Glories of Lord Jagannath - 2

Community Hall

CBD Belapur Navi Mumbai

Kalpatararu Co-operative Housing Society

Sector 8-B

August 28, 2010

There is a small anecdote that can be recounted in relation to the deities at Puri. There
was a family who had come for darshan of the deities at Jagannath Puri. The family had
comprised of man, wife and a small child. The couple was outside the temple and they
heard their child coming out of the temple crying. He complained to his mother that the
deity to the left had reportedly slapped him. The deity was understood to be of Sri
Balbhadra. When the mother inquired as to why the child had approached the deities,
the child said that he had liked the decorations of the deity of Subhadra Mataji and he
had gone there with an intention of snatching the garland from her neck. Thus it can be
understood that Jagannath and his associates are very active in Puri Dhama.

There was another well known event that happened in connection with the Glories of the
Lord in Puri. There was a milkman who used to adulterate milk with a large portion of
water. This was used as an offering to the Lord. This was a regular feature and it so
happened that the Lord got angry with this miserly behavior of the milkman. The milk
that the milkman used started to sour unabatedly in spite of a lot of precautions taken by
the milkman. The milkman out of great frustration approached the head priest and
requested him to give a solution. The priest was immediately able to decipher that the
milkman was notorious for milk adulteration. When he questioned the milkman
regarding this, the milkman readily accepted his folly. He was asked to stop this unethical
practice and the milkman promptly gave up his nefarious practice. The Lord immediately
withdrew his anger and the milkman never complained of milk spoiling.

Another pastime was that of a king. The king was a pious king and he had the habit of
accepting Lord Jagannath’s Garland every time he visited the temple for darshan. The

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temple priest would honor the king in this way every time. It so happened that on one
day, the priest forgot to reserve the Lord’s garland for the king and he himself wore the
offered garland. In the mean time the king’s infantry arrived at the temple gates. The
priest suddenly took note of his mistake. Out of extreme fear, the priest put back the
same garland on the Lords body. This act in the classical mood is an Aparadh or a
violation in the process of Bhakti. When the king arrived at the altar, the priest put the
garland on the King’s neck. The King smelled the garland and during the act, he observed
that the garland had strands of hair on it. The king could immediately decipher that the
priest had worn the garland earlier and had incidentally put it back on the Lord. The king
was extremely furious on learning this fact. However the priest denied the incident and
was quite vehement about it. When the king asked the priest as to how strands of hair be
found on the garland, the priest out of extreme fear said that the hair was actually of
Lord Jagannath. The King was now sure that the priest was bluffing. The king out of
compassion told the priest that he would spare the priest if the priest could prove in one
day that the hair that was there in the garland was actually the hair of Lord Jagannath as
the priest claimed. The king then left the scene. That night the priest could not sleep .He
was crying at the altar of the Lord and was begging to the Lord for His causeless mercy.

The next day when the altar was opened, to the astonishment of the priest, he saw that
Lord Jagannath was sporting long hair. When the king came that day and saw the hair
under the helmet of the Lord, the king was further angered and he thought that the
priest had fixed false hair on the Lord to befool him. The king ordered his men to pull the
hair of the Lord thinking that the hair was actually planted by the priest. When this was
done, blood started oozing out from the Lord’s head. The king was terribly pained by this
and was filled with remorse for having hurt the Supreme Lord. Then Lord Jagannath
addressed the king and told him that the temple priest was a great devotee of the Lord.
Although he had committed a mistake by lying to the king, he should be pardoned by the
king taking into account the priest’s qualification of being a sincere devotee of the Lord.

There is another Leela of the Lord during the lifetime of Srila Prabhupada. Srila
Prabhupada had once ordered the Abhishekam of the Lord. Lord Jagannath is actually
served flowers and bathed with them. There was a Mataji in the movement who had
assumed that Abhishekam actually happens when the Lord is cleansed with water
cleansing agents. So she took the wooden deities to the washroom and started cleaning
the deities with water. Though this is not considered as the right approach towards
honoring the Lord in the form of Sri Jagannath, the Lord did not take offence to such act
since he is most merciful and just accepts the sincere intentions of the devotee behind
such an act.

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The introduction of Rath Yatra in ISKCON happened after the incident described below.
There was a Mataji who was an ardent follower of Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada
had advised his devotees that one should offer the Lord, what one feels fit to be offered
or also, we should treat the Lord in a way better than the way we like ourselves to be
treated. There was a Mataji who liked going out. She had remembered Srila
Prabhupäda’s words and she decided to take the deities to the park since she liked to go
out to the park. She would carry the deities to the park and would perform Kirtan there.
Once when Srila Prabhupada opened the temple Altar he saw that the deities were
missing. He was told that this particular Mataji had been carrying Sri Jagannath wherever
she went to give pleasure to Him. Srila Prabhupada then advised this Mataji that
Jagannath only leaves the temple on one day and that is the day of the rath yatra. This
inspired Srila Prabhupada to introduce rath yatra in ISKCON. This is now a worldwide
phenomenon.

When Srila Prabhupada was asked why Sri Jagannath yatra was conducted by him outside
Puri , Srila Prabhupada replied that Jagannath means Lord of the world and not only Lord
of Puri Dhama. Before Prabhupada nobody had attempted to give the Sanatana Dharma
to Westerners. The Word Hindu does not appear in our Sastras. Srila Prabhupada proved
to the world that Santana Dharma was all encompassing. Srila Prabhupada explains why
it is necessary for Grihasthas to keep and serve deities at home. Bhagawan is complete in
all respects. However we offer him Bhoga and take Prasad. Why is that necessary? An
analogy of a mirror can be given here. When a person shaves in front of the mirror, it is
seen that the image in the mirror which is our own image also gets cleanly shaved. Our
real form is actually the form of Krishna and we are merely his infinitesimal parts. When
we serve the Lord with love, all our own requirements are automatically fulfilled. When
we serve God we are truly benefitted and it’s not that the Lord needs any advantage out
of our serving him. Thus we establish a relationship with the Lord.