The las welve years of Lond Caitanyas manifest presence were simply devoted to relishing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in separation. In the attitude of separation, Lord Caitanya appeared
mad both day and night. Sometimes He laughed, sometimes He cried; sometimes He danced, and sometimes He chanted in great sorrow. At those times, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu would visit Lord Jagannātha. Then Hisfeelings exactly corresponded to those of the gopīs when they saw Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra after long separation.
When Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to dance in ecstasy before the Ratha-yātrā cart during the festival, He always sang the following stanza of a song: "Now I have gotten that Lord of My life, for whom I was burning in the fire of lusty desires." Lord Caitanya used to sing this song especially during the latter part of the day, and He would think, "Let Me take Kṛṣṇa and go back to Vṛndāvana." This ecstasy was always filling His heart.
Lord Caitanya would also recite a special verse that almost no one could understand: "That very personality who stole away my heart during my youth is now again my master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of malati flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In our intimate relationship 1 am also the same lover, yet still my mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the Vetāsi tree. That is my desire."
The actual deep meaning of this verse, which appears to be the hankering between some ordinary boy and girl, was known only to Svarūpa Dāmodara. By chance, one year Rūpa Gosvāmī was also present when Lord Caitanya recited it. After hearing the verse, Rūpa Gosvāmī composed another verse, which described the meaning of the original verse. It was a verse spoken by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī to a gopī friend at Kurukṣetra: "My dear friend, now I have met My very old and dear friend Kṛṣṇa on this field of Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and now We are meeting together. It is very pleasant, but still I would like to go to the bank of the Yamunā beneath the trees of the forest there. I wish to hear the vibration of His sweet flute playing the fifth note within that forest of Vṛndāvana."
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was thinking in this way when seeing the Jagannātha Deity. He saw Lord Jagannātha as Kṛṣṇa, Himself as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Jagannātha Purī as Dvārakā, Guṇḍicā as Vṛndāvana, and the Ratha-yātrā festival as the process of taking Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana to enjoy conjugal pastimes there with Him.