CC Madhya 1.46–81 – Ratha-yatra Morning

Giriraj Swami: We welcome you to the auspicious and glorious celebration of Sri Jagannatha Ratha-yatra here in Dallas today. In honor of the occasion, we shall read about the Ratha-yatra in Jagannatha Puri and how it was celebrated by Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We read from Śrī Chaitanya-caraṇāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter One, “The Later Pastimes of Lord Caitanya,”

TEXT 46

prathama vatsare advaitādi bhakta-gaṇa

prabhure dekhite kaila, nīlādri gamana

TRANSLATION

The first year after Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, all the devotees, headed by Śrī Advaita Prabhu, went to see the Lord at Jagannātha Purī.

TEXT 47

After attending the Ratha-yātrā ceremony at Jagannātha Purī, all the devotees remained there for four months, greatly enjoying the company of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by performing kīrtana [chanting and dancing].

TEXT 48

vidāya samaya prabhu kahilā sabāre

pratyabda āsibe sabe guṇḍicā dekhibāre

TRANSLATION

At the time of departure, the Lord requested all the devotees, “Please come here every year to see the Ratha-yātrā festival of Lord Jagannātha’s journey to the Guṇḍicā temple.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

There is a temple named Guṇḍicā at Sundarācala. Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā are pushed in their three cars from the temple in Purī to the Guṇḍicā temple in Sundarācala. In Orissa, this Ratha-yātrā festival is known as Jagannātha’s journey to Guṇḍicā. Whereas others speak of it as the Ratha-yātrā festival, the residents of Orissa refer to it as Guṇḍicā-yātrā.

COMMENT

Who knows who Guṇḍicā is? Guṇḍicā was the wife of King Indradyumna. Who knows who King Indradyumna is?

Devotee: At one point he was the king of Orissa

Giriraj Swami: Well, he was the king who commissioned the creation of the Jagannatha deities, and he inaugurated the worship of Lord Jagannatha in Puri.

TEXT 49

prabhu-ājñāya bhakta-gaṇa pratyabda āsiyā

guṇḍicā dekhiyā yā’na prabhure miliyā

TRANSLATION

Following the order of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, all the devotees used to visit Lord Chaitanya Mahāprabhu every year. They would see the Guṇḍicā festival at Jagannātha Purī and then return home after four months.

TEXT 50

For twenty consecutive years this meeting took place, and the situation became so intense that the Lord and the devotees could not be happy without meeting one another.

TEXT 51

śeṣa āra yei rahe dvādaśa vatsara

kṛṣṇera viraha-līlā prabhura antara

TRANSLATION

The last twelve years were simply devoted to relishing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in separation within the heart of the Lord.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoyed the position of the gopīs in separation from Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa left the gopīs and went to Mathurā, the gopīs cried for Him the rest of their lives, feeling intense separation from Him. This ecstatic feeling of separation was specifically advocated by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu through His actual demonstrations.

COMMENT

So, the mood of separation from Krishna is central to Lord Chaitanya’s observance of Ratha-yatra, and it is also central to making spiritual advancement in Krishna consciousness. The basic principle of separation is attachment to Krishna or a desire for Krishna. If we have no attachment for something, we will not feel separation from it. For example, a pig might relish eating stool, he might feel separation from stool, but we have no attachment for eating stool, so we won’t feel separation from it. So, when we develop some attachment for Krishna and a desire to revive our eternal relationship with Him, then we feel separation and the feelings of separation become a great impetus to our practice of devotional service. Now, such feelings of separation usually begin with becoming attached to devotees, attached to the spiritual master and feeling separation from him or them. And the same type of feelings of separation continue as one progresses and starts to develop relationships with the previous acharyas and the six Gosvamis and the members of the Pancha-tattva and ultimately, Radha and Krishna and their associates. In the Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna explains how we can develop that desire, the Twelfth Chapter explains different stages or statuses. First best, then if you can’t do that, second best, if you can’t do that, third best, and so on.

So, first best is to fix one’s mind on Krishna, fix one’s intelligence in Krishna, and live with Krishna. But in the next verse, Krishna says, “If one is unable to fix one’s consciousness in Krishna without deviation, one should practice the rules and regulations of bhakti-yoga and thus develop a desire for Krishna.” So, if we properly follow the process of bhakti-yoga, we will develop a desire for Krishna, and then we will feel separation. And in the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains what the rules and regulations of bhakti-yoga entail; rising early in the morning, taking bath, attending maṅgala-ārati, worshipping the deity. He mentions of collecting flowers for the deities, and all along, chanting and hearing about Krishna. So, if we follow the process properly under the guidance of an expert spiritual master as Srila Prabhupada repeatedly mentions in the purport, we will develop a desire, icha, we will develop a desire for Krishna, and that desire will give rise to longing, hankering, to feelings of separation, and those feelings will impel us further in Krishna consciousness. And this mood was continued. Naturally, if it was begun by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or exhibited by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, it would actually be continued by his followers, the six Gosvamis and their followers.

