RATH YATRA Festival REACTION! Puri, Orissa | Lord Jagannath
Added 2020-06-24 03:22:56 +0000 UTC
Comments
I am absolutely for doing anything with as less impact to the environment as possible. There is so much work to do in terms of environmental conservation, should festivals of any religion/region be targeted first? All these festivals put together, has minuscule impact to the environment when you compare to the pollution we are causing by the use of fossil fuels. How many of us are ready to walk/pedal a bike or take public transportation to reduce pollution? How many of us are ready to turn off our ACs to prevent greenhouse gases being emitted to the atmosphere? How many of us are ready to question the industries whose waste pollutes the water? How many of us are ready to stop using non-degradable plastic? Unless we are not ready to make individual sacrifices, how can we expect a religion/region to make changes in the way they have been celebrating their traditions. I totally agree we should all celebrate responsibly. But remember, celebration is once in a while, which means the impact of changing that is not going to be as much as the impact we can create by changing our day to day activities.
Swami
2020-06-24 22:05:18 +0000 UTCThis festival happens every year. The chariots are newly made every year. The deities are newly made every 19 years. About the trees, the government of orissa allows the cutting of trees for this festival, after the festival, it is the same wood which is used in the temple kitchen which makes food for 30000 devotees daily. The state govt has a forest project for the specific growth of trees of these species. Also as per the hindu traditions, the hindus are cremated on a funeral pyre which is made of wood. A whole lot more of wood gets used in that as compared to ratha yatra. Yes the ratha yatra was allowed to be celebrated this year, but instead of the millions of pilgrims who participate every year, only a chosen 500-600 temple servitors were allowed to carry out the procession. the other devotees were just happy with watching the festival from on their from their homes, because it holds a huge sentimental value. the temple servitors were already kept in quarantine for 14 days ahead of the festival and will be in quarantine after the festival
Achinta Roy
2020-06-24 20:38:50 +0000 UTCI support following traditions and keeping them alive. But my only wish is that follow traditions by making them environment friendly and not wasting food/water. If the food/water is instead offered to god first in a plate/pitcher and then distributed among the needy AND the chariots r made of environmental friendly materials instead of chopping down so many trees, then that would be much better celebration of the tradition. God never dictates how to celebrate any festival.... it’s all man made. So these traditions could be adapted so there’s no negative impact on Mother Earth and also by giving back to the community. And my feelings/wishes r the same for all the grand scale festivals in India. For eg I am a Marathi and have a huge problem w the massive non-environmental friendly idols of Ganesha during the Ganesh chaturthi festival. Just my two cents/personal opinion.
Mamata Tillu
2020-06-24 04:10:33 +0000 UTC
