19840925 Jagannātha Pastimes Combined Lecture with Ātma-tattva Prabhu

19840925 - The following is the combined lecture by his holiness Jayapatākā Svāmī with Atma Tattva Prabhu in London 25th September 1984.

 

The relationship between Kṛṣṇa and his devotees. That mellow. By remembering lila smarana by remembering pastimes of the Lord and his devotee and by absorbing oneself in that consciousness, then one is also able to relish at least to some part. By blessing of the Lord, by blessing of the disciplic succession they can get some taste of that mellow.

 

So Lord Chaitanya you will see that whatever he is doing, he is always totally absorbing himself in some particular mood of serving Kṛṣṇa. All these great devotees especially followers of Lord Chaitanya, there are those who were doing pastimes with Kṛṣṇa 5000 years ago Prahlad Mahārāja and so on. Since for this age of Kali there is no scheduled avatar selected, he is triyuga comes in 3 ages Satya, treta and dwapar.

 

If he comes in this age he has some other form like Lord Chaitanya came but as a devotee. Buddha came but for another purpose. In this age we can associate with the Lord by remembering his pastimes and serving in that kind of attitude focusing on some devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa and trying to follow in their footsteps. If we focus on Śrīla Prabhupāda, his dedication, his mood, his preaching. See thatBy doing so it becomes very easy for us to become filled with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Lord Chaitanya being Kṛṣṇa himself personally took the mood of Rādhārāṇī. It's not that we can take the mood of Rādhārāṇī and imitate Lord Chaitanya.

 

 Try to follow in the footsteps of the gopis. We do that by following in the footsteps of the previous acharyas. Following their immediate example. Because it will be difficult, It's not the proper system for us to try to imitate lord chaitanya or the 6 gosvāmīs. But rather to follow the subsequent acharyas. See what they did and follow in their footsteps. For Śrīla Prabhupāda of course the mood is not different . Meditate on those pastimes, meditate on different pastimes on different great devotees of Kṛṣṇa, Sing about him glorify them, in this way one acts in devotional service. One’s consciousness is purified and transported by being always focused on these transcendental relationships. We can see this in this pastime of Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā. Lord’s dancing how he personally takes different moods with Lord Jagannātha. Of course these are something which we again cannot imitate. Lord Chaitanya is Kṛṣṇa; he has come and taken the mood of Rādhārāṇī. Between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī he can take any other mood whether there is Lakshmi or Rukmini. Nrisingha, all of them extensions of Rādhārāṇī. All the shaktis, all the purusas within Kṛṣṇa.

 

Sometimes we can see that in Navadvīpa, Lord Chaitanya would take the mood of Lord Narashingha. He's running down the street looking for demons. Because Narashingha is within Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes in Navadvīpa he played a drama, he played the part of rukmini. He put on the cloth of Rukmiṇī, nobody could see where he was. They thought Rukmini was standing there. He didn’t look at all like a man dressed like a woman. They could not tell who lord Chaitanya was. They thought it was directly a woman standing there. He was 7 feet tall and suddenly he was transformed to 5 foot 6 playing the part. It was very bewildering to everyone.

 

Guru Mahārāja Laughing. That is Lord Chaitanya you cannot imitate him. We can see how he was absorbed , we can follow in his footsteps following the mood of Śrīla Prabhupāda following the mood of the previous Acharayas. This is the way of realizing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no other way this is the actual way. As we become purified we can also relish. We can meditate on Lord Caitanya's pastimes although we cannot imitate his day to day activities. By hearing about his pastimes it give a taste for pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By his mercy.

 

Guru Mahārāja speaking loudly in Bengali. When Lord Chaitanya desired to Jump high while dancing he placed these 9 people in the charge of Swarup damodar. Those 9 people were Srivas, Raghu, Ray, Govinda, Mukuda, Hari, Govinda, Ananda and Madhava, all 9 put together. They sang in kirtan groups. Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali. These devotees swarup damodar and the devotees in his charge sang along with the lord and they ran beside him. All the other groups of men also sang. Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali again. Offering obeisances to the Lord with folded hands

 

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu raised his face towards Jagannātha prayed as follows.

“ namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya govindāya namo namaḥ”” . Let me offer my respectful obeisance to Lord Kṛṣṇa who is the worship able deity for all brahmanical men. Who is the well wisher of all the cows and Brahmanas and who is always benefitting the whole world. I offer my repeated obeisance to the personality of Godhead known as Kṛṣṇa and govinda. This is the quotation from Vishnu Puran 1.19.65 . Guru Mahārāja speaks verse from Mukunda Mala . all glories to the supreme personality of godhead who is the son of devaki. All glories to the supreme personality of godhead who is the light of the dynasty of vrishni. All glories to the supreme personality of godhead whose bodily luster is like that of a newcloud.

 

Whose body is as soft as a lotus flower. All glories to the supreme personality of Godhead who appeared on this planet to deliver the world from the burden of demons and who can offer liberation to everyone. Guru Mahārāja spoke from Srimad Bhagavatam. Translation by Śrīla Prabhupāda. This is a quotation from srimad bhagavatam 10.19.48 . Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa is he who is known as Jananivasa. The ultimate resort of all living entities and who is also known as Devaki Nandana or Yasoda Nandana. The son of Devaki and Yasoda. He is the guide of the Yadu dynasty and with his mighty arms kills everything which is inauspicious as well as everyman who is impious. By his presence he destroys all things which is inauspicious for all living entities moving and inert. His blissful smiling face always increases the lusty desires of the gopis of Vrindavan. May  all be glorious and happy.

 

Guru Mahārāja speaking from the Bhagavatam. Translation: I am not a brahmana. I am not a kshatriya. I am not a vaishya or a sudra. Nor am I a Brahmachari, a householder, a vanaprasta or a sanyasi. Identify myself only as a servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa. The maintainer of the gopis. He is like an ocean of nectar. He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance. This is the verse from the padyavali 74. Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali. Having recited these verses from the scriptures again the Lord offered his obeisances and all the devotees with folded hands also offered prayer to the supreme personality of Godhead.

 

Actually very nice verses. We read all of these chapters before and after during every Ratha-yātrā festival. But when we inaugurate the rathYatras we do the pujas. It would be nice to say the prayers Lord Chaitanya said before the lord. More and more we try to establish the ceremony and our own tradition in Iskcon. Because that adds a lot to our meditation. Just recently in New Panihati temple on Rādhāstami we installed new RādhāMadan Mohan deities. Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Madana Mohan are the names of the deities that raghava Pandit had worshipped in panihati. Here he had given the name Deva Sadhana. Different places he gave different names. So we are trying to preserve the kind of mood, the lila that helps the devotees. Here in the west Atma Tattva das Adhikari is the minister of culture of spiritual etiquette and deity worship.

 

He is our you can say one of the 2 head pandits in Mayapur and then there is Anidesh bapu prabhu. He had come for the ceremony. He had performed in various temples like he had established Ananta Sesha. Putting the whole project on Ananta Sesha’s head. Just like  Prabhupāda did in Mayapur. He first dug a 12, 10 foot deep hole.where we  installed under the ground. Ananta shesha the form of Kṛṣṇa that is holding up the entire universe. That holds Krsihna up in his mahavishnu form. Those were the kind of things that  Prabhupāda did. 1 point I wanted to make even if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa without worshiping the deity that’s enough in one sense. We had a two or three day deity installation with various meditations. Installing the deity and requesting Kṛṣṇa to come, actually that is the explanation of the mantras.

 

Like Kṛṣṇa please come here please remain here. Let us serve you and be happy. This is kind of the jest of the prana pratistha, an invitation for Kṛṣṇa to come. We requested Kṛṣṇa to come stay so we can serve him. So that we can become happy. If Kṛṣṇa’s going to become happy we are going to become happy. Because we are all parts of Kṛṣṇa. He is the supreme. Absolute truth. We are small particles. Small parts and parcels of him. So by taking a couple of days and meditating on these different ceremonies can help the devotees a lot to focus on the importance of receiving Kṛṣṇa and being responsible for his care.

 

All over that particular area. So we are reading here different pastimes of Lord Chaitanya. Just like in Iskcon we have our own pastime of Jayananda. Jayananda was a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He came to assist Śrīla Prabhupāda. He was a devotee who was responsible for fulfilling  Prabhupāda’s desire to have Rathyatra in the western world. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to have this cart festival in America. Seeing Kṛṣṇa in his Jagannātha in the streets. The difference is that in Jagannātha Puri they have their main road. GuruMahārāja inquired about the road.

