Significance of Ratha Yatra

The worship of Radha and Krishna deity requires strict brahminical standards. And in Kali yuga, there are not many people with brahminical qualities left. Thus, The Supreme Lord manifested Himself as Jagannatha as is confirmed in the Narada Purana (U. Kh. 52.12):

pratimāṁ tatra tāṁ dṛṣṭvā
svayaṁ devena nimitām
anāyāsena vai yānti
bhavanaṁ me tato narāḥ

The Supreme Lord Narayana tells Lakshmi Devi, “In that great abode of mine known as Purusottama-ksetra, which is rarely achieved in the three worlds, the Kesava Deity, who was fashioned after The Supreme Lord Himself, is situated. If men simply see the Deity they are easily able to come to my abode (where birth, death, old age and disease are absent).

On Ratha Yatra day itself, The Lord of The Universe comes out from His abode just to give the masses regardless of race, language, religion or gender, His darshan. In fact, due to The Supreme Lord being all spirit there is no cause of duality. Therefore, when He presides in the cart, due to the absolute nature of spirit, the cart also becomes non-different from Him. When people come into contact with the cart, they are personally in contact with The Lord of The Universe. This even includes people who see Him or His cart but are unable to maintain physical contact.

Because, The Supreme Lord is all spirit and pure, he cannot be affected by any amount of material element. After all, if He indeed was affected, the He would no longer be perfect and this perfect knowledge called Vedas could not have been established by Himself. This is confirmed in the prayer by Brahma known as Srī-Brahmā Samhitā (text 1), the first living entity that came into existence in this material world:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Krsna who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime causes of all causes.

When we come into contact with The Supreme Lord, we will become purified of the sinful reactions of our past deeds. When the dirty elements within our hearts are wiped away, only then will we break away from these suffering cycles of birth, death, old age and disease. We will gain entry to Vaikuntha, where we will always joyfully reside with The Supreme Lord His variegated pastimes. This has been promised by The Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Bhagavad-Gita (18.66):

sarva-dharmān parityaja
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.