When we went to the first Khumba-mela with Srila Prabhupada, actually, Ardha-kumbha-melā in Allahabad in 1971, we were very new to India, only three months, and we were meeting a lot of different types of people and we weren’t sure how to see them, and so, we would ask Srila Prabhupada. So, one man came to our camp, and he said he is a devotee of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and he chants the holy names of Krishna, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and followed the regulative principles. He seemed to be very close in philosophy and practice to us. So, we went to Srila Prabhupada and told him exactly what I told you and he approved. He said, “Very good, very good.” And then he told us that he has even seen Krishna, and then Srila Prabhupada said, “Oh, then he may be bogus. That is not our mood that, ‘I have seen Krishna.’ Our mood is one of separation, of searching for Krishna, he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-süno kutaù, “Oh hey Radhe, Queen of Vrindavan, hey Lalita, o son of Maharaja Nanda, Krishna, where are you? Are you on the banks of the Yamuna? Are you at Govardhana Hill?” In this way, the Gosvamis were wandering all over Vrindavan and shouting very loudly, searching for Krishna. So, that is our mood.”

Another related point is we don’t aspire to see Krishna alone but with His associates, and therefore, he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite, Lalita and all of the companions of Srimati Radharani and Krishna. “Where are you?” There was another similar incident when Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was traveling in South India. He came to a place and the local people approached him and told him that there was a very great devotee of Rama nearby, and that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura should meet him. And they said that he is always chanting the holy name of Rama and he is exhibiting symptoms of ecstasy. And so, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura enquired, “His relationship with Rama, is it direct or is it through some associate of Rama, like Sita or Lakshman or Hanuman?” And they said, “Oh no, it is direct.” And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, “He may be a pretender because we do not serve Krishna directly even when we go to the abode of Krishna. We serve Krishna under the guidance and supervision of some associate of Krishna, according to our mood of service.” Of course, there is direct service but it is under guidance and supervision, and the devotees also, they don’t aspire to be in that position of a direct servant. But as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu expressed, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, He aspired to be the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopīs of Vrindavan. And so, that is what we are practicing here, being the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna.

TEXT 52

nirantara rātri-dina viraha unmāde

hāse, kānde, nāce, gāya parama viṣāde

TRANSLATION

In the attitude of separation, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared mad both day and night. Sometimes He laughed, and sometimes He cried; sometimes He danced, and sometimes He chanted in great sorrow.

TEXT 53

At those times, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would visit Lord Jagannātha. Then His feelings exactly corresponded to those of the gopīs when they saw Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra after long separation. Kṛṣṇa had come to Kurukṣetra with His brother and sister to visit.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

When Kṛṣṇa was performing yajña (sacrifice) at Kurukṣetra, He invited all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana to come see Him. Lord Caitanya’s heart was always filled with separation from Kṛṣṇa, but as soon as He had the opportunity to visit the Jagannātha temple, He became fully absorbed in the thoughts of the gopīs who came to see Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra.

TEXT 54

ratha-yātrāya āge yabe karena nartana

tāhāṅ ei pada mātra karaye gāyana

TRANSLATION

When Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to dance before the car during the festival, He always sang the following two lines.

TEXT 55

seita parāṇa-nātha pāinu

yāhā lāgī’ madana-dahane jhuri genu

TRANSLATION

“I have gotten that Lord of My life, for whom I was burning in the fire of lusty desires.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.29.15) it is stated:

kāmaṁ krodhaṁ bhayaṁ sneham aikyaṁ sauhṛdam eva ca

nityaṁ harau vidadhato yānti tan-mayatāṁ hi te

The word kāma means lusty desire, bhaya means fear, and krodha means anger. If somehow or other one approaches Kṛṣṇa, his life becomes successful. The gopīs approached Kṛṣṇa with lusty desire. Kṛṣṇa was a very beautiful boy, and they wanted to meet and enjoy His company. But this lusty desire is different from that of the material world. It appears like mundane lust, but in actuality it is the highest form of attraction to Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a sannyāsī; He left home and everything else. He could certainly not be induced by any mundane lusty desires. So when He used the word madana-dahane (“in the fire of lusty desire”), He meant that out of pure love for Kṛṣṇa He was burning in the fire of separation from Kṛṣṇa. Whenever He met Jagannātha, either in the temple or during the Ratha-yātrā, Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to think, “Now I have gotten the Lord of My life and soul.”

