Jagaratha in June 2000

Eyewitness report by Sri Rahul Nirmal

In Jagratha, we had to stay up all night to pray to Ma Durga. The programme was supposed to start at 9:15 PM and end at 5 AM the next day. So, before we went to the temple, we all took a short nap. We reached the temple at 9:00 PM. A lot of people came, more than we thought would come! At one point we thought there would be no room inside to seat all the people. But because some people started leaving after 11:30 PM the number of people did not become unmanageable.

My two friends were outside talking to each other. I joined in with their conversation for a few minutes. Then my dad came and told us to get inside. We went inside and saw all the children in front of us walking in the mandir. We followed them and saw them all sitting with their parents. I sat with my parents in the far right corner. In front of us, and everyone else was a metal plate.

In the plate was small statues of Lord Ganesh and Ma Durga. There was also some flower petals, sweets, Kum Kum and Agar Bati. We worshipped Lord Ganesh and later, Ma Durga. During our prayers, we offered them food, dressed them up and gave them a bath. After the prayer, Nirbhaya Ji , Tony Ji and Kailash Ji, who had come from New York. began to sing bhajans of Ma Durga. Ravi Shanker from Houston also was present to sing with them. They sang until 4:00 AM. At 1:00 AM everone took a break and we ate snacks offered by the devotees. After the break, they sang the bhajans again. At 4:00 AM, Ravi Shanker told us a story of Tara Rani. Without this story, Jagratha wouldn't be complete. After the story, five little girls came. Some devotees gave them money and prasad. We were also given dry fruits. We all sang Aarati. Everybody was given prasad and we all went home at 5:00.