-Lord Jagannatha Drawn by my daughter Riya
Hello friends, I feel so fortunate to dedicate my 100th blog post to Lord Jagannatha(the Lord of the World). Today is the auspicious day, the world famous Sri Jagannatha Ratha (chariot) Yatra or Annual Car Festival commences in Lord’s abode Puri, in Odisha. The Lord Jagannatha along with his elder brother Lord Balbhadra and younger sister Goddess Subhadra begins his 9 day visit to Gundicha Temple via their maternal aunt’s home from his main temple. They travel in separate wooden chariot which are constructed every year for the sacred occasion and dismantled afterwards after the Lord returns to his own abode.
All the Hindus living in any corner of the world observe the day by bringing out the holy chariot in their own cities and towns. The Lord Jagannatha consciousness is believed to be the path to salvation and one who had a glimpse of the Lord or drawn the ropes of the chariot are entitled to it. Lakhs of people congregate in Puri to observe the 3 km procession.The renowned saints of Bhakti era like Sri Chaitanya, Guru Nanak, Meerabai had visited the 12th century temple during this occasion. This time however the festival is observed without the devotees owing to the pandemic.
Lord Jagannatha is worshipped and treated just like humans. There is an interesting story associated with Car Festival. It is said that when Lords chose to take his elder brother Lord Balbhadra and younger sister Subhadra in this excursion, quite naturally his wife Goddess Lakhshmi is annoyed with him for being left out. To express her displeasure, she visits him on the fifth day at Gundicha Temple. Both the deities sit confronting each other and Goddess Lakshmi pleads with Him to return back along with her. The Lord refuses and funnily enough, like any jealous wife, before she returns empty handed she orders her servitude to break a part of the Lord’s chariot named Nandighosa, to vent her anger.
Another interesting anecdote is when Lord returns back to his temple, the follower of Goddess Lakhshmi allow the chariot of Balbhadra and Subhadra inside but block the path of Nandighosa. A fascinating verbal exchange take place between the followers of both sides, where Lord pleads with her to let him in and she refuses. At last when Lord presents her large bowl of ‘rosogolla’ a sweet delicacy, the Bengal and Odisha call their very own, she finally relents and allowed him in.
The above incidences emphasizes that when Lord adopts the human form, they also behave like humans do and that’s precisely make him more endearing to his divotees. The Jagannatha consciousness or Krishna consciousness have reached around the globe through Srila Prabhupada, an Indian spiritual teacher through his International Society of Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON.
Friends in this trying time, we can draw solace if we can align our thoughts with the consciousness of God, the Almighty. No matter which religion we happen to follow all leads to one Supreme Power, who holds the remote control of the world. Let’s all pray to Him to throw out distress and pain from our lives and we can live happily ever after. Jai Sri Jagannatha!
Happy Ratha Yatra to all of you.
Happy Ratha Yatra. It was very interesting to read about the mythical story association with this festival. I knew that Rasgullas were offered to Goddess Lakshmi but I didn’t know this was the reason behind it ๐
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Thank you Shweta. It’s really interesting to know God also behaved like we humans do!!!๐โค
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Yes. It’s really interesting indeed. You’re very welcome
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Happy Ratha Yatra from Catalonia!
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Thank you very much and same to you. ๐
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Jai Jaganatha ๐๐โค May Jagannath Bhagavan’s grace be always with you and family ๐๐โค
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Jai Jagannatha๐๐๐I wish the same for you!!๐น๐ธโฅ๏ธ
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Beautiful narration..hindu mythology is full of interesting anecdotes
God bless you
๐๐น๐
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Thank you very much. God bless you too!!๐ธ๐๐๐
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Happy Rathajatra! Jai Jagannath! Your daughter is a fantastic artist. Encourage her and she can become a professional artist or a design director.
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Happy Rathjatra to you too! Thanks a lot for the appreciation of my daughter’s art…The point is, she has already taken up medicine as her profession. There is no secret,how taxing it is. I would feel myself fortunate if she continues it as a hobby.
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God bless her.
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Thank you very much. ๐
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Such a marvelous drawing โคโคโค
And I love how these things makes us believe that not even God are spared from problems then we are just humans
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That’s exactly the Krishna Leela is all about. In his human incarnation, he does all the things, a normal human does, which make us believe in him even more!! Thanks for the drawing on behalf of my daughter โค๏ธ๐นโค๏ธ
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Happy Ratha Yatra dear โฃ๏ธ
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Thank you very much and same to you๐นโค๏ธ๐น
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Happy Rathyatra!๐๐
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Thank you and I wish the same to you.๐๐๐
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เคฐเคฅเคฏเคพเคคเฅเคฐเคพ เคเคฟ เคฌเคนเฅเคค เคถเฅเคญเคเคพเคฎเคจเคพเคเค ๐๐
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Ap ko bhi bahut sari subhkamnae!๐๐๐
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Wow amazingly penned๐ป I just only read in newspapers about the chariots of Jagannatha but today I read this whole story.โจ
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It feels so good you came to know about the Lord Jagannatha and his Leela through my post. Thanks a lot for liking it.๐ป๐ป
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Jai Sri Jagannatha deva.
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Jai Sri Jagannatha Deva๐๐๐
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Happy Rath Yatra…
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Happy Rath Yatra to you too!
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Happy Ratha yathra. Interesting to read the story behind this yatra. You ended the article beautifully by calling out the readers to seek refuge in the Lord . Great sharing Mousumi.
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Thank you Sowmya and happy Ratha yathra to you too. In this trying times God is the real savior and solace to all.๐
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Thank you Mousumi. Have a great day
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Many congratulations to you for 100 posts, it’s one of my dreams to join the rath yatra. Lord Jagannath is the symbol of Hinduism. Thank you for sharing the anecdote of Lord Jagannath so beautifully.
Love from Uttarakhand๐.
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Thanks a lot… I wish your dream of joining the rath yatra become true very soon. Indeed Lord Jagannatha is the symbol of Hinduism and spiritual consciousness. Greetings to you. Stay blessed.
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Thankyou ๐
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Woww….. I want to visit orissa for this it looks really amazing. Happy rath yatra. Lord jagannath is lord krishna only? ๐คฉ๐ฅฐ๐๐๐
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Attending a Rath Yatra is really an amazing experience. You are right, Lord Jagannath is Lord Krishna or Lord Narayana. Happy Rath Yatra to you too.
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Thanks for confirming and please give my blog a visit in your free time ๐
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Ofcourse!!๐น
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