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Dallas Ratha-Yatra and Festival of India
Yesterday, Sunday June 4th, the Dallas Hare Krishnas celebrated the annual
Festival of India and Ratha-Yatra. Generally, Hare Krishna temples all over
the United States celebrate Ratha-Yatra by escorting their Jagannatha,
Subhadra, and Baladeva deities through the streets on chariots, just as it is
done in Jagannath Puri in India. I had heard about the festival before, but
yesterday was the first time I had ever been to one.
On the way to Dallas from Houston, I was disappointed to learn that the
Dallas
Ratha-Yatra is actually much smaller than it is in other cities, like New
York
and San Francisco. For one thing, there is only one chariot for all three
deities rather than 3 separate chariots. Also, the chariot is only escorted
around the temple area, rather than out into the main city. I started
thinking
that I was going to be let down, and that this festival had been overrated.
Fortunately, I was really mistaken. As it turned out, the day was pure
nectar.
Most of the Houston devotees had arrived at the Dallas temple by about
2:00pm,
and they began chowing down on some prasadam to make up for the fact that
they
had nothing to eat on the way. During this time, many of us "hit the ground,"
so to speak, a number of times as we were reunited with devotee friends from
around Texas. Gaudiya Vaisnavas observe the custom of offering each other
obeisances upon seeing each other after a long period of separation. This is
because a Vaisnava is considered to be just like a desire tree-- he can
fulfill the desires of the fallen conditioned souls by giving them
information
about the Supreme Lord Krishna, the very information which can give them true
happiness in this miserable material world. Consequently, a Vaisnava is
engaged in the best kind of welfare work, the work of liberating people from
the miseries of the material universe, and he should be treated with all
respects. It felt good to see our old friends again, and to offer them our
humble obeisances.
The chariot festival was scheduled to begin at 4:00pm. After a succulent
prasadam feast, the devotees dispersed. Some of us toured the Dallas temple
area and caught up on old times. As I looked around, I was impressed by the
service attitude I saw all around me. Everywhere people were busy preparing
for Lord Jagannath's appearance. Several matajis were fastening huge flower
garlands to the chariot, while others were busy setting up tables, chairs,
booths, and a stage in the park next to the temple. As 4:00pm approached, I
decided to hit the showers and don a dhoti. A friend had promised to put some
tilakam on my forehead (I had never worn any before), so I went ahead and got
cleaned up even though I knew I was going to end up sweaty a half-hour later.
As I emerged from the brahmacari ashram, I found myself among the sankirtana
party, where at least 20-30 devotees had assembled with mridangas, kartalas,
and other instruments chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. Shortly
thereafter,
Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva, and Lady Subhadra were brought down from the
temple hall, and everyone offered their obeisances. Then the sankirtana party
followed the Deities through the temple and to the chariot out on the street,
where a crowd of devotees, temple congregational members, and other
inhabitants of Dallas had assembled. I was impressed by what I saw. Normally,
I had always envisioned the Hare Krishna chanters going out into the city to
bring this sublime chanting to the fallen souls. But in Dallas' case, the
fallen souls had come to us, wanting to take part in this divine chariot
festival. There were so many people there ready to pull the chariots that I
had a hard time finding a space on the pull ropes to hold on to.
As Lord Jagannatha was mounting the chariot, the chanting continued.
Originally the Dallas temple president Yudishthira Dasa was leading it, but
then the portable microphone quickly passed to Kesava (sp?) Pandit, a
disciple
of Srila Prabhupada. Kesava is well known for his rich and powerful voice,
one
that certainly does not need a microphone in order to be heard, and his
fondness for the jumbo-size kartalas, often known as "whompers" by the rest
of
us. So it was quite a powerful kirtana that was going on as the chariot
started to move.
Lord Jagannatha's chariot was taken around the temple block three times.
During that time, the chariot would sometimes be pulled backwards by devotees
at the rear end, and then it would be allowed to continue forward. At several
points the pull ropes broke and the devotees had to scramble to tie a new one
so that the chariot did not tumble backward. After the end of 3 loops, the
chariot was brought into the park adjacent to the temple, where the
sankirtana party mounted the stage. Meanwhile, the devotees on the chariot
began throwing the flowers out to the crowd, who smelled the flowers that
were
offered to the Supreme Lord and enjoyed their transcendental scents.
After the sankirtana was over, His Holiness Tamala Krishna Gosvami came on
stage to explain the significance of the Ratha-Yatra festival. One
explanation
for the odd appearance for the Jagannatha Deity was the familiar story we
all
know of Indradyumna Maharaja interrupting the divine architect who was
carving
the Deity. The architect left, leaving the Deities in an incomplete form. But
then Gosvami Mahraj explained to us that actually the forms were not
incomplete. Once, when Lord Krishna was listening at the door to His queens's
chambers in Dwaraka Palace, He heard them discussing His childhood pastimes
as
a boy in Vrindavana. Immediately Krishna went into ecstasy: His eyes opened
wide, and His limbs retracted into His body. The same thing happened to Lord
Balarama, His brother, and Lady Subhadra, His sister, when they also listened
to these wonderful pastimes. Then Narada Muni, a travelling saint and a great
devotee of the Lord, happened upon them in these ecstatic forms and
immediately understood what was happening. He prayed that Krishna would leave
these forms on the earth for people to worship, and this is the real reason
why the Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra Deities exist in the forms that
they do. Because Lord Krishna was nostalgically thinking about His boyhood
pastimes, the chariot festival represents His devotees taking Him back to
Vrindavana forest. The devotees who tried to pull the chariot backward
represent Dwaraka devotees who, fearing separation from the Lord, are trying
to pull Him back towards Dwaraka. Eventually, as the chariot is pulled up
into
the park (which represents Vrindavana forest), it is understood that Krishna
has returned to His childhood home.
