The Ecstatic Dancing of the Lord at Ratha-yatra
"May the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, who danced in front of the car of Sri Jagannatha, be all glorified! By seeing His dancing, not only was the whole universe held in wonder, but Lord Jagannatha Himself became very much astonished."
"All glories to Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Prabhu Nityananda! All glories to Advaitacandra! And all glories to the devotees of Lord Srī Caitanya Mahaprabhu!"
SB 1.1.3
nigama-kalpa-taror galitam phalam
suka-mukhad amrta-drava-samyutam
pibata bhagavatam rasam alayam
muhur aho rasika bhuvi bhavukah
nigama—the Vedic literatures; kalpa-taroh—the desire tree; galitam—fully matured; phalam—fruit; suka—Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, the original speaker of Srimad-Bhagavatam; mukhat—from the lips of; amrta—nectar; drava—semisolid and soft and therefore easily swallowable; samyutam—perfect in all respects; pibata—do relish it; bhagavatam—the book dealing in the science of the eternal relation with the Lord; rasam—juice (that which is relishable); alayam—until liberation, or even in a liberated condition; muhuh—always; aho—O; rasikah—those who are full in the knowledge of mellows; bhuvi—on the earth; bhavukah—expert and thoughtful.
O expert and thoughtful men, relish Srimad-Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Sri Sukadeva Gosvami. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.
SB 1.1.10
prayenalpayusah sabhya
kalav asmin yuge janah
mandah sumanda-matayo
manda-bhagya hy upadrutah
prayena—almost always; alpa—meager; ayusah—duration of life; sabhya—member of a learned society; kalau—in this age of Kali (quarrel); asmin—herein; yuge—age; janah—the public; mandah—lazy; sumanda-matayah—misguided; manda-bhagyah—unlucky; hi—and above all; upadrutah—disturbed.
O learned one, in this iron age of Kali men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.
Saunaka Rsi
The mood of Ratha Yatra festival
Now, this occasion I may explain little bit. Here you see Jagannatha and
Balarama and Subhadra. They are Krsna and His elder brother and His sister,
Subhadra. There is a place in India about ninety miles north of Delhi. You
have heard the name of New Delhi. The place is named Kuruksetra. It is
accepted as the holy place, pilgrimage. People still gather there,
especially during the eclipse, solar and lunar eclipse. So there was once,
five thousand years ago, there was a solar eclipse, and all people, from all
parts of India, they came to Kuruksetra, and Krsna at that time was prince
at Dvaraka, He also came with His elder brother and sister. Krsna in His
childhood, He was raised as the foster son of Maharaja Nanda and mother
Yasoda in Vrndavana. Then, when He was grown up... You will find this
history in the Krsna book. So the incidence is that Krsna was the beloved
personality in Vrndavana. So when He left Vrndavana, all the people there,
they were very, very unhappy. So when Krsna came to Kuruksetra from Dvaraka
with His brother and sister, these people in Vrndavana, they got news that
Krsna is coming there. Vrndavana is about the same distance. Kuruksetra is
greater distance. Anyway, they came to see Krsna out of their love. And the
most beloved personality, Srimati Radharani, She was requesting Krsna that
"You are the same Krsna. I am the same Radharani. But the place is not the
same. You are here in Kuruksetra in royal opulence, and we are coming from
the village. So if You again please come to Vrndavana." This was Radharani's
request. And it is very ecstatic feeling. Those who are advanced devotee,
they can enjoy... So this is a very feeling festival.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Ratha-yatra -- Philadelphia, July 12, 1975
By Lakshman Das
Caitanya Mahaprabhu's participation in the rathayatra is described in the madhya-lila (chapter-13) of Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, "The ecstatic dancing of the Lord at rathayatra," and it is briefed here. As said before, the miraculous pastimes of Lord Caitanya's dancing exhibited during the rathayatra was a fascination to the crowd five centuries ago. After an early morning bath, Mahaprabhu took darshan of the Deities (Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra) and got on to their carts, and that glorious occasion is called pandu vijaya. His close associates Nityananda, Advaitacarya, Srivasa, Ramai, Raghu, Govinda, Mukunda, Haridasa, Govindananda, Madhava, and Srivasa Thakura, and others accompanied Him. Svarupa Damodara was made a main troupe leader. They sang and danced around the Lord. Worshipping Lord Jagannatha, Caitanya Mahaprabhu prayed, "My obeisance to Sri Krsna adorable to all brahmanas, the bestower of cows and pious humans, and the world's beneficiary, I worship You again and again, You Supreme Person, O Krsna, O Govinda. All glories to You the Supreme Lord, the son of Devaki. O the Supreme One, You are the light of the Vrshnis, O glorious One, Your body is bright as a new rising cloud in sky and soft as lotus petals. All glories to You, who arrived on earth to rescue her from the tread of demons, O liberator of all. O Krsna, O the utmost Destination of all, O the son of Devaki, son of Yashoda, You directed the Yadus with Your almighty arms and dissipated all impious and inauspicious omens. Your presence destroyed all wicked life among the movables and immovable. Your blissful smile aroused lust among the damsels of Vrindavana. O glorious Person, please dwell in happiness. I am neither a brahmana, kshatraiya, vaishya, or sudra nor I am a brahmachari, grahastha, vanaprastha, or sannyasi. I am an insignificant servant of the servants of the servants of the lotus feet of Krsna, the lover and protector of gopis. You are an ocean of nectar, the transcendental bliss, and may You ever dwell in glory."
