Ghatkopar Rath Yatra – Importance of Jagannath Rath Yatra

Glorification of work done by Somaiyya family

I am especially grateful to have this opportunity to be with all of you this evening. My
special gratitude to Mr. Sameer Somaiyya for opening his heart in such a way to make this
beautiful festival possible. In fact Mr. Sameer Somaiyya...., it was his inspiration and
enthusiasm that was the beginning of the idea of having this festival. I am so overwhelmed
with gratitude to see how he is carrying on the great legacy of his father, Dr. Shantilal
Somaiyya’s and his grandfather’s vision to not only develop the Somaiyya College in a way
that will bring tremendous benefits to India and the world, but to spread Sanatan dharma
throughout the world in a way that is relevant and that will transform people’s hearts. Dr.
Shantilal Somaiyya was very dearly loved by my beloved guru maharaj, His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada and many of the original disciples that Srila Prabhupada brought
to India. He is a man who represented integrity, character and devotion and very fearlessly
stood up for dharma. Our Srila Prabhupada very much appreciated that quality in him and
he very much appreciated and loved our Srila Prabhupada for his fearless endeavours to
spread the pure message of Bhagvat Gita and Krsna Consciousness throughout India and the
world. Just a few minutes ago as Sameer Somaiyya was taking me to various parts of the
campus and he was explaining to me the concept of this college, I was feeling so much hope.
The basis of real education is not just accumulating data within our brains and the ability to
achieve. Real education is for the transformation of the heart and the life. To understand
philosophically, scientifically and practically why living by virtue, high values and devotion,
whatever we do will bring us a more meaningful life and bring great benefits and joy to the
world. Many of the greatest problems in the world are due to highly educated people and
many of the greatest solutions are due to highly educated people. A knife in itself is neutral.
In the hands of a person with greed and cruelty, it will cut a person’s throat to rob what he
has. That same knife, when in the hands of a doctor will save a person’s life. When... when
education and knowledge is based on the foundation of character, value and spiritual
understanding then our universities and our colleges can produce people who will be happy,
joyful, enlightened and bring enlightenment to the world. But when that same knowledge is
acquired by a person who has ego and greed, could create wars, destroy the environment,
create economic chaos. This is a universal principle. And we are, throughout the world, in
our temples, in our ashrams trying to share this wisdom and we are so happy to see a
college of such a stature as Somaiyya College striving in this way.

Jagannath : Lord of the Universe

Today we are celebrating Jagannath’s Rath Yatra. The name, Jagannath is so important for
all of us in this very turbulent, divided state of society today. Jagannath means the Lord of
the universe. Not the Lord of people of a particular religion, particular caste, race,
nationality.... Not even particularly of or for people, for particular specie. Jagannath is
equally the Lord of every living being in the entire universe. Krsna tells in Gita, aham bija
pradah pita. I am the father and the mother of all living beings. mamaivamso jiva loke jiva
bhutah sanatanah Krsna tells in the Geeta, all living beings are my parts and parcels,
qualitatively one with me like like the rays of the sun and quantitatively a part of me. The
ray of the sun gives out light and heat, identical to the sun but it is just a small part. And in
the same way the Gita teaches we are all of the spiritual substance as Krsna. Vidya vinaya
sampanne brahmane gavi hastini suni caiva sva pake ca pundit same darsine A person who
is actually learned, a person who has real knowledge according to the Gita, is one who sees
all living beings with equal vision. Whether one is from one religion or another, male or
female, black, white, red, yellow in colour, brown, rich, poor, whether one is a human or an
elephant or a cow or a dog, a learned person sees the spiritual essence, the soul, the part of
God, within his or her own heart and therefore sees our eternal loving relationship with
every living being. Raj Vaidya, raj guhyam. Krsna tells in Gita that this is the king of
education. Because it teaches us how to love the all attractive, all beautiful source of
everything, Krsna and seeing everything and everyone in relation to Krsna and therefore,
have compassion to all. Jagannath descends into this world for the purpose of attracting
and uniting everyone and to bestow the highest fortune upon everyone. And that same
Jagannath descended five hundred years ago as Lord Caitanya. Jagannath, Krsna spoke Gita
on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Our very dear Sameer, he quoted

sarva dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva papebhyo. moksayisyami ma sucah

That we should abandon all varieties of dharma and just surrender to the Supreme Lord,
surrender to Krsna. Krsna promises I will deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
In this age of Kali that same Lord descended in the form of Lord Caitanya, in the role of a
devotee to show us practically how to fulfil the perfection of dharma. And one of the most
instructive and fascinating ways that Lord Caitanya taught this highest dharma is His
example in the pastime of participating in Rath Yatra. Every year in Sri Jagannath Puri, this
Rath Yatra is celebrated and approximately one million people attend. I will say a few things
about how the Lord celebrated Rath Yatra. Jagannath goes on procession from his own
temple to Gundicha temple representing Krsna’s journey from Kurukshetra to Vrindavan.
The internal significance of Rath Yatra is the love of the gopis headed by Shri Radha, bringing
in the chariots of their minds, their hearts, Krsna from Kurukshetra back to Vrindavan after
many years of separation. Just a couple days before the procession, Lord Caitanya instructed
the superintendent and leaders of Jagannath temple that with all of my devotees, we want
to clean the Gundicha temple. Lord Caitanya himself and great avatars like Nityanand,
Advaita, Gadadhar, Srivas, Haridas.... they all participated.

