19840925 Jagannātha Pastimes Combined Lecture with Ātma-tattva Prabhu

19840925 - The following is the combined lecture by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami with Ātma-tattva Prabhu in London 25th September 1984.

The relationship between Kṛṣṇa and his devotees. That mellow. By remembering līlā-smaraṇa 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 disciple succession they can get some taste of that mellow.

So Lord Caitanya 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 Caitanya, there are those who were doing pastimes with Kṛṣṇa 5000 years ago Prahlāda Mahārāja and so on. Since for this age of Kali there is no scheduled avatāra selected, he is tri-yuga comes in 3 ages Satya, Treta and Dvāpara.

If he comes in this age he has some other form. Like Lord Caitanya 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 that by doing so it becomes very easy for us to become filled with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Lord Caitanya being Kṛṣṇa himself personally took the mood of Rādhārāṇī. It's not that we can take the mood of Rādhārāṇī and imitate Lord Caitanya.

Try to follow in the footsteps of the gopīs. We do that by following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas. Following their immediate example. Because it will be difficult, it’s not the proper system for us to try to imitate lord Caitanya or the 6 gosvāmīs. But rather to follow the subsequent ācāryas. 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 Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa; he has come and taken the mood of Rādhārāṇī. Between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, he can take any other mood whether there is Lakṣmī or Rukmiṇi. Nṛsingha, all of them extensions of Rādhārāṇī. All the śaktīs, all the puruṣas within Kṛṣṇa.

Sometimes we can see that in Navadvīpa, Lord Caitanya would take the mood of Lord Nṛsingha. He's running down the street looking for demons. Because Nṛsingha is within Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes in Navadvīpa he played a drama, he played the part of Rukmiṇī. He put on the cloth of Rukmiṇī, nobody could see where he was. They thought Rukmiṇī was standing there. He didn’t look at all like a man dressed like a woman. They could not tell who lord Caitanya 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. (laughter)

That is Lord Caitanya, 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 ācāryas. 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 gives a taste for pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By his mercy.

When Lord Caitanya desired to jump high while dancing, he placed these 9 people in the charge of Svarūpa Dāmodara. Those 9 people were Śrivāsa, Raghu Rāya, Govinda, Mukunda, Hari, Govinda, Ānanda and Mādhava, all 9 put together. They sang in kīrtana groups.

These devotees, Svarūpa Dāmodara and the devotees in his charge sang along with the lord and they ran beside him. All the other groups of men also sang.

Offering obeisances to the Lord with folded hands

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu raised his face towards Jagannātha prayed as follows.

Cc. Madhya 13.77
namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya govindāya namo namaḥ

Translation: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the worshipable Deity for all brahminical men, who is the well-wisher of cows and brāhmaṇas, and who is always benefiting the whole world. I offer my repeated obeisances to the Personality of Godhead, known as Kṛṣṇa and Govinda.

Purport: This is a quotation from Viṣṇu Pūrāṇa 1.19.65.

Cc. Madhya 13.78
jayati jayati devo devakī-nandano ’sau
jayati jayati kṛṣṇo vṛṣṇi-vaṁśa-pradīpaḥ
jayati jayati megha-śyāmalaḥ komalāṅgo
jayati jayati pṛthvī-bhāra-nāśo mukundaḥ

Translation: “‘All glories unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as the son of Devakī! All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as the light of the dynasty of Vṛṣṇi! All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily luster is like that of a new cloud, and 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!’

Jayapatākā Swami: All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the son of Devakī. All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the light of the dynasty of Vṛṣṇi. All glories to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily lustre is like that of a new cloud. 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

Cc. Madhya 13.79
jayati jana-nivāso devakī-janma-vādo
yadu-vara-pariṣat svair dorbhir asyann adharmam
sthira-cara-vṛjina-ghnaḥ susmita-śrī-mukhena
vraja-pura-vanitānāṁ vardhayan kāma-devam

Translation (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): (This is a quotation from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.90.48.) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is he who is known as jana-nivāsa, the ultimate resort of all living entities, and who is also known as Devakī-nandana or Yaśodā-nandana. The son of Devakī and Yaśodā. He is the guide of the Yadu dynasty, and with his mighty arms He kills everything inauspicious, as well as every man who is impious. By His presence He destroys all things inauspicious for all living entities, moving and inert. His blissful smiling face always increases the lusty desires of the gopīs of Vṛndāvana. May He be all-glorious and happy.

