ISKCON cancels plan to conduct Rath Yatra in Houston US

Amid the growing row over the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)’s plan to hold untimely Rath Yatra of the Holy Trinity in Houston city of US coming November 9, the society confirmed that the said Rath Yatra stands cancelled.

Tukaram Das, Vice President, ISKCON Bhubaneswar, informed through a press release that "Respecting the sentiments of Odia devotees of Lord Jagannath, the Houston Rath Yatra is cancelled."

Also Read: Enough is enough; we will take legal recourse, says Puri Gajapati on ISKCON’s untimely Rath Yatra

They will instead do Gouri Nitai Sankirtan Yatra. 

“They will do Gour Nitai Sankirtan Yatra. National Communications Director, Yudhistir Govinda Prabhu told this after his discussion with His Grace Anuttama Prabhu, the member of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission & GBC Minister for Communications,” read the release. 

While informing about ISKCON’s decision, Tukaram Das, Vice President, ISKCON Bhubaneswar, said, “We are trying our best to hold Rath Yatra as per ‘tithi’. We are successful in India to do so. But despite our efforts, we are not yet successful in holding the festival as per tithi in foreign countries.”

“Due to two factors, we are not able to hold the festival as per tithi in foreign countries. One is climatic conditions. When we are observing Rath Yatra here, in Siberia and some places in the US, the temperature is minus 20 and minus 30, prohibiting us from following the ‘tithi’. The second reason is that in many foreign countries, a fixed date has been assigned to the festivals since 50 years ago. I have requested the Gajapati Maharaj to discuss this with the Central government. If the Central government requests the governments in foreign countries regarding holding of Rath Yatra as per ‘tithi’, we will be then able to hold the festival on the basis of ‘tithi’,” he added.

However, till the time of filing of this report, despite ISKCON’s decision to cancel the untimely Rath Yatra of the Holy Trinity in the Houston city of US on November 9, its website still displayed info about the earlier schedule for Rath Yatra.

The decision of ISKCON to cancel the untimely Rath Yatra came hours after Puri Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb said if they (ISKCON) don’t step down from holding the untimely Rath Yatra, legal action would be the last recourse. 

Suggesting them to give the Rath Yatra another name, the Puri King had said, “Odia people are very much patient and we have to keep patience for some more time. I am hopeful that they will accept the tradition. We want to solve the issue in a peaceful manner and in an amicable way. If it doesn’t happen, ‘enough is enough’. We will take legal recourse then.”