Rathayatra in Puri

July 11, 2003

I have recently attended the Jagganath Rathayatra festival here in Puri. The festival was incredible! Once I arrived in Puri, the night before the Rath, I was immediately taken to the town officials here and prepared an excellent location from which to film the following morning. I had no grand ideas to cover the event but Lord Jagganath definitely had other plans for me. I joined a private roof top directly in front of Lord Jagganath's cart along with Doordarshan, the Indian news channel which broadcast the event live on national TV. I could not have hoped for a better spot to have filmed from. Equipped with two different digital cameras and a 35 mm for slide shots, I shot the festival for eleven hours.

Lord Baladeva first made His appearance dancing His way gradually to His cart. Subhadra devi appeared and almost ran to Her cart. But when Lord Jagganath appeared the crowd let up a tumultuous roar while the Lord of the Universe gradually made his way towards his chariot. Dancing and swooning back and forth while millions of devotees chanted His Holy Names, The Lord gracefully mounted His Chariot after a half an hour of pure ecstasy. Then the King of Puri arrived on a silver palanquin. He performed ceremonies and swept the dust in front of each of the three carts. The carts were then prepared to move and be pulled by the millions of devotees which formed a literal ocean of humanity. Hundreds of different kirtan parties chanted while the crowd followed the events, all focused on the activities of one Supreme Being, His brother, and sister. Large ropes were attached to the cart and one by one pulled by the masses towards Gundica Temple.

On the Journey Subhadra devi's cart wheel split in two which made the front page of the newspaper. The following day Lord Jagganath's head pujari allowed one of the priests to bring my camera on to the cart to get close ups of Lord Jagganath.

The footage of the events from the dieties moving from the temple gates, to the cart being pulled towards the Gundica Temple were shown To HDG Srila Puri Maharaja who was watched intently often chanting as the Lord danced. Seeing His pleasure I realized why all arrangements had been easily made for me to take the footage from planning my trip to getting here in Puri. I plan to edit these and provide you with a copy for your pleasure and your friends as the film is truly amazing. I think the quality would make a nice short documentary of the festival from public broadcast.

Srila Puri Maharaja is in good health and spending his time daily reading, chanting, speaking with guests, and sometimes writing. Preparations are going on for his final centennial celebration to be held Sept. 24th here in Puri. Guru Maharaja will end his 100th year and begin his 101th year of lifelong devotion to the Lord, a pillar of our Sampradaya. I pray that all of you will have an opportunity to attend the event which will be held in the Puri town hall and attended by a host of dignitaries including the King, the DM, and possible the prime minister whom Bodhayan Maharaja will meet with shortly. These guests are in addition the many pure devotees of the Lord who will be attending from around the world. I look forward to receiving your Vysas Puja offerings as soon as possible so that they can still make the book we are preparing for the event.

I heard from a godbrother that Guru Maharaja while speaking with a devotee recently said that many individuals have left material life for devotional life and taken up following four regular principles, including giving up meat eating. But after some time due to misconception and offenses, they have fallen down from these principles. Instead of eating animal flesh though they have begun eating human flesh while some of them are even eating the flesh of vaishnavas! This eating of human flesh he said was the criticizing of others and the eating of vaishanava flesh was criticizing vaishanavas. He then questioned who would be better qualified to receive Krishna's mercy - an animal eater or one who eats the flesh of a vaishanava? I thought this was a lucid and clear example and wanted to share it with you. It is the quality of the acarya to extract the essence of the sastra and present it according to time and circumstance. Our Guru Maharaja continues to astound us with his deep realizations, humility, and awareness of what is going on in the world even while he remains absorbed in the Holy Name, Form, and qualities of the Supreme Lord.

I hope this meets you all well and in remembrance of the Lord and His devotees.