Tampa/Florida(US), June 30:While the Rath Yatra, the annual festivity of Lord Jagannath and his siblings in Odisha’s Puri draws worldwide attention towards its spiritual heritage, the Car Festival at the City of Tampa in the US state of Florida was celebrated this year on Saturday with pomp & gaiety.
The Administration of Sanatan Temple, Tampa Bay in colloaboration with the Non Resident Indians (NRIs), Non-Resident Odias & assisted by the locals of Florida, celebrated the Rath Yatra here, performing the essential rituals, allied to the Rath Yatra.
This year Rath Yatra at the Tampa Bay in the South-Eastern state of Florida marked its 20th anniversary wherein thousands of devotees partook and offered their heartfelt obeisance to Lord Jagannath & his sibling deities along with Chakraraj Sudarshan.
The Tampa Bay Ratha Yatra was a truly magnificent spectacle of faith and community harmony, culminating in a hugely successful and spiritually charged celebration. The centre stage of the spiritual festivity was the majestic chariot procession, where the air buzzed with palpable devotion, amid thousands of devotees. Hundreds of hands, beginning from the youngest children to the eldest members of the community, eagerly grasped the thick, sacred ropes of the holy chariot to pull the towering, beautifully decorated rath with the deities abode towards the Gundicha Temple.
With every unified heave, a chorus of "Jai Jagannath" echoed through the streets, creating a powerful symphony of collective prayer and effort as the deities were embarking on their journey towards the destination. The slow, rhythmic journey of the chariot felt like the heartbeat of the festival, a moving testament to shared faith and unity through races.
Following the procession, the celebration continued with a series of vibrant cultural performances, while an estimated 800 to 1000 attendees partook in a lovingly prepared and sanctified vegetarian feast, the holy Prasad. The highly disciplined and joyous atmosphere left every participant with a sense of profound connection and spiritual fulfillment, perfectly honoring two decades of this cherished tradition.
Meanwhie, Odia families living here, hosted ‘Chhapan Bhog’, a dedicated traditional recipe offered to the Lord Jagannath,to all the devotees congregated on the occasion. Apart from it, a pious E-scripture titled ‘Mahaprabhu’ was unwrapped on behalf of the organization assimilating devotional write-ups on Lord Jagannath and the holistic Shree Jagannath Cult, lent by scores of devotees and avid litterateurs, from India and overseas. To make the evening more magnificent Odia dancers performed Odissi dance and staged the dance-drama Kanchi Abhiyan,that features the valiant episodes & victorious act of Lord Jagannath's triumph over the Kingdom of Kanchi.
Worth mentioning, the authorities of the Sanatan Temple, Tampa Bay have been organizing various social welfare works with humanitarian missions in the locality, besides their routine rituals. With a social commitment, the Temple Managing Committee had organized a free-health check up camp here on Friday wherein hundreds of locals assessed their health parameters, well attended by a panel of doctors.
