Snan Yatra
What it is
Snan Yatra is kept on the full moon of Jyeshtha — Jeth Sud Poonam. In the wider Vaishnav world its most famous form belongs to Shri Jagannathji of Puri: on this day the Lord, with Balabhadraji and Subhadraji, is brought out of the temple to the open Snana Bedi and bathed with one hundred and eight pots of sanctified water before vast crowds. The day is honoured as Jagannathji's appearance day, and after the great bath the Lord withdraws from public darshan for a fortnight of rest — the anasara — emerging again, freshly adorned, just before Rath Yatra.
In Pushtimarg the tithi is received with its own gentle bhav of snan and jal leela. Fragrant water is prepared with kesar, tulsi, mogra and rose, and Shri Thakorji is bathed with it poured from a shankh; the shringar is white edged with saffron, with ornaments of pearls, everything chosen for the cool of it. In some houses of the sampradaya the day is also known as Jeshthabhishek, carrying the bhav of Prabhu's ceremonial abhishek as the crowned darling of Vraj.
Why we observe it
At its heart, Snan Yatra is the seva of bathing — and bathing someone is among the most intimate services love knows. A mother bathes her child; Yashodaji bathed her Lala; and on this Poonam the Vaishnav is given that same privilege in bhav. Falling at the peak of summer, it also belongs to the sampradaya's whole summer seva, in which every choice — light garments, pearls, sandal, cooled water — is made for Prabhu's comfort, because in Pushtimarg the svarup is served as a living beloved, not an image.
The Puri tradition adds its own sweetness: after the great public bath the Lord takes rest and is nursed in privacy — a reminder of how completely Bhagwan gives himself into his bhaktas' hands, accepting even tiredness so that they may care for him. And the openness of the Puri darshan, where everyone may see the Lord bathed under the sky, speaks of grace that excludes no one. For the Vaishnav, Snan Yatra magnifies what seva does every single morning: it turns the simple act of bathing the Lord into leela, and the sevak's hands into the hands of Vraj.