20250628 Ratha-yātrā Pandal Address Day 1

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: I came little late because I had to attend a meeting. This year I see very beautiful arrangements made for Lord Jagannātha! Jaya Jagannātha! Jaya Baladeva! Jaya Subhadrā! Jaya Sudarśana! Firstly, our Founder Ācārya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda appeared in Kolkata and he was a devotee of Lord Jagannātha right from his birth. That is why he said that the Kolkata Ratha-yātrā should be very big and all the people of Kolkata should all attend it. We are very grateful that all of you have come here. And surely, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda will be blessing all of you! So the Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā is a very special opportunity for all of you because Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana give you a chance to serve Them personally! During the ulṭa-yātrā you can pull the ratha again and you can chant Harināma!

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare /
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu desired that all of you should do Harināma kīrtana and spread the holy name all over the world.

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

This was predicted by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu 500 years ago! Gaurāṅga!

Now, I came here in 1970. But then there were only a few devotees of Lord Caitanya. But now, that is gradually increasing! And more people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa! Earlier there was Ratha-yātrā only in Jagannātha Purī, but now it is all over the world. Our Chief Minister, The Honorable Mamata Banerjee, has established a beautiful temple in Digha. And I hear that the Ratha-yātrā was very beautiful there and there were three rathas and about three lakh people attended it. I also heard from Bangladesh that there are some disturbances but in the middle of that the interim government, the officials, the police, cooperated and there were 122 Ratha-yātrās organized there! And till now, there was no untoward incident, with Kṛṣṇa’s mercy! There are some political parties asking to ban ISKCON. Even then there were 122 Ratha-yātrās! All of you please pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to protect them!

In India, on the same day, same tithi in conjunction with the pāṇḍās of Jagannātha Purī, we do the Ratha-yātrā on the same day. Now, I don’t know how many Ratha-yātrās happen that day. All over the world there are hundreds of Ratha-yātrās. But, actually, it would be nice to have them the same day. But in the other Western countries and other countries, that is not possible as the weather, and several other factors are to be considered. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s preaching is going on in this way all over the world. All of you, like Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, being Indians should help Him in spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.

Bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra
(Cc. Ādi 9.41)

When I came, only 5 or 6 westerners were there. I don’t know how long I will live. But now I see that thousands and thousands of Indians have come! It is all your responsibility to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desire, that Lord Caitanya’s movement spread all over. There are lots of Americans who have come to India. They come to the temple and so do the people here. This way, Lord Caitanya wants all the people to preach His teachings. In the Bhagavad-gītā it says that we are all eternal souls. We have two bodies – material and subtle body. Earth, water, fire, air, ether – these five constitute the material body and mind, body and intelligence constitute the subtle body. The problem is that most people think they are the body. Those who are spiritual, they say they have a soul in the body and have senses. They think that sense gratification is the goal of life. But the real goal is to love and serve the Lord. And the humans, think I am the body and I have to enjoy sense gratification as the prime goal of life. And they take birth again and again. When then die, the subtle body goes with the soul to another body.

I was thinking that those who are born in Western countries, how will they get darśana of Lord Jagannātha? The Śaṅkarācārya in Purī said, “You can go into the temple if you drink one kilo of hot boiling ghee.” I told him, “I will die then!” He said, “Right, you will die but in the next birth you will be born a Hindu!” Now our Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has given us a Jagannātha Dhāma in Digha where all of us can go! Here in Kolkata all of you can come here. Only we cannot go to the Jagannātha Purī temple being Westerners. I said that there are hundreds and hundreds of Ratha-yātrās around the world. If you worship Lord Jagannātha you can go back to His dhāma! Hindus, Muslims, all of you, if you serve Lord Jagannātha, you can all go back to His dhāma. What I say, is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, etc. Now in the festival there will be bookstalls and you can get all these books.

I want to come again tomorrow and there are many programs being organized here. I will end my talk here. If anyone has any questions, I will answer in the question-and-answer booth.

Gaurāṅga! Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!

I saw the pandal for the first time and they have beautifully organized and decorated the Māsir Bāḍi here like in Purī! Hope all of you are very happy! I see that there is such a beautiful temple in Kolata! All of you nicely serve Lord Jagannātha and take His darśana! Now I will go to honor prasāda!