Cc. Madhya 13.80
nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintuprodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ

Translation: I am not a brāhmaṇa. I am not a kṣatriya. I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. Identify myself only as a servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar. He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.

Jayapātāka Swami: This is the verse from the Padyāvalī 74.

CC Madhya 13.81

eta paḍi’ punarapi karila praṇāma
yoḍa-hāte bhakta-gaṇa vande bhagavān

Translation: Having recited all these verses from scripture, the Lord again offered His obeisances, and all the devotees, with folded hands, also offered prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Jayapatākā Swami: Actually very nice verses. We read all of these chapters before and after during every Ratha-yātrā festival. But when we inaugurate the Ratha-yātrās we do the pūjās. It would be nice to say the prayers Lord Caitanya said before the lord, just outside the Ratha-yātrā festival. More and more we try to establish some ceremony and our own tradition within ISKCON, because that adds a lot to our meditation. Just recently in our New Pānihāṭī temple in Atlanta, on Rādhāṣṭamī, we installed new Rādhā-Madan Mohan deities. Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Madana Mohan are the names of the deities that Rāghava Paṇḍita had worshipped in Pānihāṭī. Here he had given the name Deva-sadana. Different places, he gave different names. So we are trying to preserve the kind of mood, the līlā that helps the devotees. Here in the west, to identify a little bit. So Ātma Tattva dāsa adhikārī is the minister of culture of spiritual etiquette and deity worship.

He is our, you can say, one of the 2 head paṇḍitas in Māyāpur. The other is Anrideśya Vapu Prabhu. He came for the ceremony. He had performed in various temples, like he had established Ananta Śeṣa. Putting the whole project on Ananta Śeṣa’s head. Just like Prabhupāda did in Māyāpur, he first dug a 12, 10-foot-deep hole and did a bīja-sthāpana for the entire project, where we installed under the ground, Ananta Śeṣa, the form of Kṛṣṇa that is holding up the entire universe. That holds Kṛṣṇa up, in his Mahā Viṣṇu form. So we did that at New Tālavana and Murāri Sevaka. If it hasn’t been done here, we can do. Trying to preserve those type of things that Prabhupāda did. One point I wanted to make, even if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and start 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 gist of the prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā, an invitation for Kṛṣṇa to come. We requested Kṛṣṇa to come stay, so we can serve him. So that he will be happy. If Kṛṣṇa 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 Caitanya. Just like in ISKCON, we have our own pastime of Jayānanda. Jayānanda 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 Ratha-yātrās 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 Purī, they have their main road. Whats the name of the road?

Devotee: Raj path

Jayapatāka Swami: Raj path, king’s road.

So between Jagannātha Purī temple and Guṇḍicā temple, there are no wires going across. By order of the king. so now that we have started this Ratha-yātrās, you can tell the government to move all the bridges and the wires, because Jagannātha will be going. Obviously that’s not immediately possible. So Jayānanda, he had this problem that we want to take the Ratha-yātrā but all across the way, you have tram cars and San Francisco, different places we have wires. So many problems. So then he came up with this idea of the telescopic ratha. 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 point was that he was completely dedicated and absorbed in thinking how to improve this particular service.

You know that even if you can do one 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 saṅkīrtana, 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 corpuscles and you gradually grow weaker and weaker. Even when he was sick in the hospital, doctors said he doesn’t have long to live. Still, when the time for Ratha-yātrā came, he was taken to the Ratha-yātrā site and he pulled 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 had to see that how a person completes their devotional service. There are many tests along the way. If we don’t pass the tests, then we have to get some purification from Kṛṣṇa and Māyā, 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 a 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 all the intermediate tests and for that final test. And the best preparation is to always think about Kṛṣṇa and to never forget Kṛṣṇa. So of course, Lord Caitanya, He could directly think about Kṛṣṇa in his pastimes in Vṛndāvana and get totally absorbed. But say 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 Caitanya Mahāprabhu. 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 Jayānada is 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 Jayānada on the Ratha-yātrā cart and mention a little bit about his glories on that occasion. I was personally very fortunate, just like a causeless mercy. When I came to 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. Then I saw an 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. That’s another story.