 

Devotee: Rajpath.

 

GuruMahārāja: Rajpath king’s road

 

So between Jagannātha Puri temple and Gundicha temple there are no wires going across. By order of the king . so now that we have started this rathyatra you can tell the government to move all the bridges, wires because Jagannātha will be going . Obviously that was not immediately possible. All across the way there were cars with different kinds of wires in San Francisco with so many problems. So he came out with this idea. He was a very humble devotee, very unassuming. He wasn’t greatly learned in Sanskrit or anything in fact. That was not his strong point. His strong was that he was completely dedicated and absorbed in thinking how to improve this particular service.

 

You know even if you can do 1 of the nine practices of devotional service correctly then we can become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Of course in this age unless we chant and hear it's doubtful whether we will continue any other service. Because of the contamination of the material energy. We can concentrate on whatever service is given to us. Whether its sankirtan or deity worship or cooking. Concentrate our energy and try to perfect that. His service was to build this Ratha-yātrā festival. So he was constantly meditating the entire year how to build a better chariot.

 

How to have a better festival. He was really absorbed in that service so much so that when he had somehow in his body this leukemia. Leukemia disease that became malignant so that gradually takes away your particular kind of blood corpuscle and you gradually grow weaker and weaker. Even when he was sick in the hospital. When the Ratha-yātrā festival came he was taken to the site to pull the cart . He was there to participate in the festival. As soon as the Ratha-yātrā festival was over, very soon after that he left his body. He was very Kṛṣṇa conscious. So in our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement we could see that how a have to get some purification from Kṛṣṇa and maya so that we will be able to pass them in the future. Final test is when we are going to leave the body. Since we are eternal spirit souls. This body is temporary vehicle that we are in. so when we leave the body that will dictate what will be our future place. If we leave in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we go back to Kṛṣṇa.

 

So what’s important is to prepare ourselves for that final test. And the best preparation is to always think about Kṛṣṇa and to never forget Kṛṣṇa. So of course Lord Chaitanya could directly think about Kṛṣṇa in his pastime in Vṛndāvana and get totally absorbed. But for someone who is not as spontaneous, he may not be a nitya siddha. He may not be totally absorbed on that particular level of meditation in the beginning. But it’s not different if they meditate on a particular service for the deity, for Śrīla Prabhupāda, for the movement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If we absorb ourselves in doing a particular service and perfecting that then that will become completely satisfying to Kṛṣṇa it will be totally purifying for ourselves.

 

Examples of Jayananda are rare. He performed his devotional service. He absorbed himself in that service. When he left the world he also was Kṛṣṇa conscious. He went back to Kṛṣṇa. So he is very very fortunate. Therefore  Prabhupāda had us put a picture of Jayananda on the Rathyatra cart and mention a little bit about his glories on that occasion. I was personally very fortunate and looked like I had carved his mercy. When I came into this movement I happened to come to it in San Francisco. I had a house in the country and I was planning to go to India to find a Guru. I had seen 1 advertisement that there is a festival of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. The year before I had been looking for the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees.

 

I could never find them. But when I went through the ad I took prasadam in the temple. and,It said 25cents you have to give. I tried to give the 25cents no 1 would take it. Everyone was too busy. So then finally there was a devotee called Narada Muni he took it. They informed me that next door they are doing something so I went there. There was a group of devotees hammering some wood building something at the back of the temple. and 1 person handed me a hammer and nail and he told me you just hammer this in there.

Devotees laughing.

 

He didn’t say anything. Hare Kṛṣṇa. What’s your name? Could you just hold this for a second. Hold it. You know how to hammer. Oh take this. Before I knew it I was building a rathcart. That devotee was Jayananda and he was just totally absorbed. Anybody came, he just immediately went off. Before you know everybody came there was just watching what was going on. There was a hammering sign. End of the day I felt very blissful working. They said come back tomorrow we have to finish the cart. Devotees Laughing.

 

So in this way seven days of devotional service like that chanting in the morning. On the day of the rathyatra I decided that why go to India all the way. Because this is here I feel very inspired. First day someone gave me the beads and I chanted. 32 rounds. I was very blissful. So let me try this for 2 months. Jayananda shaved me up on the rathayatra day. Devotees laughing. After that I didn’t have much association with him. At least I got my first shave from great soul. But that’s one of our traditions. We hope that in the future we will have other great devotees by following  Prabhupāda's instructions to go back to the spiritual world and leave examples for the future devotees.

