First in Parassala

Date: 2006-05-07 Author: Sudarshana dasi

Hare Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

Last week there were two blissful Ratha that took place in the state of which is very aptly known as "God's own country". The Ratha yatras took place in two places - first one on April 28th 2006 at a small village called Parasaala where in Their Shree Shree Baladev and reside and then next one took place on April 30th in Trivandrum (Thiruvanathapuram - the Abode of Anantha Padmanabha Swami - which is one of the 108 Divyakshetras - Holy dhams of the Lord).

The Deities, the rath, the procession, prasadam, the continuous announcements, distribution of pamphlets to local people, and the continuous - everything was so nicely arranged by the Lord that our entire stay there was so joyful. The devotees there are very simple, humble and sincere in their service and the most merciful Lord Jagannath had showered His blessings by helping Them in all ways. As our spiritual master, H.H.Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj says, - As soon as there is sincere desire to serve the Lord, He takes care of all the things He wants in the parade.

This is the first year of in the state of Kerala and it was very interesting to note the enormous efforts that the devotees had taken to create awareness among the local people about the Rathyatra. In Parasaala, for almost 5 days the devotees made continuous announcements on the road - informing people about the glorious arrival of Lord Jagannath, the importance of attending the ratha yatra and the chanting of Mahamantra. The devotees were few in number and only few of them had attended ratha yatras. They had not practically organised one so far. I was wondering how managing even a small function at home itself was a herculean task for me. But here, the devotees were able to very nicely arrange such a massive parade very nicely - only because of their sincere and single-minded devotion - to please Maharaj, Prabhupada and Lord Jagannath. We could realize that Lord Jagannath was the transcendental organiser of the whole rath-yatra and He was providing them the energy, time and for the expenses.

On April 28th, the ratha yatra began at 4 pm. The Deities were gorgeously dressed in dark pink colour and looked so wonderful as they were seated on the newly constructed rath. The procession was led by the traditional musicians followed by nicely decorated elephant, who by the mercy of Lord Jagannath received lots of prasad throught-out the procession. The roads that were leading to the final destination of the rath was nicely decorated with coconut leaves, flowers and colourful umbrellas. Apart from sweeping the roads, devotees also sprayed water all the way to kill the scorching heat. As Lord Jagannath passed through the streets, He was very nicely welcomed by the villagers. It was so pleasing to note that almost 90% of the householders, shop-keepers (both rich and poor) and the priests in the temples of demigods in the village of Parasaala had brought their Krishna deity/picture outside and were ready with arathi plate containing tulasi, flowers, fruits and puffed rice and pots of water to wash the pathway to welcome the Lord. The most merciful Lord blessed all of them and as He neared the destination hall, devotees welcomed Him with crackers. Though the distance was long the enthusiastic kirtans by the devotees, made everyone forget the pain so much so even small kids were walking all the way. At 9:30 pm their Lordships were seated in the well-decorated dias and after arati we had wonderful prasadam :-).

By Lord Jagannath's grace, I shall continue with Trivandrum ratha yatra celebrations in my next mail.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Sudarshana devi dasi.