Snana-yatra

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

So, today we have gathered for the most auspicious celebration of Sri Snana-yatra, which begins the fifteen-day period that culminates in the Ratha-yatra festival. The Snana-yatra and Ratha-yatra were celebrated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri, when He was present about five hundred years ago. And, we as followers of Srila Prabhupada, or coming in the line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And so, we try to observe these ceremonies in the same mood. Of course, the most basic principle of these festivals is that, the Deity is the Lord Himself. On the absolute platform there is no difference between the Lord and His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, and His paraphernalia. So, the Deity is the form of the Lord, and on the absolute platform, the Deity is the Lord Himself. In the conditioned state, we tend to see the Deity as material, as a material object made of wood, and paint, or stone, or metal and paint. But actually, the Deity is the Lord Himself. And when, one has the eyes to see the Deity as He is, one will see Krishna Himself.

It is described in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would enter the Jagannatha temple to see Lord Jagannatha, He would see Krishna, Shyamasundara in His threefold bending form, playing His flute with the peacock feather on His head. He would actually see Shyamasundara. In fact, the first time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to the Jagannatha temple after accepting the renounced order of life and traveling south by foot, when He entered the temple, He saw Krishna for whom He was searching. From whom He was feeling separation, and He immediately wanted to embrace the Deity. He ran forward to embrace the Lord, but He was so overcome by ecstasy that He, He fainted. He began to rush forward to embrace the Deity, and then He fainted, He fell unconscious. Externally He was unconscious, internally He was relishing transcendental ecstasy.

So, from the material point of view Lord Jagannatha is a carved statue, painted, And it is in the way of folk art. Not very sophisticated or aesthetically pleasing from the material point of view. But that’s not what Lord Chaitanya saw. He saw Krishna, Himself.

So, the Snana-yatra ceremony which we are observing today here, actually celebrates the appearance of Lord Jagannatha in this particular form. We don’t have time today to discuss how He came to have this specific form, but it is Krishna in a very ecstatic state. The, the features that we see on these three Deities Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra,

are features of ecstasy. The scriptures describe various symptoms of ecstatic ecstasy. And, one of the, one of them is the withdrawing of the limbs within the body. Sometimes Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself exhibited that ecstatic symptom. So, but in essence these Deities are Krishna. Balarama and Subhadra in great ecstasy. And, therefore Their dilated eyes, and Their limbs withdrawn within Their bodies, and Their big smiles. These are signs of ecstasy.

So, generally of course Lord Jagannatha and Baladeva and Subhadra are worshiped in the temple, but on this Snana-yatra day, They are taken out of the temple onto a pavilion, that’s part of the temple, but outdoors, and They are bathed in public view by the brahmans of course. And after the bathing ceremony, the Lord is taken into His private quarters. It is said that the Lord catches cold being bathed outdoors, and so He, He is taken to His, His private quarters to recuperate, and the pūjārīs offer Him different medicines, which are represented by fruit juices to help Him recover from His cold.

On another level repairs are made to the body of the Lord, to the, to the Deities during that period. Now during this period leading up to the Ratha-yatra, the Lord is not to be seen in the temple. He goes into seclusion. And so, the devotees, who are so deeply attached to the Lord feel great separation. And in fact, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu felt so much separation from the Lord Jagannatha, Krishna that He could not bear to remain in Jagannatha Puri. So, He walked by foot about fourteen miles to a place called Brahma Giri where there is a Deity of Allalanatha or in Bengali of Alarnath, Alarnath, and for those fourteen days Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would remain there.

Now, two years ago I visited Jagannatha Puri for the first time, and as part of my pilgrimage I also visited the temple of Allalanatha. And the, the Deity of Allalanatha is a four-handed Vishnu form. Now Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and His followers worship Krishna in Vrindavan with His two hands playing the flute, with peacock feather in His hair. They don’t worship Lord Narayana with four hands. So, it is a mystery why did Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu feeling intense separation from His beloved Shyamasundara go to Allalanatha to the four-handed Deity of Vishnu. It’s a mystery. And when He first saw the Deity of Allalanatha, He offered flat prostrated obeisances and the stone under His transcendental body melted.

If you go there today you can see that stone. They removed it from the main temple to another mandap. In the temple compound you can see the impression of Lord Chaitanya’s body on the stone that melted. Now it is true that in the Jagannatha temple also there are impressions left from where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would stand near the Garuda-stambha, and, and see the Lord. But we do not find anywhere that the whole impression, the impression of His whole body melted the stone under Him when He offered obeisances. So why should that intense ecstasy take place in Allalanatha?

