20021231 Ratha-yātrā Lecture

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 31, 2002 – in Gold Cost, Australia.

Okay. I kind of see them way up on the top. So that’s the opportunity everybody gets to swing the Lord. For people, you usually get about 5 swings. Ratha Yatra, you actually really get to pull dance. You get a lot of services for Kṛṣṇa directly. So in rath yatra actually and in puri, there are some very minute traditions which we don’t usually follow. But there’s some very special little traditions. Like in the front of the Rathkar, they usually have paper mache. Okay. Janakii. I mean it’s okay if there’s no key. It’s alright. Thank you for trying. I don’t want you to stress out. Then they have these little horses and apparently they have a person that sits there in front and he’s like the official driver.

He has a whip and he whips these horses and he’s scolding them with, you know, harsh horse driver language. Move it, whatever. And whatever they say to horses, pretty, you know, rough kind of language. And that’s kind of symbolizing like all the extension of those horses is all of us who are pulling, we’re all extended horses. So it’s kind of a special Leela where we all get to participate. The Puranas say anyone who just watches the rat, they get a blessing. If they appreciate it. I mean, they really get a blessing. And if they walk with the procession, then they go back to godhead. If they pull the rat, go back to godhead. In Calcutta, everybody knows if you can touch the rope, you go back to godhead. They have fights to get to the rope.

Old ladies, they’re begging, please, can I touch the rope? You have to occasionally stop and let them come up. You put a rope around to keep people away from the wheel. Sometimes they just touch the guide rope. It’s very enthusiastic to get the mercies. So during this last beach rath yatra, someone was telling me how there were people who were watching the procession. Just general, kind of middle class Australian people. And they were appreciating how beautiful. And then there was another lady who was in a nearby stall and said, oh, I saw it last year and it was so beautiful. It’s very beautiful what they’re doing. And then somebody else walked by and said, yeah, oh, this is really nice. Every year they’re doing this and it’s so beautiful, so nice. So these just maybe seem like very innocent little comments.

They are doing revolutions with their karma record, Yamaloka. They had to readjust the whole account book just for their appreciating because they’re appreciating Krishn directly. If we directly appreciate the Lord that has such a dynamic effect on our whole existence. Normally nobody has anything directly connected with G D. Everything in this material world is disconnected, right? So when we directly have something in relation to Kṛṣṇa, then it is unlimitedly magnified the effect. You can’t even put a limit how much mercy you can get. There’s no limit to how much mercy Krishn can give. They say sky is the limit. Well, he’s the ultimate limit. He knows no limit. So it may be something. As devotees, we attend so many Ratha Yatras, so we take it for granted. But actually, Ratha Yatra is something very special.

I remember how when I first came to the temple, I was just read a sign advertising Ratha Yatra. And then on the bottom it said, you can get a vegetarian meal for 25 cents. Since I was a vegetarian, I went for the meal. And after the meal I wanted to give my 25 cents to somebody. But the devotees were all busy in those days, nobody had time. So then they told me, go next door. There was Garga Muni there, sometimes known as Gargamani. And he was happy to take my money. When he saw I said, I want to give a donation. Can I give you some money? You know, it’s like how many people walk looking to give money. Of course, I was just thinking to give 25 cents. But he soon got $13 out of me and sold me a set of Bhagavatams.

In those days, the three was only the original Indian set that Prabhupad brought over from India. So I got a set of original Bhagavatams from that. Then I went to the back of the temple. And there I asked if he could tell me something about what this whole process was. He says once he saw he got all the money out of me. Kurodi told me, go in the back. There’s someone else there. You can ask him. His name is Jayananda. So then I went to the back of the temple. Then there Jayananda was building the radkar with about four or five other devotees. So then he was very expert in engaging people in service. That was his thing. As soon as I came up, before I even, he just asked, oh, what’s your name? You know. You know how to hold a nail?

Yeah, sure. Let me see. Can you hold the nail here? Hold it. And he hammered the nail. And you know, holding a nail is kind of a very technical thing. You have to hold it until it gets in the wood. And then you have to remove your finger before the hammer smashes it. It’s kind of a 1, 2 motion there. So I was successful, able to hold it long enough to get in the wood and get my finger out before it was pulverized. So then he was praising me like anything. You’re really great. I mean, wow, you held that nail so good. Everybody likes to be appreciated. So I said, you know how to hammer too? I said, well, a little bit. Let me see. You see all these little xx. So pretty soon I was hammering the else in the Rathkar.