 

I know in Vṛndāvana Śrīla Prabhupāda was stressing that, one time he called in his secretaries and said I want to give titles of recognition to particular devotees. Like cooks and pujaris and gurukul teachers. Because many of our devotees are just going into administration. But in devotional service you don’t have to be a manager to go back to Godhead. You just have to do your service and be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that other people can look to these people as examples and train other people to do that particular service as a responsibility. I would like to give some kind of a title. He was discussing that for a day or two somehow then after then he didn’t do it.

 

Didn’t happen for some reason. Don’t know why. That’s an interesting point that  Prabhupāda brought out. Rathyatra cart builders like Jayananda or any sankirtan devotee or whether it’s any particular service. Just like in Mayapur we have Jananivas and Pankajangri who stayed there for 15 or more years. Always they were serving the deities. This is a very great quality that they are dedicating themselves to in service.  Prabhupāda really glorified that. In this context Lord Chaitanya he is really absorbing himself. We have to absorb ourselves whether we are thinking of the pastimes of the Lord or following in the footsteps of a great devotee. Especially in the example given by Śrīla  Prabhupāda. In this way we absorb ourselves in the Kṛṣṇa conscious mood.

 

Atma Tattva prabhu he is actually married to an orrisian. Previous ashram he was in Orissa. He lived in Orissa for many years. But he is from Tamil Nadu. Maybe in terms of how they do the Jagannātha festival in Puri. Guru Mahārāja asked Atma Tattva prabhu to speak something so devotees can get some blessing. Atma Tattva prabhu is speaking now.

 

Today I was witnessing the dismantling of the rathyatra cart. The building of the Ratha-yātrā cart is considered very great in puri. They have the hereditary carpenters and then they have the selected carpenters. So the Dairy Apatis are in charge of the pujaris. There in Jagannātha Puri they select carpenters for this. So there is a huge big line of carpenters coming from all over Madhya Pradesh. Even Agra, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. All over India. Guru Mahārāja saying something in between

 

Atma Tattva Prabhu: In India to go to Jagannātha Puri, 1000km in India is different from 1000 km here. You have to take a train ride for 7 days , take a rickshaw ride for 3 days. Cross the river and finally you reach there. As you reach Jagannātha Puri. The office of the daitapati is near the Singha dwar. So the traffic is completely closed. Singha dwar is the Lion gate, the main gate. From that to Gundicha mandir where the cart is being pulled. That is called Raj Path or Bada Danda the big road. Jagannātha is known in Orissa as Bodo Thakur. Means big deity, boro chaka means who’s got big wheels.

Then choko dola means wheel like eyes. His eyes remind you of the Rathyatra cart which is like wheels. Then there is bada danda means big road. That leads from Jagannātha Puri temple to Gundicha temple. So traffic to this road from all directions is closed 20 days before Ratha-yātrā. So no buses or no vehicles will reach there. So they have to walk about 4 miles to reach daitya paris office. These carpenters. So this is the difficulty in reaching the office to apply for becoming a carpenter to build the rathyatra cart. Then the hereditary carpenters who have the right to build the cart, so they are already there taking the position. They have to fight. There are big

 arguments, sometimes even physical fights.

 

To become the carpenter for making the Rathyatra cart. Because the great poet was one devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Shalavega has sung in his song that anyone who nails one nail or puts 1 wooden plug in the rathyatra cart. He reduces 1 lifetime. So they are trying to put as many plugs as possible. Devotees laughing. You can see the rathyatra cart is not made in a nice soft way like we do here. It’s all very rough wood. We got 16 wheels. It’s not as smooth as the rathyatra cart that they have here. There wheels are that thick and they got 16 of them with big axles. The brake is a big piece of wood. And a very fat panda is under the wheel so he puts the wheel under the wheel and “ Prabhu makes a sound”.

 

They start building the cart 20 days before the rathyatra. So all new wood has to be brought and the rath cart which is 4 kilometers. Its like the first kilometer they have got 1 cart being built and the next another. So all the pilgrims, shopping are going on the other side of the road.

