Jai
Jagannath!
Lord Jagannath
is known to everybody across the globe. His world famous Rath Yatra (Car
festival or Chariot festival) attracts laksh of devotees to Puri. Besides,
everyone wants to have a darshan of the trinity (Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and
Mata Subhadra) in the Shree Mandir, the abode of the Lord in Puri of Odisha.
However, sometimes we come across complains saying the devotees did not managed
to get a satisfactory darshan. It is true that Lord Jagannath is the living God
and one can get a glimpse of Him only with His wish. So nothing to worry. Even
if you can’t have a darshan, it doesn’t means that you are not getting His
blessings. But I understand, anyone comes with a wish to visit the Lord on the
Ratna Singhasana gets satisfied only when he gets a glimpse of the God. Accordingly,
here are something I would like to convey so that next time your chance of
having a darshan of the Lord in the temple becomes more probable.
The moment
you stepped on to the soil of Puri think of the God and leave everything on
Him. Pray Him about your wish of paying a visit to Him. Now, you reached near
the temple. Pay your homage to the ‘Patitapabana bana’, the flag on the top of
the temple. Now some Pandas may ask you to assist in the darshan.
If you want
to meet the Chief Minister of Prime Minister, can you surely get a chance to
meet them, once you go either to Navin Niwas in Bhubaneswar or PMO in Delhi? Of
course not. Because, they are high profile people with hundreds of works to
execute, as they head a state or the country. Now, think, if there is no surety
of meeting a person who either runs a state or a country, can you surely meet
the God who is running the world? After all Jagannath is Jagat nath, the master
of the universe. But yes, once the PM or CM wants you to meet him, probably
there would not be any problem. Like this, if the Lord wants, you must get a
chance to have His darshan.
When you
reached the Singhadwara, the entrance of the temple, some Pandas may ask you to
assist for a darshan. It is upto you whether to take their service or not. I
have heard of a mythological rule that the amount we spend for the God, when
visiting to a temple, we should pay 10 percent of it to the priest. I have also
heard the priest who actually conducts the worship for us gets 10 percent of
the virtues that we get from the God of having His darshan. If we believe this
rule, there is nothing wrong if a Panda (priest) assists you in the darshan and
gets satisfied on getting a moneytary amount which is 10 percent of the amount
you want to spend in the temple. So, in that case you should opt for him, but if
he demands more than that it is ingenuine and you should avoid him. Well, I
have heard of some cases when they used hard words. I understand that hurts.
But my suggestion is not to argue or fight with him. Simply say him ‘Jay
Jagannath’ and surrender his rebuke to the God. Just tell the God that you had
to bear hard words and it is His turn to do whatever He feels good. I know, it
is tough to bear, but accept it as a distraction. May be it is a test by the
God. Your main aim is the Lord and His darshan. So all the time you should try
to visualise Him, rather than getting yourself involved in any fight. Well,
socially you may be a powerful man and could teach a lesson to him, but at this
place just surrender it to the God. Accept that you may be powerful but the God
is the supreme power. I know it is easy to advice, but practically hard to
follow, but this is the best way out there.
Well,
suppose you don’t want to pay anything to any body in the temple and just want
to pay a visit to the Lord at your own. In this case first wash your hand and
feet at the washing point in front of the entrance and proceed towards the
Singhadwara. After you enter ‘Baisi Pabachha’ (22 steps) is there. There is a
belief. In the first step there is a black rectangular stone. Step on it. It is
believed that once you step on it, the stone takes away your vices. But during
the return journey don’t step on it and walk along its side. Otherwise the
vices you left earlier will again return to you. It is a belief. It is upto you
to whether abide it or not. So, now, walk on the 22 steps and then take a right
turn into the ‘Ananda Bazara’ where the God’s offerrings are available.
Normally, you should go straight after the 22 steps to reach the temple
throught the left path. But since you decided not to take assistance of any
Panda, so I said to enter the Ananda Bazara. Because after going straight, you
would find a number of Pandas who would ask you to assist.
In the
Ananada Bazara ask somebody whether the main temple is open at the moment. If
that is open you enter the ‘Kurma Bedha’, the inner premises of the temple,
through the Ananda Bazara and go inside the main temple through the right side
entrance to reach near the Garuda Stambha. There you can get clear glimpse of
the trinity. Pay your homage and go ahead. If it is a ‘Sahanamela’ time you can
go up to the inner sanctum. At other times, you will be checked at the entrance
of the Garbha gruha. However, from this place too you can get a clear glimpse
of the three idols. In normal time, employ one of your group members to buy the
‘Paramanika’ ticket on lieu of which you can get entry to the inner sanctum.
In case, you
enquired at the Ananda Bazara and got the information that the main temple is
not open for now, first have a full belly anna bhoga. I have heard, the anna
bhoga and Lord Jagannath are same. I mean swallowing of the anna bhoga itself
is like having darshan of Lord Jagannath. So have the food with satisfaction
and then pay your visit to the Lord. You might be thinking, we should visit the
Lord in empty stomach. But don’t worry. It is His offerring only, so there is
no harm.
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