19861101 Ratha-yātrā

Following is a talk given by his holiness Jayapātāka Swami on November 1^st, 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia. The talk was about Ratha-yātrā.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
parāmānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram

Jayapatākā Swami: So this afternoon, in celebration of Ratha Yātrā and Diwali festival, we just had a Ratha-yātrā procession. Next is going to be a special drama, the deliverance of Jagāi and Mādhāi, for which the devotees sitting in that corner have to shift over to this side because that’s the entrance. After the drama, one of the devotees, Arjuna dāsa, from India recently, he was the one of the players in a Kalākṣetra at the Bombay Hare Kṛṣṇa land, in the drama troop for many years. So, he's come here so he's helping to organize some of these dramatical performances. So he and the other devotees of the temple have gathered together with some of the friends to perform the history about Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana movement and how He delivered the two very rough characters - Jagāi and Mādhāi. Jagāi and Mādhāi were born in a brāhmaṇa family five hundred years ago in Navadvīpa. But leaving aside their brāhmaṇa family (like a priest family), instead they became robbers and thieves and persons of the worst characters. You can say socially undesirable elements. On the other hand, Lord Caitanya sent His devotees out to go and preach door to door. He wanted that everyone should get the opportunity of hearing about the Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy and way of life, and take up the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. So the play is about the adventure where Lord Nityānanda, whose Deity is actually next to Lord Caitanya in the centre. On the right is Lord Caitanya, left is Nityānanda. Nityānanda is very compassionate. He was going and requesting all of the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But it will be interesting to see what happens when He requests the two brothers Jagāi and Mādhāi to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and how they receive it, seeing they were a bit rough in character. So this will be the drama. After that I'll give a very short discourse and we are all going to offer lamps on the occassion Diwali. Dīpāvalī, we are going to offer ghee wicks and other lights to the deity, and then after that is going to be a feast. We hope everyone stays up till the feast. The whole thing will only take another hour so: drama, talk, dīpa-dāna and feast. So that’s the basic programme.

On Ratha-yātrā: Ratha-yātrā is commemorating the outing of Kṛṣṇa, His Brother and sister - Balarāma and Subhadrā, when they went from their capital city of Dvārakā to Kurukṣetra. Kurukṣetra is in the state of Haryana I believe. So after the battle of Kurukṣetra; the battle of Kurukṣetra is where Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad Gītā. Then after the battle, Yudhiṣṭhira was established as the throne as the emperor of the World. Kṛṣṇa went back to Dvārakā, His capital. But then on the occasion of solar eclipse, it was customary to have a pilgrimage to Kurukṣetra. So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja invited Kṛṣṇa to come. So Kṛṣṇa left His queens behind and went with His Brother and sister. Hearing that Kṛṣṇa was going to Kurukṣetra, the residents of Vṛndāvana (because Vṛndāvana is not very far from Kurukṣetra), they went from Vṛndāvana to meet Kṛṣṇa, their Lord and their Love. So they all went to meet Him at that sacred pilgrimage place of Kurukṣetra. In the Bhagavad-gīta it is explains that Kurukṣetra is a dharma-kṣetra. It’s been a holy place since time immemorial, so people would go there on occasion. Originally in Orissa there was a Deity, a form of Kṛṣṇa, known a Nīla-mādhava, and Nīla-mādhava has a long history as how Nīla-mādhava Deity transformed Himself and became Jagannātha deity, seen here on the left. And that temple is thousands and thousands of years old. So its traditional that on the particular time of the year (of course in India tell in the month of July or something, normally it’s July, but in the West we have it on different occasion whenever we get a permission or get a holiday that everyone can attend), so then the system is that they take Jagannātha out for nine days to His aunties’ house. In another words Yudhiṣṭhira’s mother Kunti Devī is His aunty. So they are going to meet the devotees at Kurukṣetra. So in commemoration of that journey, they take the deity of Kṛṣṇa out for nine days. First they go in a procession, He stays out nine days and then He comes back. So we compact the nine days festival into ninety minutes (laughter), going around and coming back.

