Snana-yatra

Giriraj Swami:  The date of Snana-yatra is actually the appearance day of Lord Jagannatha in this world, which took place on the Snana-yatra day, 153 years ago. But Lord Jagannatha is eternal; he has his own planet in the spiritual sky, just like Lord Krishna does, and Lord Narayana.

Hari Krishna, what a blessed surprise!

So, this date of Snana-yatra actually marks the appearance anniversary of Lord Jagannatha, 153 million years ago, although He is eternal. And, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw Lord Jagannatha as Krishna Himself, Shyamasundara. When He first arrived in Jagannatha Puri, and He saw the deity of Lord Jagannatha, He went rushing forward to embrace the deity, to embrace His beloved Shyamasundara. But before He reached the deity, He fainted, collapsed on the floor. He was so attached to Lord Jagannatha. So, after the Snana-yatra, Lord Jagannatha catches a cold from being bathed outdoors. And for fifteen days, He goes into seclusion. And Lakshmi, the Goddess of Fortune, nurses Him back to health with medicines in the form of fruit juices. And actually, during that time, the pujaris make repairs if necessary to the transcendental body of Lord Jagannatha.

Now, Lord Chaitanya, who is so attached to Lord Jagannatha, He was in the mood as He was in the mood of Srimati Radharani, so He was ecstatically attached to Lord Krishna in the form of Jagannatha. So, what was He to do for fifteen days when He could not see Lord Jagannatha? So, He walked by foot for fourteen miles to a place called Brahmagiri which received its name because Lord Brahma installed a deity of Lord Narayana at that place. It’s also called Alarnath or Allalanatha. Now, in the Jagannatha temple, Lord Chaitanya would stand by the Garuḍa-stambha, and where He would stand and hold the column, there are fingerprints, not fingerprints but impressions created by His fingers, and there are also impressions created by His feet. When Lord Chaitanya arrived at Alarnath, and saw this four-handed Narayana form, He offered flat obeisances, and the ecstasy from those obeisances created an impression in the stone. That is still visible, till today.

So, this is very mysterious. After standing every day near the Garuḍa-stambha in the Jagannatha temple, there were some small impressions of His fingers and feet. And here, His whole body made a deep. . . It melted the stone. In other words, it melted the stone. And, why would that ecstatic manifestation take place in front of this four-handed form of Lord Narayana?

So, there is a mystery to this. There is a secret to this. And, this goes back to Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan when He was present on Earth. He had a rasa dance which I hope everyone knows what a rāsa dance is because it would be a little hard to explain. But it’s a divine ecstatic dance of Krishna and His most beloved devotees, and His greatest lovers, the gopīs, the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan. So, during this rāsa-līlā, Krishna really wanted to be alone with His greatest devotee, Srimati Radharani. So He, sort of, absconded, He snuck away from all the gopīs, and He went some distance from them, and He hid in the bushes, big bushes. So, when the gopīs came. . . they were also mad in separation looking for Krishna.

When the gopīs came, they saw this form in the bushes, and Krishna was about to be discovered. So, intelligent as He is, because He knew they were going to find Him anyway, He came up from the bushes, but He manifested a four-handed form of Lord Narayana. So, the gopīs were very enthusiastic. They were rushing towards that form, and then they saw, “Oh! This is not Krishna. It’s the Supreme Personality of Godhead Narayana. Well, Lord Narayana, have you seen Krishna? We are looking for Krishna.” That was their only interest, Krishna.

So, they went on their way. And then Srimati Radharani came, and Krishna again, assumed His four-armed form as Narayana. But in the presence of Srimati Radharani, because Her love was so powerful, He could not maintain His extra two hands. So, He manifested His original two-handed form of Krishna.

So, this form of Lord Narayana. . . Again, we are coming back to why did Lord Chaitanya leave Jagannatha Puri after this Snana-yatra when Lord Jagannatha was secluded in His quarters, and go to Alarnath? And, why did He exhibit such ecstasy in Alarnath that He never even exhibited in Puri? So, the answer is that His seeing that four-handed form of Lord Narayana was Srimati Radharani’s seeing the four-handed form of Krishna at Govardhana, who wasn’t really Narayana but actually Krishna. And, the pujaris at that temple in Alarnath, they know the confidential secret that that deity is actually Krishna although He has four arms, and they worship Him with Krishna mantras.

So, for those fourteen days, Lord Chaitanya relishes exchanges of love with Krishna in His four-handed form who is not really Narayana but actually Krishna. And then, after two weeks, Lord Jagannatha comes out of seclusion, and what does He do? Two weeks from now what happens? Ratha-yatra!

Jagannatha Ratha-yatra ki jaya!

Yes, because just as Lord Jagannatha’s devotees feel separation from Him, He also feels separation from them. And, He wants to see them, and so, He comes out of seclusion into the Ratha-yatra. And, Lakshmidevi who has been serving Lord Jagannatha, hand and foot, for those fourteen days, of course, I say hand and foot, we don’t know exactly. . . Once a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, “We are supposed to see the Lord beginning from His lotus feet, but in the case of Lord Jagannatha, what do we do?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Well, whatever you can see, you can meditate on that.”