Then after he saw that I was eligible for, I was like, could do something. I don’t know if I would have failed to do that, what would happen? But anyway, I could do something. Then he showed me a picture of a Ratha Yatra india. I said, see this? He said, wow, it’s beautiful. He said, yeah, we’re going to have this festival. We’re going to liberate the whole of San Francisco. And so many people are going to. If they just see this festival, they participate, they don’t have to take birth anymore. It’s a wonderful opportunity for everybody. I said, wow, that’s interesting. So when is the festival? He said, just one week from now. We’re going to build a chariot. I said, one week. I looked this massive, like, you see that kind of a rock.

And all he had was a little frame and a few, you know, nothing was there. I said, you know, one week, you know, from scratch. I couldn’t believe it. And he said, don’t worry, we need a little help. Can you help us? You know? So like this, he would just bring in. Pretty soon we had maybe, I don’t know, 10, 15 people working there. And so I just dropped. Everything I was doing was building the Rathkar. See, all day long he’d talk about Ratha Yatra, leelas and Prabhupad pastimes. So maybe that Billy the Rathgar just helped me. I am still here. He was such a wonderful devotee. So that Ratha Yatra really gives so many people opportunity to serve. I think that’s one of the biggest things, especially for us in the West. I mean, india, it’s of kind have done for you.

In the Jagannath Puri, they build the rot, they decorate the pujaris, do everything. And even they have professional guys for pulling. You got to fight to really get to robe there. But in Iskcon, Prabhupad is so merciful that we get to do everything. We get to build the rat, we get to carry the deities, we get to worship the deities, pull the roth to chant and dance in front, to distribute prasadam. So I think everybody’s heard that. Lord Chaitanya, he would be in the mood of taking Kṛṣṇa back to Vrindavan. Lord Chaitanya was very strict. He didn’t talk with everybody about confidential things. And some things he would do. Nobody could understand what he was talking about. So. Lord Chaitanya, when he saw Jagannath, he would be singing a little song that was a popular love song in the local language.

That oh, when  will I see my beloved again in that beautiful full moon night and the sun of the river or something like that. A simple little poem. People don’t know what’s he singing this love song for. But in his mind, what he’s thinking about is Radharani wanting to bring Krishn back to Vrindavan, back to the side of the Kalini river under the Revati tree, where Krishn could be pleased by all his devotees. She could understand that Krishn wasn’t having as much fun, as much happiness in all this royal environment as he would have in Vrindavan. To make Krishn happier, take him back to Vrindavan. Just like people that go on a vacation, most of them go, you see, with the Gold coast sun everywhere, they go to some kind of informal place.

When they get away, they can chill out, they can relax, they can have a good time in some natural setting. When you see the posters for the travel agents, they usually show some tropical island or some natural place to go to, some mountains or something naturally scenic and beautiful. Well, Vrindava is the most beautiful place. But most important of all, it has the most wonderful devotees. So with that mood, Radharani wants to bring Krishn back to Vrindavan. And that’s the same mood that Lord Chaitanya was reflecting the Immediately, Surabhupdamudar could pick up what his intention was. He knew this. But other people didn’t understand what Lord Chaitan was singing about. We hear it now because it’s all been revealed by Surabdamudar.

But many things the Lord Chaitanu did in those days, not everybody understood why he was doing it, what it was referring to, tending thousands of followers. So sometimes he do things. People just say, wow, it’s amazing. But they didn’t really understand what was going on in his mind. Rupa Goswami knew. Srup Damadar knew. There are few people that knew. That’s why we pray Caitanya, Manobishtam Stapitam Jainabhutale sang Rupakadamayam Dadati Swapantikam. We want to follow in the footsteps of Rupert Roswell Swami who has understood the mind of Gauranga Mahprabhu and who is establishing it in the world. Because Lord Chaitanya’s idea was to give everyone the mercy on the one side. The other idea was he was personally experiencing this mood of being a devotee. So in the Ratha Yatra, the external Harinam Sankirtan was going on.

