Without Prejudice - Calcutta Ratha Yatra

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Without Prejudice - Calcutta Ratha Yatra

GBC Member Bhakti Caru Swami contributed this article to CHAKRA

By Bhakti Caru Swami

Ratha Yatra Calcutta 1st July 2001

ISKCON Bureau, the highest legal authority of ISKCON in India, after suspending Adridharan dasa, had appointed a 8-man committee to manage the affairs of the ISKCON temple at Calcutta. However, despite being suspended, Adridharan Das is contesting the decision of the bureau in the court and refuses to allow any ISKCON devotees to enter the premises, and physically occupies the temple by the force of a number of hired gun-men and security guards.

Despite this, the newly appointed management committee felt duty-bound to approach the Calcutta Police for permission to conduct Ratha Yatra in Calcutta this year. Adridharan Das had also submitted his application for permission a few months ago. However, when the police realized that he was suspended and not authorized to apply for the permission, they naturally rejected his application and gave the permission to the newly appointed management committee.

He tried everything he could to prevent this committee from conducting the Ratha Yatra festival. He went to court to try to get an order against the police for granting permission to the new management committee. Although his plea was rejected, and he was instructed by the court to assist the management committee in conducting the festival by handing over all the articles required - the chariots, the deities, the floats and all other paraphernalia - not only he did not help, but broke the chariots and damaged the dioramas on the floats the night before the Ratha Yatra.

Anticipating trouble, about 100 policemen were cordoned to the temple to make sure that Adridharan das would peacefully hand over the deities to ISKCON devotees for conducting the festival. Thus we had to get police help even to get the deities to conduct the Rathayatra.

About 3 weeks ago, when we heard of the possibility that the new management committee would get permission to conduct the festival, we had anticipated that Adridharan das would either refuse to hand over Lord Jagannatha's carts for the Lord to ride on, or would damage them. And that was precisely what had happened. Anticipating that very move of his, we had arranged to bring the carts from Mayapur for the event, so that even if Adridharan das were to sabotage the Rathayatra, Lord Jagannatha, Baladev and Subhadra would still have Their chariots to ride on.

Despite the unpalatable events of the past, the scene on the day of the Ratha Yatra was an absolute contrast. The weather was beautiful. Hundreds of thousands of visitors lined the streets through the entire route. The atmosphere was vibrant with the melodious kirtan led by the devotees, followed by hundreds of devotees chanting and dancing enthusiastically. People spontaneously joined in to pull the carts of Lord Jagannatha, Subhadra devi and Lord Baladeva.

Devotees had specially prepared thousands of pieces of sweets made from fresh coconut and raw sugar, which is known to be a favorite of Lord Jagannatha. These sweets were distributed to the masses, who were delighted to receive such wonderful prasadam. The procession was inaugurated in the traditional manner by a former Chief Justice of the High Court, by sweeping the road in front of the chariots of Their Lordships with a golden broom and breaking coconuts.

The parade ended at a huge site for the festival, in the heart of the city, in the field opposite the Victoria Memorial. A huge pandal erected as a replica of the temple in Sri Jagannatha Puri housed the deities for the entire week. Opposite this stood a huge pandal for stage programs. Around these two main pandals were booths filled with dioramas (that were brought from Sridham Mayapur) depicting the pastimes of the various incarnations of the Lord, an area for free prasadam distribution, book distribution, yajna-shala, question and answer booths etc. Two well-furbished air-conditioned rooms were constructed for VIP guests and Life Members. Each Life-member was personally taken care of.

For the whole week the site has been thriving with transcendental activities of all sorts - innumerable souls pouring in for darshan of Their Lordships, discourses, book distribution, yajnas, offering puja, Youth Forum preaching, massive free prasad distribution, questions and answers, dramas, cultural programs, dioramas etc. Every night various speakers lectured on the philosophy of Krishna consciousness to thousands of gentle souls who come to take darshan of Lord Jagannatha, hear about His glories, chant His holy names and honor His transcendental prasad. This was followed by cultural programs on the stage till late at night.

Every night HH Jayapataka Swami and myself met with dignitaries, important Life Members and influential friends of our movement. Needless, to say most of them were asking why we did not take disciplinary action against Adridharan das's defiance of ISKCON authority. They expressed sheer amazement as to how an officer was allowed to hold the movement to ransom by his nefarious activities, and how he still continues to be financially unaccountable.

Last night, the Hon'ble Mayor of Calcutta, Mr. Subrata Mukherjee presided over the program. This is the first time the Mayor of the city has ever attended the festival. When the Mayor heard that the Mayor of Los Angeles had declared Ratha Yatra as a National day of Celebration, he also expressed his desire to do something to mark the importance of Ratha Yatra in Calcutta.

Mr. Mukul Gopal Mukhopadhyay, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission in India, was the Cheif Guest last evening. He commended the work we had done this year to make the festival a grand success.

Many newspapers reported favorable articles and praised ISKCON's preaching activities.

Today is the day of Ulta Ratha, when Lord Jagannatha goes back, along with His elder brother and sister to His temple. Once again, enthusiastic crowds gathered to pull the carts and dance in the procession along with Srila Prabhuapada's dancing white and brown elephants.

However, this time, the skies reflected the pain in the hearts of the devotees as it poured little tear-drop like rain along the latter half of the procession. When we reached the temple area, once again it was cordoned off and none of the devotees were allowed to enter Lord Jagannatha's temple. A very meager handful of bhaktas came out of Albert Road to receive the Lord, while thousands of devotees standing on the street, drenched in the rain of His unfathomable mercy, bade Him a sad farewell with tears in their eyes.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada, Bhakti Caru Swami

© CHAKRA 5-July-2001

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