In Australia summer is at it's peak in December, so that's the best time for Rathayatras. Last December Rathayatra was on the beach at Byron Bay. The crowds of people on the beach were amazed to see Lord Jagannath on his cart coming right down the beach by the water with hundreds of devotees chanting and dancing. Ramai Swami had and African drum with a strap around his shoulder that was very very loud, and Bhaktitirtha Swami, Jayapataka Swami and Indradyumna Swami led the kirtan at different times.

Then the cart turned and went back up the beach. My youngest daughter asked where Lord Jagannath was and my wife said he is going home. My daughter cried loudly with tears running down her cheeks, so we ran together up the beach to catch up with Him calling "Lord Jagannath! Wait for us!" We caught up and we chanted and pulled the ropes all the way. ("Jagannath" = "Lord of the Universe")

At the end there was a lagoon-like body of water where the tide had gone out and left water about three feet deep. The devotees had gone around it in the beginning but on the way out they decided to cross right through it, then pull the cart up a sandy hill to the car park. The Lord's cart stuck in the water and the devotees couldn't pull it out. They brought a four wheel drive truck but couldn't pull it out as the tires were just spinning in the sand. Finally with no other choice the commander said in the megaphone everyone should pull and no spectators. We all pulled and the cart just came out immediately, with the same number of devotees. Then after a rest half way up the hill we pulled again and it was done. Everyone shouted loudly HARIBOL because it was a victory. Perhaps this was the Lord's mercy and He wanted his devotees to pull him out.

my daughter

At night on New Years eve in Byron Bay they close the city streets and people fill them up. There are food vendors everywhere and it is very festive. No alcohol is allowed in the streets, parks or beaches in Byron Bay. Hardly room to walk by people it is so crowded. (Byron Bay is a resort area by the beach where people come from all over Australia during the Christmas holidays.)

Lord Jagannath's Rathayatra procession was the second part of a two part parade through the streets starting about 9:30pm. The cloth dome had a bright light in it so it beamed a bright red and yellow. There were bright spot lights on the Deities and they wore a bright lime green dress set, making them very bright to the eyes in the night. There were more lights on the cart including one that seemed to zoom around and around the cart, like a bright string of lights that sequently turn on and off to appear as one light running around.

Click here to see larger.

As the kirtan and chariot moved through the streets you could see many many people joining in the chanting and dancing, on the buildings up high, and all around. Many helped pull the ropes. One girl was dancing and chanting nearly more than any of us, and a devotee lady commented "You are so happy!" The girl said, "Yes. THIS IS WHAT I WANT!!! She reached to the sky and shouted THANK YOU!!!"

The Rath would stop every 100 metres or so and stay for 10 minutes while the chanting and dancing went on in front. Jayapataka Swami led the last hour and a half or more and the kirtan was an intense swirl of devotees whose feet hardly touched the ground. His big whompers and the African drum could be heard way down the street. Everyones eyes opened wide in amazement when the saw the effulgent bright dome of the cart and Lord Jagannath, Lady Subhadra and Lord Balaram. There must have been two hundred devotees there, but it looked like three or four hundred somehow. Worries about "issues" and some devotees who have left evaporated. Whoever was gone, there were hundreds here, and they were wired in the ecstatic service of Lord Jagannath, the Conqueror. The others just missed out.

Click here to see larger.

When the Rath reached the main intersection of town a huge movie light from a building beamed on the cart and devotees, while a video camera sent images to a large billboard video screen on the top of a building. Official estimates set the crowd numbers at over 30,000.

After circling the route and heading back up to the place where the Rath started and would finish, fireworks shot into the air at midnight to bring in the new year. Finally as the kirtan ended and the Rath halted, a deluge of rain came down and we had to pull out our umbrellas to go home.

I can't remember a recent Rathayatra more intensely ecstatic. It was an unforgettable experience. For days afterwards I woke up with Jaya Jagannath and Hare Krishna chanting echoing in my mind. --Amogha das.