COMMENT

So, all the scriptures proclaim that the love of the gopīs for Krishna is completely pure and spotless, free from any material taint of selfish desire. So, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in the mood of the gopīs, says that he is burning in the fire of lusty desires, he really means that he is burning in the fire of separation, separation from pleasing Krishna. The gopīs know that Krishna is pleased by their service more than anyone else’s, and because their only goal is to see Krishna happy, they want to serve Him not for their own happiness but to make Krishna happy. But they express their desire in terms of lust or selfish desires, also to please Krishna.

I will give an example that is given by our acharyas, that if a person visits a friend and the friend offers him, “If you are hungry, I can prepare food for you,” then the visitor will say, “No, I am not hungry, I don’t take trouble” because that is love, one doesn’t want to give trouble to the other person. So, he is hungry but he doesn’t say he is hungry, he doesn’t admit he is hungry because he doesn’t want his host to take trouble to cook for him. So, the host will not ask, “Are you hungry?” Because on the platform of pure love, he knows that the other person will say no because he doesn’t want to trouble the host. So, the host will say, “Please excuse me, it is my time for cooking and offering for my deity.” And then he will cook and offer it to the deity and then he will offer the remnants to his visitor. In other words, he presents that it is his own need to cook or his own desire to cook. So, if the gopīs were to say, “Krishna, we know that you want our company and that you are happiest in our company, so we will come and meet you in the middle of the night,” Krishna will say, “I am all right, don’t take trouble, I am all right, you don’t need to leave your parents and husbands and children and take so much risk to come out in the middle of the night. I am all right.” So, the gopīs presented the other way that, “We are lusty, and we are hungry for your association.” So, then Krishna will say, “All right.” So, there are many intricacies in this science.

Another point that our acharyas make, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, is that love, when it is kept within the heart, becomes stronger, but when it is expressed through the mouth, it becomes weaker. And this doesn’t necessarily apply to us in our relationships with each other on our level, but he gives the example that you have that fire, you have a lamp of love burning within your heart, and he compares the heart to a house. So, as long as you keep the flame within the house, it burns bright and strong. But as soon as you place the flame outside the doorway of the house, which, the house is the heart and the doorway to the house is the mouth, as soon as you express the love through your mouth or, in other words, put the flame outside the doorway where it is exposed to wind and rain and other elements, it can waver, could even be extinguished. So, that is another reason why the gopīs don’t express their love openly, because it grows stronger when it is kept within the heart. So, instead, they express lustiness, which is not at all there, in the material sense, but they keep hidden the pure love.

TEXT 56

ei dhuyā-gāne nācena dvitīya prahara
kṛṣṇa lañā vraje yāi — e-bhāva antara

TRANSLATION

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to sing this song [seita parāṇa-nātha] especially during the latter part of the day, and He would think, “Let Me take Kṛṣṇa and go back to Vṛndāvana.” This ecstasy was always filling His heart.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Being always absorbed in the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt the same separation from Kṛṣṇa that Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī felt when Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana and went to Mathurā. This ecstatic feeling is very helpful in attaining love of God in separation. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught everyone that one should not be overly anxious to see the Lord, but should rather feel separation from Him in ecstasy. It is actually better to feel separation from Him than to desire to see Him face to face. When the gopīs of Vṛndāvana, the residents of Gokula, met Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra during the solar eclipse, they wanted to take Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu also felt the same ecstasy as soon as He saw Jagannātha in the temple or on the Ratha-yātrā car. The gopīs of Vṛndāvana did not like the opulence of Dvārakā. They wanted to take Kṛṣṇa to the village of Vṛndāvana and enjoy His company in the groves. This desire was also felt by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and He danced in ecstasy before the Ratha-yātrā festival when Lord Jagannātha went to Guṇḍicā.

COMMENT

So, we will also be dancing in ecstasy before the Ratha-yatra car today, so we can think of Lord Caitanya’s moods as he danced before the Ratha-yatra car.

TEXT 57

In that ecstasy, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recited one verse when dancing in front of Lord Jagannātha. Almost no one could understand the meaning of that verse.

TEXT 58

“That very personality who stole away my heart during my youth is now again my master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of mālatī flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet still my mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the Vetasī tree. That is my desire.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse appears in the Padyāvalī (386), an anthology of verses compiled by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

TEXT 59

This verse appears to be the hankering between some ordinary boy and girl, but its actual deep meaning was known only to Svarūpa Dāmodara. By chance, one year Rūpa Gosvāmī was also present there.

