Trump was the key supporter for the first Rath Yatra of Deity Jagannath in the US in 1976
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Kolkata (Bengal) – The world is expressing anger over the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. Radharaman Das, Vice President and spokesperson of the Spiritual organisation ISKCON, said that ‘Donald Trump was saved only because of the grace of Deity Jagannath.’ He has described a Divine incident that happened 48 years ago.
ISKCON’s Das posted on ‘X’ :
In 1976, Donald Trump helped the followers of Deity Shrikrushna in arranging the first Rath Yatra of Deity Jagannath in the US. Raths could be built with his help. Today, Deity Jagannath has repaid that by saving Donald Trump’s life.
The Jagannath Rath yatra is being celebrated in Puri, and this incident occurred in the US. My belief is that his life was saved due to Divine intervention.
In 1976, on the occasion of 10th anniversary of ISKCON, preparations were on to conduct the first Rath Yatra in Manhattan. But there were several challenges. Official permission had been received to use ‘5th Avenue road’ for the Yatra.
We needed massive empty space to build the huge wooden Rath. Many companies were hesitant to give it. They were worried about the legal repercussions among other things. Many attempts were made for getting space in the nearby railway premises, but to no avail. After some days, we came to know that a large area of that premise has been bought by a 30-year-old businessman named Donald Trump. The devotees of Shrikrushna requested him for permission to use this piece of land. Senior officials from Trump’s company were of the opinion that the permission would not be given; but Trump has the ‘prasad’ of Shrikrushna and signed the document, permitting the use of the land. Everyone expressed surprise.
Finally, when Shrikrushna devotees submitted a letter to the Manhattan Police Chief seeking permission for the Rath Yatra, no one knew how he would react to the letter. But after thorough investigation, the senior officer smiled and signed the documents granting permission. He said, ‘I do not know, why I am doing this.’ The incident was narrated beautifully by Radharaman Das as an example of Divine grace.