Issue no. 4 The Confidential Meaning of Ratha-yatra Excerpts from the following articles: * Darsan of Lord Jagannath at Ratha-yatra His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada * The Confidential Meaning of Ratha-yatra by Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja * Nava-kalevaram: Lord Jagannath’s Change of Body Pastime * Lord Jagannath the Meticulous Dresser

Devotee: Prabhupada, can you explain a little more about Ratha-yatra. Anyone who takes part in Ratha-yatra, are they liberated?

Prabhupada: Certainly.

Devotee: Does that mean they will not take birth again?

Prabhupada: Yes, provided they take it seriously. Otherwise, if they keep their mentality differently, then according to mind, one has to get a body. But... Just like so many boys. They come here in the beginning out of curiosity, but gradually, they get the chance of becoming devotees. Similarly, if they take the chance, then they will be liberated. They come out of curiosity, but if they take it seriously, then they will be liberated. Just like the hospital is meant for curing disease. So one should take the treatment. If one simply goes and visits the hospital thinking "Now I am cured," how it can be done? Suppose if I advertise that "Anyone who comes to this hospital, he will be cured of his disease," that's a fact. But if he thinks that "I have come here. Now I am going," then how he will be cured? If one sees Jagannath on the Ratha-yatra, his way for liberation is open, but if he comes back again and entangles himself, then? One goes to the doctor. He gives injection. The disease is cured. But again he comes back and does the same thing so that he develops this disease again. So whose fault is it? This is called hasti-snana. The elephant takes bath very nicely but then as soon as it comes on the bank of the river or the lake, he takes dust and throws it all over his body again. If we do that, then we shall remain always dirty. You go, take bath, cleanse, but don't take dirt again. ...It is a fact that seeing Jagannath one becomes mukta. But if he again comes to maya, then who can check him? Just like you are all on the path of liberation, but if you again come back to maya, then where is your liberation? If somebody comes here and sees his path for liberation is open. Now he should protect himself. Just a like disease, the fever is subsided. Now one should be careful not to relapse the fever. ... Not that, "Now I have seen Jagannath. My liberation is guaranteed. Now I can do anything. That's all." This mentality will not give you liberation. You have seen Jagannath, your sinful activities are now neutralized. Now don't commit them again. Now make progress. Then your liberation is guaranteed. Namno balad yasya hi papa buddhih. In every initiation we teach this, that once chanting Hare Krishna is sufficient to make us pure from all sinful activities. But if we commit sin again in the hope that, "Because I am chanting, this will be neutralized." that is the greatest sin. So one side, you should always chant Hare Krishna mantra so that you may not fall down; and on another side, you should be careful: "Now no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no meat-eating." In this way, if you carefully make progress, then your liberation is guaranteed.

(SP, Lecture, LA, 1 July 1971)

There are many misconceptions about Lord Jagannath and Ratha-yatra. We should understand the tattva that Mahaprabhu described, that Mahaprabhu manifested, because Mahaprabhu is the supreme authority. Who is Jagannath? There is no difference between Mahaprabhu, Krishna and Jagannath: "sei krsna, sei gaura, sei jagannatha". The people in general don’t understand. They have many speculations or concoctions.

They are proud of their material learning, merit, intelligence and knowledge. But one cannot understand the Supreme Lord without the mercy of the Lord. That is the only thing required. And they are not hearing from a sadhu, guru, vaisnava, without which no one can understand. Only a dear devotee of Jagannath, Krishna, Mahaprabhu will understand. Mahaprabhu is an acarya. He came as an acarya, sadhu-guru, and He has described the tattva behind Ratha-yatra. It isn’t easy to understand — paramo nirmatsaranam satam vedyam.1 Srimad Bhagavatam says who can understand — only a vaisnava who is non-envious. Although others may hear, still they cannot understand. It won’t enter into their ears. I will describe the history and tattva of Ratha-yatra according to how Mahaprabhu has revealed it.

