After giving up the company of the gopis in Vrndavana, Sri Krsna, the son of Maharaja Nanda,engaged in His pastimes at Dvaraka. When Krsna went to Kuruksetra with His brother and sister and others from Dvaraka, He again met the inhabitants of Vrndavana. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalita, that is, Krsna Himself assuming the part of Srimati Radharani in order to understand Krsna.
Lord Jagannatha-deva is Krsna, and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Srimati Radharani. Caitanya Mahaprabhu's leading Lord Jagannatha toward Gundica temple corresponded to Srimati Radharani's leading Krsna toward Vrndavana. Sri Ksetra, Jagannatha Puri, was taken as the kingdom of Dvaraka, the place where Krsna enjoys supreme opulence. However, He was being led by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Vrndavana, the simple village where all the inhabitants are filled with ecstatic love for Krsna. Sri Ksetra is a place of aisvarya-lila, just as Vrndavana is the place of madhurya-lila. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's following at the rear of the ratha indicated that Lord Jagannatha, Krsna, was forgetting the inhabitants of Vrndavana. Although Krsna neglected the inhabitants of Vrndavana, He could not forget them. Thus in His opulent Ratha-yatra, He was returning to Vrndavana. In the role of Srimati Radharani, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was examining whether the Lord still remembered the inhabitants of Vrndavana. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell behind the Ratha car, Jagannatha-deva, Krsna Himself, understood the mind of Srimati Radharani. Therefore, Jagannatha sometimes fell behind the dancing Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to indicate to Srimati Radharani that He had not forgotten. Thus Lord Jagannatha would wait on the ratha for their forward march. In this way Lord Jagannatha agreed that without the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani He could not feel satisfied. While Jagannatha was thus waiting, Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in His ecstasy of Srimati Radharani, immediately came forward to Krsna. At such times, Lord Jagannatha would proceed ahead very slowly.
These competitive exchanges were all part of the love affair between Krsna and Srimati Radharani. In that competition between Lord Caitanya's ecstasy for Jagannatha and Jagannatha's ecstasy for Srimati Radharani, Caitanya Mahaprabhu emerged successful.
Caitanya-caritamrta, Madyam lila 13:70-119 ...... ACBSP