 

They are cutting this log of wood and filing and making wooden plugs. They are making the Ratha-yātrā cart. “Guru Mahārāja saying something”. Wooden plugs are made in such a way that it can take weight, the pandas go up and the public also go up so it shouldn’t crack under the weight. They don’t have hydraulic brakes or a wheel like we have in Calcutta rathyatra. Everything is done in a, you shouldn’t say gross, but in the language of carpentry in Oriya you have to say it has to be done gross. Many plugs are made. If many plugs are made then your lifetime, your births become less. It has to be very heavy because he is Borothakur so his wrath has to be bororath. It cannot be small. If it has to be made 3 feet than it has to be 3 feet.

 

Never make it anywhere smaller. So on the rathcart near the deity sometimes you see these huge big pandas almost near 6 feet size. They can fully lie down on both sides that is the size. They make the rathcart very big. This carpenter making a Ratha-yātrā cart is a big scene there. It’s very difficult to describe to have to see it. How they get into physical fight and push one another. So that they can make a few plugs. So they can do some service for the Lord.

 

Guru Mahārāja asking a question

 

Atma Tattva prabhu: The hereditary carpenters have to be given the job and they can higher some other carpenters. And Daitypradesh can higher some carpenters separately also from that. So there is only like about 30 carpenters for each rath. 30 posts left out to be appointed. So people come from all over India to get a chance to do this. It’s very interesting building the cart.

 

Actually recently Acharyapad was travelling in Orissa and he was supposed to be coming from Bhubaneswar town to the next village for a program. There were 2 buses. 1 bus Acharyapad is coming, another bus is a sankirtan bus. This bus ran over a man who was coming on a scooter. His hand was cut. There was bleeding profuse bleeding. So they stopped both buses cannot go we were already an advanced party in Bhadrak town. Its 3 hours’ drive from bhubaneswar. The chief of the town the municipal chairman was all waiting for Srila charyaPada to come. From 5:00pm it was already 7:30pm. The whole village was waiting to give a reception.

 

Acharyapad was stuck with police in the hospital. Then the policemen tried to make a case out of this. In a month they have to file at least 5 or 6 cases otherwise they would be transferred to some other place. This is the system in India. So they tried to make a case out of something. So they were trying to ask this man whether he has a complaint against ISKCON.Because ISKCON vehicle came and rolled over his body. This man he was unconscious so when he came to his consciousness. He started telling me that where is the complaint? I am so grateful to them. For so many years I was trying to go for the Ratha-yātrā. Always something happened that I couldn’t go. Even if I would be killed in the Rathyatra cart I would be liberated. I am so happy to have that. I couldn’t go all the time. There was some problem. Now I am on this scooter and this ratha cart came on me. This is Jagannātha’s bus. That bus in the backside we have Jagannātha Baladev Subhadra deities. So he was treating this bus as Jagannātha's rath cart. He said Jagannātha cart I want to have darshan but I cannot have. I am so tied up with my material activities that I couldn’t go and I am so miserable. Jagannātha himself came in Iskcon bus and he drove over me. “Devotees laughing”.

 

So I am very happy I have no complaint with ISKCON. Then finally there was no case so the police left. So this is the idea of the rath being non different from Jagannātha. He is very much in Orissa especially anyone who comes to rathyatra in Orissa. People try to go and jump under the cart so that they can get killed. So there is a special squad of policemen stopping people from doing that.

 

Otherwise they will all try to get liberation very quickly. Jagannātha's Ratha-yātrā is of course an old story. There was this muslim man who was a poet. His name is Salavega. He had a great desire to see Ratha-yātrā. But those days unless you are a king or minister you have a chariot to move around. Otherwise you have to walk. So you have to walk a long distance. About 30 days he had been walking. He was calculating the tithis and there was some mistake in calculating dates. So he was thinking 2 days later he is going to Ratha-yātrā. Actually the Ratha-yātrā was the next day. He had a distance that he could only cover within 4 days.

 

He was away from Jagannātha Puri, so while he was coming someone told him no you are wrong with dates your calculation is wrong. Day after tomorrow is rathyatra. So he started running from there full speed so that he could somehow make it. Then 6 hours before the Ratha-yātrā started he was at a distance that he can only cover within 2 days. Then he still went on running, running . He was so tired that he couldn’t and he started crawling so he was right on the floor. Trying to move 1 inch at least every second so that he can go towards Jagannātha Puri. Finally all energy in the body is gone, he cannot move anymore. So he stood there and he was crying. Jagannātha I came for Ratha-yātrā they sent me somewhere else I couldn’t see the rathyatra. “ Prabhu and devotees laughing”.

