20220614 Snāna-yātrā Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So you heard from His Holiness Bhānu Swami how today is a very special day of Snāna-yātrā. Jagannātha Purī observes the Snāna-yātrā on this tithi. 15 days after this, they observe the Ratha-yātrā. In India out of respect we observe the Jagannātha festivals on the same day. In the Snāna-yātrā in Jagannātha Purī, Lord Caitanya and His associates were given a special place living place and they enjoyed watching the ceremony. Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra were offered a special snāna. Which has already been explained to you by His Holiness Bhānu Swami.

So in this festival, many devotees get the opportunity to personally serve the Lord. Especially the brāhmaṇas, the Vaiṣṇavas, and the Vaiṣṇavīs in our International Society for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they sometimes do the bathing. Lord Caitanya when He viewed the Snāna-yātrā, He offered a special abhiṣeka. Normally we have a Kṛṣṇa abhiṣeka on Janmāṣṭamī, but in this occasion, we offer Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā abhiṣeka. In Melbourne they observe Ratha-yātrā in the southern hemisphere in November or December. And there since the mangoes and other things are in season then, they offer the Cīḍa-dahi Mahotsava at the same time. So every place they may have slightly different.

Day before yesterday, in New York, the observed the 50^th anniversary of the Ratha-yātrā. But this tithi in India, is the same tithi they do in Jagannātha Purī. And so here we hope that all the devotees who are seated, in your heart you will be serving the Lord. Doing pāda-sevā or service to the Lord is very special, and we are in the material world because we are not serving the Lord. If you use your senses to serve the Lord, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ, then you can qualify to go back to Godhead. So, this is a rare opportunity we have to participate in the bathing of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā. Sometimes the devotees bathe the Lord so excessively that He becomes sick! And then He is not available for darśana for two weeks! And He is fed medicines and fruit juices. And then He goes on Ratha-yātrā.

So all these are opportunities to serve the Lord. Usually, the utsava murtis are offered the service but in this occasion the mūla-vigraha is offered service. In Tirupati you can see that they bring the utsava-mūrti of the Lord and swing it. But Jagannātha they take the actual big Deity and do the Snāna-yātrā, Ratha-yātrā. So it is a very special thing.

And so many of the details were spoken already. But we should want to always remember the Lord, serve the Lord. In this way we get purified inside and out. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Outside we take a bath, inside we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa is always pure. He is fully spiritual. We are a material body with a spiritual soul. But Kṛṣṇa, Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā are all fully spiritual. He comes from the spiritual world in His spiritual form. But even when He is a 100-years old He still looks 24! So, He never grows old. People think that since He is God He must be the oldest, He must have a beard. But Kṛṣṇa is known as Nava-yauvanam, always fresh youth. Since Bhagavān can do everything, who here wants to grow old? He always stays young. He doesn’t need a bath. We need to bathe Him! For our purification. Thank you very much! For your chanting, for your participation. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Jaya Gaura Nitāi! Jaya Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā!