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By Hari Narayana Das
Kendari is the capital of the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi. The city lies along Kendari Bay. The festivities for the Ratha Yatra were arranged at the district football ground of Ladongi in Loea District. Devotees started to arrive a day ahead of the festival especially devotees from Amongedo district. Saciputra Das and Ramanuja das from Bali arrived at Jati Bali, 3 hours’ drive from Ladongi, with 30 kilos of flowers for decorating the chariot. Bhakta Gede Sukanta and his wife kindly arrange to receive the devotees at their residence where we had kirtan, class and, of course, prasad. Since we had to start very early the next morning seeing the constraint on time all devotees worked together to prepare the garlands throughout the night. The next morning, shortly after mangal arati, we loaded all the flower garlands in our car and started for Ladongi. When we arrived, devotees were already busy with the preparations. Local heads of different departments were also present, such as head district of Loea, Loea police officer, leader of Loea Hindu Parisad, head of Woman Loea Hindu parisad, and leader of Loea Village.
21 October, 2018. All dignitaries arrived at the community hall where the programs for ratha yatra was being arranged. Ramanuja das from India delivered a speech about the meaning of Rath Yatra, that how it is being celebrated all over the word by the mercy of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and how it is connecting people from all communities as one unit, as one family, the family of God where everyone is connected as brothers and sisters in loving relationships. Saciputra Das as representative of ISKCON Indonesia chanted a prayer for the victims in Palu and Donggala affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi. He mentioned how Jagannatha Ratha yatra Nusatara is becoming instrumental as a unifying principle for all people irrespective of caste or creed, especially in Indonesia where now 30 Ratha Yatras are being organized annually in different places throughout the country. He also mentioned that another Ratha Yatra is being organized at the same time in Bandung, another city of Indonesia, as in Kendari. The invited guests spoke highly of the organizers of the Ratha Yatra and appreciated the festival expressing their support in conducting the festival. Cultural performances by devotees’ children as well as elderly ladies of the Women Hindu Parishad of Loea district attracted large number of crowds. Arati was offered to Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra Devi after which coconuts were offered to mark the start of the Ratha Yatra Procession.
It was interesting to note that many guests from other faiths were spontaneously attracted to the chariot, the children wanted see the arati, others wanted to take a picture with Jagannatha while some wanted to touch the horses placed in front of the chariot and when they realized that horses were made of sponge they became more happy. As another Ratha Yatra was going on at the same time in Bandung all the experienced devotees from all parts of Indonesia went there as the place was more easily accessible. Although we did not have any expert kirtan singer or mridanga players, yet, somehow the kirtan went very good and all devotees were dancing. Interestingly, almost all children who came out to see the Ratha Yatra procession on the street were all dancing spontaneously and others were clapping.
Sometimes it makes us wonder how great a miracle Srila Prabhupada has done that today in a place where nobody knew about Jagannatha and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu they are chanting the Hare Krsna Maha mantra, taking Prasad, organizing festivals and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. In fact, Sankirtan devotees in Indonesia have put up a target to distribute one million Srila Prabhupada books for Gita Marathon this year. Everything is just simply wonderful.
The Ratha Yatra finished at the New Govardhan Centre, Ladongi where devotees continued with more fired up kirtan, sandhya arati and mahaprasad for all. Devotees also distributed prasad and books
We thank all the devotees who have made this festival possible especially the devotees of Ladongi Centre, devotees from Amongeddo who coordinated so well to conduct the festival flawlessly, the local Authorities of Loea District for giving us their support, Bhakta Sukanta and family from Jati Bali for their continued assistance in all preaching efforts. We also thank Govardhan Das for spearheading Jahgannatha Ratha Yatra Nusantara in Kendari. All our efforts would remain incomplete without the blessings of HH Kavichandra Swami and HH Ramai Swami, GBCs of Indonesia; we also express our heartfelt gratitude to HH Subhag Swami for kindly giving us Ratha Yatra as an important limb of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sankirtan movement and thereby engage our insignificant lives in this wonderful service to Srila Prabhupada.