America
Chariot festival in St. Louis County, Missouri after five years
New York, July 27
For the first time in five
years, people of Indian-origin organised a Rath Yatra with bhajans and
dancing that reverberated through the streets in St. Louis County,
Missouri, a media report said.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of
devotees pulled a chariot carrying the statues of three deities from the
Krishna Balaram Temple at St. Louis to Queeny Park area, St. Louis
Post-Dispatch newspaper reported.
"One of the things this event
represents is that deities, instead of staying in temple, are taken out
in public for the purpose of everyone and anyone being able to see
them," Yamuna Jivana Das, one of the event organisers, was quoted as
saying.
"We repeat the God's name with music and dancing so that
we can immerse into his heart, so that you don't think of anything else
-- complete devotion, you know," added Nina Desai, a follower from
Chesterfield area.
Many of the devotees attended the prayers at the Krishna Balaram Temple that espouses a "Krishna Consciousness" mantra.