This past Summer our 39th Annual Festival of India (Ratha–Yatra) caught the eye of a reporter for the Huffington Post. His article entitled “Hare Krishna: The Rise in Krishna Consciousness” provides a unique perspective on the Festival as well as the Hare Krishnas:
The arrival of the Toronto International Film Festival neatly heralds the end of the summer festival season in the city and Canada as a whole. However glamorous the parade of celebrities on the red carpet may seem, nothing quite compares to the peculiar sight of the Ratha Yatra in Toronto and across the country. Mimicking the original Indian procession in the city of Puri, several devotional floats dedicated to the Hindu God Krishna, also known as Lord Jagannath, roll down the street, accompanied by exuberant crowds extolling a familiar chant:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare