Question: Today some of us witnessed a strange incident at the Kolkata Ratha Yatra. When you were there in front of Balarama ratha, waiting to do arati, all of a sudden the ratha started rolling. Everybody started panicking and we were worried that the ratha may hit you and also the devotees. It was so scary. But we noticed that you were so calm during the whole chaos. Really wonder what was going through your mind then?

Jayapataka Swami: I was thinking of Baladeva! But people moved me backwards quickly and they were announcing don’t pull the ratha! In the material world there is danger at every step. So we are used to facing different dangers and sometimes the danger is unavoidable, sometimes it is avoidable. So the secretary moved me quickly all the way. So at the time, I was just thinking of Lord Baladev, and see, He is holding up the whole world, through His form as Anantasesa, and it is unusual we had the Baladeva ratha broke a wheel. Similarly, in Jagannath Puri, one wheel of Baladeva broke. So that year there was the Desert Storm, the invasion of Iraq by the America and other countries. So if something happens to Balarama’s ratha, we were told that it has a worldwide implication. But in this case, nothing happened, just the Lord, He moved forward! I was trying to figure out if this had any significance and what it might be. But main thing was how Lord Balarama, the expansion of Krsna, the first expansion, He basically holds up all the spiritual and material existence. Haribol!
04-JULY-2019 KOLKATA, INDIA