14. The Esoteric Meaning of Ratha-yatra

14. The Esoteric Meaning of Ratha-yatra:

In a purport of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada gives a wonderful illumination about the esoteric meaning of Lord Jagannatha's Ratha-yatra.

After giving up the company of the Vraja-gopis, Vrajendranandana performed His pastimes in Dvaraka. When Sri Krsna visited Kurukshetra during a solar eclipse, He was accompanied by Baladeva, Subhadra, and other Dvarakavasis. At Kurukshetra, Krsna again met the Vrajavasis, especially Srimati Radhika and His beloved sakhis.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Sri Krsna Himself assuming the part of Sri Radha in order to understand Krsna. Lord Jagannatha is Krsna and Sri Caitanya is Radha. Lord Gauranga's leading Jagannatha Swami towards Gundica Temple corresponded to Srimati Radhika's leading Krsna towards Vrndavana from Kuruksetra.

Sri Ksetra, Jagannatha Puri, was taken as the kingdom of Dvaraka, the place where Sri Krsna enjoys supreme opulence. However, Krsna was being led by Mahaprabhu to Vrndavana (represented by Gundica Temple), the simple village where all Vrajavasis are filled with ecstatic love for Krsna. Sri Ksetra, Jagannatha Puri, is a place of richly opulent pastimes (aisvarya-lila) just as Vrndavana is the place of intimate conjugal pastimes (madhurya-lila).

Lord Gauranga's following at the rear of Lord Jagannatha's car indicated that Lord Jagannatha, Krsna, was forgetting the Vrajavasis. Although Sri Krsna neglected the Vrajavasis, He never forgot them. Thus in His opulent Ratha-Yatra, Sri Krsna was returning to Vrndavana. In the role of Srimatı Rādhikā, Sri Caitanyadeva was examining whether Sri Krsna still remembered the Vrajavasis. When Lord Gauranga fell behind the Ratha car, Jagannatha-deva, Krsna Himself, understood the mind of Srimati Radhika. Therefore, Jagannatha sometimes fell behind the dancing of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to indicate to Srimati Rādhikā; He had not forgotten. Thus Lord Jagannatha waited on His cart for their forward march. In this way, Lord Jagannatha showed that He could not feel satisfied without the ecstasy of Srimati Rādhikā. While Jagannatha thus waited, Gaurasundara, in His ecstasy of Rādhā, immediately rushed foward to Krsna. At such times Lord Jagannatha proceeded very slowly.

These competitive exchanges were all part of the love affairs between Sri Krsna and Srimati Rādhikā. In that competition between Mahaprabhu's ecstasy for Jagannatha and Jagannatha's ecstasy for Srimati Rādhikā, Mahaprabhu emerged successful. This is the purport of the Ratha-yatra cars going from Jagannatha Temple to Gundica Temple. (Cc. 2.13.119 p.)

Sri Jagannatha Swami's Ratha-yatra festival ki jai!

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