Ratha-yatra Morning Talk—Snana-yatra, Anavasara, and Ratha-yatra

Giriraj Swami: Today is a very auspicious occasion, a joyous festival, Jagannatha Ratha-yatra. In Kali-yuga, people are so fallen that they do not come to the temple to see the Lord. But the Lord is so kind that He leaves the temple to see the people and give them His benediction, that they may awaken to Krishna consciousness, engage in loving devotional service, and ultimately, return to their eternal home with Krishna. So, it is a wonderful opportunity for devotees, and people in general, to get the mercy of the Lord.

Jagannatha Ratha-yatra was celebrated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri in a special mood, and we, as Gaudiya Vaishnavas, as followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also observe the Ratha-yatra in the same mood. Lord Chaitanya, in His internal identity, is Krishna Himself, but He has come in the mood of Srimati Radharani, and with the complexion of Srimati Radharani. Inside He is Shyama, but outside He is Gaura. And specifically, He came to relish the feelings of Srimati Radharani in separation from Krishna after Krishna left Vrindavan to go to Mathura, and then Dvaraka. So, there is a lot of feelings of separation in the celebration of Ratha-yatra in the mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And Lord Jagannatha is Krishna, but He is also in separation. Lord Jagannatha is Krishna in Dvaraka or at Kurukshetra. Nilacala is taken to be Dvaraka or Kurukshetra, and Sundaracala, which is the destination of the Ratha-yatra, the Gundica Temple, Sundaracala is taken as the representation of Vrindavan.

So, Lord Jagannatha is also in the mood of separation, Krishna in Dvaraka in the mood of separation. And when Krishna was in Dvaraka, He felt intense separation from Vrindavan and His devotees there. Sometimes in the middle of the night, He would wake up, and He would be calling the names of His cowherd boyfriends or even the cows whom He used to tend. So, it was apparent to the residents of Dvaraka that there was something very special about this place, Vrindavan, and about the devotees there. How could they have so much influence over Krishna that even in Dvaraka, even in the royal splendor of His palaces, even in His quarters with His queens, He was thinking of His beloved friends in Vrindavan?

So, the devotees in Dvaraka wanted to find out what is this special place Vrindavan and who are these special devotees. And there was one person in Dvaraka who had been in Vrindavan with Krishna and Balarama when they enjoyed their childhood pastimes there, and that was Mother Rohini. So, the residents of Dvaraka wanted to hear from Mother Rohini, “What is this special attraction of Vrindavan and Krishna’s friends there that He is always thinking of them even in our embrace?” So, Mother Rohini agreed to speak with them. She met with the ladies in a hall, but they didn’t want to be interrupted during this very important meeting. And so, Subhadra was posted outside the door to make sure that no one would enter and disturb them. But Subhadra also wanted to hear about Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan, so she kept her ear to the door to listen. And by hearing of the loving affairs of Krishna and the devotees in Vrindavan, she melted in ecstasy, and assumed that feature that we see of Lady Subhadra in Ratha-yatra.

After some time, Krishna and Balarama also came, and they saw Subhadra with her ear to the door, exhibiting such ecstatic features, so they thought, Let us also hear. And when they put Their ears to the door and heard of Their own pastimes with the residents of Vrindavan, They also became ecstatic and assumed the features of Jagannatha and Baladeva that we see in their deities. So, that is one explanation of their special, ecstatic features and the special ecstatic mood that they exhibit, especially during Ratha-yatra. But today, because our time is limited, I thought to discuss a very limited period of time, during which Lord Chaitanya felt special feelings of separation, and that is the period of about fifteen days between Snana-yatra and Ratha-yatra.

Fifteen days before the Ratha-yatra is Snana-yatra. In the Snana-yatra, Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra are brought into public view on one of the terraces of the Jagannatha temple in Puri, and they are bathed. And it is said that during the bathing ceremony, they catch a cold, and therefore, they are taken into seclusion for fifteen days, during which they are served hand and foot by Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune. She prepares special medicinal infusions to help them recover from their colds, and these medicinal infusions are represented by varieties of fruit juice. And during this period, repairs are made to the bodies of the deities. That is called nava-yauvana, the bodies of the deities are repaired. And nava-yauvana means ever fresh, ever youthful.

