FREMONT: Loud chants of “Jai “Balbhadra and “Jai Jagannath” reverberated in the air as thousands of devotees danced in the Fremont Hindu temple to revel in the spiritual fervor of the annual Ratha Yatra here on Sunday June 29. Ratha Yatra or the chariot festival was celebrated at Fremont Hindu Temple, with lot of enthusiasm and fanfare.
The Snana Yatra or Deva Snana Purnima, a ceremonial public bath ceremony of the three deities of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra is an important event in the run-up to the Rath Yatra or the Car Festival and was celebrated on June 13 at the Fremont temple. The deities were bathed by 108 pitchers of water. After the Snana Yatra, the three deities were kept away from public view for 15 days which is called the ‘Anasara’ period. The popular belief is that after the ritualistic bath the deities develop fever and therefore do not return to the sanctum sanctorum.
There were over thousand devotees gathered at the temple to see and be part of the rituals and the grand ceremonial procession, known as Pahandi – carrying the deities out of the temple to the chariots started at around 12 noon here on Sunday. This was followed by Rath Yatra were the deities were taken around the temple in elegantly decorated chariot.
At around 1:15 pm all the three deities were taken to Gundicha Mandir. On July 7, the deities would return to their Ratna Sinhasan after the Bahuda Rath Yatra.
The program was organized by Bay area Odia community and Fremont Hindu temple. The celebration culminated with Arthi and Preeti Bhoj sponsored by Odia community.
Rath Yatra is a great festival because of its ability to unite people in its festivity. The Rath Yatra has a great spiritual significance. As per the Katha Upanishad, the human body is like chariot which is driven by God who is the Sarathi. God takes us through a journey of material existence to that of the spiritual level.
The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with the utmost devotion. This ritual signifies that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee. Total dedication and submission to God is the only way to get out of the cycle of birth and death.
The history of Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri is more than one thousand years old and what has not changed all these years is the religious fervor accompanying this rich tradition and, the grand celebrations.
Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