And for Lord Caitanya, it was also an internal exchange with Lord Jagannath. So they four many Sankirtan parties, four were in front of Lord Chaitanya the Rat. Four parties in front. They didn’t have loudspeakers. Now we have one big loudspeaker. So he’s at one kirtan group. When you didn’t have loudspeakers, you had many groups. So they had four in front, one on each side and one in the back. Once we had. A few times we had big processions in my airport. One time we had in a procession, we had 168 Kirtan groups. I remember one of my godbrothers, he was walking up the procession and he came back to me and he said, wow, this is so amazing. Every group you go in, it’s like a different, you know, a different melody, a different tune, a different mood.

And it’s just like you said, I feel like a honeybee getting honey from so many different flowers. Everyone something a little different. Somebody may be chanting something very long to Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare and someone else is going, Hare Krishn. So many different tunes. And every of the Bengalis know so many hundreds of tunes. So each one almost had a different unique tune. He was appreciating it so much. It’s really amazing. So that’s an advantage of not having a loudspeaker. This advantage only carries so far. So each group would have a radius of how many feet people could hear. Then the next group, the next group. So, so as they go by, people hear different kirtans. The way they amplify it, one person would lead and there would be five repeaters, five followers, supporters.

They would sing along with the Lord, with whoever the lead singer was. So get amplified five times. Then everybody else in the group would reply, you might wonder, how did five people. How could the kirtan? Because sometimes the music is so loud you drown out the singer. So these five would be right next to him. They’d always hear and they would just be very expert to pick up whatever tune he was singing and sing the same tune with him. So that was going on. They had really expert singers like Vasudev Datta and Govinda. Vasudev Ghosh and Govinda Ghosh. People all played the drums and the same beat each party. So that also added to the sound, the beautiful sound. Narahari. And Raghunathan were dancing and chanting in the one group. There was one group formed by the Khandavasis.

How many of you have been to Sri Khanda? You never went Kalavati Srikhanda next to Katwan. You don’t know what you’re missing. In Gora Mandalbhoomi there’s so many amazing places. Sri Khanda was a village where the whole village was Kṛṣṇa conscious. And in that village there were many temples and many wonderful devotees. So Narahari Thakur, he was the senior most. We sing his name in our Gura Aarti Kivanara Hari Hari Chamaraturayam so Narahari, he was also important for us because he was the immediate associate who stayed the longest in this world after everybody left. He stayed and protected the devotees and guided them. He was like the Sikhsha Guru for most of the devotees after Lord Chaitanya left. When he left it was like that was the end of an era. After that there was hardly.

He was the last really senior associate of O Chaitanya to leave. So hears that he was in the kirtan. He’s dancing and with him is Raghunath. Raghunath, He’s a another amazing devotee. Narahari is very old. He’s one of the older. I mean, maybe he’s not very old at this time, but he’s older. When he was. Grown, this Raghunanda was a small boy. This Raghunanda, he used to offer ladus to the Gopala deity. When he was six years old, he got Upanayanam. The first get a little three threads upanaynum. So he was told by the father to bring the ladoos. The father had to go out for some emergency. So he went there and asked the didi to take the ladoos. When the didi wasn’t taking, he started crying. The Devi said, what’s wrong? You’re not taking the laddus?

You want me to eat the ladders? He said yes. And then the day they ate all the ladders, they came back very happy, gave the empty plate to the mother. And the mother said, where are the ladoos? So the deedee ate them. So she Was kind of surprised, you know. Usually the deity doesn’t eat the ladus but just looks at them and eats them by doesn’t tank. So later when the father came back, she told him what’s happening? Sounds very funny. Every day he comes back and says didi eti ladus. So he let it. So they say when the father came back he. He was listening to what the boy said. Please take the ladoos. He didn’t hear anything. Then he looked around, came out and looked to see what’s happening. And he saw Gopala Didi is eating the ladu and he’s half eaten.

As soon as he came out. The father’s like as a boy, doesn’t think anything is not normal. It’s quite normal. Right Didi, you offer them the food. He doesn’t know what happens behind the curtain when the pujari is offering. Father said, you offer. The deity’s going to eat. So when he was asked to be a puja he went behind, said tell the deity, please eat. The deity wasn’t even started crying. A little boy. So the deity, he saw so much faith. He reciprocated, started eating. When the father came. He knows that normally deities don’t eat this way, you know. He was oh shocked, you know. So then the deity got like half eaten ladoo in the mouth and just. But he was caught red handed with a half eaten ladu. So the father is like, you know, red handed. There he was caught.

