20210425 Phalaśruti - The Result of Hearing About the Ecstatic Dancing of the Lord at Ratha-yātrā

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 25th,2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Today we will continue with the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book, today's chapter is entitled as:

Phalaśruti - The Result of Hearing About the Ecstatic Dancing of the Lord at Ratha-yātrā

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.189

prabhura svaẏam ratha-sañcālana:—

tabe mahāprabhu ratha pradakṣiṇa kariyā
ratha-pāche yāi’ ṭhele rathe māthā diyā

Translation: After circumambulating Jagannātha, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went behind the car and began pushing it with His head.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this was the transcendental potency of Lord Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who came as His devotee.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.190

ratha-calana-darśane lokera haridhvani:—

ṭhelitei calila ratha ‘haḍa’ ‘haḍa’ kari’
catur-dike loka saba bale ‘hari’ ‘hari’

Translation: As soon as He pushed, the car immediately started to move, making a rattling noise. The people all around began to chant the holy name of the Lord, “Hari! Hari!”

Jayapatākā Swami: Hari Bol!

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.191

subhadrā-balarāma rathāgre sagaṇa prabhura narottana:—

tabe prabhu nija-bhakta-gaṇa lañā saṅge
baladeva-subhadrāgre nṛtya kare raṅge

Translation: As the car began to move, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu took His personal associates in front of the cars occupied by Lord Balarāma and Subhadrā, the goddess of fortune. Greatly inspired, He then began to dance in front of them.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, initially Lord Caitanya was dancing around the Jagannātha carṭ Then He went around from Jagannātha cart to Subhadrā cart, Baladeva and Subhadrā. Balarāma cart is first then comes Subhadrā and then Lord Jagannātha follows up in the back.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.192

tatpara jagannātha rathāgre narttana:—

tāhāṅ nṛtya kari’ jagannātha āge āilā
jagannātha dekhi’ nṛtya karite lāgilā

Translation: After finishing the dance before Lord Baladeva and Subhadrā, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came before Lord Jagannātha’s car. Upon seeing Lord Jagannātha, He began to dance again.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.193

balagaṇḍite rathasthiti:—

caliyā āila ratha ’balagaṇḍi’-sthāne
jagannātha ratha rākhi’ dekhe ḍāhine vāme

Translation: When they reached the place called Balagaṇḍi, Lord Jagannātha stopped His car and began to look left and right.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is special pastimes of Lord Jagannātha.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.194

vāme—’vipra-śāsana’ nārikela-vana
ḍāhine ta’ puṣpodyāna yena vṛndāvana

Translation: On the left side, Lord Jagannātha saw a neighborhood of brāhmaṇas and a coconut-tree grove. On the right side, He saw nice flower gardens resembling those in the holy place Vṛndāvana.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: Vipra-śāsana is a word generally used in the Orissa province to indicate the quarters where brāhmaṇas live.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.195

āge nṛtya kare gaura lañā bhakta-gaṇa
ratha rākhi’ jagannātha karena daraśana

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His devotees were dancing in front of the car, and Lord Jagannātha, having stopped the car, watched the dancing.

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes Lord Jagannātha would move and sometimes He would stop and when Lord Caitanya was dancing in front of the car, He would stops, and He watched the dancing.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.196

jagannāthera uttama-bhogā-svādana:—

sei sthale bhoga lāge,—āchaye niyama
koṭi bhoga jagannātha kare āsvādana

Translation: It was customary that food be offered to the Lord at vipra-śāsana. Indeed, innumerable dishes of food were offered, and Lord Jagannātha tasted each one of them.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here at the vipra-śāsana, the brāhmaṇa spread the cloth and offered the bhoga to Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā and even the queens and others were offering their bhoga to the Lord.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.197

jagannāthera choṭa-baḍa yata bhakta-gaṇa
nija nija uttama-bhoga kare samarpaṇa

Translation: All kinds of devotees of Lord Jagannātha — from neophytes to the most advanced — offered their best cooked food to the Lord.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.198

choṭa-baḍa, prajā-rāja-nirviśeṣe sakalera bhoga-samarpaṇa:—–

rājā, rāja-mahiṣī-vṛnda, pātra, mitra-gaṇa
nīlācala-vāsī yata choṭa-baḍa jana

Translation: These devotees included the King, his queens, his ministers and friends and all other big and small residents of Jagannātha Purī.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, everyone gets the opportunity to offer the bhoga to the Lord at this place, normally the bhoga is only offered to the Lord by the brāhmaṇas but in this place everyone can offer.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.199

nānā-deśera deśī yata yātrika jana
nija-nija-bhoga tāhāṅ kare samarpaṇa

Translation: All the visitors who had come from different countries to Jagannātha Purī, as well as the local devotees, offered their personally cooked food to the Lord.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.200