 

I am there but still I am not there I cannot see him. So he is in just like 1 day’s distance but he cannot move because he is completely wounded and he is crawling on the floor. He has no energy and he doesn’t know what to do and he was praying. So Lord Jagannātha was on the cart and the king did the sweeping. Balaram moved subhadra was following. They went to some distant place. Between Gundicha and Jagannātha Puri the Ratha-yātrā cart stopped. Usually what they do when the rath stops like that they bring the military. The king’s military is there they try to move it with chains and pulleys. Then they bring the elephants. The elephants are pushing the rath. In Spite of the elephants pushing the rath the raths were not moving.

 

So then they consult the astrologer that’s the next thing they do. So they found out that there is a vaishnav great maha bhagavat coming from the north east side. Unless he comes I won’t move. So then everyone started looking for the maha bhagavat. With big sikha and tilak. “ devotees laughing”. Lot of scriptures and raised arms. The king's soldiers they went around with horses for around 7 kilometers looking for the maha bhagavat. But they couldn’t find Maha Bhagavat. They all came back and said there is no maha bhagavat on the road. We can’t find him. Then another batch of the squad went to find if the Mahabhagavt was taking bath in some pukur or lake or he was taking rest under some banyan tree. So different squads were going finding out different banyan trees, pukurs and lakes. Everyone came back saying no maha bhagavat no maha bhagavat vaishnav on the way.

 

In the meantime everybody ignored the Muslim. He was having a big beard and he was wearing some dirty cloth. He was crawling on the floor. So no one thought he would be a maha bhagavat. So the rath won’t move . So 1 day passed 2 days passed 3 days have passed Jagannātha rath is in the same spot. The whole country is just lamenting and crying nobody would eat, cook. Unless the rath reaches gundicha they won’t put fire in their stove. They won’t cook the rath has to come to the stand. Even today the system in Jagannātha Puri the residents in Jagannātha Puri they won’t light fire unless Jagannātha reaches his place and is offered Prasad. They won’t cook but this is three days. So they won’t cook they are all eating fruits and the fruit supply is finished. There is 2 lakhs 3 lakhs of people present there. So it became a big trouble and no one knew what to do.

 

Then Salvage slowly slowly took another 3 days to come there. As he reached rajpath that is where Jagannātha was standing. Jagannātha knew this is where he would reach so he wouldn’t move 1 inch. Unless he gives darshan to Shalvey. Salvage comes there and he sees Jagannātha and he is in great happiness. He also came to know that Jagannātha was standing there waiting for him. So he sings in the song that I am so sinful that I am a mleccha by cast. But you have been standing here just to give me darshan. This shows that you come out on the rath to give darshan to as many people as possible.

 

The reason why Jagannātha leaves the temple is because certain kinds of people cannot come inside the temple. This is not only new even traditionally that was the system. Unless you are a dwija or twice born you are not allowed in the temple. We can only see the chakra from outside. So Lord is so anxious to see his devotees. Fortunately or unfortunately in the age of kali most of his devotees are born in the forth order of life. The fourth cast .The brahmans are also fallen. Kshatriyas are no more and Vaishyas are interested in politics. Everything is confused.

 

Finally all the great bhagavatam are all appearing in the fourth varna. So he Lord is coming out of the temple and he likes to give darshan to everyone. So Salvage sang this song so even today in the Rajpath, when Jagannātha comes in Rathyatra they stop him at this spot. Still Jagannātha is having that same mood when he comes to this spot he is looking for Salveg’s song. If someone would sing Salveg’s song he would listen to it accept an arati and then move on.

 

Guru Mahārāja: Jagannātha svāmī ki Jai!!

 

Everybody: Jaii!!

 

There are plenty of other Jagannātha stories so when everyone has some free time tomorrow we could discuss. About painting of Lord Jagannātha’s body about Snan Yatra. Change of his body once in every 12 years. Some of what they call here far out stories.

 

GuruMaharaj: Jagannātha has 16 wheels, Subadhra has how many wheels in her cart.

