January 27, 2018 Tampa, FL
Hare Krsna. Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Sri-Sri Jagannatha-Baladeva-Subhadra Rathayatra maha-mahotsava ki jai!
This was one of the best Rathayatras I have ever been to. I have done harinama at the Gasparilla Pirate Festival for the past few years, and it was already one of my favorites. I’m thrilled to have been a part of the first (and hopefully not last) Rathayatra at this festival. We did it on Bhaimi Ekadasi, which was also the appearance day of Lord Varahadeva. Just as Lord Varahadeva picked the earth up from the Garbhodaka ocean, by Bhadra Prabhu’s arrangement, we went on procession with Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra Devi to lift up the consciousness of the hundreds of thousands of people at the festival. Bhadra Prabhu had us present the Rathayatra as a cultural festival rather than a religious festival, stating that we are the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, not the Indian Society for Krsna Consciousness. He told them that Lord Jagannath is a King being brought on procession with his brother and sister (which is true).
Materially, there some difficulties, such as the prasadam barely being brought on time for us and the bus we rented getting in an accident while on the way to pick us up, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the devotees in their ecstatic kirtans, both before and even after the parade.
It was amazing to see countless people lined up on both sides of the parade dancing in response to the kirtan and Lord Jagannatha. They loved the devotees singing and dancing and were very responsive to us. Vishvambhara Prabhu led most of the two and a half hour long kirtan, occasionally calling out to the crowd to, “SAY KRISHNA!!!” With Nityananda Trayodasi coming in two days, it was the perfect offering to Lord Nityananda to induce all of these drunken people dressed like pirates to chant the holy names. One devotee commented that a pirate is basically like Jagai and Madhai in his lifestyle, so by Lord Nityananda’s grace, we got to chant to so many Jagai’s and Madhai’s. It was truly a Rathayatra to remember.
Your servant,
Abhimanyu Das
album: http://bit.ly/2o5OF4h
video: http://bit.ly/2octqNv