About Lord Jagannatha

“Lord Jagganatha and my connection with him is definitely Dance. Without learning dance I could not have entered into the path of spirituality. My guru is a great devotee of Jagganatha. His work has always been surrender to his lotus feet. So his creative work always impact in my mind and body. I get connected immediately to Lord because I do puja, yoga and meditation. Apart from all, when I offer puspanjali on His feet to get His blessings, I really feel the energy and power to do my dance. My connection to my guru and Govind is really deep. I feel my love and prayer for them is a great blessing. Their blessings are my real strength and power to do dance.”

Lord Jagannatha is the Lord of the universe. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, in His most blissful form of ecstatic love.

He is most mercifully inclined to His devotees who worship Him with love and devotion. He gives benediction to all who render even a little service to His lotus feet.

Lord Jagannatha has been worshipped in Puri for many thousands of years. His most famous chariot festival of Ratha-Yatra is attended by millions of devotees.

Lord Jagannatha is the ecstatic deity form of Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord takes different incarnations during different time periods to protect and give pleasure to His devotees and annihilate the demoniac classes of men. 

5,000 years ago Lord Krishna appeared on this planet Earth in His most attractive original form, with a dark blue hue similar to a rain cloud, with black curling hair bedecked with a peacock feather, holding a flute. This is the same form that eternally resides in the spiritual sky. He enacted His pastimes on this earthly plane exactly like He does eternally in His eternal realm, Goloka Vrindavan. 

Although appearing in this material world, the Lord is never affected by the material creation, His body, form, paraphanelia and activites are completely transcendental. 

One day while living in Dwarka, Krishna’s many wives asked Rohini Devi, Lord Balaram’s mother who witnessed the childhood pastimes of the transcendental brothers Krishna and Balarama to narrate these ecstatic pastimes of the young Krishna and Balarama. The wives said “Sometimes we hear Krishna talking in His sleep. With a sweet voice He calls out the names of His cowherd boy friends like Sridama and Subala and the names of His cows. At times He shouts, ‘O Lalita! O Vishaka! O Radhika!’ Or He says, ‘Mother, where is My fresh butter today?’ Sometimes He cries in His sleep and then he wakes up and sobs for hours. How special are those residents of Braja! Please tell us everything about them.”

Seeing their love for Krishna, Mother Rohini agreed to describe His wonderful pastimes for them. But she stipulated that Krishna and Balaram should not hear these talks under any circumstances, lest They becomes uncomfortably self-conscious. She suggested that she meet with the queens when the two divine brothers were not nearby. 

And so, one day when Krishna and Balarama, were busy with other concerns, all the queens gathered in a huge hall, anxious to hear Rohini revel in Krishna’s Vrindavan pastimes. But before she instructed Subhadra, Krishna and Balarama’s younger sister Subhadra to guard the front door tomato sure Krisna and Balarama did not come. Ack unexpectedly and perchance overhear their discussion. 

As rohini rapturously communicated the childhood pastimes of Lord Krishna in Vrindavana, the queens listened with full attention, never once becoming distracted from the nectar that filled their ears. Even Subhadra, stationed at the door, became so absorbed in hearing the narration of these transcendental childhood pastimes of Krishna and Balarama her eyes became almost as wide as her face, her smile stretched across her face and her arms sucked inside her body. Lord Balarama who began to walk down the hall saw His sister in this ecstatic trance tried to understand how this had happened. The closer He came toward her He too began to hear the narrations of Lord Krishna’s activities with the gopi and Gopa’s in Vrindavan. He too became overjoyed with ecstatic love and the whites of His eyes became very large, His smile reaching across his face and body still in ecstasy. After some time Lord Krishna went looking for Lord Balarama, and saw both His brother and sister in these ecstatic and unusual forms! He cried out Subhadra! Balarama! What has happened? Why are you both like this? There was no answer from either of Them as they were completely in trance hearing about His Vrindavan pastimes. Lord Krishna Himself began to over hear Rohini’s narrations to His queens about the activities of His childhood that Lord Krishna’s transcendental body began to transform exactly like Balaram and Subhadra’s. His dark skin extenuated His large lotus eyes! Oh what a sight it was! 

Just then, the sage Narada Muni saw the three of Them in this way and prayed! My dear Lord Madhava! My dear Lord Balarama, and Lady Subhadra! What ecstatic forms you have taken! May the whole world have the opportunity to see you in this way!

Thus, by the blessings of Narada Muni each year this form of Lord Jagannatha takes part in His Ratha Yatra ceremony and gives His darshan to every fortunate soul that takes His darshan.

Please visit here to hear the incredible story of how the large wooden form of Lord Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Lady Subhadra were carved and placed in the temple room of King Indradyumna.

For more about Lord Jagannatha please visit:
https://vaniquotes.org/wiki/Category:Jagannatha