London Rathayatra

‘SPIRIT OF RATHAYATRA’ VIRTUAL FESTIVAL As this year devotees would not get the chance to pull Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Subhadra Devi’s chariots through the streets, an online festival was organised on Saturday 18th July. This unique first-time European virtual collaboration festival was jointly hosted by ISKCON Berlin, ISKCONLondon, Radhadesh (Belgium) and ISKCON Zurich. The festivities included Deity darshans, talks by Sacinandana Swami, Mahavishnu Swami, Krishna Prema Rupa dasa, Madhavananda dasa, Nikunjavasini devi dasi, Shyamasundar dasa and guided meditation by Sacinandana Swami and kirtan by local groups. Through this festival, devotees around the world had an opportunity to welcome “The Lord of the Universe” into their homes and hearts.

In London, Food for Life and Food for All provided a free take-away prasadam feast for the festival which was delivered to devotees’ homes on the day.

Watch here: https://bit.ly/spiritofrathyatra-playback

Temple President of ISKCON Berlin, Sadasiva dasa shares how the initiative came about, “Since many European countries are not permitting large public gatherings due to the pandemic, many cities are unable to hold their annual Rathayatra festival. So, at ISKCON Berlin, we came up with the idea of holding an online festival. We also saw this as an opportunity to collaborate with other European centres to share the vibrant history of the movement in Europe.