His Holiness also explained the potency of the Ratha-yatra festival. In
scriptures, it is said that anyone who pulls the rope of Lord Jagannatha's
chariot immediately gets liberation. There were many people, both devotees
and nondevotees, who took part in the pulling of the chariot. So, Gosvami
Maharaj indicated that they had all gotten liberation, although they might
not yet feel it. Some of the devotees chuckled at this. The Vaisnavas in
general are not as concerned with liberation as they are simply with
rendering
devotional service to Lord Krishna. So, to them, the pulling of the ropes was
a matter of service to their Lord. But still, for the many nondevotees who
got
a chance to help out, it was understood that they would very soon become
cleansed of their material desires and also become Vaisnavas.
After His Holiness left the stage, the rest of the Festival of India began.
There was a Bharata Natyam dance, and later on Minoo Purushotham sang bhajans
with Mukunda Datta Prabhu accompanying on tabla. There were several booths
selling vegetarian barbeque, pizza, and pakoras with tomato chutney. After
screaming myself hoarse during the sankirtana, I opted for some liquid
nourishment first, and later got into the free prasadam line. Needless to
say,
the prasdam was delicious.
The climax of the Festival of India was a multimedia program called "Krsna
Vision" which was put together by a group of travelling devotees from Europe.
It involved three slide shows, each of which had 12 computer-controlled slide
projectors synchronized with music. The first show was on Srila Prabhupada
and
how he came to this hellish Western world and engaged so many people in
devotional service. At the end of it, there was a caption which read
(paraphrase) "We offer our obeisances to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada, without whose mercy we would all still be drowning in
ignorance." Srila Prabhupada could have stayed in India for his remaining
years. But instead, at the age of 70, he came to the United States on a
mission for his spiritual master to preach Krsna consciousness to the West.
Unlike the many other Hindu so-called sadhus who marketed some kind of
fast-food spirituality in the U.S., Srila Prabhupada taught devotional
service
to the Supreme Lord, and in so doing he gave us the greatest thing--- Krsna.
The second multimedia show was a musical meditation on Vrindavana, the
spiritual world in which Lord Krishna resides. Many of the pictures were of
the Vrindavana in India, which is regarded as a sort of spiritual embassy
which has been manifested in the material world for the benefit of the fallen
souls. By and large, however, the highlight of the Krsna Vision presentation
ws in the third slide show.
The third slide show was a presentation of all of the major Radha-Krsna
deities installed by Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON temples all over the world.
It
was also synchronized to beautiful music by Krsna Prema Dasa which named each
of the different Deities (usually Radha and some name of Krsna). For example,
Radha-Giridhari, Radha-Gokulananda, Rukmini-Dwarkadish, and so on. I can't
even begin to describe this experience. The Deities all over the world were
so
beautiful. I have never before seen such beautiful Deities, all of whom were
dressed in opulent garments, jewelry, and fresh flowers. In the center there
was a picture of the Deities together, and on the right and left sides were
closeups of the Radha and Krsna Deities. The Deities of Radha-Krsna, also
known as the arca-vigrahas, are not mere idols or statues. Tamala Krishna
Gosvami also emphasized this point in his lecture. If we think They are
simply
made out of stone, then that means that our own hearts are actually made out
of stone. Krsna can take any form out of His causeless mercy for us, the
fallen souls, so that we can perceive Him with our contaminated senses and
worship Him. Thus, the Deities in the temple ARE Radha and Krsna, the Supreme
Absolute Truth, not sentimental representations of some impersonal, abstract
God.
At one point during the presentation, one of the Houston devotees looked at
the closeups of the Deities' faces and said, "Look at them. There is so much
mercy in Their eyes." Radha and Krsna take the arca-vigra forms out of
compassion for us so that we can worship Them and behold Their transcendental
beauty. And speaking of eyes, I think that had I been an ISKCON veteran, I
probably would have shed a few tears. After seeing the beautiful Deities from
places like London, Paris, Sweden, Nairobi, Los Angeles, Detroit, New York,
San Diego, Mexico City, Vrindavana, Mayapur, Calcutta, Eastern Europe, and
Southeast Asia, there was a caption that read, "to be continued." Although
there are over 500 ISKCON centers around the world, this is only the
beginning. Some day, the mission of Lord Caitanya, which is to spread the
glories of the Holy Name to every town and every village, will be fulfilled.
There will be no race, caste, sex, or any other restrictions. Rather, the
Holy
Names of the Lord will be distributed freely to everyone so that they can get
the highest form of bliss, and Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON will be the
organization that will carry it out.
JAYA JAGAT GURU SRILA PRABHUPADA!!!
NITAI-GAURA HARIBOL!!