But when I went through the ad and took prasādam in the temple. and, it said 25 cents you have to give. I tried to give the 25 cents, no one would take it. Everyone was too busy. So then finally there was a devotee called Nārada 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 and building something at the back of the temple. And one person handed me a hammer and a nail and he told me you just hammer this in there.

(laughter)

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 ratha cart. That devotee was Jayānada, and he was just totally absorbed. When anybody came, he just immediately went off. Before you know, everybody that came there was just watching what was going on. There was a hammering sign. End of the day, it felt very blissful working. They said, “Come back tomorrow, we have to finish the cart.” (laughter)

So in this way, seven days of devotional service like that. Chanting in the morning. On the day of the Ratha-yātrās, then I decided that why go all the way to India. Because this here, I feel very inspired. First day someone gave me the beads and I chanted 32 rounds. I was very blissful. So I thought, “Let me try this for 2 months.” Jayānanda shaved me up on the Ratha-yātrā day. Devotees laughing. After that, I didn’t have much association with him. At least I got my first shave from a 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 pujārīs and gurukula 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 example and they can in turn 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 that he didn’t do it. Didn’t happen for some reason. Don’t know why.

That’s an interesting point that Prabhupāda brought out. Ratha-yātrās cart festival cart co-ordinator or builders like Jayānada or whether it’s a saṅkīrtana devotee or whether it’s any particular service. Just like in Māyāpur, we have Jananivāsa and Paṅkajaṅghri, who have stayed there for 15 or more years. Never left the land. Always serving the deities. This is a very great quality that they are dedicating themselves in a particular service.  Prabhupāda really glorified that.

In this context, Lord Caitanya, 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.

Ātma Tattva prabhu, he is actually married to an Orrisan. Previous āśrama, 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 Purī. Is there anything interesting youd like to speak at this time to devotees might get some blessings from it? Some illumination?

Ātma Tattva Prabhu: Today I was seeing the dismantling of the Rath-yātrās cart. The construction of the Ratha-yātrā cart is considered very great service in Jagannātha Purī. They have the hereditary carpenters, and then they have the selected carpenters. So the Dayitā-patīs are in charge of the pūjārīs. There in Jagannātha Purī, 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 speaking)

In India to go to Jagannātha Purī, 1000 km 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 and cross the river and finally you reach there. As you reach Jagannātha Purī, the office of the Dayitā-patī is near the Siṁha-dvāra. So the traffic is completely closed. Not only the Raj path, the Siṁha-dvāra is the lion gate, the main gate. And from there to Guṇḍicā mandir, where the ratha cart is being pulled, that is called the Raj path or baḍā-daṇḍa, the big road. Jagannātha is known in Orissa as Baḍa Ṭhākura, means big deity. Baḍa Chaka means who’s got big wheels. Then Chaka Ḍola means wheel like eyes. His eyes remind you of the Ratha-yātrā cart which is like wheels. Then there is baḍa-daṇḍa, means big road. That leads from Jagannātha Purī temple to Guṇḍicā temple. So traffic to this road from all directions is closed like 20 days before Ratha-yātrā. So no buses or no vehicles will reach there. So they have to walk like about 4 miles to reach dayitā-patis office. These carpenters. So this is the difficulty in reaching the office to apply for becoming a carpenter for building the Ratha-yātrā 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 Ratha-yātrā cart. Because the great poet, one devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sālavega, has sung in his song that anyone who nails one nail or puts one wooden plug in the Ratha-yātrā cart, he reduces one lifetime. So they are trying to put as many plugs as possible. (laughter) You can see the Ratha-yātrā 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 Ratha-yātrā cart that we have here. Their 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 paṇḍa is under the wheel. So he puts the wheel under the wheel and goes (*sound effect*).

They start building the cart like 20 days before the Ratha-yātrā. So all new wood has to be brought. And the ratha cart, which is 4 kilometers. It’s like the first kilometer, they have got 1 cart being built, and another kilometer another one. So all these pieces are big big logs of wood. As the bazaar and shopping and the devotees, pilgrims are going and coming out of Jagannath temple and on the side of the road, in this way they are making the Ratha-yātrā cart.