Now, when Lord Chaitanya was in Puri, He felt intense separation from Krishna, from Lord Jagannatha. When He would see Lord Jagannatha in the temple, He would see Krishna, Shyamasundara. And He lived to meet Krishna in the form of Jagannatha in the temple. So, during the fifteen-day period of Anavasara when the deities were in seclusion, Lord Chaitanya’s feelings of separation increased many times over because He could not even see His beloved Lord in the temple. And the feelings of separation were so intense He could not bear to remain in Puri. So, He walked the fourteen miles to a place called Alarnath, or in Bengali Alalanath, in an area called Brahmagiri. The area is called Brahmagiri because it is said that in Satya-yuga, Lord Brahma came and installed this deity there, Alarnath.

Now, That Deity is a four-handed Vishnu form. And this raises a very important question, “How is it that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was in the mood of Srimati Radharani, who knew no one but Krishna, Shyamasundara, how is it that in His most intense feelings of separation, He went to Alarnath to see the Deity of Vishnu?” We read yesterday, when Vallabha Bhatta wanted to read his explanation of the holy name of Krishna to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, “I know only that Krishna is Shyamasundara. I know nothing else.” So, how is it that He chose to go to Alarnath? Furthermore, when He arrived in Alarnath and saw the Deity, He offered prostrated obeisances, and the stone slab under Him melted. In fact, even today, if pilgrims go to the temple of Alarnath, they can see the stone that melted in the form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when He fell prostrate before the Deities. Now, in the Jagannatha temple in Nilacala, there are imprints of Lord Chaitanya’s fingers on the Garuḍa-stambha because He would always stand there, and He would keep His hand on the Garuḍa-stambha. And there are imprints of His feet on the floor where He would repeatedly stand when He came to see the Deity of Lord Jagannatha. But here, just by falling prostrate once, the whole stone slab on the floor melted, this is unprecedented.

In 1918, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura visited Alarnath. And, of course, then it was like a jungle, it was not built up like it is now. And one day, he went out, the devotees assumed he was going to heed the call of nature and they expected he would be back in some minutes, but he didn’t come back. Hours passed and he didn’t come back. So, his disciples became very concerned, “What happened to guru Maharaja?” And they went out to search for him, they looked everywhere in that thick jungle, and they couldn’t find him. Eventually, they met, and they asked, “Guru Maharaja, what happened to you?” And he disclosed very confidentially that he had, (devotees usually don’t talk like this, but because it is a special occasion), but he had seen Krishna. Krishna had shown Himself to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and then disappeared. So, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was overwhelmed with feelings of separation from Krishna, and he was searching everywhere in that forest for Krishna.

Now, this was a very unusual event for Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to have darshan of Krishna, and then for Krishna to disappear, and then for Srila Bhaktisiddhanta to be searching for Him in the mood of separation. Why did that happen at Alarnath, the place of four-handed Vishnu form installed by Lord Brahma? There is a confidential answer that relates to Krishna’s pastimes. During the springtime rāsa dance at Govardhana, Krishna disappeared, indicating that He wanted to be alone with Srimati Radharani. But He disappeared, and naturally, all the gopīs, the young damsels of Vraja, they became mad in separation from Krishna. And so, they were looking for Krishna, “Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?” Krishna, in the meantime, had hidden Himself in a bush. And when He saw the gopīs searching for Him with so much love and affection, He also felt love in His heart for them. And also, they saw Him, they saw Him hiding in the bush. So, what to do? So, Krishna assumed a four-armed Vishnu form and stood before the gopīs. They had seen something in the bush but they couldn’t see exactly who it was or what it was. So, as they came close, they saw Lord Narayana is standing there. But they were not interested in Lord Narayana, they were interested in Krishna. So, they offered respects, “Oh, this isn’t Krishna, this is Lord Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we were looking for Krishna.” So, they offered respects to Lord Narayana and asked Him to bless them that they may find Krishna. That was their only interest, Krishna, no interest in Lord Narayana.

