Mayapur Madhava das: I just wanted to report to you all on our Birmingham Rathayatra festival. We had a two day celebration on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July. Lord Jaganatha visited 51 homes over the weekend and gave darshan to 327 people. Lord Jagannatha was greeted with balloons, cards, letters, confetti, kirtana, cakes, bhoga, fresh Manjari’s and so much more. Many people were in tears seeing Lord Jaganatha, I was amazed to see this. We had Bhakti Rasamrita Maharaja give the opening class on Saturday and Jayapataka Maharaja spoke on Sunday
Parasuram prabhu cooked prasadam feast on Sunday for distribution. We distributed 845 meals and Prasad Parcels to our community, the NHS, care homes, a hospice and a food hub. Around 300 meals were for the devotee community and the rest went to newcomers. With the feast came a Bhagavad Gita for everyone with a QR code sticker linking you to a Rathayatra video
We had 25 volunteers to pack the prasadam and 18 drivers to deliver the prasadam
We received so many positive messages after this event, in my 32 years at the temple, this festival was something special. Thank you all for your encouragement