When: Friday July 4th, 2008, 10:30 am - 9 PM,

Where: 4th Street between Madison & Jefferson St, Washington DC in National
Mall

Rathyatra/Festival of India Schedule for North America:

http://www.festivalofindia.org/

Learn more about the Rathyatra tradition :
http://www.salagram.net/Rathyatra.html [1]

Stay tuned, more info to come ....

The Inner Meaning of Ratha-yatra

(ref "Hidden Glories Of India" book, BBT Publications)

Although Lord Krishna became a great king in His time, His childhood He
spent in the village of Vrindavan. There He sported with the cowherd boys and girls, and of all of them, Radharani was His most beloved. When Lord Krishna left Vrindavan to become king of Dvarka, however, Shrimati
Radharani's lamentation was unequalled in the universe. She never gave up
hope that He would someday return to Her. In this way She enjoys a special
transcendental long known as vipralambha-bhava, or "the mood of
love-in-separation".

Once when Lord Krishna was king, He met Radharani and Her friends in a
secluded place at Kurukshetra. But when Radharani saw Krishna in His
princely grad, with full opulence and regalia, She longed to see Him as the
simple cowherd boy She once knew. She longed to bring Him back to Vrindavan.

The mood of wanting to bring Lord Krishna back to the intimacy of Vrindavan
is the confidential theme of the Ratha-yatra festival. When devotees pull
the long, sturdy ropes of the Ratha-yatra cart they are pulling Krishna back
into their hearts - back to the land of Vrindavan. Radha and Krishna
incarnated as Caitanya Mahäprabhu, and in this way, They were reunited - in
His body. Yet during His last years, which He spent in Jagannath Puri, Lord
Chaitanya fully manifested the mood of Radharani and relentlessly lamented
the divine tragedy of Radha and Krishna's separation.  Every year in Jagannath Puri, Lord Caitanya celebrated the Ratha-yatra festival in Radharani's mood of pulling Krishna back to the simple, villagelike atmosphere of Vrindavan. Mahäprabhu taught that this feeling of separation actually evokes the presence of Krishna and, ultimately, gives

way to the highest happiness. This is the internal meaning of Ratha-yatra.