Meditation on prayer to Jagannatha

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you This is a simple and sweet prayer that can be used to offer you don’t use the prayer of course we can offer the prayer and we offer obeisance to the lord with this prayer so for Jagannath Baldev Subhadra we can offer this prayer while offering obeisance that lord stays in Nila Chala Nityaya Paramatmane there is no ordinary person there will be many residents in Nila Chala but this resident is very special he is eternal someone may say that everyone is eternal as souls we are all eternal yes but we are not Paramatmane we are simply the Atma, he is the Paramatma he is the supreme being so who is this person before describing him we decided he is with Balabhadra and Subhadra that is Balram’s brother Subhadra only sister Jagannath Hayate Namaha Jagannath Hayate Namaha and to that lord Jagannath I offer my obeisance Now, there are many different forms of the Lord and they all usually appear in various standard ways and most often the Lord manifests with His consort, as we have Radha Krishna, Sita Ram, Lakshmi Narayan. That is the standard where the Lord appears with His consort.
Of course, some temples may have the Lord alone, they might just be a Krishna temple or there may be some traditional Vaishnav temples, may have Vishnu at one place and Lakshmi at some other place. There is a purva for that also. So, we have Tirupati Balaji and many other places like that, where there is only Vishnu over there.
So, Vishnu in a majestic form. So, we have these two standard depictions of the Lord alone or the Lord with His consort. Now, you see, when it is Lord Ram, usually He is not with His consort only.
Then we have Sita Ram, Lakshman and Hanuman, all of them together. So, Sita from Vami. So, on the Lord Ram’s left is Lakshman on His right.
On Lord Ram’s Vami, on his, sorry, normally deities face East, so then when we face East, on our right will be South, so on the South, on his right is Lakshmana, on his left is Vami, Janaka, Atmaja, Isita and in front is Maruti, Mahanumanji. Now, we have special deities such as Krishna Balgrana, Draupadi Sholanda, there again the Lord is not with his consort, he is with his brother. So, like that we have the Gaudiya Vishnu tradition, even the deity of Gaurnithai, deities of Gaurnithai, so they are also together.
So, interestingly, among such deities, there is usually no depiction of God with his sister, God with his brother is Krishna Balgrana or Gaurnithai and usually if on the altar there is any female, there is any Devi, that is usually the consort of the Lord. So, Jaranatmangal Sundara are practically the only deities wherein the Lord is there with his sister. Now, there is, of course, there may be some deities, some places where this may be their more, but this is quite special overall.
Krishna is manifested in a very special form as Jagannath and with him Balram and Subhadra, his sisters, his brother and sister, they are also manifested in a similar special form on his, sorry, not only the deities face east, so then when we face east, on our right will be south, so on the south, on his right is Lakshmana, on his left is Vamini, Janaka, Atmaja, Adi Sita and in front is Maruti, Mahanumanji. Now, we have special deities such as Krishna Balgrana, Draupadi installed in Vrindavan, there again the Lord is not with his consort, he is with his brother. So, like that we have the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, even the deity of Gauravnithai, deities of Gauravnithai, so they are also together.
So, interestingly among such deities, there is usually no depiction of God with his sister, God with his brother is Krishna Balgrana or Gauravnithai and usually if on the altar there is any female, there is any Devi, that is usually the consort of the Lord. So, Jaranath Bhande Subhadra are practically the only deities wherein the Lord is there with his sister. Now, there is speciality, of course, there may be some deities, some places where this may be there more, but this is quite special overall.
Now, Krishna is manifested in a very special form as Jagannath and with him Balgrana and Subhadra, his sisters, his brother and sister, they are also manifested in a similar special form. Now, usually among the three deities, Krishna is manifesting as Jagannath, so his name is also Jagannath and Balgrana is manifesting as Balabhadra or Baladeva and here also his name is, although it is understood that he is Balgrana, but his name is different. Now, as compared to the Dwarka pastimes, the Mathura pastimes there, the normal name is Balgrana which is used, although of course Balabhadra and Baladeva are also used, but Subhadra has the same name.