The proof is there. Ladoo was half eaten right in his hand. Since that time they always put a half eaten ladu in the hand of Gopala. So the word got out that this devotee is so special. He has siddi eating from his hands. So that time Abhiram Thakur wanted to meet him. Abhiram Thakur was famous because every time Nithyananda Prabhu had a baby he would go and offer his obeisance to the baby. It would die if there was a shalingram sheila on the altar. And he offered us a basis to it. If it wasn’t a real Shaligram, it would explode and just turn into dust. He had so much focus. He would offer so much love, so much devotion to that shaliga. It was an ordinary stone. He couldn’t take it finished. So he wanted to go to see Raghunath, pay his obeisances.

So when he came there, the parents petrified. I mean just because of affection for their son. They knew he was a bona fide devotee. But you know, Adityananda’s sons can tell you. They’re afraid you know what’s going to happen. So they sent him out to play somewhere and told Abhiram he’s not home. And Abhiram had walked like 100 km to get there. Spend a week to walk there. Then he was like upset, you know, what’s going on here? I just want to see the boys. Well, he’s out right now. He’s not here. He went to some uncles or something. They even told a lie to him, you know. So he went to a nearby mango orchard that was chanting his rounds. Somehow Raghunath heard that actually Abhiram Prabhu came to see you. So Raghunath, because he was such a.

He was a real devotee, he went over to see Abhiram Thakur and he paid his obeisance. Dabi Ram Thakur. So Navi Rampatakur picked him up and embraced him. And the two of them started dancing. And when they were dancing, they said they were jumping and dancing so high. They were so ecstatic that Raghunanda and his parents had put a silver ankle bell on his foot. He kicked it and went flying something like 2km and landed in one other devotee’s backyard. So they kept it. It’s always been in that temple. But everyone knows it’s Raghunandakwa. So how they were dancing, we can’t even begin to understand. That would get an Olympic record, right? Two kilometers. I mean, out of the range. So this Raghunanda and Thakur, he was such a. Later when he became such a preacher, established many deities of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

And he was very dynamic preacher from his childhood. So Raghunanda Thakur, he’s also there from Sri Khanda. There are many other devotees from Sri Khanda. There’s Mukundananda, there’s Chiranjeev, there’s. I can’t remember all, but there’s a lot of devotees. So the whole. That whole village, they became known as Khandavasis. Oh, they’re from Sri Khanda. Everyone knows that whole village is all devotees. So Kandavasis, they were leading one kirtan group in the Ratha Yatra. Different places they had different. They’re given different responsibilities. And Raghunath and Narahari, they were dancing. Someone else was chanting. So the sound of the kirtan, so it was tumultuous. It was filling the whole ocean, whole world, the whole universe. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Everyone playing. When you have a dranga, it’s playing exactly in unison. Rup, rup roop, boom. In a different.

They actually learn, the Madranga players, they have different mantras they chant. They’re called bulls. That’s a simple one. That’s the one we all abc, we learned. But they got so many tikita, tiki, ta da. It gets very complicated. And once we had a Madranga teacher, he was like the world champion Madranga player. He could actually make the Madrangas talk nitai go ranga going to the Ganga. And he would actually make the madranga say, mitai go ranga go vintuta ganga. And it was like, wow. And he would anything he could. He had so many different little mantras like that. Then he was so you can all these original Madrango players of Orchetania, we can’t imagine how good they were. They would all play exactly in the sense of all the beats would be at one time. So the sound amplifies, it really fills.

And that sound of the Madranga purifies the heart. We have three, four madranga players. We have 16 madranga players and 24 madranga players. Sometimes they have hari namsi and they advertise that 100 madranga players. And they all play in unison. That’s pretty hard to get 100 madranga players. So the Madrangas are all playing together in different groups. So everybody was chanting. So then Lord Chaitanya would go through each group and he’d be chanting, hari. I don’t want to shout. I don’t want to be able to sing tonight. So I can’t shout too much. I don’t have a microphone. Then because the king Patap Rudra had swept the road in front of the chariot, he actually got Lord Chaitanya’s mercy. How many of you ever swept the road in front of the rock? Anybody else? That’s a way to get special mercy.

