Pastimes of Lord Jagannath - By Harsha Lalita devi dasi

15. Raghu Dasa There was once a great devotee of Lord Ramachandra named Raghu Dasa. He lived in Puri under a big umbrella near the Lion Gate of Jagannath temple. Once when he went to see Lord Jagannath he saw Rama, Laxman, and Sita on Jagannath's altar. From that day on he was convinced that Lord Jagannath was non-different from Lord Ramachandra. Raghu developed friendly love, sakhya rasa, for Lord Jagannath. Once Raghu prepared a nice garland for Lord Jagannath and gave it to the pujari to offer to the Lord. But the pujari did not want to offer it, since Raghu had used a string made from the bark of the banana tree. At that time use of such things was prohibited in Jagannath's temple. Raghu felt very sad that his garland was not offered to Lord Jagannath. He left the temple feeling very down. Later in the day, the pujari was finishing the evening arati. Before the Lord goes to bed the pujaris dress Him in a special dress called bada sringar-vesa. After dressing the Lord, the p...

14. Ramanujacarya in Jagannath Puri Ramanujacarya visited Puri in the 12th century. Ramanujacarya is the founder-acharya of Sri sampradaya. He was a great Vaisnava acarya and also famous as very learned personality. He preached the doctrine of visista advaitavad and vigorously opposed the teachings of Sankarcharya. At that time King Choda Ganga Deva ruled the state of Orissa. Ramanuja had much influence over the king. Ramanuja recognized Lord Jagannath as Maha-Vishnu. He saw that the Lord was being worshiped with the mixture of different processes. He was concerned that low-caste people, such as Daitapatis could take part in offering puja. Ramanuja argued that Lord Jagannath should be worshiped with the Vedic process only. He wanted to change the process of puja in Jagannath temple. He presented many changes to the king and made him agree to his proposals. Jagannath's sevaks objected to the new system. But the King would not listen to their appeals. Finally the date was fixed for R...

13. Lord Jagannath's mercy on Aurangazeb: In Orissa there is a little-known history that undeniably demonstrates that Lord Jagannath is the most merciful and compassionate. It describes how He bestowed His causeless mercy on one of the most hated and feared despots to ever walk on this planet. If in the course of giving mercy the Lord is not kind to even those who consider Him an enemy. then how can He truly be the most merciful...!!! Born on 4th November 1618, Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir, more commonly known as Aurangzeb, reigned with an iron fist over most of India for 48 years. To obtain the Moghul throne, Aurangzeb killed his elder brother and imprisoned his father, Shah Jahan, who then died in captivity eight years later. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada mentions this in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 10.1.67: We have seen in the history of India that Aurangzeb killed his brother and nephews and imprisoned his father to fulfill political...

12. King Kulasekhara: Once upon a time there was a king in Orissa named Kulasekhara. He was a very powerful king. He was very strict in his administration. His countenance was effulgent like the sun, and his heart was as deep as the ocean. He was very charitable, like a wish- fulfilling tree, and in learning he was compared to Brihaspati. He was as tolerant as Mother Earth, as beautiful as Kamadeva, the God of love, and was very pure in his mood and behavior. His wealth was like that of Kuvera, and he took care of the citizens of his kingdom as if they were his own children. He was very much surrendered to the devas and brahmanas. He was full of devotion and sincerely served the lotus feet of his spiritual master. King Kulasekhara always served the devotees, and was constantly engaged in hearing hari-katha. One day King Kulasekhara was sitting on his throne, surrounded by his ministers and soldiers. Many sadhus and sannyasis gathered around the King, who was listening to them speak har...

11. King Purusottama Dev In Indian culture, sweeping is considered to be the basest activity, an occupation of low-class persons. In Puri, however, the kings are famous for being sweepers. It is not that the kings of the Oriya gajapati-rajavamśa are low class persons. Their sweeping is glorious because it is done as service for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Jagannatha. Famous amongst the vaişnava kings of Orissa is Gajapati Rāja Puruşottama Dev (1470-1497). King Puruşottama Dev was the son of Raja Kapilendradeva (1435-1470). At the time of their reign, Orissa extended from the Ganges river in present day Bengal south to the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh. Śrīla Kışnadāsa Kavirāja has described that Mahārāja Puruşottama Dev brought the famous deity of Sākşi-gopāla from Vidyānagara in South India, to Cuttack in Orissa. Once, while Mahārāja Puruşottama Dev was leading his army on a campaign to conquer the lands south of Orissa, he came to Kanchi. The king of Kanchi, Mahārāja ...

10. Dasia Bauri: In a village called Baligram, 2km from Puri, there lived a low-caste tribal person named Dasia Bauri. Dasia was very much in ignorance and didn't understand very much about what was pious behavior and what was sinful behavior. He had no children; he and his wife were very poor. Dasia was a weaver, and the money he made selling the cloth barely maintained him and his wife. During festival days, Dasia would visit the homes of brahmanas in his village and listen to the songs that glorified the Lord. Even though he could not understand anything, he liked to listen. In this way he was spending his life-working to maintain himself and occasionally hearing some kirtana on festival days. At one point he accepted mantra initiation from a guru and started to wear kanthi mala and apply tilak on his forehead. He was associating with devotees and hearing hari-katha from them. Slowly he came to learn more, and soon he came to feel that Lord Sri Hari was the only truth. Whatever ...

 9. Tulasidas visits Lord Jagannath  It's said that while reading through the Ramayana composed by the sage Valmiki, Tulasidas, the famous North Indian poet of the 16th century, came across a verse wherein Lord Ramachandra instructs Ravan's younger brother Vibhishan: kim canyad vaktum icchami raksasendra mahabala  aradhaya jagannatham iksväku-kula daivatam O mighty ruler of the raksasas, there is one more thing I wish to say to you. Worship Lord Jagannath, the Lord of the lkshvaku dynastу. Hearing this, Tulasidas developed a great desire to have darsana of Lord Jagannath, and he set out from Kashi (Benares), walking the great distance to Puri. There is a place known as Tulasi Sarovar in Orissa between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar where Tulasidas is said to have taken rest in the night. He again stopped at the village of Dunda Sahi on the northern bank of the river Bhargavi, just a few miles from Puri. In memory of his brief stay there, the villagers installed a deity of Hanuma...