The Ecstatic Dancing of the Lord at Ratha-yātrā

The word dayitā refers to one who has received the mercy of the Lord. Lord Jagannātha has a number of stalwart servants known as dayitās. These servants do not come from very high-caste families (brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas or vaiśyas), but because they are engaged in the service of the Lord, they have been elevated to a respected position. Thus they are known as dayitās. These servants of Lord Jagannātha take care of the Lord from the day of the Snāna-yātrā up to the time the Lord is carried from the throne to the Ratha car. In the Kṣetra-māhātmya these dayitās are said to come from the śabaras, a caste that keeps and sells pigs. However, among the dayitās there are also many who come from the brāhmaṇa caste. Those dayitās coming from the brāhmaṇa families are called dayitā-patis, or leaders of the dayitās. The dayitā-patis offer food such as sweetmeats to Lord Jagannātha during the anavasara, the resting period after Snāna-yātrā. They also make the early-morning offering of sweetmeats daily. It is said that during the anavasara Lord Jagannātha suffers from fever and that the dayitā-patis offer Him an infusion of drugs represented by fruit juice. It is said that in the beginning Lord Jagannātha was worshiped by the śabaras and was known as the Deity Nīla Mādhava. Later, when the Deity was established in the temple, the Lord became known as Jagannātha. Because the Deities were taken from the śabaras, all the śabara devotees were elevated to the position of dayitās.

The word maṇimā is used to address a respectable person in Orissa. Lord Jagannātha was being respectfully addressed by Śrī Caitanya in this way.

Unless one receives the mercy of the Lord, he cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead or engage in His devotional service.

A devotee who has received even a small fraction of the mercy of the Lord can understand Him. Others may engage in theoretical speculation to understand the Lord, but they cannot know anything about Him. Although Mahārāja Pratāparudra was very eager to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Lord refused to see him. But when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw the King engaged in menial service for Lord Jagannātha, He became very happy. Thus the King became eligible to receive Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy. If a devotee accepts Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the universal guru and Lord Jagannātha as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, he is benefited by the combined mercy of Kṛṣṇa and guru. That is stated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His instructions to Rūpa Gosvāmī (Cc. Madhya 19.151):

The seed of devotional service fructifies and becomes a transcendental creeper. Finally it reaches the lotus feet of the Lord in the spiritual sky. This seed is obtained by the mercy of the Lord and the guru. By the Lord’s mercy one gets the association of a bona fide guru, and by the mercy of the guru one gets a chance to render devotional service. Devotional service, the science of bhakti-yoga, carries one from this material world to the spiritual world.

In the year 1973 there was a gorgeous Ratha-yātrā festival in London, England, and the car was brought to Trafalgar Square. The London daily newspaper The Guardian published a front-page photo caption: “ISKCON Ratha-yātrā is rival to the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square.” The Nelson Column is a very impressive statue of Lord Nelson and can be seen from a good distance. Just as the residents of Purī compared the Ratha-yātrā car to Mount Sumeru, the residents of London considered the car rival to the Nelson Monument.

The fifteen-day period of anavasara is also called nibhṛta, in honor of the solitary place where the supreme goddess of fortune lives. After living there a fortnight, Lord Jagannātha took permission from the goddess of fortune to leave.

In this connection, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments that as an ideal husband, Lord Jagannātha remained fifteen days in a secluded place with His wife, the supreme goddess of fortune. Nonetheless, the Lord wanted to come out of seclusion to give happiness to His devotees. The Lord enjoys Himself in two ways, known as svakīya and parakīya. The Lord’s conjugal love in the svakīya-rasa relates to the regulative principles observed in Dvārakā, where the Lord has many married queens. But in Vṛndāvana the conjugal love of the Lord is not with His married wives but with His girlfriends, the gopīs. Conjugal love with the gopīs is called parakīya-rasa. Lord Jagannātha leaves the secluded place where He enjoys the company of the supreme goddess of fortune in svakīya-rasa, and He goes to Vṛndāvana, where He enjoys the parakīya-rasa. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura therefore reminds us that the Lord’s pleasure in parakīya-rasa is superior to His pleasure in svakīya-rasa.

In the material world, parakīya-rasa, or loving affairs with unmarried girlfriends, is the most degraded relationship, but in the spiritual world this type of loving affair is considered the supreme enjoyment. In the material world everything is but a reflection of the spiritual world, and that reflection is perverted. We cannot understand the affairs of the spiritual world on the basis of our experience in the material world. The Lord’s pastimes with the gopīs are therefore misunderstood by mundane scholars and word-wranglers. The parakīya-rasa of the spiritual world should not be discussed except by one who is very advanced in pure devotional service. The parakīya-rasa in the spiritual world and that in the material world are not comparable. The former is like gold, and the latter is like iron. Because the difference between the two is so great, they cannot actually be compared. However, just as a knowledgeable person can easily distinguish gold from iron, one who has the proper realization can easily distinguish the transcendental activities of the spiritual world from material activities.