Maybe four hundred years later Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s Guru Maharaja came to Allalanatha and he also felt great ecstasy there. In fact he, he went out in the morning and for hours he didn’t come back. His students couldn’t find him. They thought maybe he went to heed the call of nature. Because in those days that was the system, much more civilized than keeping a hole in your house just. But so anyway, so they thought he went out to heed the call of nature, but hours were passing, and he didn’t come back. So, his disciples became concerned and they went to search for him.

And eventually when they met him he, he you can say, disclosed that, that he had gotten a vision. Of course, generally we don’t discuss these things, but because it’s a special occasion we’ll make an exception. But, he had seen Krishna, and when Krishna disappeared into the forest, he was chasing after Him and looking for Him, an ecstatic love. So, why should he have such an ecstatic experience at Allalanatha a place, where the four-handed form of Vishnu was installed? The, the answer is—I won’t make it a quiz. I’ll just give you the answer without asking who can think of it.

The answer relates to a pastime of Krishna. Some of you may know this pastime, that Krishna was enjoying the rāsa-līlā with the gopīs at Govardhana. And as part of the pastime He disappeared from the arena of the rasa dance, and He hid behind a bush, around Govardhana, a place called Paita. And, it was transcendental hide and seek. So, Krishna was hiding behind the bush, and the gopīs were looking for Him. And they saw some darkish figure within the bush. And Krishna thought that He is going to be found. So, as a joke, transcendental joke, He assumed the four-handed form of Vishnu with the conch, and lotus, and club, and disc. And, when the gopīs got closer they said “oh this isn’t Krishna, this is Lord Narayana, oh namaskar we are looking for Krishna. Can you tell us where Krishna is?” And He was motionless, no answers. “Okay we are, we are not interested in Lord Narayana, we are interested in Krishna, let’s keep searching.

Then, Srimati Radharani came, and the same thing, Krishna had His four arms as Lord Narayana. But being so overpowered by Srimati Radharani’s pure ecstatic love, He was unable to maintain His two extra arms. And He, He, Her love for Krishna in His original form of Shyamasundara forced Him to come out as Krishna.

And this pastime illustrates many principles that devotees of Krishna are fixed only on Krishna. On that level they are interested only in Krishna. And they are not even thinking that Krishna is God. They are just thinking that they love Krishna and they, they, they want to, to be with Krishna and serve Him. And it also illustrates that amongst all of the devotees of Krishna, Srimati Radharani’s love for Him is the greatest, and that in the face of Her love He couldn’t maintain this forehanded Vishnu form.

So, Jagannatha Puri is a place of separation. The, the temple of Lord Jagannatha in Puri or Nilacala is compared to Dwarka or Kurukshetra where Krishna was in separation from the residents of Vrindavana. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He was in the mood of separation from Krishna—the mood of Radharani in separation from Krishna after Krishna left Vrindavan to go to Dwarka, and incidentally, Kurukshetra. But during the, this fifteen-day period called anuvasana, that separation has increased even more. Now Subhash Prabhu has assured us that there is going to be an ecstatic kirtan during the bathing ceremony. And in the ārati after that, we can continue our discussion.

So, so Lord Chaitanya is in separation at Allalanatha, of seeing Krishna, and it’s also true that the, the—jaya Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra ki jaya, Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarkadhish ki jaya, Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarkanath ki jaya, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya. Yeah so, so after fourteen days or a little before that the, the devotees from Bengal Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, all of the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, grihasthas who were unable to stay with Him in Puri led by Shivananda Sena, they all come to Jagannatha Puri for the Ratha-yatra. And so, it was always an effort because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was in such deep separation in Allalanatha, there is always such an effort to get Him to come back to Puri. But when He heard that the devotees were there, somehow they would persuade Him to come.

So, I will just read one or two verses, and purports on this subject. There is so much, in Shrila Prabhupada’s books I hope that you either have, or soon will read Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta about, all about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, written by Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami and translated by Srila Prabhupada. Please repeat.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter One, “The Later Pastimes of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” 

TEXT 122

anavasare 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.

COMMENT

That’s another story but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura established the temple of Lord Jagannatha just near to, to the temple of Lord Allalanatha.

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

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.

COMMENT

This is very important. This verse and the next verse, so please listen attentively.         

