Sanctified Retreat Amidst Kolkata City: Jagannath Rath Yatra

July 19, 2013: In this dog-eat-dog world which is so stress-ridden and besieged with fierce cut-throat competitions, buying a slice of spiritual peace certainly seems a luxury. Notwithstanding this difficulty, a retreat of sanctified serenity amidst a fast-paced life of tension, pollution and medication comes as a boon in disguise.

The lush greens of Kolkata’s Maidan, (an open airfield space) which is located right at the heart of the metropolis and also considered the City of Joy’s lungs, has been suitably chosen as a weeklong receptacle of rendezvous with tranquillity for the ongoing chariot festival in the culture-capital.
Celebrating the second largest rath yatra utsav of the world, this 42nd edition of the fiesta, organised by ISKCON Kolkata, is being observed with great pomp and show for seven long days, since it was ushered in on last Wednesday July 10. The fete will continue till Thursday July 18 till the returning journey ensues on the ulta rath day, taking the deities back to their former address. “We’ve driven two hours down the road from Chinsurah (situated in Hooghly district of West Bengal) only to catch a glimpse of this fairground. See, the fervour of a mela under a variegated marquee is gradually receding into the past. Like the lately terminated 163-year-old emergency telegram service, a lot of the good old things of this country are soon becoming history. So despite the innovation of modern-day’s enslaving technology when something still remain uncrushed and tend to tug in at the soulstrings, then we feel the urge to receive its warm touch. I’ve come here not only to seek Lord Jagannath’s blessings but also to soothe my eyes and nerves in this holy milieu,” muses 69-year-old retired professor Sachin Patra with his sexagenarian wife Nira in tow. Although an arthritic patient, her indomitable devotion never let the knee-joint pain deter her zeal to travel thus far.
Far at a distance, the long strip of road ribboning out of the TAI Brigade Parade ground from the Maidan which stands bang opposite the bustling Park Street Metro station, has merged into the melee of crowds, scurrying ahead in the rush office-hours in a jostling huddle.
While clouds of grey fumes emitting from different modes of public transport contaminate the air, the constant buzz of the surrounding noise and an irritable blow of heat, dust, soot and grime on the streets threaten to spoil the ephemeral calm which appears as a mirage in the madness of an urban existence. Don’t we know that relaxation plays a fugitive’s role in our daily chores and struggles?
Inaugurated by the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Iskcon (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness) monks and senior disciples, the giant wooden wheels of the three magnificent towering chariots carrying Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva and Subhadra Devi in the middle, had trundled out from the Park Circus Maidan complex amidst the loud chants of Hare Krishna and Jay Jagannath rending the air. Lakhs of people had gathered along the route of the rathyatra, eagerly waiting to pull the heavy ropes, which are even so tough to lift up. The prolonged procession then reached the Maidan address in the evening after covering a stretch of 10 km. With the three chariots being parked in the centre of the ground, the deities are now placed over a dais, inside a makeshift Gundicha temple (a renowned Hindu temple from the temple-town of Puri), solely built for this purpose. Outside on both the ends, the bronze statues of Jay and Vijay are kept on guard, who are mythologically considered as the gatekeepers to Lord Vishnu’s abode.
During the stay of these celestial guests, a cache of cultural soirees will be staged. Significantly, rathyatra is one of the most important festivals commemorated all around, especially by the Vaishnavites, who worship Lord Vishnu as the supreme power of the universe. While in Puri or Shreekhetra (Orissa) which is most well-known as the Jagannath dham, the rathyatra is performed with much lavish grandeur, world-wide, the core essence of the festival rides high on the philosophy of global fraternity and communal harmony. “Everyone can participate in this revelry irrespective of caste, creed, religion and nationality. It spreads the message of universal equality. Many monks from several Iskcon centres like Mayapur (West Bengal), Pune, Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru flock to this place during this time of the year. Besides, intoning hymns in praise of Lords Krishna, Jagannath, Rama, Balabhadra and Subhadra Mata, we also liven up this phase with music, distribution of prasadam, dance, songs et al. After all, recreation is an integral part of our life’s regular activities. And whenever we do it with a hint of reverence in our hearts, it cleanses the soul of unwanted toxin and purges out all the deposited dirt to make it absolutely pure and guilt-free,” shares Ramanuj Das, a trainee from Kolkata’s Iskcon temple. Hailing from Haryana, this 20-year-old aspirant doesn’t miss home any more as he seems to have locked his mind from the mundane pleasures and surrendered himself faithfully to the feet of divine-service.
Suddenly, a scent of aggarbatti (incense sticks) wafts into the air around, followed with a young boy carrying some sweet-fragranced flowers in his palm, another brings in a piece of cloth to be touched by the present gathering and then droplets of cold water from the chamara (fan made of yak tail) are sprinkled over everybody’s head. This ritual is performed during the aarti, which signifies the offering of panchabootha or five elements of nature to the Lord, which are — earth, water, fire, air and ether.
In the context of our minds being thoroughly disturbed and pricked with a brewing fear-psychosis emanating out of the recent serial-blasts at Bodh Gaya shrine in Bihar and the natural calamity of a mammoth Himalayan tsunami, a sagacious brahmachari by the name Patit Pawan Das strives to enlighten: “See, man actually lives through his soul and the aatma (spirit) and not via his body or the physical constitution. We are always being caught in the quagmire of a materialistic society and chasing hollow instincts all the time. Little do we realise that our skin is the first dress which we wear. And over it, lies the fabric or the cloth that covers our body. We should understand that our true worth dwells beyond the prosaic parameters.” Further exemplifying, he says: “Life is in other words, indestructible. It only changes from one form into another.”
The staid statue of founder Acharya A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of the globally-infectious Hare Krishna movement looks full of life just at the entrance of the vast temple. Slowly streaming out of the temple’s refuge after a heart-filled darshan for the day and with a halo of hope for tomorrow, the visitors once more trickle back to the cacophony of city-life on a hot, humid morning. The tinkling of tram-bells, honking of buses, cars, scooters, lorries and non-stop shouts of the footpath-hawkers in chorus, noticeably beckon the content souls again to the normal rhythm of a business-as-usual routine.

Source: The Asian Age, DT. July 19, 2013.