In the first group, Dāmodara Svarūpa was appointed chief singer, and the responding singers were Dāmodara Paṇḍita, Nārāyaṇa, Govinda Datta, Rāghava Paṇḍita and Govindānanda. Śrī Advaita Ācārya was appointed as a dancer. The next group was formed, and the chief singer was Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura.

In the third group, Mukunda was appointed the chief singer. This party was composed of Vāsudeva, Gopīnātha, Murāri, Śrīkānta and Vallabha Sena. The senior Haridāsa (Haridāsa Ṭhākura) was the dancer.

The mystery of the Lord’s activities is described by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Lord Jagannātha was astonished to see the transcendental dancing and chanting of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and He stopped His car just to see the dancing. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu then danced in such a mystical way that He pleased Lord Jagannātha. The seer and the dancer were one and the same Supreme Person, but the Lord, being one and many at the same time, was exhibiting the variegatedness of His pastimes. This is the meaning behind His mysterious exhibition. By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the King could understand how the two of Them were enjoying each other’s activities. Another mysterious exhibition was Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s simultaneous presence in seven groups. By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the King could understand that also.

As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was playing the part of a world teacher, He did not agree to see the King, because a king is a mundane person interested in money and women. Indeed, the very word “king” suggests one who is always surrounded by money and women. As a sannyāsī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was afraid of both money and women. The very word “king” is repugnant to one who is in the renounced order of life. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu refused to see the King, but indirectly, by the Lord’s causeless mercy, the King was able to understand the Lord’s mysterious activities. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s activities were exhibited sometimes to reveal Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and sometimes to show Him as a devotee. Both kinds of activities are mysterious and appreciated only by pure devotees.

It is stated in the Upaniṣads:

“The Supreme Lord has multipotencies, which act so perfectly that all consciousness, strength and activity are being directed solely by His will.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8)

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited His mystic power in presenting Himself simultaneously in each and every saṅkīrtana group. Most people thought that He was one, but some saw that He was many. The internal devotees could understand that the Lord, although one, was exhibiting Himself as many in the different saṅkīrtana groups. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu danced, He forgot Himself and was simply absorbed in ecstatic bliss. But His internal potency arranged everything perfectly. This is the difference between the internal and external potency. In the material world, the external potency (material energy) can act only after one endeavors at great length, but when the Supreme Lord desires, everything is performed automatically by the internal potency. By His will, things happen so nicely and perfectly that they appear to be carried out automatically. Sometimes the activities of the internal potency are exhibited in the material world. In fact, all the activities of material nature are actually performed by the inconceivable energies of the Lord, but so-called scientists and students of material nature are unable to understand ultimately how things are happening. They evasively conclude that everything is being done by nature, but they do not know that behind nature is the potent Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kṛṣṇa explains this in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10):

“This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.”

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into many forms while engaged in the rāsa-līlā dance, and He also expanded Himself when He married 16,000 wives in Dvārakā. The same process was adopted by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He expanded Himself into seven forms to dance in each and every group of the saṅkīrtana party. These expansions were appreciated by pure devotees, including King Pratāparudra. Although for reasons of external formality Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu refused to see King Pratāparudra because he was a king, King Pratāparudra became one of the Lord’s most confidential devotees by the Lord’s special mercy upon him. The King could see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu simultaneously present in all seven groups. As confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one cannot see the expansions of the transcendental forms of the Lord unless one is a pure devotee of the Lord.

This is a quotation from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.19.65).

This is a verse from the Mukunda-mālā (2).

This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.90.48).

This is verse 74 from the Padyāvalī, an anthology of verses compiled by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

If a burning cinder of a firebrand is whirled about very swiftly, it gives the appearance of a circle of fire. This is called alāta-ākāra or alāta-cakra, a firebrand circle. This whole circle is not actually made of fire but is a single fire in motion. Similarly, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is a single personality, but when He danced and jumped high in a circle, He appeared like the alāta-cakra.

This song refers to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s meeting with Kṛṣṇa at the holy place of Kurukṣetra, where Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His brother and sister came to visit when there was a solar eclipse. It is a song of separation from Kṛṣṇa. When Rādhārāṇī met Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra, She remembered His intimate association in Vṛndāvana, and She thought, “Now I have gained the Lord of My life. In His absence I was being burned by the arrow of Cupid, and thus I was withering away. Now I have My life again.”