By Basu Ghosh Das
On the auspicious day of “Jyesth purnima” (the full moon day in the month of “Jyesth”, which fell on Sunday, June 7, 2009, ISKCON Baroda celebrated “snan-yatra”, the bathing ceremony of Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadradevi.
The function was held in a “mandap” (tent) erected in the garden in front of the temple. The Deities of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra were brought to the mandap by the temple pujaris accompanied by harinam sankirtan performed by temple and congregational devotees.
After arati, small (uninstalled) Deities of Lord Jagananth, Baladev and Subhadra were bathed with water brought from the sacred Narmada river (one of the seven main rivers of India) infront of the main temple Deities, in the mandap.
Several important Government officers, such as the Central Government’s “Provident Fund Commissioner”, Sri M. P. Sinhaji, and Excise Collector Sri M. L. Bansalji, came along with their families and participated in the entire program.
The print and electronic media, mostly local media, covered the event, as well as interviewed myself and temple vice-president Nityananda Ram Das.
Due to excellent media coverage, the news of the festival “spread like wild fire” all over the Baroda city!
After the snan-yatra finished, all those who participated in the program were given “halava” prasad.
Pictures of the function can be seen on the internet and the following URL
(cut & paste into your internet browser):
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/basughoshdas1/SnanYatra2009AtISKCONBaroda?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzT3Mik6MLhfw
Jagannath snan-yatra mahotsav ki jaya!