The Rath Yatra festival is celebrated at BAPS Swaminarayan mandirs around the world. During this celebration, the small murti of Harikrishna Maharaj is seated in a chariot and is taken around the city or the mandir complex. Devotees pray to Bhagwan Swaminarayan asking Him to guide the chariots of their worldly lives across the ocean-like samsara.
The Rath Yatra festival, popularly known as the procession of chariots, originated in the pilgrimage city of Jagannath Puri. Every year on Ashadh Sud Bij, the deities of Jagannath Mandir, namely Shri Krishna, Balaramji, and Subhadra Devi, are placed in a colorful chariot. Devotees lovingly pull the chariots in a procession through the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in Jagannath Puri in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, to perform puja of the murtis by sprinkling rice and gulal powder.