Call of the ocean…

A South Kolkata residential society organizes a spiritual festival on a stormy evening to commemorate the blessings of Lord Jagannath Bin hari kripa trina nahi dole….. ….the famous Hindustani saying means ‘not a leaf can move without the blessings of Lord Vishnu’. The same can be said about Vishnu’s special incarnation Lord Jagannath who stands by the Bay of Bengal in Puri, the temple town of Eastern India in the state of Orissa.

The mystical 12th century temple of the Lord where he is accompanied by his divine siblings Lord Balaram and Goddess Subhadra defies science and embraces devotion to conjure supreme benevolence in the life of those who go to him to seek solace. But there are times when the Lord wishes to travel to his devotees himself wherever they are to enrich their lives. One such occasion was on Sunday the 15th of March on the residential campus of Urbana, the plush South Kolkata apartment society off the Ruby Hospital campus.

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Here the leading priest of the Lord’s temple Sri Sri Daitapati Bhabani Das Maharaj ji conducted a spiritual session on the unexplained mystique of the shrine, the history of the same, the mythological significance of the cult of Lord Vishnu specially his Jagannath avatar and anecdotes of his blessings over his followers. The evening’s proceedings were well designe d by musical interludes, traditional Odissi dance, chants, re citals and chor us renditions in the name of the holy trinity of Jagannath, Balavadra and Subhadra led beautifully by Bhabani Das Maharaj ji who is one of the direct descendents of Biswabasu, the well known tribal leader of the Sabar tribe of Orissa who was the first to worship Lord Jagannath represented as a luminous blue gem titled ‘Nilmadhav’, the original effigy and name of the deity in the Orissa jungles.

It was his daughter Lalita who married Vidyapati who was an emissary of King Indradyumna who relocated Nilmadhav to the majestic Puri temple where we see him today in the Lord’s present appearance. Before the religious and cultural session Bhabani Das Maharaj ji spoke to the Kolkata media, print, online and electronic about his experiences of the deity and the socio-cultural significance of the temple. Later on the meet was attended by eminent personalities like Raj Chakrabarty and Srabanti Chatterjee of Tollywood fame. The attendees offered their prayers and flowers to the Lord and later had the privilege of partaking in the famous special food offerings of the Jagannath temple which included different concoctions of rice and pulses with vegetable curries and sweet delicacies.

The food was carried in traditional clay pots and served over paper plates. Incidentally the Lord’s kitchen where his food is cooked sees an unsolved mystery of several earthen urns placed one above the other all over a single flame with the topmost pot getting cooked first in spite of being farthest from the fire. The same inspired noted scientist and Bengali entrepreneur the late Indumadhab Mullick to envisage his quick cooking apparatus which became a household name later as the ICMIC Cooker. Apart from the pious food platter the temple authorities brought special packages of dry food offerings, Lord Vishnu’s favorite ‘Tulsi’ leaves from the sanctum, framed photograph of the heavenly trinity and a special blue cloth which was a scared fragment of the temple flag which can be seen waving opposite to the direction of the sea wind.

But not all those who gathered could avail this blessed ensemble as the counted number of this God’s gift was out lasted by the large turnout thus reaffirming our initial belief that one gets only that much which Lord Jagannath wishes one to receive!!!! The nor’wester night that followed reminded one of the often turbulent sea which represents the endless enigma of the unknown universe. The discourse was a humble endeavor of the Sri Rajadhiraj Jagannath Trust and Jagannath Darshan Charitable Trust in association with the Urbana Jagannath Parivar.