Lord Caitanya at the Ratha yatra

[Maitreya]

It's more than just a walk in the park.

 

CC MADHYA 13.119

 

TRANSLATION

 

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

 

PURPORT

In his Anubhäñya, Srila Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Thäkura describes the ecstasy of Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu as follows. After giving up the company of the gopis in Vrndävana, Sri Krsna, the son of Mahäräja Nanda, engaged in His pastimes at Dvärakä. When Krsna went to Kuruksetra with His brother and sister and others from Dvärakä, He again met the inhabitants of Vrndävana. Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu is rädhä-bhäva-dyuti-suvalita, that is, Krsna Himself assuming the part of Srimaté Rädhäräni in order to understand Krsna. Lord Jagannätha-deva is Krsna, and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahäprabhu is Srimaté Rädhäräni. Caitanya Mahäprabhu’s leading Lord Jagannätha toward the Gundicä temple corresponded to Srimati Rädhäräni’s leading Krsna toward Vrndävana. Sri Ksetra, Jagannätha Puri, was taken as the kingdom of Dvärakä, the place where Krsna enjoys supreme opulence. But He was being led by Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu to Vrndävana, the simple village where all the inhabitants are filled with ecstatic love for Krsn. Sri Ksetra is a place of aisvarya-lilä, just as Vrndävana is the place of mädhurya-lélä. Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu’s following at the rear of the ratha indicated that Lord Jagannätha, Krsna, was forgetting the inhabitants of Våndävana. Although Krsna neglected the inhabitants of Vrndävana, He could not forget them. Thus in His opulent Ratha-yäträ, He was returning to Vrndävana. In the role of Srimaté Rädhäräni, Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu was examining whether the Lord still remembered the inhabitants of Vrndävana. When Caitanya Mahäprabhu fell behind the Ratha car, Jagannätha-deva, Krsna Himself, understood the mind of Srimaté Rädhäräni. Therefore, Jagannätha sometimes fell behind the dancing Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu to indicate to Srimaté Rädhäräni that He had not forgotten. Thus Lord Jagannätha would stop the forward march of the ratha and wait at a standstill. In this way Lord Jagannätha agreed that without the ecstasy of Srimaté Rädhäräni He could not feel satisfied. While Jagannätha was thus waiting, Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahäprabhu, in His ecstasy of Srimaté Rädhäräni, immediately came forward to Krsna. At such times, Lord Jagannätha would proceed ahead very slowly. These competitive exchanges were all part of the love affair between Krsna and Srimaté Rädhäräni. In that competition between Lord Caitanya’s ecstasy for Jagannätha and Jagannätha’s ecstasy for Srimaté Rädhäräni, Caitanya Mahäprabhu emerged successful.

 

[atma]

Thank you MC, that passage made my morning.

 

Over here, their Lorships are in the Yauvanan lila, after Snana Yatra. Every morning after Guru Puja the devotees sing:

 

JAGANNATHA SWAMI NAYANA PATHA GAMI BHAVATU ME.

 

They are also reading from Chaitanya Charitamrita about the Ratha Yatra pastimes. Today was how the Bengali devotees arrived in Puri to see the Lord and how He sent so much maha-prasadam for them

 

Very, very enlivening.