(Gurudeva speaks something indistinct)

Wooden plugs are made in such a way that it can take weight, the pandas go up and the public also climbs up the ratha cart so it shouldn’t crack or crash anywhere. They don’t have hydraulic brakes or a wheel like we have in Calcutta Ratha-yātrās. 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 Baḍā Tḥākura so his ratha has to be Baḍā Ratha. 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 ratha cart around the deity, sometimes you see these huge big paṇḍas, almost near 6 feet size. They can fully lie down on both sides, that is the size. They make the ratha cart very big. This carpenter making a Ratha-yātrā cart is a big scene there. It’s very difficult to describe it. You 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

The hereditary carpenters have to be given the job and they can hire some other carpenters. And dayitā-patis can hire some carpenters separately also from that. So there is only like about 30 carpenters for each ratha. 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, Ācāryapāda was travelling in Orissa and he was supposed to be coming from Bhuvaneśvara town to the next village for a program. There were 2 buses. 1 bus Ācāryapāda is coming, another bus is a saṅkīrtana 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 in advanced party in Bhadrak town. Its 3 hours’ drive from Bhubaneśvara. The chief of the town the municipal chairman was all waiting for Śrīla Ācāryapāda to come. From 5:00pm it was already 7:30pm. The whole village was waiting to give a reception.

Ācāryapāda was stuck there with the police in the hospital. Then the policeman 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 Rath-yātrā 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-Baladeva-Subhadrā deities. So he was treating this bus as Jagannātha's ratha cart. He said Jagannātha cart I want to have darśana 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. (laughter)

So I am very happy. I have no complaint with ISKCON. Then finally, there was no case, so the police left. Then Ācāryapāda came. So this is the idea of the ratha being non different from Jagannātha. He is very much in Orissa, especially anyone who comes to Ratha-yātrā 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, this is of course an old story. There was this Muslim man who was a poet. His name is Sālavega. 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. For about 30 days he had been walking. He was calculating the tithis and there was some mistake in calculating dates. So he was thinking that 2 days later 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 and he was away from Jagannātha Purī. So while he was coming someone told him, “No you are wrong with dates. Your calculation is wrong. Day after tomorrow is Ratha-yātrās. 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. So 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 Purī. 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 but they sent me somewhere else. I couldn’t see the Ratha-yātrā. (laughter)

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 more 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. Balarāma moved and Subhadrā and Jagannātha was following. They went to some distant place. Between Guṇḍicā and Jagannātha Purī, the Ratha-yātrā cart stopped at one spot. Usually what they do when the ratha 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 ratha. In Spite of the elephants pushing the ratha, the rathas won’t move.

So then they consult the astrologer that’s the next thing they do. See what offense we have done. So they found out that there is a Vaiṣṇava, great Mahā-bhāgavata, coming from the north east side. Unless he comes, I won’t move. So then everyone started looking for the Mahā-bhāgavata, with big śikhā and tilaka (laughter), lot of scriptures and raised arms. The king's soldiers they went around with horses for around 7, 8 kilometers looking for the Mahā Bhāgavatam. They couldn’t find Mahā-bhāgavata. They crossed over Śālavega. They all came back and said there is no Mahā-bhāgavata on the road. We can’t find him. Then another squad of military went to find if the Mahā-Bhāgavata was taking bath in some pukura, some lake or he was taking rest under some banyan tree. So different squads were going, finding out different banyan trees, pukuras and lakes. Everyone came back saying no Mahā-bhāgavatam no Mahā-bhāgavata Vaiṣṇava 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 Mahā-bhāgavata. But the ratha won’t move. So 1 day passed, 2 days passed, 3 days have passed, Jagannātha ratha is in the same spot. The whole country is just lamenting and crying. Nobody would eat, nobody would cook. Anyone who has come to see the Ratha-yātrā, unless the rath reaches Guṇḍicā, they won’t go and put fire in their stove. They won’t cook. The ratha has to come to the stand. Even today, the system in Jagannātha Purī, the residents in Jagannātha Purī, they won’t light fire unless Jagannātha reaches his place and gets his offering. 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 because there is 2 lakhs, 3 lakhs of people present there. So it became a big trouble and no one knew what to do.