14 and Balaram is?? Also 16.

 

Atma tattva prabhu replying

 

GuruMaharaj: 100’s of people go on this cart. When I first went to India I wanted to stay for the Ratha-yātrā festival In London. The order from Śrīla Prabhupāda was to go to India. So I went. That time there were no temples so I took advantage and went to the Ratha-yātrā festival in Puri. It was only this year that I could attend the Ratha-yātrā festival in London. After 16 years. But when I saw the Ratha-yātrā festival there I could see Lord Jagannātha taken from the temple to the rath. Even today of course that was 16 years ago. There was a huge gantry. One part when the deity is going up onto the rock then they would tie around his waist with silver ropes. Jagannātha was so big he was over seven feet tall about 6 feet wide. He is an immense deity. Literally at 1 time 20 to 30 people are pushing him. Then there are another 20, 30 people pushing on them and another 20, 30 people pushing on them. Another 10, 15 pushing on them. There are more so there are about 200 devotees, pandas and priests who are pulling and pushing. There are many people going in front of the rath to push the deity up and they are all pushing. I saw at 1 point when they were pushing Balaram up. Suddenly Balaram started to slip. Literally people were crushed and people were jumping up and pushing and there were more people and 100’s of people just running. Pushing and pulling. Gurumaharaj shouting: Balaram Haribol Haribol. This is the magnitude.

 

They have 18000 pujaris in that temple. Each one with a different service like unionized. 1’s job is to wipe the plates. When he comes only he can wipe the plates no one else. Someone else has to put the plate down. Someone else does the offering, someone has to take the plate away. That’s handed down from father to son. They are still doing it after all these years. That’s the wonderful thing that  Prabhupāda stressed. Look at these temples.

Look at this temple, it's run down. Sometimes the temples in India are built a little bit but not kept up.  Prabhupāda used to see the false pride in the devotees. The temples have been here for 2000 or 5000 years and they are still doing the puja. You open a temple for 5 years lets see after a 1000 years the deity worship is still going on after 25 years.

 

So don’t get too proud first you see that you maintain that devotional service. Even after so many difficulties they are still putting the bhog in front of the deity they are still ringing the bell. Still doing something. So I remember in Mayapur he told us that I have given so many temples, whenever you establish a temple, whenever you establish a deity you should see that you maintain the standard. At least maintain it. Whatever I have given me to maintain that doesn't allow it to decrease.

 

It will be to your credit if you increase it but at least don’t let it deteriorate. So by  Prabhupāda mercy in many areas we have been able to increase. But in some places for whatever reasons people thought that they decreased or moved the deity that seemed to be inauspicious that caused a lot of difficulty. The deity is actually Kṛṣṇa himself but each deity has his own pastimes. Here the deity of Rādhā Kunja Bihari, Jagannātha Nitāi Gaur they also have different pastimes. They have their own personal pastimes but they might not become known. Until some particular devotee and relates to the deity in a certain way.

 

Again I can tell you dozens of pastimes about deities in south India with different devotees. In the puranas how Kṛṣṇa does sometimes reciprocate with the devotees. Although he is standing there we think this is the deity form. Like Lord Chaitanya just before the Gundicha, when Lord Jagannātha is being painted for 15 days we can't have darshan. Then Lord Chaitanya would go to the Alarnath temple and stay there. There was so much separation of Lord Jagannātha that Lord Chaitanya ran to the Jagannātha Puri temple, its 11 miles to the temple.

 

He was burning in separation from Kṛṣṇa he just prostrated himself in front of the Alarnath deity of Kṛṣṇa Vishnu and his vibration was so intense from separation of Kṛṣṇa that the stone of the floor literally melted. That stone has been taken out from the deity room and put in front of the temple. There you can see the outline engraved by melting into the stone. You can see Lord Chaitanya’s 7 foot image right into the stone. They do daily puja to that. That deity is very beautiful, very slender waist very broad chest beautiful shiny deity except one part of the deity there is a little rust up.

 

So they told Lord Chaitanya the pastime of that deity thousands of years before Lord Chaitanya appeared that how the priest had to go out to see some of his disciples or students collect some alms for the deity worship. So he asked his son while I am gone your mother is going to be cooking the bhoga you take them and offer to Kṛṣṇa he will eat it. You make the offering for Kṛṣṇa so he can eat. So the father left the boy at just like, 5-6 years old. So he took the bhoga from his mother he received at a very young age the upanayan. He was being trained in philosophy. He took the bhoga plate from his mother, went to the temple room, closed the door and put the plate in front of the deity. He stood there and the child started to cry. The deity started speaking so why are you crying.

