09/11/1998 - 2198

Seattle Rathayatra Report

Seattle, USA (VNN) - by Gauridasa Pandita Dasa

"If you want to attend something really exotic go down to the Waterfront andattend the Rathayatra Festival" This was the lead in to a 30 second newsreport on ABC News here last Saturday. Channel 4 and 7 both had nice newsreports on our Rathayatra festival. Clips were shown of the whole Festival ofIndia site arranged very nicely along the boardwalk by Madhuha Prabhu and hisfired up crew. The weather was perfect for the whole 4 days and sprinkled abit of rain after the whole event was over and packed into the trucks showingLord Jaganath's satisfaction.

This was Seattle's best Rathayatra to date. After years of experimenting withdifferent locations we realized we have to go where the people are. Thisproved to be a great success. The free Love feast was rated the best inAmerica by the Festival of India crew and others. It was organized and cookedmostly by our GBC, Hari Vilasa Prabhu. There was curd subji; upma; nice rice;blueberry halava with made with fresh blueberries; (freshly picked from therecently purchased land by my brother Bhakta Mike Lund for the future ISKCONTemple here.) There were also Califlower and Jalapeno pakoras freshly cookedon the site in pure ghee. This made the devotees and guests very satisfied andquite pleased.

Devotees came from as far as England and Florida for the event and were unitedin the service of Sri Guru and Gouranga and Lord Jaganath. Politics were putaside for this event as the Prabhupada-anugas danced,chanted, feasted andworked with all of the devotees and the Festival of India crew to make thesacirfice the success it was. The event was organized byHari Vilasa Prabhu andDon Porterfield who also gave a substantial donation. Bhakta Mike also helpedorganize the event and gave a donation of $6,000+ covering most of the costs.Thousands of Srila Prabhupada's books were distributed by the devotees.Special thanks to Sruti Kirti Prabhu and is good wife Kusa Devi Dasi andNaikatma Prabhu and Niscintya Prabhu and the others who manned the book andprasadam booths with charm and smiling faces.

Sankarsana Prabhu from Canada played his exotic kirtan at the southern end ofthe site non-stop creating a pleasing atmosphere. The local devotees performedbeautiful dances and Hari Vilasa and Pani Bhusana Prabhus entertained thecrowds with speeches and some humor. I was especially happy to see so many newpeople buy neckbeads and books and take a serious interest in KrishnaConsciousness. A navy ship was docked nearby and a new bhakta Wylie was made.He also mentioned that one of their elite Navy Seals was a Krishna devotee. Hedisappeared into the distance with books; neckbeads; a Hare Krishna t-shirt,(Of which more than a thousand were sold) and a good understanding of SrilaPrabhupada and Krishna Consciousness. Thus the purpose of the Festival wasfulfilled. All glories to the Rathyatra Festivals which unite the devotees andliberate the conditioned souls! May they get better every year! All glories to Srila Prabhupada who brought the Rathayatra Festivals out ofIndia and to the whole world. All glories to Srila Prabhupada's pure devotees;Jayananda Prabhu who worked so hard to start the festivals and Visnujana swamiwho inspired so many souls with his devotion to the Holy Names and hispreaching spirit. All glories to the Festival of India crew and all of the devotees who tookpart!

OM TAT SAT!
Thanks a lot!
Your servant,
Gauridasa Pandita Dasa