Then, after some time, Srimati Radharani came, and Krishna thought He would play the same joke on Her and He would stand with His four hands with a conch shell, lotus, disc, and glove. But the power of Srimati Radharani’s love was so great that Krishna could not maintain His four-armed form, He dropped His extra two hands and resumed His original form of Krishna with two hands. This incident shows the unique love of Srimati Radharani for Krishna, exalted even beyond the love of the other gopīs who are all on the highest level of love for Krishna.

So, this place, Alarnath, is considered to be the same as Paita. Paita is the place at Govardhana where Krishna assumed that four-handed form. And the Deity of Alarnath is Krishna. Internally it is Krishna, but assuming the form of Lord Narayana. And the pūjārīs who have been worshiping in a line since the time of Lord Brahma admit that in their worship they use very confidential mantras for Krishna, the lover of Radharani. So, the Deity is actually Krishna but playing as Lord Narayana. And that place is filled with that mood of separation, Paita is filled with that mood of separation, of the gopīs looking for Krishna and Srimati Radharani looking for Krishna. And therefore, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came there, He was already in the mood of separation because He couldn’t see Lord Jagannatha during the Anavasara, and then finally He saw Krishna. Although He was playing as Lord Narayana, He saw Krishna. And thus, He offered obeisances and the heat of His ecstatic love melted the stone. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura experienced that intense, ecstatic separation from Krishna. So, it is a place of separation. Puri itself is a place of separation, vipralambha, as we discussed. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in the mood of Radharani, was feeling separation from Jagannatha, and Lord Jagannatha was feeling separation from Srimati Radharani and the residents of Vrindavan. So, it is a place of vipralambha, the place for crying. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in the mood of Radharani, is crying for Krishna, and Jagannatha is crying for Vrindavan and His beloved devotees there.

So, after the fifteen days of the Anavasara, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had returned to Puri for the Ratha-yatra, and you can imagine His joy upon seeing Lord Jagannatha after fifteen days of separation. His mood of separation was

yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa

cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam

śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ

govinda-viraheṇa me

in separation from Govinda, one moment felt like twelve years or more, felt like a yuga. The gopīs’ ecstatic love for Krishna was such that when their eyes blinked, that momentary blinking of the eyes during which they were unable to see Krishna, that felt like ages. So, fifteen days was an inconceivably long time for Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But still, when He would see Lord Jagannatha in Nilacala, it was like seeing Krishna in Dvaraka or Kurukshetra. And so, in the mood of Radharani, He wanted to bring Lord Jagannatha to Su, to Vrindavan. And that is a topic that we have discussed before. But I would like to read a few verses from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta about this very special period of Anavasara.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda (3)

We read from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter One, “The Later Pastimes of Lord Caitanya,”

TEXT 122

Anavasara jagannāthera nā pāñā daraśana

virahe ālālanātha karilā gamana

TRANSLATION

When Jagannātha was absent from the temple, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who could not see Him, felt separation and left Jagannātha Purī to go to a place known as Ālālanātha.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Ālālanātha is also known as Brahmagiri. This place is about fourteen miles from Jagannātha Purī and is also on the beach. There is a temple of Jagannātha there. At the present moment a police station and post office are situated there because so many people come to see the temple.

COMMENT

Actually, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura established a temple just next to the Ālālanātha temple where there are deities of Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra.

PURPORT (continued)

The word anavasara is used when Śrī Jagannāthajī cannot be seen in the temple. After the bathing ceremony (snāna-yātrā), Lord Jagannātha apparently becomes sick. He is therefore removed to His private apartment, where no one can see Him. Actually, during this period renovations are made on the body of the Jagannātha Deity. This is called nava-yauvana. During the Ratha-yātrā ceremony, Lord Jagannātha once again comes before the public. Thus for fifteen days after the bathing ceremony, Lord Jagannātha is not visible to any visitors.

