Sri Jagannatha Ratha-yatra

Giriraj Swami: Today we are preparing for the most auspicious celebration of Sri Jagannatha Ratha-yatra. His Holiness Guru Prasad Swami and I will be speaking a few words. I about the period leading up to the Ratha-yatra, and Maharaja about the Ratha-yatra itself. The portion of the pastime of Lord Chaitanya with Lord Jagannatha that I will discuss pertains really to the fifteen-day period between Snana-yatra and Ratha-yatra.

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu first arrived in Jagannatha Puri, he was most eager to see Lord Jagannatha. As many of you know, Lord Chaitanya is Krishna Himself but in the mood of Radharani. And in the mood of Radharani, he was feeling separation from Krishna, and he knew Lord Jagannatha to be Krishna Himself. And so, his mood of ecstatic separation was extremely intense, and when he finally entered the Jagannatha temple and saw the Lord of his life, he fainted and went into such a deep ecstasy that he appeared to be dead. There were practically no symptoms of life. And news spread to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who was the King’s priest and teacher, came and held a cotton swab under that devotee’s nostrils, and there was some slight movement, and so, he understood that the devotee was still alive, and then he had the body removed to his home.

Now, I mentioned that historical fact to give you a sense of the deep love that Lord Chaitanya had in the mood of Radharani for Lord Jagannatha. And we read in the Bhāgavatam how the gopīs condemned the creator, Lord Brahma, for creating eyelids that would blink and obstruct their vision of the Lord. And in that high state of ecstatic love, that momentary blinking of the eyes felt like almost an eternity of separation from Krishna. So, fifteen days before the Ratha-yatra is the Snana-yatra, which is stated in shastra to be the appearance day of Lord Jagannatha, and He is bathed in a public ceremony of a raised pavilion at the Jagannatha temples, and after that, He retires for two weeks to His private quarters, during which time no devotees are able to have His darshan. According to one version, being bathed outdoors He catches a cold and is removed to His private quarters to convalesce, and He is offered medicine in the form of fruit juices, and during that time, repairs are made to the Lord’s body.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as you can imagine, was overwhelmed with such feelings of separation that He could not bear to remain in Puri without having the darshan of Lord Jagannatha. So, He would walk some miles to Alarnath, which is a temple of four-handed Vishnu form of the Lord, and He would spend the two weeks there. And when He had the darshan of Alarnath, He was in such ecstasy that His body melted the stone floor of the temple. That made the impression that His body left in the stone is still there at the temple.

Many years later, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura came there, and one day, he went into the woods. He told his disciples he was going to heed the call of nature or whether, they just assumed he was going to heed the call of nature. But in any case, he didn’t return, and so, the disciples went and looked for him, and eventually, they found him in a very ecstatic state. He was overcome by ecstasy and therefore he did not return. So, there is a mystery here, which is, how could Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu feel so much ecstasy seeing the four-handed Vishnu form when His exclusive manasa-puja, of course, He loved Krishna in every shape and form, but really, His ardent love was for Krishna, the Original Supreme Personality of Godhead in Vrindavan. And our acharyas have discovered a secret meaning to Lord Chaitanya’s visiting Alarnath or Brahmagiri, and it could also relate to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s mood of ecstatic separation. And that is that that four-armed form is not actually Vishnu, but is Krishna. Do you have any idea of Krishna having four arms?

When Krishna was enjoying the rasa dance at Govardhana, at one stage, He disappeared and hid in the bushes. And the Caitanya-caritāmṛta quotes the verses that explained that while He was hiding in the bushes, the gopīs came looking for Him. And as a joke, (because He knew that they would finding Him, He could see their mood was such they would find Him). So as a joke, He assumed a four-armed form, and the gopīs seeing Him from the distance, became very happy, and they came rushing. But when they got close, they saw, “Well, this is not Krishna, this is Lord Narayana. Oh, Lord Narayana.” So, as a matter of formal respect, they offered namaskar and they said, “Oh, Lord Narayana, have you seen Krishna? We are looking for Krishna.” There was no answer, so they left in their mad search for Krishna. Then Srimati Radharani came, and Krishna did the same thing, He manifested the four-armed form. But in the face of Srimati Radharani’s overpowering love, He could not maintain His extra two arms, and He was forced by Her love to manifest His original form as Krishna. So, this pastime is one of many that demonstrate Srimati Radharani’s exalted position, that is the best of the gopīs, best of all of the lovers of Krishna.

So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in the mood of separation, was seeing that four-handed deity as Krishna, hiding His other two arms, and it has been confirmed that the Pujaris there actually worship the deity as Krishna, that they recite the mantras to Krishna. Now, every year, before Ratha-yatra, the devotees from Bengal would come to Puri, not just to observe the Ratha-yatra, but more particularly to see Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would be in such a mood of separation in Alarnath or Allahnath, that He didn’t want to go to Puri, He didn’t want to see anyone. And with great difficulties, His intimate associates from Puri would come to Alarnath and bring Him back to Puri. And then, in the company of the devotees from Bengal, they would perform hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. And in the hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu experienced the presence of Krishna, and all of His feelings of separation were dispelled.

This is described in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and in the purport, Srila Prabhupada says that any devotee who is suffering from separation from Krishna can experience the presence of Krishna through the holy name, through hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. So still, that desire to see Krishna is there, and so, the Ratha-yatra is not just the festival of the chariot, of course it is the festival of chariot but it also marks the end of that period of separation. And so, it is a great occasion of jubilation. After being deprived of the Lord’s vision, darshan, for fifteen days, the Lord emerges from His private quarters and is again visible to the devotees.

So, this is just a little background, and now we will have the long-awaited and much anticipated discussion of the Ratha-yatra itself from His Holiness Guru Prasad Swami.

Sri Jagannatha Swami ki jaya!

Sri Ratha-yatra ki jaya!

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Sri Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!

Hare Krishna.