The original Ratha Yatra festival in Jagannath Puri in India follows a road close to the beach. But in Florida, the devotees take it one step farther. On Sunday June 6th, ISKCON of Alachua staged its sixth Ratha Yatra right on the sands of Jacksonville Beach. While the preparations for this year’s event were the grandest so far, however, the elements were less than cooperative.

At the start of the procession at noon, the sun was blazing (in characteristic fashion for this time of year), and the devotees who had shown up at 4 AM to assemble the cart were already tired of the humidity. But Jagannath’s new ride wasn’t the only thing that had to be set-up. For the first time this year, the entire “Festival of India” array of food and display booths was erected in front of the “band shell,” a large covered stage along the beach that hosts concerts throughout the summer. The “Festival of India” setup is usually reserved for Ratha Yatras in the larger cities of the country, but local devotees were hopeful for a large turnout.

Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse. At first, there were only light showers, which cooled off the dancing participants and provided relief from the heat. But then, just as the procession reached the festival site, rain and wind reminiscent of a monsoon manifested, and the temperature dropped noticeably and to an unwelcome degree.

Although the dramatic shift sent beach-goers homeward, the devotees waited out the storm, and were soon rewarded with a bountiful feast under the main tents by the stage. Gaura Shakti Dasa, the MC for the afternoon, gave a brief introduction to the event’s significance before introducing the main acts.

“We should not be surprised to see God taking this unusual form of Jagannath,” he explained. “After all, Moses met god in the form of a burning bush.”

The entertainment included most of the Alachua devotee community’s performing youth groups, including several Bharat Natyam dances by students of the Bhaktikalalayam Dance Academy, a drumming exhibition by the Sri Nama Kirtaniyas and a magic show by Dattatreya Dasa.

Bhadra Dasa, the event organizer, then greeted the mayor, Fland Sharp, for what the latter called their “annual tradition of exchanging gifts.” Sharp gave Bhadra a conch shell (which a devotee immediately blew to the great satisfaction of the audience) while Bhadra gave the Mayor a desk set, milk sweets, and a cook book.

“We humbly request you to start becoming a vegetarian,” asked Bhadra.

Sharp recalled encountering the devotees while attending the University of Florida in the early seventies.

“I would hear the chanting and think, ‘Time to go eat!’” he said.

He expressed appreciation for the longtime lunch distribution program on the UF campus, calling himself a “Krishna” graduate of the university. It is Sharp’s cordial relationship with ISKCON from those days that led to the event being held in the band shell for the first time last year.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says, “Rains are produced by performance of sacrifice.” If the weather at the Jacksonville Beach Ratha Yatra this year was any indication, the devotees’ sacrifice of chanting the holy names was more than effective!