Skanda Purana is the biggest Purana of the eighteen Puranas. There is one khanda named Utkal-khanda. In Utkal-khanda we find everything regarding Lord Jagannath and Purusottama-ksetra, which is also known as Jagannath-ksetra. Vyasadeva has written it. In Skanda Purana Lord Jagannath tells Maharaja Indradyumna, "O King, I appeared on the full moon day of the month of Jyestha." This is the day on which we observe Snana Purnima — Lord Jagannath’s public bath. That was in the Svayambhuva manvantara, in the first part of Satya-yuga. Lord Jagannath said, "I appeared, being pleased with the performance of yajna and bhakti." This is the birthday of Jagannath-deva. So every year on this day the public bathing ceremony should be performed — that was the order of Jagannath to Indradyumna Maharaja. Maharaja Indradyumna is a great devotee. He performed one thousand horse sacrifices. Being pleased with his devotee and his yajna performance, Lord Jagannath appeared in the second part of the Svayambhuva manvantara and Brahma installed the deities in the temple.

If you calculate this period you will find the dates on which the building of the Jagannath temple started, when the temple was inaugurated, and when the Deities were installed on their simhasana. This was fifteen crores and thirty-four lakhs (153,400,000) years ago. This is according to the authority of Skanda Purana. Ratha-yatra began in Svarocisa Manu’s time. There are fourteen Manus in one day of Brahma. Their period of reign is called a manvantara. Vaivasvata manvantara is going on now. Svayambhuva is the first Manu, then Svarocisa, followed by Uttama, Tamasa, Raivata, and Caksusa. Presently Vaivasvata Manu is going on. Next will come Savarni, Daksa-savarni, Brahma-savarni, Dharma-savarni, Rudra-savarni, Deva-savarni, Indra-savarni. Fourteen manus in all. Svarocisa Manu is the second Manu and according to Skanda Purana the Ratha-yatra began during his reign. That was Satya-yuga, and Ratha-yatra has been continuing up till now. It is mentioned that this will continue until the end of the second parardha [half] period of Brahma. Brahma’s lifetime is one hundred years. So Ratha-yatra will continue to go on for half of his lifetime.

(This article is concluded in the magazine)

Although the trees used to fashion the deities may come from anywhere in Orissa, the name of the particular village where each tree will be found is recorded in the Niladri-mahodaya sastra. This book, written on palm leaves thousands of years ago, contains a list of all the places where the trees will be found for each nava-kalevara festival going into the future for thousands of years. Even though the specific place is already stated in sastra, still the location of each tree must also be revealed in a dream to the head priest. The ancient procedure for finding the trees is described briefly as follows:

A search party goes out looking for the trees. This party must consist of one member of the Pati Mahapatra family (descendants of the brahmana Vidyapati), twenty Dayitapatis (descendants of Visvavasu), sixteen brahmanas, thirty police officers, three inspectors of police, one Lenka, and nine Maharanas, (The Lenka and Maharana families are the descendants of Visvakarma, the craftsman of the demigods, who is said to have carved the first deities of Jagannath). Before leaving, they must receive the blessings of Lord Jagannath. This comes as a twelve foot long garland called dhanva-mala. This garland is first offered to each of the deities, then the head-priest gives the garland to the eldest member of the Pati Mahapatra family, who carries this mala on his head or in his hands as he leads the procession. When the tree has been found, the garland will be placed on a coconut offering in front of a fire sacrifice.

Before leaving the temple, the pandas tie pieces of cloth from Lord Jagannath’s dress as turbans on their heads to indicate that the Lord will go with them. The procession begins at the altar in front of Jagannath. At that time, Lord Jagannath’s shoes are touched to the heads of everyone in the party.

The procession sets out from the temple on foot and goes first to the palace of the King of Puri to receive his permission. From the palace they proceed to the Jagannath Vallabha gardens, where the party spends two days engaged in prayer as guests of the Jagannath Vallabha Matha. After that, they travel about thirty miles to spend one night at the Deuli Matha.