Usually have the big Pratap Rudra dressed up as the royal king, you know, so he usually gets all the mercy. But in iskcon you get he can sneak in there and do a few sweeps, sweeping the road before the Lord. Another menial service, another humble service we can offer to Kṛṣṇa. So when we do that is another way of presenting ourselves to Krishn as his surrendered servant. But for us to do it maybe not a big deal. We sweep our house, we sweep everything. But for a king, it’s a really big deal. They don’t sweep anything. They get thousands of servants, ministers, security they can hardly do anything for themselves. Everything is done for them almost. But. In this case, he actually swept the road.

And to do that was a very big symbolic gesture for the king that before God, we are his humble servant. I mean, I once asked. We had. We had the rath yatra india, and the vice president of India came and we asked him to sweep the road. He refused, said, I won’t re. Sweep the road. I am not a sweeper. Was the big thing. Nobody ever refused before. The mayor of Birmingham in England, he agreed to sweep the road. He said, only the mayor doesn’t sweep the road, but for your religious function, I will sweep it. He was sweeping for about 45 minutes with the. Walking with the broom. And he had his. You know, in England, they wear, you know, a special, like a medal and a kind of a big ribbon and a sash.

So he’s wearing his mayoral sash with a big ribbon and a big medal in front, sweeping the road. He was really into it. But this vice president, I don’t know if it was because he was a Brahmin, he didn’t want to sweep the road or because the way it was presented was said, this is a royal tradition. And he said, well, we’re now a democracy and we don’t follow anything to do with royalty. So he wouldn’t do it. So then I had to think what to do, because the whole rath, that was the way you inaugurate to wrath, right? The chief guest, weave Sorok. So then I said, well, the president gave me the mic. So I said that now India is a democracy. So democracy means government for the people, by the people, of the people.

And since we want to ask all the people to sweep the road, because you’re the rulers of this country now. And since the vice president here is a leading citizen present, he can have the first sweep. So he didn’t know what to say to that. Somehow Krishn gave me a little intelligence at that moment. So we gave him the broom, but he did a micro sweep. I never said anybody sweep. You know, just like, okay. I really think he didn’t want to sweep. I mean, he was. I don’t know what his thing was. But after that, we gave the broom and everybody else to sweep. And like anything, it came in the headlines. Vice president of India refuses to sweep before God. So I am sure he regretted that because Pataprudemaraj did it. Thank you. No, thanks.

Then Lord Chaitanya became softened to him and wanted to give him mercy. But his principle was he Wouldn’t need a king. So he first let him see. When he expanded Lo Chetan expand himself into seven parties at one time. Each party was maybe 50 meters apart from the other. So he couldn’t really spare see each other. So from the roof of his palace he could see seven Lord Chaitanyas and seven parties and nobody else. Even other people on the roof, they couldn’t see. He could see. And Sarva Boam Bodacharya could see. He pointed out to Sarboam Bachaya. He Sabatora for his general. General couldn’t see. So you realize that Tsar Boman said you got a real special mercy. That means Lord Chaitanya is pleased with you. That’s what you can see.

So in this Ratha Yatra festival there’s a lot of different things going on. It’s not one storyline. It’s like there’s hundreds and thousands. Everyone there has got their story. Some people walked for days just to get there for the Ratha Yatra. Some people are Pujaris. Everyone has got some little different. But in relation to Lord Chaitanya you can see all these big Kirtan leaders. That was one thing going on. The big Kirtan dancing Lord Chaitanya that whole side of it. Then there’s the side of it of inner what Lord Caitanya internal feeling. His own personal identification with the mood of Radharani and her wanting to bring Kṛṣṇa back to Vrindavan. And then Sirupdhamada Rupa Phu understood that aspect of what’s going on. And then you have the king who really wanted to be and just serve Lord Chaitanya. He was ready to commit suicide.

What used to being a king. If the only person in the entire kingdom who can’t see Lord Chaitanya is the king. And I am the king. The only thing I want in my whole life, all I want to do is serve Lord Chaitanya and to be in his presence. So what’s the use of living? It’s like a curse, you know. How did I get. So he was really out of himself. But after seeing him sweep the road then Lord Chaitanya also thought, let me give him the mercy. So when Lord Chaitanya took a break about halfway along the Ratha route, they stopped at Ratha and everybody makes offerings at a place called Viparasana. So it takes a couple hours for them to make offerings. So then Lord Chaitanya went and took a rest in the. In the groves of a forest called Vrindavan Gardens.

