Today is the Ratha Jatra of Sri Jagannath, who is arguably their most worshiped amongst the Odias. His picture along with His brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra adores living rooms (called drawing room in the state) of the majority of Odias. No Hindu auspicious occasion in Odisha ever gets initiated or moves forward without inviting Sri Jagannath or sans his blessings. Even his chariot is said not to move forward if his staunchest devotee hasn't arrived at the venue of Puri "BADADANDA" (Broadway) where the His chariot along with his sisters are pulled ahead on the day of "RATHA JATRA" (car festival).
In 17th century the legendary Sri Jagannath devotee Bhakta Salabega, son of a Muslim Subedar (Military Officer) desired to see the Ratha yatra festival at Puri, but on the way he suddenly fell ill. Feeling helpless and realising that he would not reach the town located on the coast of Bay of Bengal in time to see the Ratha yatra festival, he offered prayers to Jagannath petitioning Him to wait until he arrived. It is said that on the day of the Car festival, Nandighosa, the cart of Jagannath refused to move until Salabega's arrival in spite of hundreds of volunteers trying their best to pull it in sweltering heat. No sooner than Salabega arrived on the spot, the chariot started galloping ahead.
Many wouldn't be knowing the story of poor Bandhu Mohanty, an ardent devotee of Sri Jagannath who took his hungry family with him, just sustaining on water and wild fruits on his journey to see Sri Jagannath in Puri. It took him 5 days to reach his destination from his native Jajpur. It was late in the night. Tired from the long journey and on the verge of collapsing the family fell asleep in front of the SINGHADWAR (Lion Gate). In middle of the night Bandhu Mohanty woke up from his sleep to see a smiling Brahmin in front of him offering him several delicacies of food on a gem studded plate. The starving family devoured the sumptuous meal. The Brahmin who suddenly appeared in middle of night with a large plate filled with food for a hungry family was never to be seen again. Any doubt Sri Jagannath took care of His sincere devotee ?
The following incident isn't from centuries ago, rather happened a few years back. A group of Ukrainian devotees of Sri Jagannath arrived late at Delhi enroute to Puri to see the Ratha Jatra. Their flight got delayed. Keeping their fingers crossed, they started praying to Lord Jagannath to arrive on time to see the chariots moving. The delayed flight finally started and arrived at Bhubaneswar in the evening. The devotee left all their hopes to see the Lord's chariot on "Badadanda", resigned to their fate, sans any magic from the Lord himself.
And the magic happened. There was an argument between the servitors to the Lord and the temple officials for some trivial matter which delayed the pulling of the chariots. By the time the issue was settled the Ukrainian devotees had arrived at their destination. No sooner they were present, than to their pleasant surprise the Raths started moving. The devotees couldn't stop crying at the miracle of Lord Jagannath fulfilling their lifelong wish to witness the Ratha Jatra at Jagannath Puri.
The anecdotes could be apocryphal. Cynics may doubt it. But what's not in doubt is the "MAHIMA", glory and the greatestness of the Lord. CHAKA AKHI SABU DEKHUCHI (Sri Jagannath is watching everything). He watches over us, understands true devotion and doesn't mind fulfilling the devotee's wish.
It needs to be notes that Bandhu Mohanty was a Hindu, Salabeg a Muslim, the Ukrainians were Christians. But our Lord, Sri Jagannath doesn't care about the faith of the devotee if the devotee cares for Him. He only listens to the call of the BHAKT (Devotee) if the devotion is sincere and pure. Because, the word Jagannath is formed as conjoint (SANDHI) of the two words JAGAT (Universe) + NATH (meaning Lord of the Universe). Our Lord belongs to everyone in this world, irrespective of their caste, creed, faith, religion or sex.
I will end this article with
JAGANNATHA SWAMI,
NAYANA PATHA GAMI
BHAVATUME,
which roughly means -
"O Lord Jagannath,
The Beacon of our eyes,
He who shows us the path,
Be visible to me".
Jai Jagannath.
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