sri-ramakrishna-and-his-disciples-in-orissa

manifests in the holy triad in the temple at Puri-- Jagannath, Subhadra, and Balaram.When the Master heard about the glory of the holy shrine of Jagannath and that Hisprasad removes all distinctions of high and low status, as well as of caste, he was eager tovisit Puri. But he gave up the idea when he learned that if he went there he might die; herealised through his yogic insight that the Divine Mother had different plans for him.Master firmly believed that the water of the Ganges is supremely purifying and that heconsidered it to be Brahma-vari, a liquid form of Brahman. Similarly, he stronglybelieved that partaking of the rice prasad (Atke) of Jagannath caused the impure minds ofworldly people instantly to become pure and capable of grasping spiritual ideas. If he hadto spend some time with worldly people, he would immediately afterwards take a littleGanges water and some dry rice prasad (Atke) of Jagannath, and he would ask hisdisciples to do the same. 3The Master had full reverence and love for Lord Jagannath. In the Gospel of SriRamakrishna, in which his life events and teachings are recorded, we find manyreferences regarding Lord Jagannath and Puri. It will be appropriate here to mentionsome of them.It was Thursday, 29 th March 1883. The Master had taken a little rest after his noonmeal, when a few devotees arrived from Calcutta, among them were Amrita and the wellknownsinger of the Brahmo Samaj, Trailokya. Rakhal was not feeling well. The Masterwas greatly worried about him and said to the devotees: “You see, Rakhal is not well.Will soda water help him? What am I to do now? Rakhal, please take the prasad from theJagannath temple.” Even as he spoke these words the Master underwent a strangetransformation.Swami Adbhutananda narrated same incident in his words, “Once while staying atDakshineswar, Rakhal [Swami Brahmananda] became sick. The Master told him: “Takethis prasad of Lord Jagannath. Then you will be all right.” Such is the effect of the prasadof Jagannath! You people don't believe that. The Master used to say, "Before you takeyour food, eat one or two particles of Jagannath prasad.”” 4One day Sri Ramakrishna went to Balaram Basu’s house along with RakhalMaharaj. Balaram took Sri Ramakrishna inside the house for refreshment. When he cameback, he saw Rakhal eating Khaja Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath. Like a child hesnatched the Khaja from Rakhal and started eating it. Rakhal objected to it as he alreadyhad a bite of it. Sri Ramakrishna had one more bite of Khaja and returned the remainingportion to Rakhal saying, “Sharing of Lord Jagannath’s Mahaprasad is allowed even if itis leftover by someone.”It was Friday, 26 th Sepetember 1884. Suppose a man has set out with a sinceredesire to visit Jagannath at Puri and by mistake has gone north instead of south; thencertainly someone meeting him on the way will tell him: ‘My good fellow, don't go thatway. Go to the south.’ And the man will reach Jagannath sooner or later. If there areerrors in other religions, that is none of our business. God, to whom the world belongs,takes care of that. Our duty is somehow to visit Jagannath. 5It was Monday, 13 th July 1885. One had to keep a good desire so that one maygive up the body meditating on it. There are four holy places for the sadhus to visit. Theyvisit three and leave out one. Many of them leave out Puri, the place of Jagannath, so thatthey can give up their bodies meditating on Jagannath. 6It was Tuesday, 14 th July 1885, the day of the Car Festival. Sri Ramakrishnaarrived at the house of Balaram Basu. Many devotees came there to meet him. Balaramhad arranged for kirtan. When Sri Ramakrishna had heard a line or two of the song hewent into samadhi. In the afternoon the small car of Jagannath, decorated with flowers,flags, and bunting, had been brought to the inner veranda. The images of Jagannath,Subhadra, and Balaram, were adorned with sandal-paste, flower garlands, robes, andjewellery. Sri Ramakrishna left the room where the professional musicians were singingand came to the veranda accompanied by the devotees. He stood in front of the car andpulled it by the rope. He began to sing and dance with the devotees in front of the car.