So, He tells Her that He will be going out for a day, and He will return. But actually, Lord Jagannatha is so eager to reciprocate with His devotees, He doesn’t come back after just a day. He actually stays out for eight days. And, that’s another story because Lakshmidevi manifests a transcendental emotion that resembles jealous anger called Maan. And so, after five days, She goes, this is called the Herā-pañcamī festival. And She demands that Lord Jagannatha should come back. So now, we have this sacred opportunity to bathe Lord Jagannatha, Balarama, and Subhadra. And, this will be the last time we will be able to see Them for two weeks until next Sunday.

So, we should drink in Their beauty through the holes of our eyes, and bathe Them, and chant and dance in ecstasy. And yeah, just wait for that opportune moment in two weeks when we will be able to see Them at the Ratha-yatra.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:13:40]

Giriraj Swami: Oh, really?

Devotee: Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:13:46]

Giriraj Swami: Oh! Okay. Well, since Svavasa Prabhu has given me ten more minutes, maybe we will open the floor to questions and comments. Yeah, are there any questions or comments? Yes. Oh! One thing, excuse me, it is sort of one thing that’s very important. So, I related what happened once when Lord Chaitanya went to Alarnath? But it was a regular occurrence every year that after the Snana-yatra Lord Jagannatha would go into seclusion, and Lord Chaitanya would feel morose. He would feel transcendental separation from Lord Jagannatha. And, His devotees from Navadvipa from Bengal, would come to Jagannatha Puri for the Ratha-yatra, and then they would spend four months with Lord Chaitanya there.

So, one year when Lord Chaitanya was at Alarnath, the devotees from Bengal arrived. And so, the word was sent that He should come to Jagannatha Puri because they are there waiting for Him. But He was so much in the mood of separation, He didn’t want to go back to Jagannatha Puri without being able to have darshan of Lord Jagannatha. So, the devotees very intelligently began kirtan. And, in that kirtan, Lord Chaitanya’s feelings of separation were mitigated, or He was pacified. And, Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport that, as we know but it’s a very specific type of application, that the holy names of Krishna are Krishna Himself or in this case, Lord Jagannatha. And so, by immersing Himself in the kirtan of the holy names,

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Lord Chaitanya felt the association of Lord Jagannatha. And, Srila Prabhupada comments further that whenever devotees feel separation from Krishna or Lord Jagannatha who is Krishna, they can immerse themselves in the chanting of the holy names, and feel His presence, experience His association. Yes, do you still. . .

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja. I just had a question about [Unintelligible 00:17:41]

Giriraj Swami: Because They are the enjoyers, and you are not. [laughter] So They enjoy traveling on three separate carts. And, They enjoy seeing you make that special effort to go from one cart to the other, to chant and dance in front of Them. [Applause] Yes sir.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:18:45]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that’s a good question. So, the Jagannatha temple in Nilachal is considered to be a representation of Dwarka. And the Gundica temple at Sundarachal, which is the destination of the Ratha-yatra, is considered a representation of Vrindavan. So, Lord Jagannatha’s mood in the Ratha-yatra is that He is leaving Dwarka to go to Vrindavan to reciprocate with His devotees in Vrindavan. And, Lord Chaitanya’s mood at the Ratha-yatra is of Radharani pulling Krishna back to Vrindavan. The Jagannatha temple can represent either Dwarka or Kurukshetra. So, it’s described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that after Krishna and Balarama left Vrindavan and settled in Dwarka, They went to Kurukshetra at the time of a solar eclipse. And, at that time, the residents of Vrindavan took the opportunity to go to Kurukshetra to meet Krishna.

And, the mood of Srimati Radharani was that, ‘You are the same Krishna, and I am the same Radha. But instead of the peacocks, and chirping of birds, and the Yamuna River, and Govardhana Hill, the crowds of people, and rattling of chariots, and You are not dressed as a cowherd boy, We are cowherd people, You are not dressed as a cowherd boy with Your peacock feather and flute, but You are dressed as a royal prince, like a military person. So, I can’t enjoy pastimes with You here like We enjoyed in Vrindavan.’ So, Her mood when She met Krishna at Kurukshetra was to take Him back to Vrindavan. And so, Lord Chaitanya’s mood when He is pulling the chariot is the mood of Radharani pulling Krishna back to Vrindavan. So, there is very, to say, there is a lot of feelings in this festival. Srila Prabhupada says, Ratha-yatra is a very feeling festival.

So, yeah. So, when we celebrate Ratha-yatra. . . Well, it’s good anyway to read about these pastimes in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And then, at the Ratha-yatra, we can think of these pastimes, and those moods, Lord Chaitanya’s mood, even Lord Jagannatha’s mood. And yeah, it’ll be a splendid festival. It will be anyway, but even more so. Yes.

Devotee: When you chant Hare Krishna, Rama—is that Balarama or Ramachandra?

Giriraj Swami: The Rama in the Hare Krishna maha-mantra can be Rama, Lord Balarama. It can be Lord Ramachandra, and it can be Krishna who is Radha-Ramana.