The Festival of the Chariots
Every summer in dozens of cities across the earth, Ratha-yatra—the Festival of the Chariots—blossoms like a multicolored lotus flower. Red, yellow, and green silk canopies tower above the chariots and sway serenely.
Festivals of India Come West
The festival shows how Vedic concepts and the Vedic lifestyle are, ever relevant in guiding human society and in fulfilling man’s quest for timeless knowledge. The festival is always “a surprise,” both visually and culturally.
Holy Rathayatra Festival in London
The mammoth chariot lumbered down through the heart of London, while on all sides thousands chanted and danced in ecstasy. Piccadilly Circus overflowed with the masses who lined the streets and sidewalks. The giant tower, over 50 feet high, swayed precariously as Lord Jagannatha’s Rathayatra car moved slowly towards Trafalgar Square. From between the buildings […]
Holy Rathayatra Festival in Tokyo
In the tradition of Lord Caitanya, the Rathayatra Festival was celebrated by ISKCON devotees in Tokyo. The Supreme Lord Sri Krsna’s realm is everywhere, and the chanting of the holy name Hare Krsna is universal because it is transcendental to all material designations.
ISKCON’S Holy Rathayatra Festival
The potency of the yearly Rathayatra Festival is inconceivably great. As pictured here, thousands and thousands of people participated in the 1970 Rathayatra Festival, which was celebrated simultaneously in San Francisco and London by ISKCON.
Krsna Is The Original Cowboy
We feel that we are as much a part of Texas as anybody else. In other words, we are the Texas Krsnas. We were out there marching in the parade with our float. And we got a special prize, and everybody loved it. They loved it.
Lord Caitanya Festival
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatara, appeared on the streets Berkeley, California. Lord Caitanya, who is Krsna Himself, appeared just to please His devotees and to attract the minds of all living entities who are suffering from the pangs of material entanglement.
Ratha-Yatra — A Festival of Spiritual Pleasure
This Ratha-yatra festival is very old—at least five thousand years old. Lord Krsna, along with His elder brother, Balarama, and His sister, Subhadra, once rode in a chariot from Dvaraka to Kuruksetra, and this festival commemorates Krsna’s riding with His family on the chariot.
Lord Caitanya at Ratha-yatra Festival in Jagannatha Puri
At the great chariot festival in the holy city of Jagannatha Puri, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu danced in ecstasy before the chariot of Lord Jagannatha, revealing a most intimate pastime of the Supreme Lord.
Holy Rathayatra San Francisco 1969
Suddenly a frenzied storm of 10,000 young chanters startled San Francisco. A sea of people poured around the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets in the dazzling noonday sun, completely surrounding the thirty-five foot high, brilliantly decorated Rathayatra car.
Srila Prabhupada’s Rathayatra Lecture
My dear boys and girls, I thank you very much for joining us on this Rathayatra Ceremony. I am going to sing an Indian song and then I will explain it. Even if you don’t understand the language of the song, still, if you kindly hear patiently, the sound vibration will act.
San Francisco Rathayatra Festival 1969
On July 27th, 1969 in San Francisco the most powerful spiritual celebration the bay area has ever known, the Rathayatra Festival, took place. Words cannot describe the nectarean beauty of the holy day glorifying the Jagannath Deities.
Lord Jagannatha’s Journey to the Sea
Today is the Jagannath Car Festival. There is great excitement in the San Francisco temple. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, affectionately known as Prabhupada, had given a lecture the night before, and the chants had been sung with much enthusiasm.
Rathayatra Parade San Francisco 1969
Prabhupada emerged from a car which had cautiously nuzzled its way through the crowds up to the side of the great ratha car. Purple velvet steps were lowered onto the street by the devotees, and the Golden Guru rose up onto the ratha’s opulent throne, just below the Deities.
Rathayatra, London 1969 Photos
Children and grandmothers with tilok all wanting to pull the rope that will send dancing the grand Lord of the Universe. Then the conch is sounded and with the transcendental broom sweeping away the material dust, we dance towards Trafalgar Square.
ISKCON Hawaii 1969
The Kam Day Parade is a yearly event commemorating the reign of the Hawaiian King Kamehameha. This parade is known to draw thousands, so we were naturally anxious to take advantage of this opportunity for propagating Krishna consciousness.
Festival of the Chariots USA
The three towering chariots, their brightly colored silk canopies billowing, glide slowly down streets that on every other day of the year are reserved for a heavy traffic of cars, trucks, and buses.