Sri Jagannath Rathayatra Festival 2012 in Karangasem, Bali,
Indonesia.
As the morning sun rose in the east, the birds chirping and the
trees touched by the cool breeze, sung in joy welcoming the great
festival of the Lord of the Universe, Lord Jagannathas Rathayatra
festival in Bali. This annual merciful festival was held in the
eastern part of Bali, Amlapura, the capital city of Karangasem
Regency to glorify Lord Jagannath, Balarama, and Subhadra. The
royal descendents of the King of Karangasem honoured Their
Lordships by giving their palace to be the venue of the festival.
They also very happily accepted the festival. The Local government
also gave permission and opened handedly welcomed the event. Before
the Ratha Yatra festival, some events came along with it such as
seminar, cidhadahi festivals, and free medicial camp. There was a
seminar on Vedanta and Science, on June 2, 2012 delivered by His
Holiness Subhaga Swami Maharaj. The Cidha-Dahi festival was held at
Candi Dasa attended by devotees from all over Bali. A free medical
camp was organized by the devotee doctors in the village area
around the venue of the Ratha Yatra festival. The day before the
festival, devotees very enthusiastically prepared the place of
venue. They arranged for a nice altar, decorated the stage and the
chariots. They also prepared for the book display and food
distribution court working hard until late night with so much vigor
and devotion under the direction of the chairman of the festival
committee, his grace Dvijottama Prabhu. On the day of the
Ratha-yatra, the festival was inaugurated with a Balinese
traditional ceremony accompanied by prayers, dances, opening speech
by members of the Hindu parishad, and sounding of the auspicious
Gong. Among the important personalities at the event were the
Honorable guest, the chairman of Karangasem Parliament,
representatives of the Religion department, the local
Administrator, the descendant of the Royal family of Karangasem,
the chairman of Priest Council of Bali and above all, the festival
was complete from all directions due to the auspicious presence of
His Holiness Subhaga Swami Maharaj, one of the Spiritual
authorities of ISKCON. The representatives of the local government
and the Religion department expressed their appreciation for the
event and they were happy to have such a wonderful and grand
festival was being held in their area. His Holiness Subhaga Swami
Maharaj gave a short speech about the background of the Ratha yatra
festival. Maharaj told a story about Krsna visiting Kuruksetra to
take bath at Brahma kunda during the solar eclipse. There Krishna
met with the damsels of Vrindavan, including Srimati Radharani and
other gopis, Nanda baba and mother Yasoda who were really missed
Krishna. At that time Srimati Radharani didnt like Krishna who was
in the royal attire. Then Srimati Radharani and the gopis decided
to pull Krishnas chariot to Vrindavan. This marked the beginning of
Ratha Yatra.
Maharaja requested the Hindu parisad and the government to
organize more festivals in glorification Lord Krishna, such as Sri
Krishna Janmastami and others. All participants who were present at
that time listened attentively and showed their agreement with what
Maharaj proposed. Before the Lords sat on the chariot, they were
presented a Rejang Dewa dance performed by the little girls from
Sri Sri Radha Kunjavihari and Sri Sri Radha Madava temple. Then the
Lords were brought to the chariot by the Pujaris. Lord Balaramas
chariot was pulled first followed by Subadras devi chariot and then
came the chariot of Lord Jagannatha. His Holiness Subhaga Swami
Maharaj joined among the devotees to pull Lord Jagannaths Chariot.
The parade started on the Royal road of Amlapura, Karangasem. The
chariot went through the area mainly inhabited by Muslims. Many
people there were enthusiastic to see the parade. They were also
very happy to receive the Lords maha prasadam. Some even asked more
prasadam for their family. Besides the book stall, devotees also
did book distribution during the parade. They went around to
distribute books even to common people who were staying afar from
the Lord and many of them bought books happily. All devotees did
seva in the festival, some dancing, singing, food distribution and
many others. Even the boys and the girls never wanted to miss the
seva. They distributed the brochure of the Hare Krishna mahamantra
and Jagannnath ratha yatra. They really enjoyed the service to the
Lord. When the Lords arrived at the finish point, the devotee
offered arati. After arati, the Lord was presented drama about Lord
Jagannath lila and dances and other cultural shows which went on
late in the night. All devotees were happy to have this festival.
On this occasion His Holiness Subhaga Swami Maharaj launched three
new books in Bahasa(Indonesian language). The books are The
Spiritual master and disciple, Brahmacari in Krishna consciousness,
and God is Person. Assisted by some devotees, many books was
distributed at that time. Maharaj also personally signed the three
books in particular, thus encouraging the devotees to distribute
more at the same time inspiring others to keep a specimen of
Maharajas signature on this special occasion. Maharaj exemplified
his own words- Srila Prabhupada will be pleased if we do sankirtan
and distribute books. This festival was reported by Bali TV, the
local Bali television station and the newspaper, Bali Post. Jay
Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subadra Maharani ki jay Hare Krishna.
Hari Narayana das