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

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 in all circumstances, Lord Jagannātha’s person, form, picture and kīrtana are all identical. 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, Lord Chaitanya was in such deep separation. He was already in separation from Jagannatha. But He got some solace from the Deity, of Deity, of Allalanatha. But when He left Allalanatha, and came back to Jagannatha Puri but was unable to see Lord Jagannatha there. His lamentation knew no bounds. He felt so much separation. It’s a type of ecstasy, but it was separation. And the devotees thought, what can we do? Because the devotees only desire is to see the Lord happy, and here is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu morose in separation. So the devotees thought what can we do? And then they concluded, that we will inaugurate hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. And because on the absolute platform there is no difference between the Lord, the person, the Deity, and the holy name. So, by, by joining the kirtan of pure devotees, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu felt the presence again of Krishna, of Lord Jagannatha.

So, that is a great lesson for all of us, to, to, to experience the presence of the Lord when possible. As the Deity, the Lord is the Deity, and if not as the holy name. And of course in our life when we worship the Deity, we always accompany the worship with the chanting of the holy names. But we should be present. As people say in modern meditational language, psychological language, we should be present. We see the Deity, but do we really see the Deity?

Sometimes it happens, the devotee will miss the first darshan. And as he is coming to the temple, the devotees will be leaving the temple, and he’ll ask, what dress were the Deities wearing today? What outfit? I, I don’t remember. To say we see, but we don’t see, we are not really present. We chant, but our mind wanders. We are not really present. So, the Lord is present, His form is Him Krishna. His Deity is Him, Krishna. But to, to really experience His presence, we have to be present, we have to be mindful, we have to be attentive.

So, Krishna consciousness, bhakti-yoga, is a type of yoga, and the central point in the yoga system is to control the mind. So, we have to control the mind and fix the mind on the form of the Deity, on the sound of the name. On the discussions of, of the Lord, and—ye yatha mam prapadyante; we surrender to Krishna, He reciprocates accordingly. If we give ourselves to Him, He’ll give Himself to us. So, which, we should really give ourselves to all these activities. We are going to be bathing the Deity, some of the devotees. But the shastra also explains that if even, if one is not personally engaged in the worship, if he sees others performing the worship, that also counts as Deity worship for him, for the observer.

So, we should, we should know that Lord Jagannatha is present Krishna; as the Deity, as the holy name, and give ourselves to Krishna. Give our hearts, our minds, our hearts, our souls, our bodies, our words, everything. And Krishna will reciprocate. He’ll give Himself to us, and reveal Himself, that Yes He is there, and He is our best friend, our best well-wisher, our dear most beloved, our protector, our guide, our maintainer. Everything that we are looking for in a relationship, we can have with Krishna. If that Krishna is the only one with whom we can have the fulfillment of our desires for loving relationships. But we have to take this step, take the first step, and the first step is really to, to pay attention, to Krishna.

If you want to develop a relationship with someone the first thing you have to do is pay attention to this person. You want to develop a relationship with someone and you invite him to your house, and then when the person comes you don’t pay attention to him. How is the relationship going to develop? He is going feel offended. You invited me, and now you are not paying attention to me, you are just ignoring me.

So, when we install the Deity, we are inviting Krishna. When we chant the holy name, we are inviting Krishna. So we are inviting Him, we should pay attention to Him, we should offer Him full attention, and from attention affection develops. You can’t, yeah you can’t, you can’t say that you have affection for someone, and then neglect them. I’ve heard it said that sometimes in marriages the wife will complain about the husband. You say, you say you love me, but you don’t pay attention to me. How can you say you love me if you don’t pay attention to me? So, they have to pay attention. That’s the beginning of affection, and that’s the, the proof of affection. This was this.

Anyway, so transcendentally I don’t wish to discuss the other bubble. Transcendentally this means paying attention to the Lord as the Deity, as the holy scripture, as the holy name. From that beginning with paying attention to Him, the relationship will develop, affection will develop. And when we have that affection

TEXT 38

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

COMMENT

When we have that affection, when our eyes are smeared with the self of love of God, then we will always see Krishna, Shyamasundara. As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did, as Srila Prabhupada we believe also did. So, the process that Srila Prabhupada has given us, well Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given. But it was really Srila Prabhupada who brought it to us in the western world and presented it in such a way that we can understand it and practice it and preach it. Because that’s also Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mood and mission, that one should relish Krishna consciousness, and share it with others.

So, this Srila Prabhupada has given us this process. He has given us every facility, this beautiful temple on [Unintelligible] Avenue. Beautiful Deities, wonderful devotees, everything, it’s right in front of us. It’s like this beautiful meal, a full thali. It is just put it in front of us, all we have to do is take it. That’s all we have to do we just have to take it and relish it, and share it with others. So thank you very much.