āge pāche, dui pārśve puṣpodyāna-vane
yei yāhā pāya, lāgāya,—nāhika niyame

Translation: The devotees offered their food everywhere — in front of the car and behind it, on the two sides and within the flower garden. Wherever possible, they made their offering to the Lord, for there were no hard and fast rules.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the special facility of Lord Jagannātha, that His worship is unique. In some places there are no hard and fast rules and His worship is covered by a special rule, so the Ācārya Ramānuja, he wanted to change the worship of Lord Jagannātha to make it more strictly according to the rules, but Lord Jagannātha, He has a very intimate relationship with His devotees so He shifted Rāmānujācārya to Kūrma-desa. So, the rules for worshipping Lord Jagannātha were never changed.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.201

bhogakāle janasaṅgha, viśrāmārtha prabhura pārśvastha udyāne gamana:—

bhogera samaya lokera mahā bhiḍa haila
nṛtya chāḍi’ mahāprabhu upavane gela

Translation: While the food was being offered, a large crowd of people gathered. At that time Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stopped His dancing and went to a nearby garden.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.202

premāveśe mahāprabhu upavana pāñā
puṣpodyāne gṛha-piṇḍāya rahilā paḍiyā

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the garden and, immersed in great ecstatic emotion, fell flat on a raised platform there.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya was lying down on a raised stone platform.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.203

śītalavāyute śrama-lāghaba:—

nṛtya-pariśrame prabhura dehe ghana gharma
sugandhi śītala-vāyu karena sevana

Translation: The Lord was very much fatigued from the hard labor of dancing, and there was perspiration all over His body. He therefore enjoyed the fragrant, cool breeze of the garden.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.204

kīrtana kārigaṇera vṛkṣatale viśrāma:—

yata bhakta kīrtanīyā āsiyā ārāme
prati-vṛkṣa-tale sabe karena viśrāme

Translation: All the devotees who had been performing saṅkīrtana came there and took rest under each and every tree.

Jayapatākā Swami: Actually, chanting and dancing is a strenuous activity and naturally all the devotees were little tired so they took advantage of the Lord being offered the bhoga at vipra-śāsana and took rest in the garden.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.205

prabhura ei-rūpa mahā-saṅkīrtana:—

ei ta’ kahila prabhura mahā-saṅkīrtana
jagannāthera āge yaiche karila nartana

Translation: Thus I have described the great performance of congregational chanting by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as He danced in front of Lord Jagannātha.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.206

śrī-rūpera caitanyāṣṭake rathāgre prabhu-nṛtya varṇita:—

rathāgrete prabhu yaiche karilā nartana
caitanyāṣṭake rūpa-gosāñi karyāche varṇana

Translation: In his prayer known as the Caitanyāṣṭaka, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has given a vivid description of the Lord’s dancing before the car of Jagannātha.

Purport: Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī composed three prayers with the title Caitanyāṣṭaka. The verse next quoted is Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.7 from the first of the Caitanyāṣṭaka prayers, which are included in the book Stava-mālā.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.207

stavamālāya prathama caitanyāṣṭake (7) Śrī-Rūpa Gosvāmi-vākya:—

Translation: “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu danced down the main road in great ecstasy before Lord Jagannātha, the master of Nīlācala, who was sitting on His car. Overwhelmed by the transcendental bliss of dancing and surrounded by Vaiṣṇavas who sang the holy names, He manifested waves of ecstatic love of Godhead. When will Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again be visible to my vision?”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has written this special prayer describing Lord Caitanya’s dancing at the Rath-yātrā cart. So this dancing of Lord Caitanya was something that Rūpa Gosvamis was glorifying. These are special pastimes of the Lord, it is not possible for anyone else to dance in such a beautiful way as Lord Caitanya. He was in ecstasy of love for Godhead dancing in front of the cars.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.1

rathāgre āścarya-nartanakārī gauraharira jaya:—

sa jīyāt kṛṣṇa-caitanyaḥ
śrī-rathāgre nanarta yaḥ
yenāsīj jagatāṁ citraṁ
jagannātho ’pi vismitaḥ

Translation: May the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, who danced in front of the car of Śrī Jagannātha, be all glorified! By seeing His dancing, not only was the whole universe held in wonder, but Lord Jagannātha Himself became very much astonished.

Jayapatākā Swami: Even the manifested incarnation of the Lord as the worshipable deity, arca-avatāra, He was amazed to see Lord Caitanya dancing.

Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.208

śrī-caitanyera rathāgre nartana-śravaṇe prema-bhakti lābha:—

ihā yei śune sei śrī-caitanya pāya
sudṛḍha viśvāsa-saha prema-bhakti haya

Translation: Anyone who hears this description of the car festival will attain Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He will also attain the elevated state by which he will have firm conviction in devotional service and love of Godhead.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this blessing we want for all the devotees, all the readers of this Caitanya-līlā. So this is a great blessings by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. So, we can see how importantit is to study, to read and to hear the transcendental pastimes of Lord Caitanya. His dancing in front of the chariot of Lord Jagannātha in the Ratha-yātrā festival.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Phalaśruti - The Result of Hearing About the Ecstatic Dancing of the Lord at Ratha-yātrā.

Hari Bol! Gaurāṅga! Hari Bol!