More than two million pilgrims visited Puri from all over India and the world to participate in the Nabakalebar programme in July 2015, making it one of the most visited festivals in the world.

For the Ratha Yatra this year, the state government made special arrangements in and around Puri for accommodation, and sought help from various organizations. YSS has been performing service activities in Puri, and also every year during the Ratha Yatra. This year we participated on a  much larger scale, for four days from July 16 to 19. The service camp was centrally located on the sea beach about one km from the YSS Puri Dhyana Kendra. Around 2,500 people (including 250 YSS devotees and friends) were accommodated in the lodging facility managed by us.

YSS also accepted the responsibility of offering meals to the pilgrims. Our kitchen served delicious hot meals for 16 hours every day. A total of around 22,000 pilgrims were fed in the course of four days. In addition to providing food, drinking water, arrangements for sanitation, regular spraying of mosquito repellents, security, we provided free medical aid to the pilgrims. YSS publications were also available for sale. The enthusiasm and dedication of Gurudeva’s volunteers, coming from all over India, in serving the pilgrims in spite of the hot and humid conditions was most inspiring.