TEXT 123

bhakta-sane dina kata tāhāñi rahilā

gauḍera bhakta āise, samācāra pāilā

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu remained for some days at Ālālanātha. In the meantime, He received news that all the devotees from Bengal were coming to Jagannātha Purī.

TEXT 124

When the devotees from Bengal arrived at Jagannātha Purī, both Nityānanda Prabhu and Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya greatly endeavored to take Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu back to Jagannātha Purī.

TEXT 125

When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu finally left Ālālanātha to return to Jagannātha Purī, He was overwhelmed both day and night due to separation from Jagannātha. His lamentation knew no bounds. During this time, all the devotees from different parts of Bengal, and especially from Navadvīpa, arrived in Jagannātha Purī.

TEXT 126

sabe mili’ yukti kari’ kīrtana ārambhila

kīrtana-āveśe prabhura mana sthira haila

TRANSLATION

After due consideration, all the devotees began chanting the holy name congregationally. Lord Caitanya’s mind was thus pacified by the ecstasy of the chanting.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Being absolute, Lord Jagannātha is identical in person, form, picture, kīrtana, and all other circumstances. Therefore when Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, He was pacified. Previously, He had been feeling very morose due to separation from Jagannātha. The conclusion is that whenever a kīrtana of pure devotees takes place, the Lord is immediately present. By chanting the holy names of the Lord, we associate with the Lord personally.

COMMENT

So, this verse gives us instructions how we can feel the presence of the Lord, which will remove all feelings of distress. If we are fortunate, we will feel morose due to separation from the Lord. If we are not so advanced, we may feel upset for other reasons, but even then, if we take shelter of the holy name of the Lord, we can be pacified. I have a godbrother, a senior godbrother named Guru dasa Prabhu who lives in San Francisco now. And for some time, he and his good wife, Yamuna devi, served in London, and he would say sometimes he would get upset with some devotee, maybe even with his wife, and he would be holding it in him that he was upset and felt hurt, angry. But he said when he would go in the kirtan, it would all go away. Even if he tried to hold on to it, he couldn’t hold on to it, it would all go away.

So, this is a good instruction for us, that if we are upset, either in feelings of separation from the Lord or the devotees or for whatever reason, but if we take shelter of the holy name, as chanted by pure devotees, we can experience the Lord’s presence and the presence of the devotees, and thus, be pacified. Because the Lord is never alone, He is always accompanied by His associates, so when we chant the holy name and invoke the presence of Krishna, we don’t mean Krishna alone, but Krishna with His other devotees. So, even if we feel separation from some devotee or devotees, we can also feel their presence through kirtan, through chanting the holy name of the Lord in the way of pure devotees. So this is very significant. Whatever situation we are in, we can take shelter of the holy name and be pacified. The exact word here, sthira haila, mana sthira haila, his mind became pacified; kīrtana-āveśe, the ecstasy of kirtan.

So, we will be doing both, simultaneously, we will be seeing Lord Jagannatha, and we will also be chanting the holy names of Krishna who is Lord Jagannatha. And we may be in that mood, we can remember these pastimes, be in that mood of Lord Chaitanya who wanted to drag Krishna back to Vrindavan from Kurukshetra. And then, after the procession, there will be a festival in the park with kirtan, kathā, and prasāda. So, it will be a wonderful occasion. To devotees who are listening to us on the radio or the internet, if you are close enough and are able, we invite you to come to the Ratha-yatra festival. The procession begins here at the temple in East Dallas. I think we are asking everyone to assemble at one, so that the procession can leave at two. To those who are in far distant places, we pray that Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra, and Their associates will send their mercy to you wherever you are. And to those who are close enough geographically to attend but who circumstantially are unable to attend, we also pray that Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra, and Their servants will send Their mercy to you, and if by chance there are some obstacles in your way, we pray that the obstacles will be removed very quickly, and that very soon you will attain the shelter of Lord Jagannatha and His servants.

Sri Jagannatha Ratha-yatra ki jaya!

Sri Jagannatha Baladeva Subhadra ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Haribol!

Hare Krishna.