Every year during Balarāma, Subhadrā and Jagannātha’s Ratha-yātrā festival, the Lord would offer garlands and sandalwood paste to all the devotees with His own hands. He would then organise four kīrtana groups with His devotees. Svarūpa Dāmodara would sing in the first of these, with Advaita participating as the principal dancer. With the addition of other kīrtana groups from Śāntipura, Srikhanda and Kulin, there were seven sampradāyas altogether. In each group, there were two drummers, meaning that there were fourteen altogether. When the kīrtana started in each of the seven groups, Mahāprabhu demonstrated His divine powers by appearing simultaneously in the midst of each one of them. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, “Just as the Lord expands into numerous forms during the rāsa dance and to marry the queens in Dvaraka, Lord Caitanya expanded in order to be present in the midst of each sampradāyas’ kīrtana. The members of each group were convinced that the Lord was in their group alone and in none of the others.”

When Mahāprabhu wished to dance madly, He would have the seven groups come together and would dance in their midst, appointing nine singers and making Svarūpa Dāmodara the principal singer. As the devotees became progressively intoxicated by the kīrtana, Mahāprabhu danced frenziedly for a long time. After this, Mahāprabhu’s mood changed. Svarūpa Dāmodara was able to understand the Lord’s intention and began to sing,

“I have finally found my life’s lord, for whom I had so long burned in the flames of desire.” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.1.55)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, “As the Lord’s frenzied dancing came to an end, He became absorbed in the mood of Rādhārāṇī at Kurukshetra. This song about meeting the beloved after a long separation manifested naturally.” As He felt the mood of union strengthening, the Lord began to loudly recite the following verse:

yaḥ kaumāraharaḥ sa eva hi varas tā eva caitra-kṣapās
te conmīlita-mālatī-surabhayaḥ prauḍhāḥ kadambānilāḥ
sā caivāsmi tathāpi tatra surata-vyāpāra-līlā-vidhau
revā-rodhasi vetasī-taru-tale cetaḥ samutkaṇṭhate

That very person who had stolen my heart on the banks of River Reva during my youth is now my master. The moonlit nights scented with newly blossomed mālatī flowers are also present. The sweet breeze from the kadamba tree is also flowing. In our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet still, my mind is not happy here. It is very eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the vetasī tree. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.1.58)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, “This verse was written about a mundane lover and his mistress, but Mahāprabhu recited it with great respectful feeling. No one could understand His hidden intention other than Svarūpa Dāmodara.”

When Rūpa Gosvāmī heard the Lord recite this verse, he himself composed a verse that revealed the deeper meaning that the Lord had envisioned. He wrote it down on a palm leaf and hid it in the roof of his cottage. When Mahāprabhu went to the residence of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, He accidentally saw the palm leaf that was tucked in the roof, and thus He read his verse. After reading it, He went into an ecstatic mood and while He was in that state, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī came and immediately fell down at His feet like a stick.

The Lord got up and gave him a slap. Then, He embraced him and began to speak as follows: “No one knows the purport of My verse. How could you understand My intention?”

Saying this, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu bestowed various blessings upon Rūpa Gosvāmī, and taking the verse with Him, showed it to Svarūpa Gosvāmī. With great wonder, the Lord asked him how Rūpa Gosvāmī could have understood His mind. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī replied, “If Rūpa Gosvāmī can understand Your mind, I believe it must be the result of Your special benediction.” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.1.66-72)

This was Rūpa Gosvāmī’s verse:

priyaḥ so ‘yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kurukṣetra-militas
tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham
tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe
mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

O companion! This is My beloved Kṛṣṇa meeting Me here in Kurukshetra; and I am the same Rādhā, and both of Us are feeling the joy of union. Even so, My mind yearns to be in the forest by the banks of the Yamunā where the fifth note of His flute reverberates sweetly within My heart. (Padyāvalī, 383)

Mahāprabhu’s vision was that the Jagannātha Temple was Kurukshetra and the Guṇḍicā Temple Vṛndāvana. He pulled Jagannātha’s chariot in the mood of a gopī, attracting Him back to Vṛndāvana. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī was able to understand everything that Mahāprabhu experienced during this time.

The Lord had relished these topics in His room with Svarūpa Dāmodara for days and nights. When He was overcome with that mood while dancing before the Lord’s chariot, He would repeat this verse while gazing upon Lord Jagannātha’s face. No one can describe Svarūpa Dāmodara’s good fortune, for he was completely absorbed, body, mind and soul, in the Lord. The Lord’s senses would become identical with his senses and thus He would deeply relish his singing. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.13.161-4)

Jagannātha Deva lives in Dvaraka, but once every year He desires to go to Vṛndāvana. The Ratha-yātrā festival, when He travels from the Jagannātha Temple (Dvaraka) to Guṇḍicā (Vṛndāvana), symbolizes this desire. Lord Jagannātha does not take Lakṣmī Devī with Him to Vṛndāvana because Lakṣmī Devī is not qualified to participate in the Vṛndāvana-līlā. Only the gopīs have such qualification, and Rādhā is the best of the gopīs. Svarūpa Dāmodara explained these things:

“Lakṣmī does not have the right to participate in the pastimes of Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa’s companions in the Vṛndāvana-līlā are the gopīs, and there are none but they who can enchant His mind.” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.14.122-3)

Rādhā is the best among the gopīs. She is a treasure chest of jewels of love in the bright and spotless sentiment of conjugal love. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.14.160)

Lord Jagannātha mounted His chariot after telling Lakṣmī Devī that He would be back the very next day. When Lakṣmī Devī saw that the Lord was late in returning, she became angry, and gathering up her forces, sallied forth to attack her beloved. Her servants captured the servants of Lord Jagannātha and brought them to her. Such lovers’ quarrels are not heard of anywhere in the world. Nevertheless, the māna (loving jealousy) of the gopīs is superior to that of Lakṣmī Devī, and of all the gopīs, that of Rādhā is the purest. When Mahāprabhu wished to hear about the gopīs’ māna from Svarūpa Dāmodara, he gave Him great satisfaction by answering in great detail. He was always able to please the Lord in every aspect because he knew His wishes so intimately.