After my Haridwar trip I met one interesting personality, Rahul Acharya, Head Priest of Jagannath Temple, Puri, Orissa, who has become very close to my heart since both of us got along really well with each other, spiritually speaking, and we decided we would preach together in the future. He is such a treasure in simple terms, a real pearl, which I was searching on my Haridwar trip. Meeting with a great Vaishnav like him was just mercy of Lord Krishn, when he came to Vrindavan to visit me. During our first meeting I could feel Rahul bhai’s magnetic presence and his profound knowledge of the scriptures blew me away, which made me eager to get to know him more. He invited me to Jagannath Puri. I was hearing Lord Jagannath’s name and listening to the nectar of His glories during our chat.
Rahul bhai organized my trip to Jagannath Puri and told me, he was not calling me. In fact it was Lord Jagannath ji’s call for a Brijwasi. This was indeed a great mercy, I never thought about Lord Jagannath nor did I have the idea of visiting Him. After my Haridwar trip I was trying to go to Badrinath (the place where Lord Krishn meditates) but on five attempts, it was cancelled and finally I gave up on the plan. Jagannath Puri is the place where Lord Krishn eats and it is one of the main Holy places. If I am right, it is only the temple, which is revealed in the scriptures.
I was in Jagannath Puri in 1993 and I remember my mother told me, ‘Whatever you will ask Chakra, situated on the roof of the temple, remember it is non–different from Lord Jagannath Himself.’What would a 10 yrs old boy ask? I was in school and all I asked for was passing my exams, with first rank. I had given half yearly exams and I was awaiting the results at the time. I prayed so hard for the top spot. After I returned from my trip, my class teacher announced, I came first in rank. I was so happy! I always remember that golden moment of my life, when I felt the power of my prayers working but then a moment later she said, ‘You ranked first from the bottom.’ My heart, which was jumping so high, stopped working all of a sudden. Students started giggling, and I lowered my head, thinking, God you are very clever. It was my first ever experience of His naughtiness.
I felt so ashamed; I couldn’t face anyone and was thinking why did I ask this thing from God? Since then I became very careful with my demands and this time, when I was invited to Jagannath Puri, I was more conscious of my words because of that first unforgettable experience with Lord Jagannath. Rahul Acharya lives in Bhuvneshwar and I stayed at his home with his family. He wanted me to be a witness of the Hidden Rath-yatra, which falls every year in the month of October and starts from Nav-Durga, lasting 16 days. It was shocking to see how they follow nine days of Durga (Nav-Durga). Everyday they spent a lot of time on every minute details of puja and a major part of the day is used in the preparation only. I was thrilled, witnessing such detail in Puja but I was not fully satisfied by such preparation.
One day, I asked Rahul Bhai, ‘Why do you spend so much time on such details, maybe it helps you but you’re wasting a lot of time in preparation and whenever you’ll do Puja, little details will always bug you for example did you miss or overlook anything in your preparation? Infact during Puja, your mind will be more focused on details and not on Bhakti.’ He gave me some answers but none of them actually satisfied me. I understood this because of the upbringing of two devotees, Rahul bhai and me, was different. I was into devotion and he was into Jnana. Nevertheless, I was enjoying all of Jagannath ji’s nectar that Rahul bhai was sharing. I was getting more and more enthusiastic to take darshan of Lord Jagannath. One day, Rahul ji took me to the temple and asked me to follow him. He told me that we don’t directly go to take darshan of Lord Balram, Subhadra and Jagganath. It was my first visit and during Nav Durga, I received tense vibes inside the temple.
According to the custom temple priests visit temples, which are situated inside the premises of Temple. Rahul ji narrated all the pastimes stories of all those temples. By hearing the stories I was shocked to discover that they follow Goddess Durga more than Lord Krishn. After paying obeisance in all main temples we entered the Jagannath Temple. He first took me to the Garuda pillar, where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to take darshan and Rahul ji showed me his finger prints on the wall. After paying my Pranaam to the sacred spot, and losing my patience, I eagerly moved to view the Jagannath deity, whose glories I had heard for so long. Once I moved, my heartbeat stopped. The temple was closed, so I asked Rahul ji to give me some time to chant. He left me in the courtyard of the temple and went for some work. My mother had given me instruction to do some chanting in the temple. But it was quite impossible to do when temple was crowded and people were screaming. After sometime, Rahul ji came and asked me again to follow him. As a blind follower, I went with him and asked him, where is he taking me? He said, ‘You will see.’
