Report:
The Mana River Raft Festival
by
Sripad Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj
With accompanying
series of pictures
The
last week of June the devotees from Russia participate in a river-raft
festival held each year outside Krasnoyarsk, a city in central southern
Siberia. They, as well as many other local residents, construct rafts
and float down the Mana River for three to four days beginning at points
miles away from the city and ending at points near the city. This year
they invited me to attend as Sripad Avadhut Maharaj couldn't attend, so
I flew from Moscow with my interpeters, Ashutosh Krishna Prabhu and Katyani
d.d. We were met at the airport by our Math's leader for that area, Haridasi
d.d., and other devotees and taken to an apartment where devotees were
gathered and we all honored prasadam together.
The
next day all of us devotees took a six hour bus ride out of town through
the beautiful green and sunny Russian countryside dotted with small villages
where residents sell by the side of the road fresh milk, butter and cheese
as well as vegetables and fruits from their gardens. We travelled to a
point deep in the Siberian forest, to where the festival began.
The
first day we arrived, there weren't many people but by the next day many
came to build rafts and prepare to float down the Mana River celebrating
the great Russian outdoors, the warm weather, the Siberian forest, the
land, the rivers and the need for everyone to get outdoors in the warm
summer to have a good time. The next day was the official day to begin
so we and hundreds of others launched our rafts and began the long journey
down the river and back to town. It was a wonderful experience as all
the devotees were very much enlivened to be with each other, to make new
acquaintance and to have kirtan, Hari katha and prasadam together for
four days and nights.
Each
night we camped on the bank of the river, cooked prasadam and daily took
our bath in the river. Most of the rafts that we would pass or that would
pass us were happy to see and hear our chanting and would greet us with
some dancing or by saying, "Hare Krishna!" or in some way acknowledging
us like waving, etc. It was a very enjoyable experience and I hope these
pictures tell a little of the story of the wonderful Mana River raft festival.
With
my dandavat pranams to all the devotees,
- Siddhanti Maharaj
Accompanying
series of pictures
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