Parasuram das: Since 1991 the Rathayatra Festival of Lord Jagannath annually takes place here, even a pandemic couldn’t stop it!
This year 11th October saw the transcendental festival take to the streets, somehow permission was granted, but instead of an indoor festival, we had a lovely picnic next to the ancient Tor:
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We counted 9 Srila Prabhupada disciples in attendance.
The devotee leading the Kirtan is Ravi Prabhu, who was part of the first ox cart Sankirtan party walking from Vrindavan to Kumbha Mela at Prayag to meet Srila Prabhupada and then on to Mayapur. He was also a big help with the Belfast to Moscow Padayatra in the UK in 1991.
Old friends gathering together, around the Holy Name, enjoy the video.
After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Joseph of Arimathea travelled to Britain with the Holy Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and later by Joseph to catch His blood at the crucifixion. Upon arriving on the isle of Avalon, Joseph thrust his staff into the ground. In the morning, his staff had taken root and grown into a strange thorn bush, the sacred Glastonbury Thorn.
Joseph buried the Holy Grail just below the Tor, where a spring, now known as Chalice Well began to flow and the water brings eternal youth to whoever would drink it… (terms and conditions apply, always read the small print)
Many years later, one of the quests of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table was their search for the Holy Grail.
The search for absolute knowledge, eternality, the meaning of life, everlasting happiness is part of our human make up.
At the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries there were over 850 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England. By 1541, there were none, including Glastonbury Abbey. More than 15,000 monks and nuns had been dispersed and the buildings had been seized by the Crown to be sold off. Henry Vlll wasn’t a man to argue with, as he flipped in between religions and in-between wives.