The next morning they walk another twenty miles to the village of Kakatpur, which lies between Puri and Konarka. At this village is the temple of the goddess Durga known as Mangala or Vimala. It is said that Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited this extremely ancient deity on His way to Puri. The pandas describe that Lord Jagannath considers Mangala-devi to be His mother. The party stays for several days at the temple. During this time the eldest Dayitapati sleeps inside, waiting for Goddess Mangala to appear to him in a dream and tell him the locations where the trees will be found. These locations are then confirmed to be correct by those priests who are allowed access to the Niladri-mahodaya sastra.

When the party arrives at the sites that were revealed in both the dream and in the sastra, they may find many trees growing there. However, the darus, or sacred trees, have specific characteristics that set them apart from any ordinary trees that may be there.

The special features by which the Jagannath daru is identified are as follows:

Three other trees must be growing nearby:

1) The Bilva or Bael tree (aegle marmelos). The leaves of this tree are used in the worship of Lord Siva. Possesing great healing powers, the Bilva tree is commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine.

2) Varuna tree (craetova tapia). Also used in Ayurvedic medicine. This rare tree is reputed to be able to protect one from snakes. It is said to have the potency to destroy pride and anger.

3) Sahada tree: This tree is said to be able to help one forget the false ego. It is also very rare.

The site of the sacred daru must be surrounded by three mountains. Also, a large ant-hill, a temple of Lord Siva, a crematorium, a junction of three roads, a lake, and a river must be found nearby. The lake will be used by the priests for ceremonial bathing.

The tree itself must be blackish in color and have four branches stemming from the main trunk. It must be free from disease and any visible effects of lightning damage. There should be no creepers or vines growing on the tree and no birds living there. If any birds are nested in it, the tree is considered impure and will not be used. At the base of the tree there must be a snake hole inhabited by at least one snake to guard the daru. Furthermore, the four symbols of Lord Visnu, namely the conch, club, cakra and lotus flower must be clearly visible on the bark of the tree. All these elements must be present for the tree to be acknowledged as the sacred daru.

The Baladeva daru must be white in color and have seven branches stemming from the main trunk. The signs of a club and plow must be clearly visible on the bark. Once again, the tree must be guarded by a snake. Subhadra daru must be yellow in color and have five main branches. Its bark will bear the sign of a yoni, a womb, and five lotus flowers. The Sudarsana daru is recognized by its reddish color, three main branches and the sign of a disk.

In 1996 the Jagannath daru was located at a small village outside Khurda, near Bhubaneswar. As we approached the site, we were encouraged to see three mountains surrounding the area and a lake nearby, all in accordance with the sastric description. Driving up a sandy track, we found ourselves in a desolate area whose inhabitants were oblivious to the onset of the twentieth century. The simple locals looked on with wide eyes at a makeshift village of entrepreneurs that had sprung up to cater to the hundreds of pilgrims. Devotees from all over Orissa had descended upon their home to see Jagannath in His form as a tree. 

One enthusiastic Jagannath bhakta began pointing out all the symbols on the daru to us. Although a materialist might protest that they were just unusual knots in the bark, or a casual observer might not notice them at all, when they were pointed out to us, we could clearly identify the symbols of the lotus, cakra, conch and disk. Indeed, the tree had all the distinguishing features that we had heard about. Our guide also showed us the three other trees next to the Jagannath daru and the snake holes at the base of the tree. There were no snakes visible at that time, but he cheerfully assured us that they would come out at night. We didn’t stay to find out.

(This article is concluded in the magazine)

One unique way Lord Jagannath is worshipped in Puri is in His variety of dress. The pandas or priests of Lord Jagannath decorate Him in ways that are not seen in any other tradition in India. This unique worship of Lord Krishna as practiced in Puri does not find its origin in Gaudiya Vaisnavism, but devotees coming in the line of Lord Caitanya eagerly go to see the Lord enjoying different pastimes in His Deity form.