Language of devotees – “Hare Krsna Mahamantra”

With hundreds of brooms and hundreds of pots of water, they thoroughly cleaned the
temple. As they were cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, sweeping and sweeping, every
tiny particle of sand, dust or straw, they were constantly chanting God’s names. Because
they were so united in making this temple clean for the Lord, just by chanting Krsna’s
names, they could relate every communication to each other. I have personally had this
experience, travelling through many foreign countries where I don’t know the language and
they don’t know my language and its still like that for me in India. Where service to God
and mutual respect in that service is there, real love develops and beautiful
communication even though there is no language to communicate with. I have friends in
the Vrindavan area. They always tell me, “Learn Hindi.” I always tell them, “Learn English.”
I have known them 30 almost 40 years, they have never learnt English and I have never
learnt Hindi. But we are best of friends. There is so much love, so much affection. When
we are together, they try to say something to me; I try to say something for them. We
understand what we are saying, even though we don’t understand. (The audience laughed).
And if there is something we don’t understand, we just say, “Jay Radhe” or “Hare Krsna” and
then we don’t need to understand anything else. If we understand the same language but
there is not that love, there... that connection, then we just argue. But we speak but we
don’t really trust each other. Where there is the communication of the heart, by uniting in
God’s love, in Krsna’s love then if you have language, you speak beautiful things together
and if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. Communication of the heart which connects people
through Krsna is forever. Sometimes they try to tell me something. But I don’t know what
they are saying. So they give me a roti. And then I understand everything that they just
want to give their love to me. So beautiful relationships are when there is a common
respect that we are all part of God and we share that. So they were cleaning and cleaning
the Gundicha temple and they had perfect communication just by saying, “Hari Hari.” Srila
Prabhupada said even if you don’t understand the language of God’s names, it will still have
the effect because it cleanses our heart. This cleansing of the Gundicha temple represents
cleaning our heart to make it a proper temple for Krsna to reveal Himself to us and through
us to the whole world. And the enthusiasm and the determination we must have to clean
our hearts that is the perfection of education.

Ceto darpan marjanam; bhava maha davagni nirvapanam

Lord Caitanya citing the great Vedic scriptures and the great Acaryas teaches, in this age of
Kali the most powerful and effective way of cleaning our heart and awakening that divine
love for Jagannath from within is the chanting of the holy names. Naam cintamanih Krsnas
Caitanya ras vigrahah; The name of Krsna is non different than Krsna. It is a pure spiritual
sound vibration. And there is a beautiful story that happened just after the cleansing of the
Gundicha temple that illustrates this truth.

Jagannath Rath Yatra celebration

After thoroughly sweeping and washing Gundica and the Narsimha temple , Shri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu was so happy, he began Namsankirtan, the congregational chanting of the
holy names. He himself was dancing and weeping in ecstatic love and all the devotees were
chanting and dancing along with him. Then Lord Caitanya turned to one of his very dearest
devotee’s son; the son of Advaita Acharya whose name was Sri Gopal. He cried out, “Gopal,
chant and dance.” That instruction coming from the heart of Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
enthused Gopal so much, he cried out the name of Krsna and he danced. So overwhelmed
by ecstatic love within seconds he fell to the ground unconscious. His father ran to him and
put his head on his lap and saw that Gopal was not breathing. There was no symptom of
life, in his own son. Advaita Acharya, in great grief, he called all the devotees. There were
hundreds of devotees. They made a circle around Gopal and loudly cried out the holy name
in such a way that the entire earth shook. (The audience chanted Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare RamHare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare) The earth didn’t shake, so
try again please. (The audience chanted Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare
Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare) Shook little. (Maharaj laughed). But Gopal laid there
lifeless. No matter how much they chanted, no matter how much they prayed, it appeared
he was dead. Advaita Prabhu began to cry and all the devotees around were all crying
because they loved Gopal. There was nothing they could do and Lord Caitanya placed his
hand on Gopal’s heart and with a thunderous voice, very sweet, He said, “Gopal, Stand up.”
Instantly Gopal opened his eyes, stood up and started chanting and dancing. And when all
devotees saw this they really, really shook the earth with the loud chanting of the holy
name. (The audience chanted Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare
Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare). I will try to give some lessons from this beautiful pastime.
Originally, we are all the children and the intimate associates of the Lord. But coming in
contact with this material energy, we choose to try to enjoy selfishly, rather than serve
selflessly. And through this process we forget our eternal nature; we forget the love of God
that is within us. And that forgetfulness is like being spiritually dead. When you are in deep
sleep, you completely forget who you really are. But the Lord and His compassionate
devotees, they come to the world, to wake us up out of our sleeping state.

