London Rath Yatra

How do i start...sometimes you see and feel something which you cant put into words!Same happened with me...This was my first time in Rath-Yatra....and where ??centre of LONDON..trafalgar square!!

We(manchester devotees) left at 6:30 in the morning (Sunday 18thJune)and the whole journey was about kirtan,glorifying lord jagannath's pastimes,and of course feasting!We arrived at hyde park ,starting place for rath yatra...and I saw big ,impressive raths ..and ofcourse beautiful dieties of Lord Jagannath,Lord Baldeva and Subhadra.I was so enthralled to hear the transcendental chanting ...of Mahamantra-Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Hare Hare,Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

I was sooo keen to pull the carts of Lord Jagannath,Baldeva and Subhadra.As deenbandhu prabhu told me pulling cart signifies asking/pleading lord not to leave usand purify our heart(although he is always with us,here it means intense devotion,feeling of seperation as the way radha rani felt when Krsna left Vrindavan)

Eventually with the mercy of guru(Ganesha Maharaj) and of course Lord Krishna and Radharani ,I had the opportunity to pull the cart(s).It was soo amazing to see enthusiasm of devotees...whole london was "rocking" literally....westerners were just enthralled and amazed.I was also asked by some devotee to distribute leaflets...

Rath Yatra finished by 4pm at trafalgar square.It was very blissful to see sooo many exalted devotees.I met hitesh(who left his home to live in temple just after 2 years in KC) and one australian prabhu who also took bramhacharya. There were many stalls,a stage and prasadam tent and after having prasadam we left for Soho temple.

Must say Soho temple(also happens to be most expensive ISKCON property in world) was just amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!!It reallly was..the beautiful beautiful deity of radha -krsna (londoneshawar) ...man....breathtaking....and the temple although small but cosy made perfect place for me!Add to all this...the ecstatic ecstatic bhajan...oh krsna...I can live my whole life..just listening to that Kirtan .....(which was going on when we arrived)...I knew that this is the place for me....I really wish that if I am take to sanyas one day...I want to be in India....(vrindavan,puri,dwarka,badrinath...but if not in India I think certainly ISKCON london)

Well i can keep on saying about this experience forever but have to move on...after taking darshan..we grabbed loads and loads of prasadam boxes and kept it in our vans ...and off we were....back to manchester....On the way back I just kept on asking questions to Deenbandhu prabhu...it was really really nice to hear his answers/realizations...and of course talk on marriage..One more thing...when we came out of Soho temple and walking towards our van..i got so engrossed while talking to deenbandhu prabhu about krsna that I became totally oblivious of the fact that I was walking in london on the most famous oxford street with of course (scantily dressed westerners)...I realised this fact later...see how beautiful and blissful krsna 's pastimes are that you just forget everything!

I will always always remember this rath yatra experience and of course soho temple ....specially the chanting................Lets see when krsna takes me back to Soho...........

Om Gan Ganpatye Namah

All glories to my Guru Maharaj,Lord Siddhivinayak Ganesh

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna ,Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram ,Ram Ram Hare Hare