48TH LONDON RATHA YATRA - 17TH JULY 2016

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• published: 27 Jul 2016
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THREE MAJESTIC CHARIOTS PARADED THE STREETS OF LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM. EVERYBODY ON THE STREET WAS MESMERIZED BY THE ECSTATIC HARINAMA SANKIRTANS, GLORIFYING THE HOLY NAMES OF THE SUPREME LORD. THE 48TH CENTRAL LONDON RATHA YATRA - SUNDAY - 17TH JULY 2016. LORD JAGANNATHA IS THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE AND RATHA YATRA IS FOR EVERYONE. WE ARE THE TRUE AMBASSADORS OF PEACE ON EARTH. JAI JAGANNATH! JAI BALABHADRA! JAI SUBHADRA! Assemble at Hyde Park, South Carriage Drive at 11.30am. Procession departs at 12 noon. Arrives at Trafalgar Square at 2.30pm. Festival in Trafalgar Square until 5.00pm. The International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was incorporated in New York by its Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada in 28th July 1966 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with 52 nationwide events in the United Kingdom. Last week in a gesture of appreciation to the City of London for making the Hare Krishna community feel so welcome, 5,000 anniversary cupcakes were handed out at London’s five major railway stations. The chocolate cupcakes made by Govinda were purely vegetarian, with no eggs and the milk of protected cows, in line with ISKCON’s commitment to Ahimsa. London’s Rathayatra festival, “the festival of chariots” is one of the largest annual 'Hindu' gatherings in Britain. From the ISKCON temple in Soho, true to historical texts, the unfinished wooden carvings of the Deities, Their Lordships, Sri Sri Jaganatha, Baladeva and goddess Subhadra's grand chariots were pulled by ropes by Their devotees, immobilizing the traffic in the busy streets of London, until They reached Their position outside The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. It was a colorful and family occasion with tents offering everything from yoga, spiritual information, puppet shows and Deity face painting et cetera. About 20,000 plates of hot prashadam were served made in the kitchens at Bhaktivedanta Manor, cooked by devotees led by Parasurama Das. On the centre stage Avatari Devi, the beautiful dancer with a beautiful soul, performed an Odissi dance and the Mantra Choir team were recording some contributions to their Jayadev mantra, which aimed to combine 1008 singing choices (1008 symbolising the Dharmic and astrologically significant number) in hymnal reverence. Mantra Choir has a website where devotees can add their virtual voice from wherever they are. The atmosphere was cent per cent festive and the dress code was beyond imagination. It was a rare sunshine day and celebrants were not just in western shorts and T-shirts or saffron/white saris, dhotis and kurtas but also wearing elaborately decorated and accessorised fusions of Indian traditional clothing and British eccentricity worn by both men and women, the effect was jovial and cordial and in the spirit of celebrating diversity and unity, love and peace. There are about 100,000 Hare Krishna followers in UK, all faith and all creeds are accepted into the community, the idea is to be the best Catholic/ Protestant/ Muslim/ Jew/ Dharmic you can be. ISKCON society values are to live life to render service without taking or expecting anything in return and to have excellent proprieties, all in the name of Lord Krishna, who is the source of everything. Pragosh Dasa is the head of ISKCON UK and Chairman of ISKCON GBC (Governing Body Commission). The GBC was a committee established by Srila Prabhupada as the ultimate managing authority and to look after the different aspects of the society. Pragosh is from Dublin and like most Irish and many Indians he talks fast and has very good value informatively. Before answering my perfunctory questions about the Hare Krishna movement he told an anecdote about how he was asked in Northern Ireland if he was Catholic or a Protestant disciple of Srila Prabhupada. He also mentioned that the Brexit decision might make it difficult and more expensive to distribute the 1 million books that Hare Krishnas sell over a year. He was concerned about tariffs being imposed on spiritual literature. Pragosh also worries about the concept of a visa. He believes eternal spiritual being are not restricted or bound by geographical demarcation. “If you are a nationalist you are in effect, claiming a land to be yours; proprietorship is fundamental to division and conflict”. The 48th Central London Ratha Yatra was organized by ISKCON Maidenhead, London. ISKCON Coventry, United Kingdom, also partook in the Ratha Yatra festivities. The Coventry temple is home to the only ISKCON installed Deities in England, outside London and Leicester – Sri Sri Sacinandana and Nitaichand. http://www.krishnaofvrindavan.com/Home.html