Yet again the Lord Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladev and subhadra devi came out on to the streets in Karnal on 12th May 2016 to shower the people with their profuse blessings. Their Lordships passed through the main market area in full splendour and gave their Darsan to thousands of people. All the devotees and locals from all spheres of life got a chance to come together and serve the Lord to their hearts content.
The program started many days in advance. The local devotees regularly go out for sankirtan in the city and the nearby villages throughout the year. Their efforts were very well complemented by a group of international devotees who did harinam sankirtan, book distribution and flyers distribution informing the people about the Rath Yatra ceremony.
Srila Prabhupad says:
“From my very childhood I was also worshiping Lord Jagannatha. When I was six years old my father gave me a ratha and I was performing the Ratha yatra in my neighbourhood. And now in the western world you are worshiping Lord Jagannatha so gorgeously and it pleases me very, very much.”(SPL to Ravindra Swarupa, June ’74)
There is a large group of local devotees here including students and grhasthas who tirelessly worked to make the Ratha Yatra a very great success.
The Lord arrived at the Ratha which was decorated with profuse amount of flowers in a Mercedez . All the arrangements were complete to receive the Lord on to the Rath. Their Lordship were fed with sumptuous 56 bhoga (chappan Bhoga) offering. The chief guests Sri Amarendra Singh (OSD, CM Haryana), Srimati Renu Bala Gupta (Mayor, Karnal) and Sri Sher Singh (Dist. Jail Supdt.) offered arati to the Lord. They spoke few words of appreciation.
Vedic hymns were chanted, counchshells blown, coconuts bursted and the Ratha was on its way. It crossed over the beautiful Rangoli decorations designed by mataji’s group. Ecstatic kirtan sounded on all sides sung by our International group of devotees creating an atmosphere making everyone present prabhujis and matajis to dance in ecstacy.
Srila Prbhupada very well appreciated such a kirtana as he says:
“And our magic was simply this chanting and dancing; that’s all” (SPL to Batu Gopal, july ’71)
Huge quantity of prasad had been distributed nonstop from four sides on the Ratha. The distributed prasad included various kinds of fruits, fruit juices, dry sweets, lassi, flavoured milk, candies, laddus and sweets of various kinds. Thousands of people took Prasadam from the Ratha. The yatra concluded with Lord Jagannaths arti, and a sumptuous bhandara (full prasadam) was served which was honoured by a thousand people.
The credit for the Rath Yatra goes to Jagdananda Das and his team of devotees who under the guidance of senior guides has been managing the program since many years.
We pray to the Lord that we may be able to spread this Krisna Consciousness movement far and wide. Also we pray for the blessings from all the devotees all over the world in this endeavour.
Jagannath Swami ki Jai
Rath Yatra Mahamahotsava ki Jai
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai
—By Bhakta Aseem