TEXT 60

Although the meaning of the verse was known only to Svarūpa Dāmodara, Rūpa Gosvāmī, after hearing it from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, immediately composed another verse describing the meaning of the original verse.

TEXT 61

After composing this verse, Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote it on a palm leaf and put it on the roof of the thatched house in which he was living.

TEXT 62

After composing this verse and putting it on the roof of his house, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī went to bathe in the sea. In the meantime, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to his hut to meet him.

TEXT 63

haridāsa ṭhākura āra rūpa-sanātana

jagannātha-mandire nā yā’na tina jana

TRANSLATION

To avoid turmoil, three great personalities — Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī — did not enter the temple of Jagannātha.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

It is still the practice at the Jagannātha temple not to allow those to enter who do not strictly follow the Vedic culture known as Hinduism. Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī had had previous intimate connections with Mohammedans. Haridāsa Ṭhākura had been born in a Mohammedan family, and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, having given up their social status in Hindu society, had been appointed ministers in the Mohammedan government. They had even changed their names to Sākara Mallika and Dabira Khāsa. Thus they had supposedly been expelled from brāhmaṇa society. Consequently, out of humility they did not enter the temple of Jagannātha, although the Personality of Godhead, Jagannātha, in His form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, personally came to see them every day. Similarly, the members of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society are sometimes refused entrance into some of the temples in India. We should not feel sorry about this as long as we engage in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Kṛṣṇa Himself associates with devotees who are chanting His holy name, and there is no need to be unhappy over not being able to enter a certain temple. Such dogmatic prohibitions were not approved by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Those who were thought unfit to enter the Jagannātha temple were daily visited by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and this indicates that Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not approve of the prohibitions. To avoid unnecessary turmoil, however, these great personalities would not enter the Jagannātha temple.

COMMENT

I had some experience of this in the South Indian state of Kerala. A little after Srila Prabhupada left, one of the devotees in Juhu, initiated as Sri devi, she used to visit the old temple of Juhu before the big temple was opened, as a child, and she would see Srila Prabhupada in the temple and get mahā-prasāda from his hand. So eventually, she grew up and took initiation and she was from Kerala. And so, she invited me and some devotees to the temple of Guruvayurappan. Pretty much every state has a very prominent deity of Krishna, in Orissa it is Lord Jagannatha and in Maharashtra, it is Vitoba or Vitthal, and yes, I guess in in Karnataka it would be Udupi, Sri Krishna. And so, in Kerala it is Guruvayurappan in Guruvayur. So, a group of us traveled to Kerala and it seemed that everything was arranged in grand style, but when we entered the temple, the non-Indians were refused entry because we were not Hindus. So, she was very upset so she said, “Well, what can we do? I brought them all the way from Bombay. What can we do?” So, the authorities said, “You have to go to a city, Calicut, and you go to the Arya Samaj there, and they will perform a ceremony and officially convert you to Hindus.” So, “Okay.” [laughter]

So, our whole group got in two or three cars, there were a number of us, and we went to Calicut, went to the Arya Samaj, and they knew Hare Krishna devotees very well. So we said, “We want to enter the temple and we need a certificate that we are Hindu, so we need to be officially converted to Hindus.” So they said, “We know you very well, we know you people very well, you are more Hindu than we are. So, we don’t need to do the ceremony, we don’t need to do the fire sacrifice, you just pay us the amount and we will give you the certificate.” [laughter] And there were a few devotees who were not initiated, Karunamayi, who is in Houston now, originally from South Africa, she was Karla, and there were a couple of others who had western names so they had to have a Hindu name, everyone had to have a Hindu name. So we made up some Hindu names for them, and then we all got our certificates and then we could enter the temple.

So, gradually, many of the temples have relaxed their restrictions, Srila Prabhupada did fight for the right of his devotees to enter the temples, but one of them, which is still holding out, is the Jagannatha temple in Puri, but many who used to restrict entry, have now accepted us and allowed us to enter. But Prabhupada, he was very vehement about it and quite often, if an influential friend visited him, life member, and many of them were on the boards of trustees of different prominent temples, so he would ask them to take this matter up and get the restriction lifted.

TEXT 64

Every day Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to see the upala-bhoga ceremony at the temple of Jagannātha, and after seeing this He used to go visit these three great personalities on His way to His own residence.

TEXT 65

If one of these three was not present, He would meet the others. That was His regular practice.

TEXT 66

When Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu went to the residence of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, He accidentally saw the palm leaf on the roof, and thus He read the verse composed by him.

