Rathayatra at Amravati

More photos: https://goo.gl/Yx2aEf

By Jayabhadra Devi Dasi

On February 11 a Ratha-yatra festival was held in Amravati, the second largest and most populous city in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region. Jagannatha Ratha-yatra, the Festival of Chariots, originated in Jagannatha Puri, Odisha, and has been celebrated there since time immemorial. ISKCON’s founder-acarya, Srila Prabhupada, introduced the festival at ISKCON centres around the world, beginning in San Francisco, California, in 1967, and declared that “if you participate in these chariot festivals and see the deities riding on these chariots, you will go back home, back to Godhead at the end of this life.”

This year’s festival was the second Ratha-yatra organized by ISKCON Amravati, the first being held two years ago. The New Year in Maharashtra starts with Ratha-yatra. We can say that ISKCON Pune is the opening batsman in the Ratha-yatra series throughout Maharashtra, its festival taking place in the first week of January. Ratha-yatra is about sharing joy of the holy name and darsana of Their Lordships, and as the event was not held in Amravati last year the congregation devotees were anxious to repeat the experience, constantly asking the temple management, “Will we have Ratha-yatra this coming year?” At an istagosthi last December, it was agreed to arrange a Ratha-yatra on a date our Gurudev, Lokanath Maharaja, would be available to attend. Every year ISKCON Nagpur holds Ratha-yatra in the presence of Maharaja, and with 2019’s Nagpur event set for February 9 the Amravati devotees sought to prolong the region’s ecstasy and hold its festival just two days later.

The preparations continued for two months. Temple management arranged sankirtan thrice weekly to create awareness of the Ratha-yatra along the route it would take. All the congregation devotees were encouraged to join sankirtan and three sankirtan teams were formed under the guidance of temple vice-president Srigovind dasa and temple commander Madhupati dasa. One team would perform sankirtan on the left side of the road, while the other two teams of matajis and prabhus would walk on both sides of the road distributing invitation cards and asking for donations and informing residents and shopkeepers about Ratha-yatra. Thus, every home and retail outlet along the route would be covered. Some householders and retailers would greet us with respect and give donations and agree to services like providing water to the walking devotees. Others would simply ask us to return later. Nonetheless, the devotees invited everyone to pull the chariot on Ratha-yatra day because, as we explained, “the Lord Himself is coming to give you darsana.”

Hundreds of banners, posters and hoardings were printed to display across the city, a service diligently handled by the ISKCON Youth Forum (IYF). A group of boys would go every evening to put up the posters and hoardings. They also placed banners on auto-rikshaws, thus spreading news of Ratha-yatra throughout Amravati. Many people called in at the temple saying they had seen the banners on the rickshaws and asking for details.

Invitations were sent to nearby centres and temples such as Nagpur, Dhamanagaon, Wardha, Akola, and Yavatmal. Every Sunday until Ratha-yatra, Amravati temple president Anantasesa dasa called a meeting of congregation devotees to discuss the festival. A delegation of services was agreed that had the congregation devotees, as well as temple devotees Madhupati, Padmanabh dasa, Ajagovind dasa, Ranchod Krishna dasa and Sacipran dasa, collecting donations and inviting guests, while Haripran dasa took charge of prasadam services. The Motwani family would make all the accommodation arrangements, and Dayalgauranga dasa and Srutadev Priya dasa would oversee the temple prasadam.

As Ratha-yatra day drew near eagerness increased amongst the devotees and whenever they met each other they would say “Jagannatha aa rahe hai,” meaning Lord Jagannatha is coming. We even got posters made which read “Jagannatha aa rahe hai” to keep enthusiasm burning in our hearts. Momentum increased on February 6 with the katha of Radhashyamsundar dasa from Vrindavan, who for the next two days expanded on the glories of Lord Jagannatha. Lokanath Maharaja arrived on February 10 together with many other devotees, prominent among them twelve members of Mayapur’s international preaching team under the guidance of Nityakishore devi dasi, and senior devotees Ekalavya dasa, Sundarlala dasa and Krsnabhakta dasa.

Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra along with the ratha were brought to Amravati from Nagpur. The devotees decorated the temple with flowers, with a separate altar made especially for Their Lordships, who were welcomed with a powerful sankirtan and a shower of flowers. When They were installed on Their altar, arati was performed and then fifty-six bhogas the congregation matajis had made were offered to Them.

On Ratha-yatra day

Many more devotees arrived early on Ratha-yatra day. It promised to be a special day, one we had awaited eagerly for two months. That morning we held two mangala aratis in the temple and all temple and congregation devotees attended. Everyone was trying to hold the auspiciousness of the occasion in their hearts, all eyes flickering from the altar to drinking in the nectarine darsana.

All the devotees were busy in their respective services. The ratha had been sent overnight to the place Ratha-yatra was going to start, where it was decorated by the IYF boys, and a stage was made for the inauguration ceremony. The guests, honoured by garlands and shawls, included Mr Himanshu Ved (Senate member of the Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University), Mrs Seema Savle, Mr Shivraj Kulkarni, Mr Tushar Bhartiya and Mr Parneet Soni of Bharatiya Janata (BJP), and Mrs Navneet Rana, all of whom glorified ISKCON for organizing the festival. After the maha-arati by Lokanath Maharaja the Ratha-yatra began.

This year’s route and venue, altered from two years ago because we were expecting a much larger attendance, went from Rajapethe to Sant Dnyaneshwar Sanskrutik Bhavan in Achalpur, one of the most prestigious conference halls in Amravati. The All-India Padayatra was in Nagpur, only 150km away, so they were also invited and about twenty padayatris were in the procession. Famous for their sankirtan, they sang and danced with all their hearts joined by devotees and onlookers alike. The chariot was pulled enthusiastically by the devotees and from time to time by people in the crowd, all blessed by the darsana of Their Lordships. There were various jhakis, such as Caitanya Mahaprabhu dancing in front of the chariot, Radha-Krsna, Vitthal-Rukmini, and Ram, Laxman and Sita. A group from the Scholars’ Convent presented a Lezim dance (a Maharashtra folk-dance form named after a small musical instrument with jingling cymbals carried by the dancers) along with a Warkaris jhaki. This made all of us remember the padayatra that goes to Pandharpur during the month of ashadi. Many matajis were also carrying tulsi plants on their heads.

As it is said, rathe ca vamanam drstva punar janma na vidyate: simply by seeing the Lord on the chariot, one makes advancement for stopping the repetition of birth and death, so the devotees relished the opportunity to dance enthusiastically in front of the ratha.A major attraction was the international devotees of the Mayapur preaching team, who inspired the crowd by dancing and singing in front of the chariot in the Indian tradition. Prasadam was distributed continuously throughout Ratha-yatra, which had people running to take prasadam and darsana of Their Lordships simultaneously. After some time Lokanath Maharaja came down from the ratha and filled the atmosphere with his melodious kirtan. He was with us on Ratha-yatra for more than five hours, his presence making everything auspicious, and it was wonderful to have darsana of Their Lordships and Maharaja together. As he was distributing prasadam people would run towards the chariot. The roads were decorated with rangoli by the Pune devotees, flowers were showered on the chariot from a bridge above, and the ISKCON Girls’ Forum (IGF) matajis distributed books along the route.

DEVOTEE REALIZATIONS:

1. It was the most blissful event of my life to have darsana of Guru Maharaja and Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra maiya. All us IGF matajis enjoyed dancing and sankirtan. Everybody was dancing and singing. It was as if the Lord was His chariot and the gopis were dancing in front of Him. Everybody was absorbed in the holy name like they were in a different world. While pulling the ratha I felt the Lord was walking with me, because I wasn’t tired despite dancing, walking, and singing. Overall it was a wonderful experience.

2. I experienced a great pleasure in serving the devotees. Such Ratha-yatra should be organized every year. I will come for that wherever I am.