Now, interestingly, although Subhadra’s form is also changed somewhat, their forms are changed as compared to that form which are normally manifested when they perform pastimes in Dwarka or in Mathura, the difference is due to ecstasy. So, Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra, it’s interesting that among them Krishna and Balram, they had gone out of Vrindavan and they had been in Vrindavan and they left Vrindavan there after and thus it’s natural, it’s understandable that they will feel great ecstasy and that ecstasy, inner emotional transformations can cause outer bodily transformations also. That’s how Krishna and Balram’s forms are transformed into Jagannath and Baladeva.
But significantly, there’s no record of Subhadra having gone to Vrindavan and yet, she too, on hearing the pastimes of Krishna and Vrindavan, is so filled with ecstasy that she too gets transformed. In fact, at one level, her ecstatic transformation is even more. The transformation is that when we hear something astonishing, it captivates us and we want to hear it more and more and we don’t want to be distracted by anything else.
For example, if we hear some stunning news, then if somebody is talking and I say, stop, don’t talk, I want to hear this. And if somebody calls, at that time, we just silence it. I want to hear, what is this news? So, when we hear something astonishing, at that time, we naturally want to focus on it more and more and we avoid any distraction.
So, that same principle is manifest manifold in Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra that when they hear Devaki reciting the pastimes of Krishna, she is reciting it inside the room too. The other Dwarkavasis and Jagannath, Krishna, Baladeva, Subhadra, they are outside. Now, they hear and they are so stunned that normally, if we want to focus on something, we may not want our hands and legs to move.
Because moving the hands and legs also, some attention gets invested and distracted. So, the hands and legs may fall frozen on the side, the hands may fall on the side, the legs may become motionless. This is what happens.
People, when they are overwhelmed by hearing something or seeing something, they become physically paralyzed. So, like that, there is not only a physical inactivity, but there is withdrawal of the body. So, the eyes become very wide in astonishment.
And while the eyes become wide, the rest of the body just withdraws. Because we want the eyes to be wide so that we can see and we want our knowledge acquiring senses to be on full alert. So that we can hear whatever is astonishing.
Same way, although Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra are not seeing, they are hearing. But what they are hearing is so astonishing that not only are they hearing fully with their ears, but also their eyes have become wide in amazement. And then, body starts withdrawing into itself with their hands and legs.
So, normally there are hands and legs. Their fingers withdraw into their hands. The forehand withdraws into the backhand, the backhand means the part of the hand below to force the elbow.
And in that way, that signifies the utter absorption. The withdrawal of the body signifies the utter absorption in Krishna. In hearing that past, hearing the past and the present.
Now, Subhadra in her case, although she is not in Vrindavan, she also is captivated by the past and the Vrindavan. And her hands and legs withdraw completely into the body. So, there is just the head and the torso.
So, this vision of Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra, there are many things we can meditate while praying to them. But this particular form which they have manifested, which is manifested because of the ecstasy that they are experiencing and the transformation that is happening in them because of the ecstasy. By meditating on that transformation, we can also pray, Oh Lord, please give me a glimpse of this ecstasy.
Or even if I don’t get a glimpse, even if I don’t get that glimpse regularly, that glimpse regularly, such glimpses regularly. But still, whatever ecstasy I have got, let me remember that, let me cherish that. And by taking the option of you, let me remember that ecstasy of such a superlative type, of such an extreme, of such extreme abundance, such ecstasy is awaiting me ahead, if I just perceive it with the path of look.
So, knowing this, Oh Lord, please let me perceive it. Please let me perceive it firmly and wholeheartedly on the path of bhakti, by meditating on you, by praying for your mercy, and by aspiring for the pure bhakti by which the ecstasy that you are demonstrating, a similar, although of course much smaller, that kind of devotional ecstasy of utter absorption in Krishna, may flood my heart and that may take me beyond this world to eternal love for you.