TEXT 67

After reading the verse, Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu went into an ecstatic mood. While He was in that state, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī came and immediately fell down on the floor like a rod.

COMMENT

Dandavat.

TEXT 68

When Rūpa Gosvāmī fell down like a rod, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu got up and gave him a slap.

COMMENT

Probably like what we would do, give someone a slap on the back or something, not a slap on the face.

TEXT 68

Then, taking him on His lap, He began to speak to him.

TEXT 69

“No one knows the purport of My verse,” Caitanya Mahāprabhu said. “How could you understand My intention?”

TEXT 70

Saying this, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu bestowed various benedictions upon Rūpa Gosvāmī, and taking the verse, He later showed it to Svarūpa Gosvāmī.

TEXT 71

svarūpe puchena prabhu ha-iyā vismite

mora manera kathā rūpa jānila kemate

TRANSLATION

Having shown the verse to Svarūpa Dāmodara with great wonder, Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked him how Rūpa Gosvāmī could understand the intentions of His mind.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

We had the opportunity to receive a similar blessing from Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī when we presented an essay at his birthday ceremony. He was so pleased with that essay that he used to call some of his confidential devotees and show it to them. How could we have understood the intentions of Śrīla Prabhupāda?

COMMENT

That is our Srila Prabhupada referring to his spiritual master, as Srila Prabhupada.

TEXT 72

Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī replied to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “If Rūpa Gosvāmī can understand Your mind and intentions, he must have Your Lordship’s special benediction.”

TEXT 73

The Lord said, “I was so pleased with Rūpa Gosvāmī that I embraced him and bestowed upon him all necessary potencies for preaching the bhakti cult.

TEXT 74

“I accept Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as quite fit to understand the confidential mellows of devotional service, and I recommend that you explain devotional service to him further.”

COMMENT

Then the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta says.

TEXT 75

I shall describe all these incidents elaborately later on. Now I have given only a brief reference.

COMMENT

And then he quotes the verse composed by Srila Rupa Gosvami.

TEXT 76

priyaḥ so ‘yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ saha-cari kuru-kṣetra-militas

tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham

tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe

mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

TRANSLATION

[This verse was spoken by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.] “My dear friend, now I have met My very old and dear friend Kṛṣṇa on this field of Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and now We are meeting together. It is very pleasant, but still I would like to go to the bank of the Yamunā beneath the trees of the forest there. I wish to hear the vibration of His sweet flute playing the fifth note within that forest of Vṛndāvana.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse also appears in the Padyāvalī (387), an anthology of verses compiled by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

TEXT 77

Now, O devotees, please hear a brief explanation of this verse. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was thinking in this way after having seen the Jagannātha Deity.

TEXT 78

The subject of His thoughts was Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who met Kṛṣṇa on the field of Kurukṣetra. Although She met Kṛṣṇa there, She was nonetheless thinking of Him in the following way.

TEXT 79

She thought of Him in the calm and quiet atmosphere of Vṛndāvana, dressed as a cowherd boy. But at Kurukṣetra He was in a royal dress and was accompanied by elephants, horses and crowds of men. Thus the atmosphere was not congenial for Their meeting.

COMMENT

It is as if we are meeting a dear friend after a long time and we want to have some very confidential talks with the person, or meeting a spiritual master and want to have very confidential talks but there are so many people around and there is so much activity you can’t really fulfill your desire in that atmosphere, so you yearn for that situation where you can have that intimate reciprocation.

TEXT 80

Thus meeting with Kṛṣṇa and thinking of the Vṛndāvana atmosphere, Rādhārāṇī longed for Kṛṣṇa to take Her to Vṛndāvana again to fulfill Her desire in that calm atmosphere.

COMMENT

And remember, her desire is really to please Krishna. And she knows that Krishna is not really happy dressed as a royal prince surrounded by ministers and military and elephants and horses and chariots. She knows that Krishna is really happy in Vrindavan, with the residents of Vrindavan, with her, and so, she wants to be with Krishna in Vrindavan because she knows that will make Krishna happier.

TEXT 81

āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ

yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ

saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ

gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ

TRANSLATION

The gopīs spoke thus: “Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshiped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.82.48).

COMMENT

So, I will end here. There is more, but because of devotees having to get ready for the procession, we will end now. But I will just repeat the gopīs’ prayer to Krishna, quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from when they met Krishna at Kurukṣetra because it is a nice prayer for us to keep in mind.

TRANSLATION

The gopīs spoke thus: “Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshiped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs.”

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Sri Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā ki jaya!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta ki jaya!

gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Hare Krishna.

Jaya Jagannātha!