And he laid down on A rock, a big slab. So then Sara Bonchaya advised the king, just dress as a Vaishnava, not royal dress. Not just put. Put on a white dodie and a cheddar and tilak and go there and massage the lotus feet of Ochitanu. So the king came, but nobody knows he’s the king of the Sunbait. Can I massage the lotus feet? They said, all right. So he just sat down and started to massage the leg and lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya. He starts singing songs from the 10th canto of the Bhagavatam about Kṛṣṇa and the Gopis and the Gopi Gita. How the Gopis are feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa. There’s one verse there which states that Krishn, you are the most merciful. And. Those who tell about the glories of Kṛṣṇa, they are the Bodhidhar.

They are the great benevolent people in the world. So then suddenly Lord Shiva just sat up. He said, I don’t know who you are, but you have given me this jewel beautiful verses in the Bhagavatam. This is the most beautiful jewel of this verse. Therefore I am a poor manikin. I have nothing to give you. I don’t have anything in this world. All I can give you is just one embrace. Thank you very. And he just hugged the king. Then he lay down again and the king is like just got hugged by Lord Chaitanya. Infused with love of Krishn. He’s like completely exploding in ecstasy and melted in love of Kṛṣṇa. So all the mercy, more than what he could imagine. Like Lord Chittan somehow blessed him. While officially he never met the king because nobody knows that he’s the king.

And Lord Chit Chanda said, I don’t know who you are. Somebody just came and singing nice Bhagavatam verse, gave him a hug. Thank you very much. Somehow all the king’s desires are fully fulfilled because of this Ratha Yatra. Because he humbled himself and swept the road before Jagannath. So this rath Yatra is a kind of Kalpa rickshaw to fulfill all kinds of desires and devotees. When you have the three raths, if anything happens in one of the rats, it’s said to signifies something like once in Calcutta the Bala Ram rath broke down. One of the wheels just jammed. The same day in Puri we have the same day the rath, the Balaram’s wrath wheel, same wheel broke. So in the paper everyone said when Balaram’s rat, if it breaks, it means there’s going to be a worldwide Collapse.

There’s going to be some major problem in the world war that just a few weeks later was the Desert storm attack on Iraq. So we moving the Lord of the universe, you may think, okay, we’re just taking Jagannath down. Whatever it has some significance. The Lord of the Universe, when he’s on the move, nothing is small or nothing is insignificant. Everything that happens in relation to him has some significance. When people come without people come and they dance or raise their hand. Even people play games and just imitate the devotees. Everything is having some effect. But Lord Jagannath, he’s very merciful. He takes his form. It’s a very merciful form. He doesn’t take offense easily. He gives mercy very easily. So many devotees get their mercy. During the Ratha Yatra. Sometimes the Rathkar stops, stopped just in front of the house of Bhakti Vinothakur.

So then wife of bhaktiinothakur ran up and put the baby Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasataka, when he was a baby at the feet of Jagannath. And Jagannath’s garland fell off and just went around the baby. So like this. When the Lord’s out on the road, we can’t. The foreigners, some Indians or Latin Americans, they can go in the temple. It looks Indian and go in more or less. But Westerners, they don’t let in the temple still. But when he’s out on the street, everybody can see him. Everybody can serve Him. It’s like coming out to give his mercy to everyone. Sometimes at that time, the Pujaris let you come up and crawl up on the car. Sometimes they let you touch the lotus feet of Jagannath. Some of them let you hug them.

I don’t know what was happening 500 years ago, but these things happen today. Sometimes you have to give a high rupee donation or something. Not too bad. It’s $5. But. Lord’s mercy really flows when he’s out. We do RA Theatre at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. And that Mardi Gras, 600,000 people on the street. Everybody dressed in funny dresses. It’s a family outing in the daytime. It’s not so bad. It’s really crazy situation. We take a truck with Jagannath in the back. He had to stay there for about six hours. It’s a toilet in the truck because you can’t leave the truck. So it’s kind of a strange Ratha Yatra. Jagannaths there. A big paper mache Jagannath and A little Jagannath. And then we distribute things from the Rathkara and have big kirtan blaring.