And then Śālavega slowly slowly took another 3 days to come there. And then he came to the spot. As he climbs up from the field to the Raj path, that is where Jagannātha was standing. Jagannātha knew this is where he would reach. So he won’t move 1 inch. Unless he gives darśana to Śālavega. Śālavega 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 caste. But you have been standing here just to give me darśana. This shows that you come out on the ratha to give darśana 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 dvija, or twice born, you are not allowed in the temple. We can only see the cakra 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 fourth order of life. The fourth caste. The brāhmaṇas are also fallen. Kṣatriyas are no more and vaiśyas are interested in politics. Everything is confused.

Finally, all the great bhāgavatas are all appearing in the fourth varṇa. So the Lord is coming out of the temple and he likes to give darśana to everyone. So Śālavega sang this song. And even today in the Raj path, when Jagannātha comes in Ratha-yātrā, they stop him at this spot. Still Jagannātha is having that same mood. When he comes to this spot, he is looking for Śālavega’s song. If someone would sing Śālavega’s song, he would listen to it, accept an ārati and then move on.

Guru Mahārāja : Jagannātha Swami ki Jaya!!!!!!

Everybody: Jaya!!!!!!!!

There are plenty of other Jagannātha stories so when everyone has some free time, we could discuss. About painting of Lord Jagannātha’s body, about snāna-yātrā, change of his body once in every 12 years. Some of what they call here far out stories. (laughter)

(some indistinct conversation about the chariot architecture)

Jayapātāka Swami: Hundreds of people go on these carts. 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 Purī. 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 ratha. Even today… of course that was 16 years ago, there was a huge Arjuna tree. 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 any one 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, paṇḍas and priests who are pulling and pushing. There are many people going in front of the ratha to push the deity up and they are all pushing. And I saw at one point, when they were pushing Balarāma up. Suddenly Balarāma started to slip. Literally people were crushed and people were jumping up and pushing and there were more people and hundreds of people just running. Pushing and pulling, shouting ‘Balarāma! Haribol!!! Haribol!’ This is the magnitude.

They have 18000 pūjārīs in that temple. Each one with a different service, like unionized. Ones 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 that, “Look at these temples, 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 1400 or 2000 or 5000 or how many years and they are still doing the pūjā. You open a temple, you are doing the pūjā for 5 years, let’s see after 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 bhoga in front of the deity, they are still ringing the bell. Still doing something. So, I remember in Māyāpur he told us that I have given so many temples, whenever you establish a temple, whenever you establish a deity, you see that you maintain the standard. At least maintain it. Whatever I have given, maintain that. Don’t allow it to decrease.

Not even important if you increase it. If you increase it, that’s more to your credit. I will be very grateful. 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, they decreased or moved the deity, that seemed to be inauspicious and caused a lot of difficulty. The deity is actually Kṛṣṇa himself but each deity has his own pastimes. Here the deity of Rādhā-Kuñjabihārī, Jagannātha, Nitāi-Gaura, they also have different pastimes. They have their own personal pastimes. But they might not become known until some particular devotee comes 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 Purāṇas. How Kṛṣṇa does sometimes reciprocate with the devotees. Although he is standing there, we think this is the deity form. Like Lord Caitanya just before the Guṇḍicā, when Lord Jagannātha is being painted for 15 days, we can't have darśana. Then Lord Caitanya would go to the Ālālanātha temple and stay there. So they tell the pastime. There was so much separation of Lord Jagannātha, that Lord Caitanya ran to the Jagannātha Purī temple, its 11 miles to the temple.

He was just burning in separation from Kṛṣṇa. He just prostrated himself in front of the Ālālanātha deity of Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu and his vibration was so intense from separation of Kṛṣṇa that the stone of the floor literally melted. And that stone has been taken out from the front of the deity and put in a separate temple. There you can see the outline engraved by melting into the stone. You can see Lord Caitanya’s 7-foot image etched into the stone. They do daily pūjā 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 spot. So they told Lord Caitanya the pastime of that deity. That how, thousands of years before Lord Caitanya appeared, that how the priest had to go out to see some of his disciples or students and collect some alms for the deity worship or whatever. So he asked his son that “Kindly while I am gone, while 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 then the father left. The boy was just like 5-6 years old. So he took the bhoga from his mother. Maybe just received at a very young age the upanayana. He wasn’t very trained in philosophy. He was very submissive, just learning everything. 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. You’re not 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, He got off his siṁhāsana 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 the prasādam go?”

