Tattva-viveka
Ratha Yatra 2008
Margaret Dale - July 29, 2008 3:27 am
I didn't go to the weekend program, but I did catch up with the Audarya devotees at Ratha Yatra. Agni led the kirtana for Lord Balarama. Balarama was beautiful and as usual Agni brought us all closer to Vrndavan. This year we had no problems with the ISKCON management. At the festival site, GM kindly welcomed anyone who wanted to come and listen to him, and there seemed to be a steady stream of admirers. Many of the admirers also brought prasadam for GM, and GM ordered pizza for the monastics. GM kept passing the plates he got around to his friends and disciples. There was kicheri, halva, chutney, chick pea curry, and near the end someone brought some maha prasadam of sweets and savories. Overall everyone got to honor lots of prasadam. The weather was cold, very windy, overcast and misty. The Audarya group huddled together and managed to stay reasonably warm (well, I felt warm in their presence anyway).
After the festival we made the long trek back to Audarya. As far as I understand, the deities had been sleeping all day and I'm not sure we bothered to wake them up to put them to bed. We honored a little bit of left over prasadam from the festival, then I went to bed.
I got to see the deities this morning. They were wearing a beautiful red outfit with silver trim that I hadn't seen before. Nitai made a wonderful breakfast and lunch - fruit and yogurt, eggplant and paneer subji, broccoli potato soup (I think?) and salad with the yummiest dressing I've ever had. The temple is beautiful and the atmosphere is so conducive to remembering Krsna. Sadly, I had to leave so I could feed the dogs and return to work.
I'm hoping that someone who attended to program can post some pictures.
Gaura-Vijaya Das - July 29, 2008 1:25 pm
Who were the sanyasis present this time?
Citta Hari Dasa - July 29, 2008 2:54 pm
Who were the sanyasis present this time?
Jayadvaita Swami was there; he joined our kirtana for Baladeva about halfway through, then came and sat with Guru Maharaja at the Festival of India site.
Braja-sundari Dasi - July 30, 2008 10:25 pm
It was my first Ratha Yatra. I really loved it!!! My only disappointment is that it lasted so short! Our kirtan party was the best. Nitai says that at the end there was about 11 mridanga and drum players with us!
Prema-bhakti - July 30, 2008 11:07 pm
Yes, the sankirtana was amazing especially when Agni sweetly belted out, "Jaya Radha Madhava". By that time the crowd was large and the sound rather tumultuous. Later CH told me that GM had told Agni, "Now take them to Vrndavana" and he started singing "Jaya Radha Madhava". Personally it was the highlight for me. It was also nice when GM swept infront of Baladeva's cart before the procession began. At first I think GM declined the invitation to sweep telling Amogha-lila he should do it. Later when he was asked again by Amogha -lila he agreed. It seemed that was the way Baladeva wanted it.
Jayadvaita Swami joined the sankirtana party towards the end and then sat with GM at the festival site. I have heard Jayadvaita Swami is on his own personal boycott of ISKCON temples and won't give classes, etc. He says though he won't leave because he was there first. 
Vrindaranya Dasi - July 31, 2008 2:04 am
The Ratha-yatra 2008 MP3 CD is completed. As usual, the CD is available for a special price of $15 dollars. For Europeans, this converts to just EUR 11,- including postage. There was a great class about Puri and the Bhaktivinode Parivar, which covers the history of Jagannatha Puri, a wonderful description of Gopa Kumar's stay in Puri, Mahaprabhu in Puri (with an interesting comparison of what was going on in Europe during the same time period), and Bhaktivinode Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's pastimes in Puri. Another class focuses on the Bengali Vaisnava's yearly trip to Puri, with charming insights into the service of Sivananda Sena (including a priceless description of the dog that took shelter of Sivananda Sena's party). There are also several readings included on the CD and bhajans by Agnideva prabhu.
Until the new CD is put on the website, you can contact Shyama-gopala at tim@setsail.nl to purchase it.
Swami - July 31, 2008 3:41 am
Please note that during the first class in my head I calculated Mahaprabhu's birth year to be 1496 rather than 1486 because I had Prabhupada's birth date (1896) on my mind as well, as this was also a significant date pointed to in the lecture. Thus the correct date on which Mahaprabhu left for Puri is 1511 instead of 1521, which in Europe corresponds with Copernicus's first draft of his heliocentric cosmology, as opposed to Luther's excommunication. Nonetheless Luther was excommunicated during Mahapabhu's years of reform in Puri. Revolutionary times overall. Jai Sacinandana!
Radhanama Dasa - August 2, 2008 7:59 am
A video I found on YouTube: Ratha Yatra 08 The audio/video is a little off but there's familiar faces starting at about 8 minutes 
Syamasundara - August 2, 2008 2:50 pm
Oh that's nice, and it speaks for itself.
Vamsidhari Dasa - August 2, 2008 4:24 pm
Yasoda-nandana ki jayaaaaaaa!