3. This was the second time Amravatikars experienced Ratha-yatra. Devotees from more than fifteen countries gathered to pull the chariot of the Lord of the Universe. This time devotees were greater in numbers, more enthusiastic and more energetic to grab this opportunity [perhaps] never to come again. As the chariot began from Rajapethe people came out from their homes and shops to welcome Lord Jagannatha and pull the chariot. The whole street was filled with devotees. When sankirtan was led by Lokanath Maharaja everyone was surcharged with new energy to again dance more and jump more for the pleasure of the Lord. Book distribution and prasadam distribution was going on simultaneously.

4. Ratha-yatra is the most awaited event: Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra were looking so beautiful. I took darsana of Their Lordships and started pulling the ratha. Harinama sankirtan was going on and all the devotees were singing and dancing. The atmosphere became totally spiritual. Devotees were distributing delicious prasadam of the Lord to all. And then Lokanath Maharaja joined Ratha-yatra. He started his melodious tunes of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and it was miraculous. The devotees who still had not taken part in dancing started jumping and singing loudly. It was a feast for eyes, ears, tongue and soul. Lord Jagannatha blessed all the souls with His beautiful darsana, His sweet prasadam and His sweet nama-sankirtan. We were all fully satisfied and nourished. It was an unforgettable experience. I requested the Lord to please come in my heart. Now I am again waiting for next year’s Ratha-yatra festival to experience the joy of Krishna consciousness with all devotees and with Guru Maharaja.

5. The grand Ratha-yatra for which everyone was waiting eagerly finally took place. Lokanath Maharaja and senior devotees such as Ekalavya prabhu, Nityakishori mataji with her entire troupe, and other international devotees were there. Remembering the last Ratha-yatra, I was worried what would happen if it was hot again but as I arrived, I saw the chariot of Lord Jagannatha was under a big bridge and the stage was also built there. This was the answer to my worry. After a few minutes Lokanath Maharaja arrived and everyone bowed down in respect. After the welcoming ceremony Maharaja and other devotees and guests described the glories of Lord Jagannatha. I remember a few lines that he told on that day. He said the one who is less sick goes to the doctor, but for the one who is sicker the doctor gives them a visit, and Jagannatha is a doctor for the jivas of Kali-yuga who are spiritually sicker. Jagannatha is visiting for them. Usually the devotees say to the Lord “mere dori tere hata,” but Jagannatha is so merciful He is giving His dori in the hands of devotees and saying, “take Me where you want, I am all yours.” The mesmerizing shower of flowers on Jagannatha and other devotees from the bridge was beautiful. Some matajis were dancing and some were pulling the chariot. Everyone was offering some service at the lotus feet of the Lord. Dancing in this kirtan I didn’t even realize how the time flew away. I had a lot of experiences to take back in my heart.

As the chariot reached the Sant Dnyaneshwar Sabhagruh, Ekalavya again made each devotee and some newcomers dance by his kirtana, and in the hall people danced to a guitar rock kirtan by the international group. Lastly came prasadam, which all the devotees honoured and then left for their respective destinations. About 5000 people attended the festival.

Lokanath Maharaja was pleased with the arrangements of the temple management, especially the prasadam distributed from the chariot. It was unending and the distributors were tired but after the festival prasad still filled the boxes. Later it was distributed to the devotees. Lokanath Maharaja said, “People were so eager to receive the prasad that they pulled my dhoti, saying ‘Uncle please give prasad,’ so today Lord Jagannatha made me Uncle.” The management also presented Jagannatha caps to the devotees who joined Ratha-yatra. They were glad to receive this small gift, and even our Gurudev happily wore one to inspire others.

Srila Prabhupada made Ratha-yatra a global event to give those devotees who cannot travel to Puri the opportunity to experience the festival in their city or country. Devotees believe that a person who pulls Lord Jagannatha’s chariot attains the spiritual abode after death and the Lord personally comes to take his soul to the spiritual world. Thus, they will have been blessed by His darsana.