{"id":76420,"date":"2019-07-04T18:19:59","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T16:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/186051119401"},"modified":"2019-07-04T18:20:55","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T16:20:55","slug":"rajapur-ratha-yatrawhat-are-the-characteristics-of-sri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=76420","title":{"rendered":"Rajapur Ratha-yatra"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rajapur Ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101
\nWhat are the characteristics of \u015ar\u012b Jagann\u0101tha, \u015ar\u012b Baladev, and \u015ar\u012b Subhadra? Jagann\u0101thaa, the emblem of God, has no other form than eyes and hands, which show that God sees, knows, and creates. Balar\u0101m is the source of j\u012bva-\u015bakti, Subhadra is m\u0101y\u0101-\u015bakti, and Sudar\u015bana is the energy of will. (Pg. 128, \u015ar\u012b Bhaktivinoda V\u0101\u1e47\u012b Vaibhava)
\nThe rhythmic clank of the cymbals, the sweet sound of the m\u1e5bda\u1e45ga and the clashing of whompers is being heard at a distance on \u015ar\u012bla Bhaktisiddh\u0101nta Sarasvat\u012b M\u0101rg. It is a joyous occasion as after being sick for fifteen days, Lord Jagann\u0101tha along with his brother Lord Baladev and Sister Subhadra has finally come out of the temple to give darshan to everyone. The cart is heading towards ISKCON Mayapur campus from ISKCON Raj\u0101pur. But where is Raj\u0101pur? What is so special about this place?
\nIn the Navadv\u012bpa Dh\u0101m Mah\u0101tmya (6.94-96) it is stated that when Lord Nity\u0101nanda arrived here with \u015ar\u012bla Jiva Gosv\u0101m\u012b he commented that this place [then called \u00c7ara\u00f2\u00e4\u00ecg\u00e4] is the very place where Lord Jagann\u0101tha resides with the \u015aabara caste. He also said that this place is non-different from Puri.
\n\u00c7ara\u00f2\u00e4\u00ecg\u00e4 is recent times called Raj\u0101pur (the place of the kings). Here, the Lord sometimes manifests and sometimes un-manifests himself in front of the devotees.
\nSo, how did Lord Jagann\u0101tha manifest himself in Rajapur? The manifestation of the Lord dates back to a time five hundred years back. Once, a devotee of the Lord \u2013 Jagad\u012bsh Gangul\u012b \u2013 resided in a village close to Mayapur. Every year he would travel to Jagann\u0101tha Pur\u012b to attend the annual cart festival. One day, a month before the festival, he got struck by a disease and it left him blind. But that didn\u2019t hamper his desire. He persisted to go but no one wanted to accompany him as the journey was too long. Somehow or other he passed his days thinking of Lord Jagann\u0101tha and praying for his mercy. One night, Lord Jagann\u0101tha appeared in his dreams and told him that when he goes to take his daily bath the next day a log of wood will touch him and restore his vision. The Lord then asked him to take this log to a carpenter living in a nearby village and carve his deity. The Lord then said that the carpenter will refuse his request at first but you have to convince him and get this task done.
\nThe next morning when he woke up he was shocked as he couldn\u2019t believe Lord Jagann\u0101tha had come into his dream. He then hurried to the Ganges to take a bath and in no time a log of wood touched his head and vision go restored. He then quickly took the log of wood to the nearby village where after some searching he found leper carpenter. He then requested the carpenter to carve the deity of Lord Jagann\u0101tha but he flatly refused on the first instance. He kept requesting again and again and finally the carpenter got convinced.
\nThe service was tough. The carpenter was suffering as blood was coming out of his hand but Jagad\u012bsh was convincing him to do this service by reciting the pastimes of the Lord. In due course of time, Lord Jagann\u0101tha was carved and the carpenter got cured of his leprosy. Lord Jagann\u0101tha\u2019s worship was established again. A few nights later Jagad\u012bsh had another dream. This time Lord Jagann\u0101tha instructed him to take some nearby neem wood and request the same carpenter to make the deities of Lady Subhadra and Lord Baladev. The devotee carpenter was delighted to offer his service again and very soon Their Lordships were installed with great love and attention by the devotees.
\nYears later, one day, Jagad\u012bsh left this mortal world and in due course of time the attention provided to worshipping the deities of Lord Jagann\u0101tha, Baladev and Subhadra came to a halt and the temple started deteriorating.
\nLess than a century ago, the temple was rediscovered by a local villager. He saw a blue color flower emerging from a termite hill. He was shocked to see that and so went near to the flower for closer inspection. Suddenly he heard a call \u201cPlease give me some water\u201d coming from the inside of the hill. He quickly started digging to see whose voice it was and to his surprise he saw the wonderful wooden deities of Lord Jagann\u0101tha, Baladev and Subhadra as they were unharmed even around the termite hill. Again, the worship of the Lordships was reestablished.
\nIn the year 1978, the temple pujari\u2019s health started to become weak. To save the temple from deterioration, he handed over the temple property to ISKCON. Since then the worship of the Lordships is being undertaken by Iskcon Mayapur.
\nIn 1997, the first ever (6 Km long) Ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101 was conducted from Rajapur to Mayapur and the tradition is effectively conducted up to this day. In recent years, the festival is conducted in much grandeur manner. The festival starts off in the morning just before noon. At times, it starts off with bike riders doing a motor parade. This is then followed by various cultural performances performed by devotees hailing from North-East India, Orissa, local devotees etc. The festival is also joined by various VIP\u2019s hailing from government authorities. In afternoon, the cart procession begins from the Rajapur temple. The moment everyone is waiting for has finally come live. Three tall carts are now on the street. Everyone is rushing towards it as devotees can\u2019t wait a moment longer to take the darshan of the Lordships and also to pull the ropes connecting the rath. Even the Muslim community joins this festival as they have a lot of affection towards Lord Jagann\u0101tha.
\nOnce \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da was asked what happens if one takes part in Ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101 and his response was:
\nDevotee: Prabhup\u0101da, can you explain a little more about Ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101. Anyone who takes part in Rathay\u0101tr\u0101, are they liberated?
\nPrabhup\u0101da: Certainly.
\nDevotee: Does that mean they will not take birth again?
\nPrabhup\u0101da: Yes, provided they take it seriously. Otherwise, if they keep their mentality differently, then according to their mind they have to get a body\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u2014 From a lecture in Los Angeles. 1 July 1971<\/p>\n

Thus, after close to 6 hours of long procession the three carts finally enters the ISKCON M\u0101y\u0101pur campus and ready to be seated at the altar in the temporarily constructed Gundica Mandir. Their Lordships reside over there for 9 days before returning back to Rajapur temple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Rajapur Ratha-yātrā
\nWhat are the characteristics of Śrī Jagannātha, Śrī Baladev, and Śrī Subhadra? Jagannāthaa, the emblem of God, has no other form than eyes and hands, which show that God sees, knows, and creates. Balarām is the source of jīva-śakti, Subhadra is māyā-śakti, and Sudarśana is the energy of will. (Pg. 128, Śrī Bhaktivinoda Vāṇī Vaibhava) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-76420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media","tag-nectar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76420"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76422,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420\/revisions\/76422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}