The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Sri Radhagopinath temple, Empress City Nagpur had organised the Jagannath Rath Yatra in the city with religious fervor. Idols of the deities were first offered chappan bhog. King of Nagpur, Uddhojji Bhonsale worshiped the rath, which was followed by a mahaaarti, recited by Loknath Swami Maharaj. Chief guest, Uddhoji Bhonsale, Corporator Dayashankar Tiwari, chief priest of Poddareshwar Ram Mandir, Ramkrishna Poddar, Chairman of Radha Krishna Hospital and Research Centre, Govind Podar, Harikirtan Das, police officer of Noida, Chairman of Brahman Sena, Anand Trivedi, City Working President, Ranu Vinay Tiwari, along with Chairman of Annamrut Foundation, Dr Shyamsunder Sharma, took part in the mahaaarti.
Prior to the commencement of the rath yatra, Lokanth Swami Maharaj inaugurated the walk through hologram show of Lotus Temple, Emperean Township near Mihan. The devotees were brooming the road clean before the rath for the deities to walk through, while his holiness Loknath Swami Maharaj gave the green signal for the yatra to begin. Along with the rath yatra, devotees were welcomed by the nagpurians in every area, with high enthusiasm and spirits.
The hologram chariot was running at the forefront of the of the Rath Yatra, which was followed by the troops of camel and horses, and behind them were the pad yatri’s who were chanting the mantra of ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare’ on their way and were accompanied by the bulls from Gujarat were the main attractions as they were pulling the rath on which the statuesqueness of lord Jagannath, Balbhadra and Subhadra were installed.
People from all around the world participated in the rath by dressing themselves like radha Krishna, meera etc. Loknath Swami Maharaj was distributing the mahaprasadam to the devotes on his way. Around 6.30 pm the rath finally reached the Empress Mall compound, where a cultural programme was held for the devotees and the pad yatris.
At the event, Loknath Swami Maharaj, recited a Radhav Madhav Kirtan and also told the importance of the Jagannath Rath Yatra, while addressing to the devotees present. The event was concluded by offering, 56 bhog to the deities and was later distributed among the devotees as mahaprasad.
