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Posted on 07/18/2024 3:10:26 PM PDT by libh8er
After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt, former US President Donald Trump attributed his survival to divine intervention, urging Americans to stay resilient. The frontrunner in the US presidential race was struck in the ear by a gunman during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The attack on Trump and his survival, coinciding with the Jagannath Ratha Yatra celebrations, has led many in ISKCON to see this as an instance of divine intervention, bringing back memories of Trump’s connection with the festival nearly fifty years ago.
A top official of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, recalled Trump’s involvement with the first Rathyatra in New York. Radharamn Das, vice president and spokesperson of ISKCON Kolkata, in a social media post described Trump's narrow escape as Lord Jagannath returning the favour to the ex-President for his help in organizing the Ratha Yatra festival in 1976 in New York.
— RadharamnDas (@RadharamnDas)
Donald Trump gives his train yard for construction of chariots
In July 1976, Trump, then a young real estate mogul, assisted ISKCON devotees by providing his train yard for the construction of the chariots used in the Rathayatra. This act of generosity came at a crucial time when the devotees were struggling to find a suitable location for their preparations, Das said. Despite facing numerous challenges, despite securing a parade permit on Fifth Avenue, Trump’s unexpected support made the event possible.
Back in 1976, ISKCON was celebrating its 10th anniversary and aimed to organize the first major Rathayatra in New York City. Obtaining the parade permit for Fifth Avenue was considered a miracle, but finding an empty site near the parade route to build the large wooden carts was proving to be an even greater challenge. The devotees approached several property owners, all of whom declined due to insurance concerns. It was then that Trump emerged as an unexpected ally.
The devotees, desperate and nearly out of options, learnt that Trump had recently acquired the old Pennsylvania railway yard, which they considered an ideal location for constructing the carts. Despite their reservations, they decided to approach Trump with a basket of Maha Prasadam (sacred food offerings) and a detailed proposal. Trump's secretary initially warned them of his likely refusal, but to their surprise, Trump not only accepted the offering but also agreed to their request.
Three days after their meeting, Trump’s secretary informed the devotees that Trump had read their letter, tasted the Prasadam, and immediately granted permission to use the railway yard. This gesture allowed the devotees to proceed with the construction of the Rathayatra carts, a critical step for the festival.
Radharamn Das, vice president and spokesperson of ISKCON Kolkata, in his post also cited another hurdle for the Rathayatra procession what was also solved unexpectedly.
How Iskcon got the police permit for Ratha Yatra
Securing the parade permit for the Rathayatra procession was another formidable challenge. Tosan Krishna Das, responsible for obtaining the permit, submitted a proposal to the authorities. Despite an initial agreement from the police department, the permit was later denied due to a longstanding edict against new parades on Fifth Avenue. With no alternatives, Tosan approached the Manhattan police chief directly. In a surprising turn of events, the police chief, after reviewing the application, signed the permit, despite not fully understanding his own decision.
Trump’s approval to use the railway yard and the police chief’s unexpected approval of the parade permit are often seen by devotees as divine blessings from Lord Jagannath.
"Like other corporate company owners, Trump also could have easily rejected the proposal. Devotees thought the Police chief was no exception either. Why they didn’t say no, still is a question unanswered, as devotees cite it as a blessing of Lord Jagannath," Radharamn Das said in the post.
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That is because the bulk of Indians in the US are a selected group of high-status persons or highly educated in India or the US. They (mostly) bear the taint of their socialization/education. They are rarely the sort that take their own religion seriously - not the sort of people who pull sacred chariots around in festivals.
There are a lot (a minority, still) of Indians in the US who are much more traditional. A bunch came out when PM Modi visited the US, and those seem to be Trump supporters. Modi supporters map very closely to Trump supporters. That does not mean that they are tolerant of Christianity (in India).
Very good analysis. As with most religions (but hardly all) the more devout people are, the more Republican and perhaps even conservative they tend to be. OTOH being more secular nearly always means being more liberal and Democrat.
These days, secularism seems to have a huge lead in popularity nearly everywhere.
“These days, secularism seems to have a huge lead in popularity nearly everywhere.”
Nietzsche noticed that more than a century ago
He hadn’t seen anything, yet. :-)
Wait-what? Am I missing something? My ancestry is Spanish-I’m Hispanic-and also Catholic. Does that mean I’m now a heretic? I’ve seen some way-out-there comments on the threads today, but if you’re calling Spaniards heretics now, that is the weirdest by far...
No, where did you get that?
The Spanish had a thing for hunting down and getting rid of heretics! The Inquisition, remember?
Thanks for the clarification-but I still don’t get who Tick was referring to-other than apparently criticizing “Spaniards”...
The Spanish had a thing for hunting down and getting rid of heretics! The Inquisition, remember?
I wasn’t expecting that.
I am actually Spanish (and Filipino), and I was educated in quite old-fashioned Catholic boys schools. Tons of theology, philosophy, apologetics, church history and etc.
Tick doesn’t like me, and he despises all foreigners anyway.
Yes-I’m very familiar with that-one of the reasons so many smart Spaniards including my ancestors-took ship and went to the new world to get away from that psuedo-religious fervor. Unfortunately some of the zealots came over on the ships, too...
Personally, I want the Church to restore the Inquisition. If for no other reason than to bring doctrinal discipline to the clergy.
well-that sounds strange-since we are all technically foreigners as soon as we step outside our national borders. A lot of MrT5’s family still lived in Quebec and spoke Quebecois as a 2nd language-and yeah, they did treat us as foreigners whenever we visited-especially me-I liked to piss them off by speaking Spanish now and then-the French in Canada don’t seem to be into humor...
I’d like to see Francis removed as pope/pontiff-I think he is an apostate-and it would go along to solving the problem you are referring to....
Please explain this.
I visited some sort of temple in Taiwan (Hindu??). It was really cool and beautiful and old. At each of their gods displayed throughout there was a place for an offering of money to that god.
At the end their was a donation box for renovation of the temple (it was in the process - probably continuous!). I asked the local person I was with if this for sure was just for renovations - and not to a god. “I’m a Christian, and I’m not about to make an offering to a god I don’t believe in. But I WOULD like to help keep this beautiful place preserved.”
There is a subculture on FR that insists that only native born residents of the US can comment here.
We do get some weirdos on this site.
If he had been removed or otherwise disciplined many years ago he would never had become Pope. And there was cause to do so.
So I have heard-he was probably cut some slack because of where he is from-a communist country where the church only exists as long as they do and say as the govt tells them to-so that was ripe to go bad from the get-go...
Don’t those people have dark skin or something? Trump is such a racist!
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