Jeev Jago Jeev Jago, Gaura Chandra bole

kotha nidra jaya maya pisachir khole

The Lord comes with this simple message, “Wake up, wake up sleeping soul. You are
sleeping on the lap of maya, illusion. Spiritually is as good as dead. But the holy name of
the lord and the grace of the Lord and the devotees bring back the consciousness of our
eternal blissful life. If we are not these bodies and these great avatars who know that, why
were they crying when Gopal was dead? Krsna tells in Gita na jayate mriyate va kadacin...
na hanyate hanyamane sarire But the soul is eternal. It never dies; not even when the
body dies. Krsna tells Arjuna you should not lament for the living or the dead. So why these
greatest enlightened sages; and avatars were crying when Gopal died? When someone dies
to lament in illusion is to think that that person is dead. Knowledge is to know that person is
eternal. He or she has just gone to another life. If they love God, they have gone back to
the spiritual world, the ultimate perfection. If they have done good, they are being elevated
to a higher place. But still we communicate with souls through the medium of these bodies
and therefore the body is sacred. We find when a vaishnava leaves or when the guru
leaves, when a disciple leaves or when a god brother-god sister leaves, there is great sorrow
but not in ignorance. We celebrate the life and the soul of that person for their great life
and their destination. But we cry because we can no longer communicate so freely and so
intimately as we did with that soul through the physical bodies that facilitated that. Sorrow
in ignorance is simply suffering. Sorrow in knowledge of eternality of our relationships; that
sorrow increases the depth of our love to each other in separation. Lord Caitanya wanted to
teach the humanness of the beauty of the relationships among devotees. How their love for
each other, their care for each other, their compassion for each other on the spiritual
platform; and how the chanting of the holy names awakens, raises the dead within, to our
eternal and true spiritual life of love and happiness. And therefore the greatest love of
relationships with this.... with.... among us is to share this wisdom and to help each other to
awaken to that love of God and this is beyond language. There is a universal language that
unite our souls in whatever body we are in and that is this mahamantra. (The audience and
Maharaj chanted Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram
Ram Hare Hare) The next day Lord Caitanya and His devotees had the first darshan of
Jagannath in 15 days and then danced and chanted throughout the morning. And the next
day was Rath Yatra. Srila Prabhupada understood the spirit of Rath Yatra and by his great
compassion, for the first time in the history of the planet earth; he established Rath Yatra in
practically every major city on earth. Whatever one’s religion, whatever one’s caste,
whatever one’s nationality or race or sex, Jagannath, the father, the mother and the
ultimate object of love of all of us, is coming into the streets to meet us, to bless us. Krsna’s
love for us is infinite and we celebrate that love by chanting and dancing. And Lord
Caitanya... He completed the Gundicha marjanam and He completed the Rath Yatra by
sitting with all His devotees and having wonderful feast of prasad. Lord Caitanya knew what
each devotee wanted and instructed the servers to give them more and more and more.
Giving prasad and receiving prasad creates spiritual purity and intimacy among us. Srila
Prabhupada took the very essence of Lord Caitanya’s Rath Yatra pastimes and brought it to
the world. Jagannath and His chariot going from the Gundicha temple..... ; thousands of
people chanting and dancing before Jagannath ; and the honouring of Krsna’s mercy in the
form of prasad. The greatest need for all of us forever, is to be nourished by the grace of
Krsna; who is Jagannath, who has many names and who has appeared in many forms. But
always with the essential same message

Essence of great religion

na dhanam na janam na sundarim, kavitam va jagadisa kamaye

mama janmanisvare bhavatad bhakti ahaituki tvayi

This is the essence of all great religions, of all great spiritual paths. It is beyond
sectarianism. This is Jagannath, the Lord of the universe. What He has taught us that the
greatest need is to understand how to pray. I am not coming to you Lord for wealth or fame
or sensual pleasures or even liberation. I simply want to serve you with love. And Lord
Caitanya began His Rath Yatra festival by offering a prayer, how to serve the Lord with love.
Gopi Bhartur pad kamal yor das das dasanudas. To be the servant, of the servant, of the
servant. That means to see the spiritual equality in every living being and desire to be the
servant of everyone in our love for Krsna. This way Srila Prabhupada’s gift to the world and
by his grace we have... we are here together in Somaiyya College grounds in Ghatkopar and I
am so grateful to all of you for being with us. Thank you very much. (Audience clap). And at
this time we will perform namsankirtan and then have Krsna’s prasad. If you like you may
stand up and dance.