When Caitanya Mahaprabhu danced, jumped high and moved in circles, if appeared like a whirling firebrand. While He roared and treaded, the whole earth, hills and seas appeared trembling. Many blissful transcendental emotions transpired in the Lord when He danced. His bodily hairs stood on end in ecstasy, and He sometimes cried aloud, trembled and perspired. Occasionally His body appeared in various hues and aroused emotional symptoms of humility, arrogance, peace and agitation. Sometimes He crashed on ground and rolled like a mad man and sometimes Nityananda Prabhu stretched out His hands to behold the Lord, while Advaita Acharya walked behind and chanted aloud, "Hari bol, Hari bol…." To protect the Lord from the crowd, they moved in three concentric circles and bounded with locked hands and Nityananda Prabhu secured the inner circle. Devotees like Kasisvara, Govinda and others formed the second circle, while King Prataparudra (said to be King Indradyumna reborn) locked hands with Haricandana and other royal guards framed the third circle. All danced ecstatically in circles with their attention affixed on Lord Caitanya. Even the manifest Deities were keen watching the ecstatic dance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu exhibiting the eight glorious mellows of perfect bhakti-rasa and His body appeared like a thorny silk cotton tree with erect hairs and eruptions of blood and sweat. Tears sprayed from His eyes wetting his accomplices and He turned pink. Occasionally, He looked stunned, stood firm, and unmoved, and His body became hard like wood. Sometimes, He fell down and rolled, or lied breathless with flowing tears, wet nose, and foaming mouth. Devotees like Subhananda tasted the eruptions of His embodiment like nectar flown from moon. When Caitanya got up, He asked Svarupa Damodara to sing and he sang, "I have now got the Lord in my life and Cupid wandered me bereft of Him." Hearing it, the Lord danced again exhibiting his ecstasy.
As the carts moved on, Nitai and associates took to the front of Jagannatha and danced, and it was a majestic show of mellows to all participants and onlookers of the rathayatra. Occasionally, the Lord and His sankirtana troupes sang and danced at the trail of the rally as well. Sometimes Jagannatha's car stopped when Mahaprabhu moved down and then He moved up and danced in front and the car starts again to the astonishment of all spectators. It showed a test of love between the giver Jagannatha (Krsna) and receiver Gaurasundara (Radharani) and it proved that the provider wil function only in the presence of the real lover, which exemplifies the significance of perfect bhakti to the devotees.
Sri Caitanya-caritamṛta: (Madhya-lila Text 1-69) By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The Ecstatic Dancing of the Lord at Ratha-yatra
sa jiyat krsna-caitanyah
shri-rathagre nanarta yah
yenasij jagatam citram
jagannatho api vismitah
"May the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, who danced in front of the car of Sri Jagannatha, be all glorified! By seeing His dancing, not only was the whole universe held in wonder, but Lord Jagannatha Himself became very much astonished."
jaya jaya sri-krsna-caitanya nityananda
jayadvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrinda
"All glories to Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Prabhu Nityananda! All glories to Advaitacandra! And all glories to the devotees of Lord Srī Caitanya Mahaprabhu!"
All glories to the listeners of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Please hear the description of the dancing of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu at the Ratha-yatra festival. His dancing is very enchanting. Please hear of it with great attention.
The next day, Srī Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His personal associates got up in the dark and attentively took their early morning baths.
Srī Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His personal associates then went to see the ceremony of Paṇḍu-vijaya. During this ceremony, Lord Jagannatha leaves His throne and gets up onto the car.
King Prataparudra in person, as well as his entourage, allowed the Paṇḍu-vijaya ceremony to be seen by all the associates of Srī Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Srī Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His prominent devotees-Advaita Acarya, Nityananda Prabhu and others-were very happy to observe how Lord Jagannatha began the Ratha-yatra.
The very strongly built dayitas [carriers of the Jagannatha Deity] were as powerful as drunken elephants. They manually carried Lord Jagannatha from the throne to the car.
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