![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/scpuu3h.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Parasuram das: The weather forecast predicted 100% rain, as we cooked torrential rain
\nfell, as we travelled to East London the skies continued to down load rain
\nas forecasted. But then as Lord Jagannath arrived to the sound of Kirtan,
\neverything changed, and Lord Indra gave us a break.<\/p>\n
I was thinking \u201cwho will come out on such a rainy day\u201d. But the
\nBhakti Vriksha and Nama Hatta devotees of East London are not fair weather
\ndevotees and what ever they do is successful.<\/p>\n
The Mayor gave a nice speech and was happy to smash a coconut, not really
\nsure why we smash coconuts, but it reminds me launching a ship with
\nsmashing a bottle of champagne.<\/p>\n
This Rathayatra costs a lot of Laxmi to hold, the hiring of tents,
\ntoilets, park and road closures. But the benefits are there:<\/p>\n
Rathe ca vamanam drstva punar janma na vidyate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimply by seeing the Lord on the chariot, one makes advancement for
\nstopping the repetition of birth and death.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is said that the participants in Rath Yatra will be blessed immensely by
\nLord Jagannatha (Krishna) such as
\n(1) By the sight of Jagannatha\u2019s merciful large two eye globes, the devotee
\nwill be blessed with astute purity of mind and spiritual elevation;
\n(2) Observing the Rathayatra will dissipate the sins committed by the
\nembodied person in the past births;
\n(3) The accompanying person in the Rathayatra will receive opulence at par
\nwith Lord Vishnu even if he hails from a poor family;
\n(4) Dancing, singing and chanting in the Ratharatra entourage, the
\nparticipant will be elevated to a level superior to yogis; and
\n(5) Active participation in the Rathayatra by any means will receive the
\nutmost blessings of Lord Jagannatha.<\/p>\n
The real benefits of taking part in my two cents worth opinion is simply
\nthat we can please Srila Prabhupada and get his mercy.
\nHH Janananda Maharaj was in jubilant form as ever, and the Kirtan was
\nrocking.
\nThe procession went past the location where the previous night two youths
\nhad been shot down by a rival gang.
\nThe chanting of the Holy Name is the only shelter for the poor embodied
\nsouls of Kali Yuga.
\nWhen we arrived at the park the heavens opened up again but Yogesvara
\nGopinath prabhu, who headed up the festival had hired an extra large tent
\nto accommodate the devotees, Jai Jagannath!
\nSee you next year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/BQAtlAf.jpg\")
Parasuram das: The weather forecast predicted 100% rain, as we cooked torrential rain fell, as we travelled to East London the skies continued to down load rain as forecasted. But then as Lord Jagannath arrived to the sound of Kirtan, everything changed, and Lord Indra gave us a break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78856,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78854\/revisions\/78856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}