The esoteric significance is Lord Caitanya, He got great ecstasy in taking Jagannātha in a mood of serving the residents of Vṛndāvana, who are feeling great separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa after so long that He had been gone. So that was Lord Caitanya's mood that He was bringing Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana. Like this there are different angels and perspectives. Different great sages and rṣīs have made their commentation on the significance of the Ratha Yātrā, but the Purāṇas describe that those who participate in the Ratha-yātrā, those who carry the ratha, pull the ratha, even walk with the ratha, all of them gain unlimited benefits. They achieve position in the spiritual world, after this body. So it is very purifying to have this festival. We have a big cart that we ship down to New Orleans and normally every year we have the festival in New Orleans. But this year because New Orleans is going to have type of big festival during the Mardi Gras, which time everyone is in the street in New Orleans. So they didn't have a Ratha-yātrā at this time. So we felt that the Jagannātha, Subhadra, Baladeva Deities have to have a Ratha-yātrā. So we had one here, although the procession was on a palanquin because the big ratha is in New Orleans. That’s basic history in nutshell. Person that asked the question is satisfied or wants to know more? Satisfied. In Calcutta we have a Ratha Yātrā festival at same time as Jagannātha Purī, and this year about 4 million people witnessed that going nine days and coming,  according to The Statesman, biggest daily newspaper in English. Any other question?

On Diwali: Diwali is the time when Rāma is coming back to Ayodhyā, isn’t it? So when Rāma, after fourteen years of exile, when Rāma was returning to Ayodhyā, all the residents of Ayodhyā were so pleased. Rāma is coming in a special airplane. It doesn’t require any petrol or diesel or anything. So the residents of Ayodhyā wanted to let Rāma know where Ayodhyā was. So they all put lights on top of their house, and put many lights. So dīpa means lights. Dīpāvalī means offerings of many lamps. So it’s a very old festival. Businesses consider it their new year and there is other different type of little ceremonies that have come up. But as far as I understand the original idea was greetings for Lord Rāma, for inviting Him to come. Also this month also is considered the month of Dāmodara or Kārtika, and this Kartika-vrata or Dāmodara-vrata as mentioned in the Vedas. Anyone who perform different kinds of spiritual activities whether its Ratha Yātrā, whether its offerings of a lamps, whether its chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or eating prasādam or any type of spiritual activity you do doing this month, you get hundred-time benefits. So especially this month it is recommended that one should observe vegetarianism even if one is otherwise not. This is the best month to be completely vegetarian for one month. Then you can get hundred times the benefits of that. So that we are already  Kṛṣṇatarian-vegetarian, but because of this month we don't eat high protein. Kalai dal or urad dal and similar things as a token in this month, where everyone is supposed to be vegetarian. So it's a great opportunity that so many festivals fall on this particular month as Govardhana Pūjā, there is this Dīpāvalī, there is Rāsa-līlā and many festivals in this month. So it's very easy for people to participate in these different festivals, and by doing so you get so many times more benefit.

On Saffron clothes: Normally the saffron is worn by initiated brahmacārīs. The saffron colour is a very serious colour. Literally the colour symbolizes sunrise, aruṇa, the colour just before the sun comes up, which is very peaceful and at the same time at very dynamic. So the colour symbolizes renunciation but not in a negative sense like black, but renunciation in a positive sense of engaging in spiritual activities. So the saffron is traditionally worn by brahmacārīs, some vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs. Those who wear the saffron are supposed to be completely celibate. If somebody is following various rules and regulations. In fact in India, the saffron cloth is given in a certain ceremony, and everyone doesn’t wear saffron cloth. It is considered a great offence if someone makes certain types of mistakes when wearing saffron cloth. Of course the brahmacārīs, they wear saffron. But they may take the permission of the guru and also enter into the household life, at which time they return the saffron cloth to the spiritual master, and they receive white cloth or coloured cloth, other regular colours of cloth. And then they may enter the household life by marrying and so on. So as long they are in training then there is  system called upanayana where they are given different mantras, and that time they can serve as a brahmacārī. When one retires from active family life and visits holy places, at that time husband and wife agreed not to have any more sexual relationship but just to help each other as friends. That is called vānaprastha life. That time the husband and wife can keep a close contact and they can even travel together and visit holy places, and do devotional services. Then there is another stage where husband takes the renounced order. That time he wears saffron also. Same colour but different type of cloth. Then that time he is not allowed to have any association with his wife anymore, at all, and supposed to simply be dedicated to spiritual activity without any concern for social, familial, national, other type of responsibility. Just completely dedicated to pure spiritual activities. So these are the different types of stages, from the student, to the married, to the retired, to the renounced. Normally people entered into the retired age after the age of fifty, and then after some time, if they are strong enough, they enter into renounced. In this age, the renounced order is not recommended. So generally we recommend people get a training as a student and learn to be a controlled to be brahmacārīs, so that when they enter household life, they can lead a more spiritual household life on the basis of the foundation of austerity, foundation of simple living, which they have built up in their brahmacārī life. Are we ready? Everyone who is ready say Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Doesn’t sound like you’re ready. Everyone who is ready say…!

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Verified by your humble ever Servant 
Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa
03-01-2025
Māyāpur India