Ratha Yatra NYC 2019, 6/7/2019, Pushkara

In the beginning of the Hare Krishna Movement, one of the most important priorities for Srila Prabhupada was to compile, print and distribute books. There are no books like these anywhere else in the world. Srila Prabhupada managed to translate the core of the ancient Vaishnava religious tradition from the difficult Sanskrit into our everyday English. This was not only a task of translation but a task of education and training as well. The books demand a change in lifestyle thus we need compelling reasons why. Along with the literatures themselves, Prabhupada saw the need for images to help the mind to grasp and solidify the deeper, sometimes unfamiliar ideas of the Vedas and this is why he enlisted an army of artists who were also his followers. Pushkara is one of the artists and has been with the Movement since its early days. He still paints and exhibits his artwork, but now lives in Florida.
The New York City Ratha Yatra was conducted over a duration of 3 days this year here in NYC. There was a Friday Program at Tompkins Square Park followed by a Kirtan at Times Square. On Saturday the actual Ratha Yatra Parade proceeded down 5th Avenue to Washington Square. Finally on Sunday, the 10th of June, we had a festival of Kirtan at the Brooklyn Temple located at 305 Schermerhorn St in downtown Brooklyn.
I wanted to catch the flavor of the event from different perspectives, so you can check out these snippets from the Kirtans and from interviews with various Devotees speaking about why they came as well as other interviews with some of the organizers.
This event happens every year on the second Saturday of June. As previously said, this year, the festival was extended to three days.