. They are maintaining a temple of Lord Krishna with devotion for many years. They are
Starting in 1973, residents of New Vrindaban, West Virginia, held their own small rural Rathayatra festival on the farm, a sweet event with Lord Jagannath riding a succession of different charmingly rustic makeshift carts.
In the early 2000s, Malati Devi, one of the organizers of San Francisco’s 1967 Rathayatra – the first outside India – commissioned a proper traditional chariot and the festival grew in popularity within the community.
Then in 2016, the Rathayatra became a public annual even
Sri Baladeva, Subhadra and Jagannath
On 12 July, 2020, Summertime is Ratha Yatra time! The Ratha Yatra festival is a celebration of reunion, when Their Lordships Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra, who had been separated from Their devotees during a two-week “sick” leave, finally return and are taken out on a pleasure ride in a gorgeously decorated chariot. On a deeper level, it signifies the ecstatic reunion of Krishna with the residents of Vrindaban aft
The latest tour by ISKCON Youth Ministry saw youth help put on four Rathayatras in the Caribbean, and some become inspired to take on active roles in the Hare Krishna Movement.
A total of about twenty-five youth participated throughout the tour, with fourteen from around the US being joined by about five local youth in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
Ages ranged from seventeen to twenty-four, with the tour running from December 14th to January 5th.
Three Rathaya
US congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard spoke at the Los Angeles Ratha-yatra yesterday. She is a sincere devotee of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna and a very nice person.