Jagannath is Krishna, and Krishna is avatari — not an incarnation of the Lord, but rather the source of all incarnations. Srimad Bhagavatam describes, krsnas tu bhagavan svayam — Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead.1 A similar statement is made about Lord Jagannath in the Skanda Purana, Utkal Khanda, fifty-eighth chapter:

tat phalam lalate martya
drsta sri purusottama
dasavatara samjnasya
katitah putra te maya

The results obtained from the darsana of all of the ten incarnations of the Lord is available simply by once having darsana of Sri Purusottama, Lord Jagannath.

Therefore Puri is also sometimes called Dasavatara-ksetra, the place of the ten incarnations. Aside from His different daily dresses, Lord Jagannath occasionally accepts the garb of some of His Visnu incarnations, and over the course of the year He is offered several other unique dresses. Lord Jagannath has two particular types of servants who dress Him. Those who dress Him on a daily basis are known as puspalaka and those who decorate Him in special dresses on festive occasions are known as srngari. The following is a brief description of some of the ways in which Lord Jagannath is dressed in Puri.

Every morning for mangala-arati Lord Jagannath is dressed in a cotton sari. This is called His cemedi vesa.

For taking His morning bath, Lord Jagannath is dressed in a 16’ long by 4’ wide orange and white cotton cloth. This is called tadapa vesa.

Utari means cadar, or wrapper. After His morning darsana, Lord Jagannath wears a 24’ long silk cloth as a cadar.

Every evening at about 10:00 P.M., before Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra are put to rest, They are dressed in their bada srngara vesa. Bada means great, and srngara refers to the conjugal love of the gopis and Radharani for Krishna. The pandas consider that at this time every evening the gopis and Radha come to see Jagannath. The bada srngara vesa consists of gita-govindam khandua and eight floral ornaments.

The gita-govindam khandua are twelve foot long red silk cloths which are wrapped over each Deity’s head. On these cloths are written lines from Jayadeva Gosvami’s Gita-govinda. Gita-govinda is very dear to Lord Jagannath, so every evening it is recited for His pleasure, and He is dressed with the gita-govindam khandua. The eight floral ornaments are:

• Candrika with alaka panti — An alaka or forehead decoration made entirely of flowers.

• Puspa tilaka — A flower garland tilaka sign on Lord Jagannath’s head.

• Karapallaba — Made from fragrant dayana leaf and varieties of flowers, these are decorations representing the Lord’s hands and five fingers.

• Makara Kundala — Flower earrings shaped like sharks.

• Padaka — Round or heart shaped, about 18 inches in diameter, this decoration covers Lord Jagannath’s heart.

• Guna and Jhumpa — Nose decorations made from flowers.

• Puspa mala — Lord Jagannath is dressed with many flower garlands, each about twelve feet long, stretching from arm to arm.

• Tulasi mala — Lord Jagannath wears a crown of tulasi garlands which are wrapped on pieces of bamboo and tied together.

As noted in Pancaratra Pradipa: "Many temples in Vrndavana dress the Deity in the color corresponding to the planetary gem of the ruling planet of the day of the week." The same basic system is followed in Jagannath Puri for the different colors of cloth used for the the bada srngara vesa. They are as follows:

Sunday — Ruled by the sun. Lord Jagannath is generally dressed in red garments on this day, the color of the ruby.

Monday — Ruled by the moon. Jagannath wears white on this day, the color of the pearl.

Tuesday — Ruled by the planet Mars. Jagannath wears red or pink garments on this day, the color of coral.

Wednesday — Ruled by Mercury. Lord Jagannath wears green, the color of the emerald.

Thursday — Ruled by Jupiter. Jagannath wears yellow or gold dress, the color of the yellow sapphire.

Friday — Ruled by the planet Venus. Lord Jagannath wears white garments this day, the color of the diamond.

Saturday — Ruled by the planet Saturn. Jagannath wears black cloth on this day, corresponding to the color of the blue sapphire.

(This article is concluded in the magazine)