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In Sanatan culture the festival of Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath is not just a religious ritual but a divine celebration of boundless devotion, love and reunion of the soul with the divine. This great tradition that has been going on since Satyayuga is described in sacred texts like Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and Purushottam-Mahatmya. While the physical purpose of this Yatra is to give the privilege of seeing the Lord to those devotees who are unable to enter the temple throughout the year, there lies within it a very deep and mysterious spiritual context which has been revealed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the saints. Jagannath Temple of Puri is considered a symbol of Dwarka and Gundicha Temple is considered a symbol of Vrindavan.
Disunion of Braj and reunification of Kurukshetra
Shri Krishna lived in Braj from his birth till the age of eleven and gave ecstasy to the people of Braj with his sweet pastimes, after which due to the killing of Kansa and other responsibilities, he went to Mathura and then to Dwarka. The people of Braj remained continuously saddened by the separation of the Lord and after years, they were reunited in Kurukshetra on the occasion of solar eclipse. Although the Gopis had the darshan of Shri Krishna, they did not get the same pleasure from seeing him in royal attire which they got in Vrindavan in Gopvaesh. Then Shri Radhaji said emotionally that our mind is Vrindavan and you should ride the chariot of our heart and go again to the same loving Vrindavan, where our sweet and sweet pastimes took place.
Braj idols were moved by the glory of love
Once when Rohini Maiya was narrating the stories of Braj to the ladies of Dwarka in the room and Shri Krishna standing at the door became completely immersed after listening to that love story, his heart was moved. In that zenith of love and separation, the limbs of Shri Krishna, Balram and Subhadraji started contracting, their eyes became wide with surprise and tears started flowing from the eyes of all three. Gradually this divine and emotional form of his transformed into the form of the idols of Shri Jagannath, Shri Baldev and Shri Subhadra, seeing which even Naradji present there was left speechless.
Narad ji’s prayer and appearance of Jagannathpuri
When this story of Rohini Maiya was completed and Shri Krishna’s form became natural again, he became happy and asked Naradji to ask for a groom. Then Naradji folded his hands and prayed that remembering the immense love of the people of Braj, this wonderful and loving form of yours should always remain present in this world so that the whole world can see this loving form of yours, the savior of the fallen. Shri Krishna accepted by saying ‘Amen’ and promised that he will always reside on Neeladri mountain in Jagannathpuri located on the sea coast with these three idols.
The divine secret of Sudarshan Chakra
Lord Shri Krishna has also made a provision for Sudarshan Chakra to always remain with these three idols, which has a deep spiritual meaning. ‘Sudarshan’ means very beautiful vision – this Sudarshan Chakra purifies the disorders and ignorance of our conscience and gives us that divine vision, due to which we are able to see God in his real loving and divine form instead of seeing him as an ordinary wooden idol.