He took me away from the courtyard and asked me to enter another gate of the temple and told the guides and Pujaris, I was with him. Once I entered through the gate, Rahul ji asked me to stand in the queue. A security guard was collecting white colour receipts and when my number came, Rahul ji came with the receipt and handed it over to the guard. As soon as the guard allowed me to enter a section of the temple, I saw the gigantic deity of Jagganath! Rahul ji said, ‘I thought it would be good for you to take close darshan of the Lord of the Universe.’ Rahul ji left me completely speechless! I was struggling to find the words to express gratitude for this arrangement.
He instructed me not to take out any money from my pocket. He had grabbed my hand and said, ‘Don’t listen to anyone.’ I knew why he said that. From my childhood I had heard about the aggressive guides and pujaris of Jagannath Puri. They ask for money and speak harsh words to the devotees. I shook my head and went inside the deity room. The deity room was packed! Rahul ji was pulling my hand and I was following him. A few moments later, I was standing in front of Lord Jagganath. I could not believe it! Lord Jagannath was before me, I touched and paid my obeisance to the throne where Lord Balram, Subhadra and Jagganath were sitting and one by one, I took darshan of the main deities. Then Rahul ji took me in a small dark alley beside the deity room, which was a small parikrama for deities. After I performed a parikrama, Rahul ji put left me in the corner of the room and asked me to meditate Him.
The way everything happened, so rapidly, I felt there was no need to meditate with my closed eyes. I asked for forgiveness from God and gave Pranaam, on behalf of everybody: Radharaman ji, Girdhari ji, Mahaprabhu ji, all the Brijwasis, my family and all devotees. Soon after the Pranaam, security guard came towards us and asked me to leave because it was his lunch time. I stepped out from deity room, turned my face and started to take steps back, so by this I could see Him longingly…just a little more tonic to my eyes and let my eyes capture His extraordinary beauty.
But as soon as we left the temple, I felt, as if the entire experience was a dream. Sometimes we see dreams and when we wake up, we forget everything. It was the same case with me. My mind was blank and I could not enjoy this ecstatic moment in my life. I started to close my eyes to relive His beauty I captured on the way out, but He was not even coming. I became really sad. I recalled one verse from SB 10.31.15 “When You go off to the forest during the day, a tiny fraction of a second becomes like a millennium for us because we cannot see You. And even when we can eagerly look upon Your beautiful face, so lovely with its adornment of curly locks, our pleasure is hindered by our eyelids, which were fashioned by the foolish creator.”
Rahul bhai organized my trip to Jagannath Puri and told me, he was not calling me. In fact it was Lord Jagannath ji’s call for a Brijwasi. This was indeed a great mercy, I never thought about Lord Jagannath nor did I have the idea of visiting Him. After my Haridwar trip I was trying to go to Badrinath (the place where Lord Krishn meditates) but on five attempts, it was cancelled and finally I gave up on the plan. Jagannath Puri is the place where Lord Krishn eats and it is one of the main Holy places. If I am right, it is only the temple, which is revealed in the scriptures.
I was in Jagannath Puri in 1993 and I remember my mother told me, ‘Whatever you will ask Chakra, situated on the roof of the temple, remember it is non–different from Lord Jagannath Himself.’What would a 10 yrs old boy ask? I was in school and all I asked for was passing my exams, with first rank. I had given half yearly exams and I was awaiting the results at the time. I prayed so hard for the top spot. After I returned from my trip, my class teacher announced, I came first in rank. I was so happy! I always remember that golden moment of my life, when I felt the power of my prayers working but then a moment later she said, ‘You ranked first from the bottom.’ My heart, which was jumping so high, stopped working all of a sudden. Students started giggling, and I lowered my head, thinking, God you are very clever. It was my first ever experience of His naughtiness.
I felt so ashamed; I couldn’t face anyone and was thinking why did I ask this thing from God? Since then I became very careful with my demands and this time, when I was invited to Jagannath Puri, I was more conscious of my words because of that first unforgettable experience with Lord Jagannath. Rahul Acharya lives in Bhuvneshwar and I stayed at his home with his family. He wanted me to be a witness of the Hidden Rath-yatra, which falls every year in the month of October and starts from Nav-Durga, lasting 16 days. It was shocking to see how they follow nine days of Durga (Nav-Durga). Everyday they spent a lot of time on every minute details of puja and a major part of the day is used in the preparation only. I was thrilled, witnessing such detail in Puja but I was not fully satisfied by such preparation.
