India Post News Service
FREMONT: Fremont Hindu Temple, the first abode of Lord Jagannath in Bay Area, California, USA, hosted the annual Ratha and Bahuda Yatra on Saturday, June 27 and July 4, respectively. The holy festival usually attracts thousands of devotees.
This year, however, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Ratha Yatra was held in a restricted manner with a limited number of devotees with the heightened precaution of maintaining social distancing and wearing masks. For the thousands of devotees who could not join, a live telecast of the Ratha Yatra was organized which gave 7000 plus devotees the glimpses of the Holy Trinity on their TVs, mobile phones and laptops.
Says Dr Romesh Japra, Chairman of the Fremont Temple, “Due to the pandemic all of our programs such as Holi and Shivaratri were shut down. However, by Lord Jagannath’s grace we could follow our annual tradition of completing rituals of Ratha Yatra.
Its a blessing for us that due to the efforts of the temple management and a handful of devotees this could be achieved.” He appreciated the contribution of a senior Odia member and a long time committed devotee of Fremont Temple, the late Shri Deba Mohanty who was instrumental in initiating and starting the first Ratha Yatra in Silicon Valley, here at this Temple. Shri Rajesh Verma, President of Fremont Temple echoed the same sentiments and invited devotees to participate in the Temple’s online activities.
Ratha Yatra rituals started by offering pooja to deities, “pahandi” to ratha followed by “chhera pahara” starting the preparatory rituals for readying the chariot for pulling. Dr Japra conducted the “chhera pahara”. Radhika Saini from Nataraj School of Dance performed traditional Odissi dance in front of the ratha (chariot) before the chariot was pulled by the devotees with Kirtan and Bhajan and the chants of “Jai Jagannath” led by Kirtan Mellows of Silicon Valley Iskcon temple. Various prasads were prepared for the three lords and distributed amongst the devotees. Then the three lords were moved to “gundicha” temple and the rest of the rituals were performed over there. The rituals were rounded off with bhajans by Bay Area artiste Alka Bhatnagar with our Odia singers and devotees that filled the environment with devotion.
Bahuda Yatra was quieter and Lord Jagannath parivaar’s “niladri bije” was completed with the beautiful Suna Vesha.
“This year Ratha and Bahuda Yatra was virtual and unusual. One of a kind memorable event that our devotees enjoyed from the safety of their homes and prayed for the fast eradication of the COVID- 19 pandemic,” say Mahesh Pakala & Reena Patnaik, members of the local Odia community who, coordinate the annual Ratha Yatra along with other activities of Lord 
Jagannath Parivaar at the Fremont temple. They are very grateful to the handful of passionate devotees who came forward to participate in the rituals despite the pandemic situation.
The Fremont Temple tried to keep the last 26 years of Ratha Yatra tradition alive amidst the coronavirus situation with the belief that “Jagatara Natha” will shower the blessings over the devotees across the world to overcome this pandemic.