So many people raise their hands and they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everybody’s in a real happy mood in Mardi Gras. That’s another kind of an unusual rut here. 31 December, Ratha Yatra and Byron Bey, I think that’s. These are two kind of exceptional Ratha Yatras and very amazing environment. Lord Chaitanya, when he was walking in Navadiv, there was a drunk who came. He walked by some winos and the drunk sitting there and they started calling out, hey, look, there’s go Rahari. And I said, oh, he danced so nice. Gora Hari bolo, Hari bolu Hari. And one guy started following after Lord, sitting and just imitating the dancing. What his impression was of Lord Chaitanya is dancing. Whatever, you know, the way that drunks chant. So he was. But he was somehow translating the holy names of Krishn.

Then he went back and sat with his friends. So some of the devotees were upset. They know whether they look in around. Should we punch the guy? Should we stop because they’re being offensive. Lord Chaitanya, he just was cool. He didn’t say anything. So then afterwards they asked him why he was offensive. He was making fun. Shimmy stopped him. And Lord Chaitanya said, look, he took some wine, he had some alcohol that will wear off by tomorrow. But he chanted the holy names of Kṛṣṇa that will stay with him. The benefit of that  will stay with him eternally. So you might say, okay, today there’s a lot of people under the influence of something or another. Some people just under the influence of the holy names, we got the highest influence. But other people, they under other kinds of influence.

But they may come and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So  will they get any benefit? Lord Chaitanya said, yes. Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa even if you’re drunk gives you some benefit. Being drunk, somehow you chant Hare Krishn when you get sober again, the alcohol wore off but the chanting Hare Krishn stayed with you. They went into your Kṛṣṇa bank account. Somehow or another, even if it’s a little offensive. But if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa still to your benefit, they’re not really offensive. It’s just. I mean, some are. But that person was just appreciating in his own drunken way. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nice people. Singing, dancing, good dance, good song, Haribol. So actually he also benefited in this way by bringing people to the holy name and the Ratha Yatra. Even if they’re a bit under the influence it’s also auspicious for them.

So in Jagannath Puri, the Lord stays for nine days. In Gundicha, then he comes back. We can just make outings, come back, go and come back. But there he stays for nine days, then he comes back. In Calcutta we do the same thing. We take Jagannath out nine days and come back. So for nine days we’re distributing persistence, having everyday kirtans, festivals, evening programs, exhibitions, deity worship. I don’t know if anywhere else does that. I think in Durban, South Africa they take the deities out for four days. That was Sarbha Hindidumna Maharaj festival. For four days they do an Easter. Now they do an Easter weekend from Good Friday to Monday. Before they used to do it on Christmas weekend. That’s when I. When they stopped doing that, I start coming here. So.

So this pastime of the Lord, this potency is in the personal Godhead for God Himself in the course of his transcendental pastimes. But his internal potency, Leela Shakti, knowing the intention of the Lord made all the arrangements. So Krishn doesn’t have to worry about this. He has to plan anything. The pastimes automatically unfold. All his energies are doing things for him automatically. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So I could go on for a few more hours, but they told me I got a printout schedule said 2:30 Leela glories of Ratha Yatra. But I saw here on this sheet doesn’t mention it. Then they announced it, but nobody was here. So I had started a little late. You got to take Vasadim at 5, I think, and then leave at 6. So for those who are interesting, Martin, Georgina she didn’t have.

She wasn’t here for the initiation of the game on Sunday. And she was waiting for two years to be initiated. Chanting for two years. So she got recommended. Within this half hour before Posadam. We’re going to have a little initiation ceremony here. A little yagya who comes from the Brisbane Temple. Where would I like to stay? You’re welcome to stay if you have other services. It’s all right. Who’s from the Brisbane Temple. Who would like to say something about Georgina? She can come and take her seat up here. You can think. You can pray yourself. We can do that a little later, A few minutes. You have to complete everything and that’s okay. Your husband can accompany you. Companion in religion. We have Achiemon cup here. Only one. Maybe we can just chant like the first.

Let me see how many verses from Brahma Samhita. Wow. You can have it. They’re not numbered. And we just do the first line then the last two Anyone else have sheets? Brahma Samita sheets. This is the first line 1/3 I gotta take my shirt off. Any more sheets? Share with others 1 Sheet 2 people. I want to come back. That’s our dangerous Samani.