More photos: https://goo.gl/PovZoU
Gorontalo (Hulontalo) is an Indonesian province on the island of Sulawesi. It was created on December 5, 2000. Historically, it has been a center for the spread of Islam in Eastern Indonesia. Gorontalo City is also known as “The Land Under Medina’s Porch”.) Gorontalo province is located on the peninsula (Gorontalo Peninsula) on the northern part of Sulawesi, located in the western part of the province of North Sulawesi. The government of Gorontalo holds annual Karawo festival and this year devotees in Gorontalo were invited to participate in the Parade.
It doesn’t matter if you can or cannot establish a temple there, but if you can introduce the Ratha-yatra festival, surely it will be a great success. So try to execute this will as far as possible”(SPL to Yamuna, 27th May, 1969)
Only three devotee families stay in Gorontalo. They are bhakta Gusti, Bhakta Sadra, and Bhakta Putu Bee. They enthusiastically prepared for the festival which was scheduled for 6th October 2018. There is only a small preaching centre there which is used for the devotees and students to get together for studying Bhagavad-gita. Two week before the festival, the chariot team Adi deva prabhu and Ragava prabhu flew to Gorontalo where they assembled the newly constructed chariot for the ratha yatra which was donated by H.H. Subhaga Swami Maharaj. Adi Deva Prabhu and Ragava prabhu worked speedily to complete assembling the chariot on time. Devotees in Gorontalo also helped them. All was set for the festival when suddenly Palu and nearby areas in Sulawesi was struck by an earthquake on 28 Sept 2018 followed by a giant Tsunami which which left the town devastated with more than 1500 dead. An entire village submerged in the mud caused by the liquefaction of the land. The Governor of Gorontalo, Rusli Habibie, announced later that the Karawo festival has been postponed because the government and the community focused on helping the Palu earthquake victims.
“Regarding Ratha-yatra, this must be done at any cost. I may go or not go, that is not important. But Ratha-yatra festival, as you have already made program somehow or other it must be done” (SPL to Syamasundara, 26th May, 1969)
It was disheartening for all the devotees to hear the news. But the devotees were not to be discouraged. Already devotees from Tolai ISKCON centre had arrived in two buses, devotees from Bali and other places too had arrived by flights. The organizers of Ratha Yatra Nusantara discussed among themselves and Lord Jagannath gave them transcendental intelligence. They came up with an alternative avenue. Hearing the postponed of the festival, they made alternative plan. The Ratha yatra had to go on and the by slightly modifying the theme to “Pray for Palu”.
Early morning after manggala arati and finishing the Rounds, the devotees prepared the documents that they would use for asking permission from the government to conduct the Prayer for Palu through Jagannath ratha yatra. Time was short. They had to hurry to meet the mayor of Gorontalo. Other devotees took part in the fire sacrifice held at the preaching centre and prayed to Lord Jagannath. Although all throughout the day it was windy, the sun had been shining brightly with a clear sky then shortly after the yagna dark clouds appeared and then there was a heavy rain. Being very close to the equator, weather is relatively dry and rain is sparse in this region so this rain was something special.
The Mayor agreed to the proposal to conduct the prayer session on the same proposed date 6 October 2018, followed by a procession with Ratha yatra involving people from all religions in Gorontalo as an example of cultural and religious unity in the region and also to show solidarity for the Tsunami victims in Palu and Donggala, Sulawesi. Other departments including the police granted all permissions to conduct the event.
“Now the police have given you permission for continuing the program of festivals throughout the summer, so get this permission positively. That will serve our purpose in many ways. (SPL to Madhudvisa, 14th April, 1970)
Preparation started, devotees arranged paraphernalia for the festival in mood of devotion.. Ramanuja das from India gave Bhagavad-gita , some university students also joined the class and helped out in the preparation. On the day of the festival, the final adjustments were made. The Auditorium at Mayor’s office was used as the basecamp of the festival.
The main event was titled “Prayers for Palu”. At 4.00 pm the program started with cultural performances. bhajan was led by Sridar prabhu invited empathy. The ceremony started and Sadra prabhu reported the aim of the event. Adi Purusha Das, former head of ISKCON Indonesia, delivered a short speech and opened the event. Then it was continued by Ramanuja brahmacari with short class about peace. One by one representative from other faiths came to the podium and prayed for the victims in Palu, Donggala, and Sigi. The last prayer was delivered by Sridhar Das who sang the Brahma Samhita. The ceremony was closed by prasadam seva.
Lord Jagganath went on the chariot, then all participant gathered in front of Lord Jagannath chariot and sang Hare Krishna Mahamantra in front of the Lord. Coconuts were offered to commence the Ratha yatra procession. All devotees and participants from other faith pulled Lord Jagannath’s chariot. The melodious kirtan led by Sridar prabhu filled the atmosphere and many people came out from their houses to see the procession, others stopped their vehicles to watch and everyone took mahaprasad happily. Then students from other faiths who participated during the prayers also joined the ratha yatra and helped devotees to distribute the prasadam to the people who saw the Ratha yatra. At the end of the Ratha Yatra all the participants were singing and dancing like they have never danced before. One of the participants said that this route was too short that he felt a special kind of happiness by hearing the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra and wanted to get some more. One of the participant’s daughter who about 3 years old also danced from start until finish.
One of the devotee’s friend wrote the impression about first Ratha yatra was held in the city of the Medina porch : “Jaganath Ratra Yatra is only a term that I often hear from fellow worshipers at that time. Well, out of curiosity, sometimes I see and find out about it via You Tube. It was seen that everyone who followed Jagannath Ratha yatra was very happy. They dance, sing, jubilantly. I thought they behaved strangely, and happily seemed to overdose. Finally, I experienced that feeling when I followed Jagannath Ratha yatra in Gorontalo. For some reason and what happened this feeling of happiness enveloped me too, as if the manifestation of God had actually come down to the world and I wanted to reach it. I was filled with longing and deep love that cannot be expressed in words. Maybe in the material world, such a feeling has been experienced by someone who haven’t met his loved ones for a very long time. However, it was much more than that taste. Maybe this is called spiritual happiness. Tears were unstoppable while singing Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Dancing in spiritual happiness is the first thing I did at that time. I don’t know what I what happened to me, how my dance moves I seemed to know, how energetic I was at the time, I don’t know and I don’t realize it. I only knew one thing, I’m happy, very happy. At the end of my unstoppable emotions I spontaneously prostrated on the shoulder of the road in front of the Jagannath chariot.”
“I thank you all very much for making the Ratha-yatra festival so successful. Please convey my gratitude to all the boys and girls who participated in this great transcendental service.” (SPL to Upendra, 4th July, 1968)
Everything came out so well just because of the arrangements and blessings of Srila Prabhupad who is certainly happy to see these ratha yatras. We thank HH Kavichandra Swami and HH Ramai Swami, the GBCs of Indonesia for their continuous support in increasing sankirtan all over Indonesia. We would like to especially thank HH Subhag Swami for inspiration and guidance in making the festival the most wonderful one and guiding us all to come closer to Prabhupada.