Sunday, June 25, 2017

Description of Rathayatra

LIVE STREAM FROM PURI



TEXT 48
vidāya samaya prabhu kahilā sabāre
pratyabda āsibe sabe guṇḍicā dekhibāre

SYNONYMS

vidāya—departing; samaya—at the time; prabhu—the Lord; kahilā—said; sabāre—unto everyone; pratyabda—every year; āsibe—you should come; sabe—all; guṇḍicā—of the name Guṇḍicā; dekhibāre—to see.

TRANSLATION

At the time of departure, the Lord requested all the devotees, "Please come here every year to see the Ratha-yātrā festival of Lord Jagannātha's journey to the Guṇḍicā temple."

PURPORT

There is a temple named Guṇḍicā at Sundarācala. Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā are pushed in their three carts from the temple in Purī to the Guṇḍicā temple in Sundarācala. In Orissa, this Ratha-yātrā festival is known as Jagannātha's journey to Guṇḍicā. Whereas others speak of it as the Ratha-yātrā festival, the residents of Orissa refer to it as Guṇḍicā-yātrā. Link to this page: cc/madhya/1/48
  
anavasare jagannāthera nā pāñā daraśana
virahe ālālanātha karilā gamana

SYNONYMS

anavasare—during the absence; jagannāthera—of Lord Jagannātha; nā—not; pāñā—getting; daraśana—visit; virahe—in separation; ālālanātha—of the place named Ālālanātha; karilā—did; gamana—going.

TRANSLATION

When Jagannātha was absent from the temple, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who could not see Him, felt separation and left Jagannātha Purī to go to a place known as Ālālanātha.

PURPORT

Ālālanātha is also known as Brahmagiri. This place is about fourteen miles from Jagannātha Purī and is also on the beach. There is a temple of Jagannātha there. At the present moment, a police station and post office are situated there because so many people come to see the temple.

The word anavasara is used when Śrī Jagannāthajī cannot be seen in the temple. After the bathing ceremony (snāna-yātrā), Lord Jagannātha apparently becomes sick. He is therefore removed to His private apartment, where no one can see Him. Actually, during this period renovations are made on the body of the Jagannātha Deity. This is called nava-yauvana. During the Ratha-yātrā ceremony, Lord Jagannātha once again comes before the public. Thus, for fifteen days after the bathing ceremony, Lord Jagannātha is not visible to any visitors. /cc/madhya/1/122
  
sabā lañā kaila guṇḍicā-gṛha-sammārjana
ratha-yātrā-daraśane prabhura nartana

SYNONYMS

sabā lañā—taking all of them; kaila—performed; guṇḍicā-gṛha-sammārjana—washing of the Guṇḍicā temple; ratha-yātrā—the car festival; daraśane—in seeing; prabhura—of the Lord; nartana—dancing.

TRANSLATION

First the Lord washed the temple of Guṇḍicā very thoroughly. Then everyone saw the Ratha-yātrā festival and the Lord's dancing before the car. CCMl 1.143
  
ei-mata gaura-śyāme, doṅhe ṭhelāṭheli
svarathe śyāmere rākhe gaura mahā-balī

SYNONYMS

ei-mata—in this way; gaura-śyāme—Lord Jagannātha and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; doṅhe—between both of Them; ṭhelāṭheli—competition of pushing forward; sva-rathe—in His own car; śyāmere—Lord Jagannātha; rākhe—keeps; gaura—Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; mahā-balī—greatly powerful.

TRANSLATION

Thus there was a sort of competition between Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Jagannātha in seeing who would lead, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so strong that He made Lord Jagannātha wait in His car.

PURPORT

After giving up the company of the gopīs in Vṛndāvana, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Mahārāja Nanda, engaged in His pastimes at Dvārakā. When Kṛṣṇa went to Kurukṣetra with His brother and sister and others from Dvārakā, He again met the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalita, that is, Kṛṣṇa Himself assuming the part of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in order to understand Kṛṣṇa. Lord Jagannātha-deva is Kṛṣṇa, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's leading Lord Jagannātha toward Guṇḍicā temple corresponded to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī's leading Kṛṣṇa toward Vṛndāvana. Śrī Kṣetra, Jagannātha Purī, was taken as the kingdom of Dvārakā, the place where Kṛṣṇa enjoys supreme opulence. However, He was being led by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to Vṛndāvana, the simple village where all the inhabitants are filled with ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. 

