Chandana Yatra – By the sweat shed to save the Lord from sweat, we shed our material attachments and savor supreme fulfillment

So Hare Krishna on this sacred occasion of Chandan Yatra let us contemplate on this beautiful festival normally we as devotees consider Chandan Yatra as a festival associated with Madhavendra Puri applying Chandan to first procuring Chandan for his Gopal Deity and then applying it to the Kheer Chor Gopinath Deity that is certainly a very significant event in the history of Chandan Yatra which actually is demonstrates the exalted devotion of Madhavendra Puri and also the love of the Lord for his devotee it is a very intimate pastime between the Deity and the Lord which is brought to which brings to which is brought to the world through the manifest to the festival of Chandan Yatra under service of applying Chandan however this festival goes back much further as far as its origin is concerned the essence of the festival is that Chandan is applied to the Lord especially in the summer season and that is to cool his body now preparing Chandan requires effort in fact to grind the Chandan and to make it into paste requires one to shed sweat but the whole principle of devotion is that we shed sweat so that our beloved will not have to shed sweat so we are ready to become heated so that the Lord will be spared from the heat that is the essence of love we accept discomfort for the comfort of our beloved and that is what is demonstrated through this festival now it is done for 21 days on this day of Akshay Tritiya actually it is normally the Utsavmurtis are decorated and on this day often the complete Deity is decorated it’s a beautiful sight with the whole Deity being decorated sometimes in different colours different from the normal colours of the Deity and it looks captivating this is especially done for Jagannath in Puri but it is also done for other Deities also so now if you look back at the history it is described that the Pandavas after they lived in Vanwa then they lived in Agyantwas in Virat’s kingdom and then later when Virat discovered who the Pandavas were because of the Pandavas valorous accomplishments to protect the kingdom of Virat then he was very delighted to have the exalted devotees the Pandavas with him and he expressed a fond devotional desire that he desired that he would like to have darshan of Krishna and he would like to serve Krishna Dhrishtad Maharaj being pleased with the devotion of King Virat and also feeling grateful that he had even if it was unknowing he had granted hospitality to them for the last one year he said that if you organize a beautiful boat festival then Lord Krishna will come for reciprocating with you so he organized a boat festival a beautiful boat festival and Krishna came with Balram and then at that time not only was the boat festival for the entertainment of the Lord but the Lord could also enter into the boat and then he was anointed by sandalwood paste and he looked very beautiful and in this way the Pandavas facilitated the fulfillment of the devotional desire of King Virat and Krishna fulfilled that desire so in commemoration of that festival Jagannath also comes out on this particular day and he bathes in the Narendra’s he travels in a boat in Narendra Sarovar now when Jagannath comes out of course the Utsava Murthy the Pranapratishtha deities never move so he comes and he talks so he goes around so the Lord is there and the Pandavas are also there with him and in Narendra Sarovar this boating festival takes place with the Lord anointed with sandalwood paste and of course the Lord is anointed with sandalwood paste for the 21 days also and the whole principle we can meditate on is that in this world we all want pleasure but the highest pleasure actually is in the pleasure of the sacrifice of love when we sacrifice for the service of the Lord, for the pleasure of the Lord we get the highest fulfillment because it’s the fulfillment beyond the titillation of the senses beyond the gratification of the ego, it is the fulfillment of the heart and that is eternal and eternally ecstatic that is what Madhavendra Puri experienced by sacrificing so much and struggling so much to travel long distances to get Chandan and that is what the great devotees are inviting us to experience through the organizing of festivals like Chandan Yatra Thank you Hare Krishna