20030125 11th Ratha-yātrā Inaugural Speech

The following is an inaugural address by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja of 11^th Ratha-yātrā on January 25, 2003 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Jayapatākā Swami: Vaṇakkam!

Devotees: Haribol!

Jayapatākā Swami: With respect to the sannyāsīs on the dais, Their Holinesses Bhānu Swami, Guru-prasāda Swami, Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami, to lord Mayor Mr. Malaravan and lord Deputy Mayor Mr. Raghupati to all the distinguished guests on the dais, to all the life members and to all the dedicated and practicing devotees of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and gentlemen and gentle ladies who are present.

So, this is which year of Ratha-yātrā?

Devotees: 11^th.

Jayapatākā Swami: 11^th! Very auspicious number, 11 is also reminds us of the Lord. So we gather together every year in Coimbatore, we come together as it’s a very big reunion, where people from all over the world, all over South India, all over India, they come here to be present for this very historical and important cultural, spiritual event. I am happy to see here people who have flown in from Australia, from Italy, from Brazil, from Argentina and from Malaysia and from various parts of the world.

Jagannātha is Lord of the universe, normally we go to see Him in His temple. But He has this special līlā that He comes out on the street to bless all His devotees. He wants to give all of you a blessing, because all of you are very, very, dear to Him. For the Lord everyone is very dear, and His devotees are the most dear. He promises, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (Bg. 4.11). According to how you approach Him, how you worship Him. He will reciprocate with you. So when you come and participate in His festival and you become a very humble servitor of the Lord and you pull His chariot and you do the services for Him, then He never forgets. And He also reciprocates with you. And He gives you His unlimited blessings and mercy. [It is] very difficult to get the personal audience of the Lord and more difficult to do some personal service. We are very fortunate to have the lord Mayor and Deputy Mayor present, Even it’s hard to get them, they are very busy people. What to speak, if you want to see the Prime Minister, it’s much more difficult also, they are more busy, more difficult to get. What speak of the Lord of the universe? But Lord of the universe has come here and He is very kind that He is also accepting all of your personal sevā. You should not leave without getting a chance touch the rope, without pulling the chariot and without getting some of the chanting, “Hare Kṛṣṇa” before the Jagannātha. Before the Lord, no one is rich, no one is poor, no one is strong, no one is weak, everyone for Him . . . He just sees according to your capacity, how you are want to serve Him. He is known as bhāva-grāhi janārdana – He accepts your mood of devotion.

The great King Pratāparudra, he wanted to see Lord Caitanya. But Lord Caitanya said, “I won’t see a king. I am a sannyāsī. Kings are materialistic people.” The king was very frustrated. Everyone in my kingdom can see Caitanya Mahāprabhu except for me, the only thing, I want is to see Him, to be able to approach Him. But then on the day of the Ratha-yātrā that Pratāparudra Mahārāja, he was sweeping the road before Jagannātha and taking as a menial servant before Lord of universe, Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Lord Caitanya saw that, His heart became soft, that “Okay, this is not ordinary king, that only is thinking of his ego. He is a humble servant of the Lord.” So then Lord Caitanya decided that, I will give him blessings. In this way, King Pratāparudra, he had all his desires satisfied by the mercy of Jagannātha and by mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So we hope by this Ratha-yātrā all your spiritual desires also be fulfilled. In ISKCON, we have . . . we may have over 100 Ratha-yātrās around the world. And the Mayor of San Francisco, he also declared it as Ratha-yātrā day for San Francisco by declaration. Also, the Mayor of Atlanta in America, he also declared it festival of India, Ratha-yātrā Day and personally came and participated. I was present in Birmingham, first the city of the UK, they consider that London is more than a city. But next to London it’s the biggest city in the UK and lord Mayor, he came and inaugurated the Ratha-yātrā there. And he also took the broom, and he swept the road before Lord Jagannātha. He said, you can understand, normally the mayor is not sweeping the road. We have a staff for doing that, but on this occasion, we are happy to perform this sevā to fulfill your cultural experience. So all over the world this has become one of the distinctions also that the Mayor being the first citizen of the city in many places they have come to inaugurate and to participate in this inauguration ceremony of Ratha-yātrā, and for this we are very honored. And we pray that Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā blessing will be on the Mayor, his staff and all the citizens of this great city of Coimbatore.

I am very sorry for being late this august occasion. I just flew in from the Middle East from . . . I just arrived last night in Bombay at 3:30am. And so it was difficult to make all the connections. Also, even in Middle East in some places they are having Ratha-yātrā. You may [wonder], How is it possible to have Ratha-yātrā in an Arab country. But they don’t allow also, you cannot even sing the name of Kṛṣṇa in the public street. But some rulers are nice, and they gave some hall for the Hindus. So inside that hall they had indoor Ratha-yātrā. [applause]

We are very proud that I am here, I am an Indian citizen, I am very proud. India being a democratic and secular country, all the religions have the right to practice their dharma. So here we are able to perform the Ratha-yātrā on the street. And you know all the religions, they perform their ceremonies publicly India and for that there is no problem. While we perform this Ratha-yātrā, we offer all respect to other religions. And with this respect that there is one God and different religions have different ways to worship the same Lord. We are performing Ratha-yātrā according to our way. But we offer all respect to the other ways. So again, thank you all for being here. Nanḍri!

Devotees: Guru Mahārāja ki jaya!

jayapatākā Swami: Just wanted to mention that this Ratha-yātrā we are doing on the instruction of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of ISKCON and his mūrti is there in the front of the Ratha-yātrā. He is our Founder-Ācārya. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya! Jagannātha Svāmī ki jaya! Baladeva ki jaya! Subhadrā Mahārāṇī ki jaya! Samavetā-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!