Śrī Kṣetra is a place of aiśvarya-līlā, just as Vṛndāvana is the place of mādhurya-līlā. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's following at the rear of the ratha indicated that Lord Jagannātha, Kṛṣṇa, was forgetting the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. Although Kṛṣṇa neglected the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, He could not forget them. Thus in His opulent Ratha-yātrā, He was returning to Vṛndāvana. In the role of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was examining whether the Lord still remembered the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.

When Caitanya Mahāprabhu fell behind the Ratha car, Jagannātha-deva, Kṛṣṇa Himself, understood the mind of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Therefore, Jagannātha sometimes fell behind the dancing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to indicate to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī that He had not forgotten. Thus Lord Jagannātha would wait on the ratha for their forward march. In this way Lord Jagannātha agreed that without the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī He could not feel satisfied. 

While Jagannātha was thus waiting, Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, immediately came forward to Kṛṣṇa. At such times, Lord Jagannātha would proceed ahead very slowly. These competitive exchanges were all part of the love affair between Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. In that competition between Lord Caitanya's ecstasy for Jagannātha and Jagannātha's ecstasy for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Caitanya Mahāprabhu emerged successful. Link to this page: /cc/madhya/13/119

tumi-vrajera jīvana, vraja-rājera prāṇa-dhana,
tumi vrajera sakala sampad
kṛpārdra tomāra mana, āsi' jīyāo vraja-jana,
vraje udaya karāo nija-pada

SYNONYMS

tumi—You; vrajera jīvana—the life and soul of Vṛndāvana; vraja-rājera—and of the King of Vraja, Nanda Mahārāja; prāṇa-dhana—the only life; tumi—You; vrajera—of Vṛndāvana; sakala sampad—all opulence; kṛpā-ardra—melting with kindness; tomāra mana—Your mind; āsi'-coming; jīyāo—give life; vraja-jana—to all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana; vraje—in Vṛndāvana; udaya karāo—cause to appear; nija-pada—Your lotus feet.

TRANSLATION

" 'My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are the life and soul of Vṛndāvana-dhāma. You are especially the life of Nanda Mahārāja. You are the only opulence in the land of Vṛndāvana, and You are very merciful. Please come and let them all live. Kindly keep Your lotus feet again in Vṛndāvana.'

PURPORT

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī did not express Her personal unhappiness at being separated from Kṛṣṇa. She wanted to evoke Kṛṣṇa's feelings for the condition of all others in Vṛndāvana-dhāma-mother Yaśodā, Mahārāja Nanda, the cowherd boys, the gopīs, the birds and bees on the banks of the Yamunā, the water of the Yamunā, the trees, forests and all other paraphernalia associated with Kṛṣṇa before He left Vṛndāvana for Mathurā. These feelings of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī were manifested by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and therefore He invited Lord Jagannātha, Kṛṣṇa, to return to Vṛndāvana. That is the purport of the Ratha-yātrā car's going from Jagannātha Purī to the Guṇḍicā temple. Ccml  13.147

The gopīs are always liberated souls, because they are fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They only pretended to be entangled in household affairs in Vṛndāvana. In spite of their long separation, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, the gopīs, were not interested in the idea of going with Kṛṣṇa to His capital city, Dvārakā. They wanted to remain busy in Vṛndāvana and thus feel the presence of Kṛṣṇa in every step of their lives. They immediately invited Kṛṣṇa to come back to Vṛndāvana. This transcendental emotional existence of the gopīs is the basic principle of Lord Caitanya's teaching. 

The Ratha-yātrā Festival observed by Lord Caitanya is the emotional process of taking Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī refused to go with Kṛṣṇa to Dvārakā to enjoy His company in the atmosphere of royal opulence, but wanted to enjoy His company in the original Vṛndāvana atmosphere. Lord Kṛṣṇa, being profoundly attached to the gopīs, never goes away from Vṛndāvana, and the gopīs and other residents of Vṛndāvana remain fully satisfied in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume, Twenty-seventh Chapter, of Kṛṣṇa, "Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma Meet the Inhabitants of Vṛndāvana."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.