He said, “The deity ate it.” (laughter)

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, because the child had that simple faith and so - ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (Bg. 4.11) Devotee approaches Kṛṣṇa and He reciprocates. So with complete faith he went before the Deity, he expected the Deity is going to eat the bhoga, he got the order from guru, he gave it. So then Kṛṣṇa reciprocated. He ate the offering. So this is going on every day.

The mother said, “You sure you are not eating it?”

“No no! The Deity 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.” So he went somewhere up in the roof, looking through the window or somewhere in the back. He is looking and he sees; the boy goes, puts the plate in front of the deity, “Please come and take your prasādam.” He saw the deity move, sit down and start to take the prasāda. The father was so astonished to see the stone deity get down, move and said “OHH!” He was just completely shocked. And by doing that, the Deity got startled and the threw some of the hot prasāda on Him.  And that was like a burn. And he went back up, took his position and became stone again. Since that time that mark is still there. So you see.

Each deity is Kṛṣṇa himself but each deity has his pastime. That’s called līlā-vaicitrya. 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 Deva-sadana temple. They have their own relationships with the devotees that may sometimes manifest, if someone has that deep amount of faith.  Prabhupāda used to walk in the temple and ask the pūjārīs, “How the deities are feeling today? The pūjārīs should know!” (laugh)

Cc. Madhya 13.82
uddaṇḍa nṛtya prabhu kariyā huṅkāra
cakra-bhrami bhrame yaiche alāta-ākāra

Translation: When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu danced and jumped high, roaring like thunder and moving in a circle like a wheel, He appeared like a circling firebrand.

Purport: If a burning cinder of a firebrand is whirled about very swiftly, it gives the appearance of a circle of fire. This is called alāta-ākāra or alāta-cakra, a firebrand circle. This whole circle is not actually made of fire but is a single fire in motion. Similarly, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is a single personality, but when He danced and jumped high in a circle, He appeared like the alāta-cakra. 

Jayapatākā Swami: He was moving so fast.

Cc. Madhya 13.83
nṛtye prabhura yāhāṅ yāṅhā paḍe pada-tala
sasāgara-śaila mahī kare ṭalamala

Translation: Wherever Śrī Mahāprabhu danced, the whole earth with hills and seas appeared to tilt.

Cc. Madhya 13.84
stambha, sveda, pulaka, aśru, kampa, vaivarṇya
nānā-bhāve vivaśatā, garva, harṣa, dainya

Translation: When Caitanya 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, and sometimes He exhibited symptoms of helplessness, pride, exuberance and humility.

Cc. Madhya 13.85
āchāḍa khāñā paḍe bhūme gaḍi’ yāya
suvarṇa-parvata yaiche bhūmete loṭāya

Translation: When Śrī Caitanya 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.

Cc. Madhya 13.86
nityānanda-prabhu dui hāta prasāriyā
prabhure dharite cāhe āśa-pāśa dhāñā

Translation: Nityānanda Prabhu would stretch out his 2 hands and try to catch the Lord when he was running here and there.

Cc. Madhya 13.87
prabhu-pāche bule ācārya kariyā huṅkāra
‘hari-bola’ ‘hari-bola’ bale bāra bāra

Translation: Advaita Ācārya would walk behind the Lord and loudly chant ”Haribol! Haribol!” again and again.

Jayapatākā Swami: So this way Jagannātha is going in his Ratha-yātrā. Lord Caitanya 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 purifies 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!

Devotee: Śrīla Ācāryapāda kī… Jaya!

 

Transcribed by Viśvamaṅgala Mahāmantra dāsa
Proofread by Rajeśvarī, 13/10/2020, Bangalore
Verified by Rajeśvarī x Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa 
Reviewed by Aruṇākṣa