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August 28, 2010

There was a man called Udayan Acharya. He was a Brahmin by caste and he spent his

time reading the Sthala Purana. There was a scripture called Purushottama Mahatmya

and he read a shloka from it. The shloka translated to this “Anyone who had a darshan of

Lord Jagannath even once, is awarded mukti immediately”, since this is a very benevolent

form of the Lord. Udayan Acharya started thinking that the world is infested by so many

demons and how is it possible that even such demons could get mukti after having

darshan of the deity of Lord Jagannath. This he thought was an exaggerated version of

the real truth.

The following morning when the priests of the Jagannath temple desired to open the

main darshan doors, the doors were not openening. The temple authorities thought that

there must be some hindrance in the opening of the door. A thorough checkup was done

but nothing was found to be the cause. A host of security guards were called to assist in

opening the temple doors but of no avail. Later on the priests concluded after much

deliberation that a sinner would have entered Jagannath Puri and that is why the Lord

had decided not to give darshan to anyone. Correctly that night, Lord Jagannath

appeared in the dreams of the Head priest. The Lord revealed to the priest that a great

sinner called Udayan Acharya had entered Puri. This person, the Lord said, did not have

faith that by taking one darshan of Lord Jagannath, one can be freed from all sins and will

attain salvation. The Lord demanded that Udayan Acharya should be expelled from Puri

otherwise the Lord would not grant darshan to any devotee in Puri. There as a public

announcement made in the township in the name of Udayan Acharya. When Udayan

Acharya made his presence before the priest, he was asked by the priest to immediately

vacate Puri. When Udayan Acharya pleaded not guilty, the priest told him that by not

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having faith in the Lord, that the Lord can liberate any fallen soul by just taking darshan

of the Him even once, Udayan Acharya had committed a grievous sin and that the Lord

has locked the temple doors from inside. By hearing this narration Udayan Acharya was

completely transformed.

In Jagannath Puri, there are huge deities of Lord Jagannath and there is a yearly ratha

Yatra. Many people wonder about the shape of the deities in the Jagannath Temple. The

deities do not have well formed hands, legs or face. What could be the reason behind

this unusual deity form of Lord Jagannath? There is a story in the Sastras, when Krishna

left Vrindavana at the age of eleven; he never came back to Vrindavana for the next 100

years. The Braja wasis were experiencing immense separation from Krishna. During that

time the Gopis went to meet Krishna in Kurukshetra which was not very far away from

Vrindavana.There was a discussion between yasoda, Nanda Maharaja, Devaki, Vasudeva

about the Lord’s pastime in Vrindavana. For reasons known to them, they did not want

Lord Krishna to hear these pastimes discussed by them. Sister Subhadra was asked to

keep guard outside the door of the chamber in which the pastimes of the Lord was being

discussed by the elders of the family. As Subhadra started to hear the exceedingly

ecstatic pastimes of the Lord in Vrindavana, her hands and legs started melting in

extreme love. Right at the time Balbhadra and Lord Krishna arrived on the scene and saw

Subhadra’s bodily expressions and were bewildered. They also turned their attention

indoors where the confidential pastimes of the Lord were being discussed. This resulted

in the melting of the bodily features of both Balbhadra and Lord Sri Krishna. This was the

time when Narada Muni happened to witness the transcendentally ecstatic forms of the

two brothers and sister. Narada Muni prayed to the Lord that the people of the age of

Kali be blessed by this most exalted ecstatic form of the Lord. This is the mahabhava form

of the Lord. Unfortunately this form of the Lord is not understood by many.

About 1 million people come for the rath yatra every year. There are about 240 fire

places in the kitchen of the temple. There are 600 cooks who cook Mahaprasadam every

day. They make Bhoga for the Lord. There is enough Bhoga everyday which can fill the

bellies of 25000 devotees every day. The story of Lord Jagannath coming to ISKCON

temple is also a very interesting story. There was a place called Simant Dweep in West

Bengal much before the advent of Srila Prabhupada. There was a devotee called Jagadish

Ganguly who stayed there. This was during the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Every

year devotees from Bengal used to visit Jagannath Puri to visit Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Since Jagadish Ganguly was very old at that time, he could not go to meet Mahaprabhu

that year. He as lamenting out of intense separation from Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Jagadish Ganguly was not only old but also had lost his eyesight. One night he got a

dream where Lord Jagannath appeared in his dream and gave instructions to him.He was

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told by the Lord that when Jagadish Ganguly would go for his morning bath, he would be

hit on his head by a log of wood. He should then take this piece of wood to a carpenter

who lived nearby. The Lord gave the correct address of this said carpenter and instructed

him that he should immediately get Jagannath deities carved out of them. As Jagadish

Ganguly went for his bath the next day, as prophesied by the Lord, he was hit by a log of

wood. Miraculously Jagadish Ganguly got his eyesight back and as instructed to him by

the Lord in his dream, he left with the very same log of wood to the house of the said

carpenter. He observed that the carpenter was suffering from an intense bout of leprosy.

The carpenter humbly rejected the service of the Lord with a fear of contaminating the

service he was out to render to the Lord by means of carving his deities. However when

Jagadish Ganguly narrated about the dream, the carpenter took up the service because

he did not want to go against the Lord’s direct wish. As the carpenter started carving the

deities, it was observed that the leprosy inflicted body started healing and as the deities

were completed, the carpenter was cured of the disease. From that time Jagadish

Ganguly and his family started taking care of the deities. As the deity was being served by

the family of Jagadish Ganguly through generations, there was an aparadh committed by

one of the family members during the process of service.

Because of this there was a huge epidemic that consumed the village, the family of

Ganguly and the whole clan was destroyed. After this for more than 300 years the temple

at Simanta Dweep was covered and Lord Jagannath was obscured from the vision of the

general population. Later after 300 years, there was a devotee called Jaimini Ghosh who

discovered the temple. The Lord appeared in his dream and instructed him , that after

the life time of Jaimini Ghosh , the deities be handed over to the nearest ISKCON temple

which was in Mayapur because the Lord believed that He would be looked after well by

the priests of the temple. Thus the original deities of Simanta Dweep was shifted to

ISKCON temple Mayapore.

-----To be continued--------