One day, I asked Rahul Bhai, ‘Why do you spend so much time on such details, maybe it helps you but you’re wasting a lot of time in preparation and whenever you’ll do Puja, little details will always bug you for example did you miss or overlook anything in your preparation? Infact during Puja, your mind will be more focused on details and not on Bhakti.’ He gave me some answers but none of them actually satisfied me. I understood this because of the upbringing of two devotees, Rahul bhai and me, was different. I was into devotion and he was into Jnana. Nevertheless, I was enjoying all of Jagannath ji’s nectar that Rahul bhai was sharing. I was getting more and more enthusiastic to take darshan of Lord Jagannath. One day, Rahul ji took me to the temple and asked me to follow him. He told me that we don’t directly go to take darshan of Lord Balram, Subhadra and Jagganath. It was my first visit and during Nav Durga, I received tense vibes inside the temple.
According to the custom temple priests visit temples, which are situated inside the premises of Temple. Rahul ji narrated all the pastimes stories of all those temples. By hearing the stories I was shocked to discover that they follow Goddess Durga more than Lord Krishn. After paying obeisance in all main temples we entered the Jagannath Temple. He first took me to the Garuda pillar, where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to take darshan and Rahul ji showed me his finger prints on the wall. After paying my Pranaam to the sacred spot, and losing my patience, I eagerly moved to view the Jagannath deity, whose glories I had heard for so long. Once I moved, my heartbeat stopped. The temple was closed, so I asked Rahul ji to give me some time to chant. He left me in the courtyard of the temple and went for some work. My mother had given me instruction to do some chanting in the temple. But it was quite impossible to do when temple was crowded and people were screaming. After sometime, Rahul ji came and asked me again to follow him. As a blind follower, I went with him and asked him, where is he taking me? He said, ‘You will see.’
He took me away from the courtyard and asked me to enter another gate of the temple and told the guides and Pujaris, I was with him. Once I entered through the gate, Rahul ji asked me to stand in the queue. A security guard was collecting white colour receipts and when my number came, Rahul ji came with the receipt and handed it over to the guard. As soon as the guard allowed me to enter a section of the temple, I saw the gigantic deity of Jagganath! Rahul ji said, ‘I thought it would be good for you to take close darshan of the Lord of the Universe.’ Rahul ji left me completely speechless! I was struggling to find the words to express gratitude for this arrangement.
He instructed me not to take out any money from my pocket. He had grabbed my hand and said, ‘Don’t listen to anyone.’ I knew why he said that. From my childhood I had heard about the aggressive guides and pujaris of Jagannath Puri. They ask for money and speak harsh words to the devotees. I shook my head and went inside the deity room. The deity room was packed! Rahul ji was pulling my hand and I was following him. A few moments later, I was standing in front of Lord Jagganath. I could not believe it! Lord Jagannath was before me, I touched and paid my obeisance to the throne where Lord Balram, Subhadra and Jagganath were sitting and one by one, I took darshan of the main deities. Then Rahul ji took me in a small dark alley beside the deity room, which was a small parikrama for deities. After I performed a parikrama, Rahul ji put left me in the corner of the room and asked me to meditate Him.
The way everything happened, so rapidly, I felt there was no need to meditate with my closed eyes. I asked for forgiveness from God and gave Pranaam, on behalf of everybody: Radharaman ji, Girdhari ji, Mahaprabhu ji, all the Brijwasis, my family and all devotees. Soon after the Pranaam, security guard came towards us and asked me to leave because it was his lunch time. I stepped out from deity room, turned my face and started to take steps back, so by this I could see Him longingly…just a little more tonic to my eyes and let my eyes capture His extraordinary beauty.
But as soon as we left the temple, I felt, as if the entire experience was a dream. Sometimes we see dreams and when we wake up, we forget everything. It was the same case with me. My mind was blank and I could not enjoy this ecstatic moment in my life. I started to close my eyes to relive His beauty I captured on the way out, but He was not even coming. I became really sad. I recalled one verse from SB 10.31.15 “When You go off to the forest during the day, a tiny fraction of a second becomes like a millennium for us because we cannot see You. And even when we can eagerly look upon Your beautiful face, so lovely with its adornment of curly locks, our pleasure is hindered by our eyelids, which were fashioned by the foolish creator.”
I tried to remember my experience so I could enjoy those precious moments again, but I was failing in that too and I felt I had missed a golden opportunity. I was in the car, in the front seat and Rahul ji and his mother were sitting in the back. I was struggling with my thoughts and tears were rolling down on my cheeks.
I was completely lost in my sadness because I didn’t know when I could get another chance to be with Him again. With a very heavy heart, I left Jagannath Puri and started to blame myself. Did I commit any mistake or offense, which had made my God distant from me? How will I meditate on Him; His charming face, His sweetest smile, His beautiful eyes and glorify Him when I am not able to see Him in my thoughts anymore?
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