That afternoon, Sunday April 2, 2017, the old city in Semarang became crowded by people who wanted to watch ogoh-ogoh carnival. The Old City became witness of the diversity of the ethnic, religion, culture and faiths. Narayana Smriti Temple too was officially invited and the devotees pulled Lord Jagannath in the main streets of Semarang.
“This is very good proposal. Make the Ratha-yatra festival very great success. This will be a great introduction in your city and people will appreciate it” (SPL to Syamasundara, 4th May, 1967)
There are no devotees staying in Semarang but Sundar Krishna Prabhu and his wife Nava sasi devi dasi, disciples of H.H. Subhag Swami Maharaj, lived near Semarang. They worked hard to prepare the arrival of Lord of Universe, Lord Jagannath there. They communicated with Garuda prabhu and Subhananda prabhu from Narayana Smriti Temple of Jogjakarta. They then published the plan of participation in the ogoh-ogoh carnival in social media and devotees all over Indonesia reacted in jofully that another Ratha yatra is being done in a new place Central Java.
“This transcendental pleasure is unlimited and increases as we increase our desire to give more and more voluntary service. To surrender to Krsna all at once is not generally possible, but as we serve Krsna more and more, we gradually become more and more surrendered at His lotus feet.” SPL to Karunamayi, 25th February, 1968
As preparations were being made, devotees from Bali arranged the paraphernalia that were not available in Semarang. The Chariot team then prepared the Lord’s ratha and brought it from Jogjakarta to Semarang. They worked hard and did the best to have the chariot ready on time. Flowers that were used to decorate the chariot were brought from Bali, donated by Guru Charan prabhu. Devotees from Bali arrived a day before the festival. They unswervingly gave a hand to prepare the flowers garlands and decorated the chariot and whatever seva in which they could help. Sundar Krishna prabhu booked Pattimura Hotel as basecamp.
“Your enthusiasm is very encouraging to me. There is a great need for spreading of Krsna consciousness and we need so many enthusiastic boys and girls for carrying on this great mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu” SPL to Karunamayi, 25th February, 1968
A day before festival, H.H. Subhag Swami Maharaja arrived in Jogjakarta after long flight from Mayapur. Maharaj personally came to infuse extra enthusiasm to the devotees.
On the day of festival, the devotees started the day by doing morning program, Japa, Mangala arati and guru puja then they made final adjustments. At 10.00 am, H.H. Subhag Swami arrived at Base camp and gave class on Ratha yatra. Maharaj expressed his gratitude to all devotees who took part in the preparation and he encouraged the devotees to be more enthusiastic thereby utilising this human form of life in devotional service to Lord Krishna. After the class a Balinese dance was performed by the child artist,Yamuna devi dasi in front of the Lord Jagannath.
Arati was offered by Maharaj to Their Lordships, Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra devi in the hall of Pattimura hotel. After arati the deities were placed on the chariot and the pujari made sure that They were in safety positioned so as to start the ratha yatra. Devotees honoured prasadam before the journey of the rath to the Old City.
Coconuts were offered to invoke auspiciousness and also as the sign of starting the ratha yatra. Arriving at the Old city devotees joined the other participants who had already arrived there. Ogoh-ogoh festival Semarang is attended by hundreds of people consisting of representatives of different religions and cultures of many areas in Central Java and Yogyakarta. In addition to the Deputy Mayor of Semarang and Representative Kemenparkraf, the event was also attended by the Regional Secretary Adi Tri Hananto. The devotees than took rest for a while before the carnival started. The kirtan team lead by Sridhar sweetly yet energetically singing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra attracted many visitor and they were all so astonished seeing Lord Jagannath on the chariot.
Ogoh-Ogoh Festival Semarang was also enlivened by a variety of Cultural Parade, among other arts like Gambang Semarang, Kuda Lumping of Java and the dancing Chinese lions.
At 4.00 pm, Lord Jagannath’s chariot entered towards the crowds of the people who came to see the festival. The gracefulness of the chariot captivated and amazed many people. More people gazed and rushed forward just to take pictures in front of the Lord. They were so curious to know what it was. It looked beautiful, well decorated and full of flowers, and what is that on the chariot? The chariot left them in somewhat in a puzzle and continued the journey to the Mayor’s office at the end of the festival.
Arriving at the yard of the Mayor’s office, the devotees took rest and distributed prasadam. The committee of the festival then presented dance performance entitled “Arjuna Wiwaha” to close the festival. The sankirtan Book team also distributed Srila prabhupada books.
Seven students of Indonesian Literature Department of the University of Diponegoro, Semarang, came driving motorcycles to Jogjakarta, in order to “chase” their curiosity towards Jagannatha. They went to Narayana Smrti temple, in Jogjakarta. They were assigned by their teacher to observe in depth one of the cultural arts community who took part in the parade. Among the dozens of performances and tableaus that were presented, the student group was interested in Sri Jagannatha chariot which was fairly unique and carried a festive look. So, in order to finish their report, they sincerely followed Lord Jagannatha all the way to Jogja… In fact, they actually could have chosen communities in Semarang, so as not to be far to conduct their interviews but they said that the “Happiness Energy” that they felt two weeks ago on the festival made them curious to explore more in detail about the Ratha yatra. The also said that it was beyond their expectation that they were able to collect so much details of Jagannatha as a “cultural parade attribute” of Hindu religious art and culture. They also expressed that in this special journey they ultimately met with Sri Krishna and His teachings. When they eventually left the ashram, their jubilation and happiness were clearly reflected by the smile of satisfaction on their faces.
“We cannot expect that everyone shall become Krsna conscious, because only the most pious and fortunate living entities can join this movement. But we are giving a chance for everyone and it is up to him, to take advantage or not.” SPL to Yamuna, 7th June, 1968
Our ever grateful obeisances are due to HH Kavichandra Swami and HH Ramai Swami, the GBCs of Indonesia, for their support and guidance to always look for new avenues for sankirtan.
Our humble obeisances to HH Subhag Swami for always reminding us of the importance of the Sankirtan movement of Mahaprabu and inspiring us with the dedication of Sriman Jayananda Prabhu, for bringing us closer to Srila Prabhupada and keeping us united in family of ISKCON.
Jay Jagannatha…Jay Baladeva…Jay Subadra devi ….
Jay Srila Prabhupada…..
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