His Continued Presence at Ratha-yātrā

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By the mercy of Gurudeva and Vaiṣṇavas I am engaged in sevā here in Goalpara-dhām. Today I want to speak on the point Śrī Tapasvi Mahārāj said in his kathā that Gurujī is omnipotent. He repeated that Prabhupad said that he is still present in Sarbhog on every Vyāsa-pūjā. We have heard that in spite of his physical absence, his presence was still felt by Param Gurudev there because of his faith in Prabhupad's words. Like this, Gurujī also has blessed Mumbai devotees. 

By taking Gurudev's permission we had begun Jagannāth Rathayātrā festival in Mumbai in 2002. Every year we would send an invitation to Gurudev to come for Rathayātrā festival. In 2009 the invitation reached the maṭh and Sannyāsī Mahārāj came and read it to Guru Mahārāj in his room in the early afternoon. At that time Guru Mahārāj was speaking kathā to a few devotees and sevāks in his kuṭir, among them was Śrī Rasbihāri Prabhu. 

Gurujī took the invitation in his hands and said, "Every year I go to Mumbai for Rathayātrā." Everyone sitting before him was shocked to hear this because every year Gurujī would be in Jagannāth Puri for Rathayātrā. He was telling us that he goes every year to Mumbai for Rathayātrā although he'd never been. This is our Gurudev's transcendental pastime, as we hear he is omnipotent; I relate it this way. 
 
Devotees in Mumbai feel that even now Gurujī comes there for every Rathayātrā even when he is in his nityalīlā (eternal pastimes) now. When Rasbihāri Prabhu came out of Gurudev's bhajan kuṭir, he called me and told, "You are truly blessed for Gurujī has authenticated the Rathayātrā of Mumbai. Authenticated means Gurujī has put his seal on it by saying I go there every year for Rathayātrā." Thus Gurujī himself had begun this Rathayātrā. 



How did this idea of Rathayātrā come to my mind? In 2001, we were celebrating Janmāṣṭamī. Gurujī is so merciful that he makes anyone instrumental for sevā that when we were celebrating Janmāṣṭamī inside our colony I said, "Next year we will celebrate Rathayātrā." Actually, he brought these words automatically from my mouth. It was amazing because I have never been for Jagannāth Rathayātrā at any time, had not even seen Jagannāthdev's photo, and did not even know how Jagannāth looks, so how did this thought or mood come to me? I do not know what transcendental magic Jagannāthdev, Gurudev did that caused the desire to celebrate Rathayātrā to rise in my heart. 

In the month of December, Gurudev arrived in Mumbai and so I went to Gurujī and spoke my heart. We all know that Gurujī will think deeply before giving permission to anyone for any new activities, new projects like the establishment of a maṭh or preaching center, etc. At that time there was not even a maṭh in Mumbai and when I told Gurujī that we want to celebrate Rathayātrā, he told, "You should hold it on the same day when Rathayātrā is held in Jagannāth Puri." So, he gave us permission that if we want to celebrate Rathayātrā, hold it on the same day. This was in December and the next year June 12th was the day of Rathayātrā in 2002. 
 
Two to three weeks before this, local god-brothers held a meeting in a devotee's house as we had no maṭh at that time. That year the Rathayātrā day fell on Friday but god-brothers were suggesting that we will hold it on a different day as per their own ideas. Then I said, "Gurujī has told us to hold it on the same day of Rathayātrā" and then we fixed it on the same day without further discussion. Regardless of whether devotees could attend or not, we printed pamphlets and posters and started distributing pamphlets door to door. 

I did some research to know about Rathayātrā but still did not know anything like how ārati is to be done, what kirtans are sung, how to perform nagar-sankīrtan, nothing. We even booked a rath for the day. 

It is wonderful how Gurudev showers mercy. Just a day before that, Śrī Madhusudan Mahārāj arrived on the scene, and when we told him he was also shocked. He said, "kamaal hai" (it's amazing), and explained quite a lot about how everything should be done as he had witnessed Rathayātrā in Jagannāth Puri. We followed his instructions and the Rathayātrā was a success. 

Jagannāth's coming to Mumbai was all because of Gurujī's mercy. Gurujī thought these Mumbai devotees needed the grace of Jagannāthdev and so first came Jagannāthdev and after that, Rathayātrā. Only then the maṭh was established in late 2002. We continued every year and in 2009 we got to hear Gurudev say that he will go to Mumbai every year for Rathayātrā. These words are not just accidentally spoken by Gurujī, we have to dwell on these words. He spoke the words clearly and it proves that he comes, we have to accept this and have faith that we are celebrating Rathayātrā every year with Gurujī in Mumbai. 

So Rathayātrā continues to be celebrated every year in the auspicious presence of Gurudev, under his direction. It is a grand festival and in the first year (2001) no less than eight hundred devotees participated (even though it was something new that nobody in Mumbai knew). Now devotees call up to ask us when is your Rathayātrā? It has become so famous. It is all Gurudev's grace that he began Rathayātrā in Mumbai and he comes there personally. He has said and we have to accept these words as they are with full faith.

—Vṛndāvana Chandra das (Vijay Lamba)

From Guru-kathā 2 on 21.4.2020, GOKUL 
translated from Hindi to English





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