Skip to main content

LORD JAGANNATH'S ONGOING LILA: RATH YATRA 2021

 
Ever since the pandemic, it has been extremely difficult for us to come together and be in association of devotees and to celebrate the various occasions that we otherwise did with so much of grandeur. Nevertheless, we have been trying our best to bring to you every celebration in the best possible way. We felt that even this year, we wouldn't be able to have a Ratha Yatra like we usually did, but Lord Jagannath had other plans. 
 
Although the whole intention of Ratha Yatra is that everyone gets the Darshan of the Lords, we decided on having a small ceremony, with just a few devotees, within the ashram area, since the pandemic is still prevalent. We decided to utilise the old Ratha from our morjim centre. But to our disappointment, we were informed that the old Ratha was damaged due to rains and hence couldn't be used.

Before long, one of our ardent devotee, Pradeep Chodankar Prabhu, from Mapusa came to our rescue like a knight in shining armour. During his visit to the ashram, he learned about our situation and without a second thought offered to help us by building a new Ratha for Their Lordships. His family and many other devotees and well-wishers came together and contributed to give us an elegant, new handcrafted Ratha. If you haven't already watched, please do watch the video and the pictures to see the beautifully designed and painted Ratha. It clearly portrays the love and devotion to our beloved Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladev and Maiya Subhadra from Their honest devotees.

With the Ratha arranged we had nothing else to worry about, except may be the weather. But on the day of the Ratha Yatra, Lord Jagannath had managed to take care of that too. Mostly clear skies and maybe a drizzle of rain every now and then. Which was good enough for us.

On the day of Yatra, the Ratha, adorned with flowers and Their Lordships mounted on it, were ready to be chauffeured around our land. But on the last moment, we thought that the wheels of the Ratha may not be be able to manoeuvre well through the soft soil of the fields. So we finally decided to take the Ratha over the tarred road for better stability. Even though we planned to avoid going on the road because of not having permission for the procession, Lord Jagannath wanted to go on the main road. He showed us that He is the master who makes all plans. We covered a decent length around the village and back. In this way, the Lord had also managed to give his Darshan to all the people.

Life of a devotee is like this. One obstacle after another. It just goes to show that, these obstacles are in place for a reason. For us to try, to learn and to surrender to His will. Our illusion is that we think we can control what happens in our lives. But clearly, we don't. When faced with a hurdle, best is to let the Lord take control of it. Inspite of all these difficulties, the Ratha Yatra took place in a grand fashion. It is Lord Jagannath's Lila that we witnessed during this Rath Yatra.

Written by Trisha Chodanker.

Story narrated by Achyut Gopal Das.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GIVING UP PETTINESS to EXPERIENCE PRETTINESS

"The process of Krishna consciousness will empower us when we empower it." The other day as I was taking a bath, the plastic bucket I was using, slipped and cracked. A piece from the rim of the bucket broke off and cut my finger. As I was waiting for the bucket to refill with water, I noticed that even after a long time the bucket wasn't filling up. It's at that time, I noticed a "not so apparent" crack at the bottom of the bucket which was causing all the water to leak out. I drew a lesson from this incident which is applicable to my spiritual life. SEALING THE LEAKS The process of spiritual life or Krishna consciousness which includes the nine fold limbs beginning with Shravanam (hearing) and Kirtanam (chanting) is like filling the container - the vessel of our hearts. For the vessel of our hearts to fill up, it should be leak free. If the container is faulty and contains many holes, the best of content, in the best of quantity will not help it fill. Ana...
Post a Comment
Read more

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIRE MANAGEMENT

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ― Jim Carrey, American - Canadian actor Long back, I heard this analogy to explain the nature of the unlimited desires in our hearts. It is explained in this analogy that, even if all the water bodies in earth are made into ink to fill a pen whose nib is as small as an atom and the sky is made into paper to write on; the ink will get exhausted, the nib will break and the paper will run-out but our list of desires will not get over - we will still have more left. Over these years of spiritual practices, I have realized the truth behind this analogy. I have become more aware of the dynamics of desires and it's working in life. Even though our hearts are filled with unlimited desires, luckily just a few jump into awareness every now and then, just like a few fish jump out of the surface of the ocean every now and then even though the ocean is filled with u...
1 comment
Read more

SEEKING THE GRACE OF SRI RADHA

Just like we have our mother who gives birth to our material body, to whom we owe our body, we also have our Eternal Mother to whom we owe our very soul. In different religions, She is called and addressed by different names. In Vedic culture, She is addressed as Sita, Lakshmi or Radha - the consort of our Supreme Father. She is our Mother God, our Mother Supreme. The scriptures abundantly and extensively glorify This Supreme Mother - Her love, Her compassion and Her grace for all of us. A mother is always more kind and merciful than the father similarly our Eternal Mother is more merciful than The Supreme Father. That's the reason why devotees desperately seek the grace of the Divine Mother, Srimati Radharani in their spiritual pursuits. Her grace can force Lord Krishna to shower His mercy on us even unwillingly. After all, He is an henpecked husband - completely controlled by Her love. The heart of a mother is very big. What to speak of the heart of The Supreme Mother. Her lo...
Post a Comment
Read more