 

He said because you are not eating. My father told me that I will give the food in front of you and you will eat it. I gave it to you without eating. What am I doing wrong. Normally this is not the way the deity eats but my father said you will eat. So in that sense the father is also the Guru. So then the deity got off his singhasana and sat down and started eating the bhoga. Then he went back up, the child took the plate and went back to the mother. Mother asked where did Prasad go. He said the deity ate it.

Everyone laughed.

 

Normally we offer to Kṛṣṇa and he glances over it, by glancing he can eat it he doesn’t have to consume it directly. But in this case “ Ye yatha mam prapyadate tams thaitva bhajami aham” devotee approaches Kṛṣṇa and he reciprocates. So with complete faith he went before Kṛṣṇa, the deity he got order from Guru and Kṛṣṇa reciprocated he ate the offering. So this is going on everyday. The mother said you are sure you are not eating it. He ate it. She thought how is this happening so she thought maybe the child is eating. After about a week when the father came back and she discussed this is the thing that has been happening. I don’t know if our boy is learning to lie. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t want to say anything.

So the father said you give it as usual and I am going to hide in the back of the temple and see what’s happening. Somewhere up in the roof looking through the window or somewhere in the back. He is looking and he sees the boy go,puts the plate in front of the deity. Please come and take your prasadam. He saw the deity move and sit down and start to take the Prasad. The father was so astonished to see the stone deity get down move he said “HOOOO”.

 

He was really shocked. So the deity took some Prasad which was very hot and that part is like a burn. He went back up, took his position and became stone again. Since that time that mark is still there. So you see that’s “ GuruMaharaj laughing”. Each deity is Kṛṣṇa himself but each deity has his pastime. That’s called Lila vichitra. This is the way sustained by the 6 gosvāmīs that although each deity is Kṛṣṇa himself but each deity has the ability to have his own pastimes. So here we have deities and the dev sadhan temple. They have their own relationships with the devotees that may manifest if someone has that deep amount of faith.  Prabhupāda used to walk in the temple and ask how deities are feeling today.

 

The pujari should know. Guru Mahārāja laughing. “ Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali”.

 

When Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu danced and jumped high. Roaring like thunder and moving in a circle like a wheel. He appeared like a circling fire bag. If a burning cinder of fire band is whirled about very swiftly then It gives the appearance of a circle of fire. This is called alata akar or a fire band circle. This whole circle is actually not the fire but a single fire in motion. Similarly Lord Shri Chaitanya Maharabhu is a single personality. But when he danced and jumped he appeared like the alata chakra.

 

He was moving so fast. “ Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali”. Wherever Mahāprabhu danced the whole earth with hills and seas appeared to tilt. “ Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali”. When Chaitanya Mahāprabhu danced he displayed various blissful transcendental changes in his body. Sometimes he appeared as though stunned, sometimes the hairs of his body stood on end. Sometimes he perspired, cried, trembled and changed color. Sometimes he exhibited helplessness, pride, exuberance and humility.

 

“ Gurumaharaj speaking in Bengali”. When Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu fell down with a crash while dancing he would roll on the ground at such times. It appeared that a golden mountain was rolling on the ground.

“

Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali”. Nityānanda Prabhu would stretch out his 2 hands and try to catch the Lord when he was running here and there. Advaitya Acharya would walk behind the Lord and loudly chant Haribol Haribol. Again and again. “

 

Guru Mahārāja speaking in Bengali”. So this way Jagannātha is going in his Ratha-yātrā. Lord Chaitanya was absorbed in taking Jagannātha. In the mood of returning him back to Rādhārāṇī. So these are the details the essence is to be absorbed. This is one of the best festivals. Because this not only absorbs everyone but it absorbs the public. It purifies the devotees who are doing all the different services. It gives us the opportunity to do personal service for the deity. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

 

Any short questions. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Srila AcharyaPad ki Jai!!!!!

 

Transcribed by Viswamangal Mahamantra das

 

Proofread by Rajeshwari, 13/10/2020, Bangalore