Thursday, 12 August 2021

Deity Pastimes:20-Offense to the maha-prasadam




Offense to the maha-prasadam

Lord Jagannath is very popular here. He is known as a very powerful Deity amongst all the different villages in this area, even the Muslims sometimes worship Him. 

On snan-yatra they bring their offerings. We have a big feast on that day. So they all bring milk and eatables to offer to Lord Jagannath. One time on snan-yatra, this was about 15 years ago, two rikshaw drivers came. One rikshaw driver took some kitchari prasadam and he also took some for his friend, who was a Muslim and didn't want to come in. 

The rikshaw driver said to his Muslim friend, "I brought you some prasadam anyway", but his friend threw it on the ground and said, "We don't eat these things." 

The Muslim at that night in a dream saw: Lord Balaram was sitting on him, squashing him and beating him like anything, and the man was becoming very fearful. Subhadra was there too. She was laughing and She was saying, "Kill him, kill him!" Also Lord Jagannath was there and he said, "No, no, no don't kill him." And Lord Jagannath was laughing. The next day this Muslim came very humbly before the Deity and offered some worship for Lord Jagannath and also asked for some maha-prasadam kitchari. But there was nothing left. "There must be a little" he pleaded. So the pujari went and searched the pots and found a little bit, and he happily took that.

Jagannath swami ki Jai....

Deity Pastimes:15- Don't go to jagannath puri

Why go to Puri? 

Once a pilgrim traveling from the north fell asleep on the train. He was on his way to Purusottam Ksetra Puri to take darshan of Lord Jagannath. In his dream the Lord spoke and told him, "My dear devotee, there is no need for you to go all the way to Puri for I am residing very near by here. Just get off at the next station and walk towards the north-west, there you will find a temple where you can have my darshan to your full satisfaction. 

The next station was Bhadurpur, so excitedly he got down and started to walk in this direction, and taking help from the local people he soon found his way here and happily worshipped these wonderful forms of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra.

Jagannath swami ki Jai....