NTRODUCTION :
Lord Jagannath also called as Puri Jagannath, Panduranga, Vittala and Vithoba is an incarnation of Sree Krishna Bhagavan. The Jagannath temple is situated in puri, odhisha and it is a very famous one among the hindu devotees. Every year, during the rath yatra festival, lakhs of pilgrims would visit this temple to get the divine vision of the gods and the goddess. By seeing the darshan of the divine deities, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balarama and Goddess Ma Subhadra we would forget our worries and our miseries and sorrows would come to an end. The deities are decorated with beautiful clothes and precious ornaments.
The temple is a main pilgrimage center. The present temple was renovated during the 12th century AD by the King Anantavarman.
The following great saints were visited this holy temple of Lord Krishna:
1. Ramananda
2. Ramanuja
3. Madhwacharya
4. Guru Nanak
5. Kabir das
6. Tulsidas
7. Ramanujacharya
8. Nimbarkacharya
9. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
TEMPLE HISTORY
According to the legend, the construction of the auspicious Jagannath temple was done by King Indradyumna, as mentioned in the divine texts.
The original image of Jagannath at the end of Treta yuga was manifested near a banyan tree. In Dvapara Yuga, King Indradyumna of Malwa wanted to find that glorious image and had done severe penance. Vishnu then asked him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.
The King found the log of wood. Indradyumna asked Visvakarma, to construct a temple to place the idols and Vishnu himself appeared in the form of a carpenter to make the idols on the condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.
But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She wanted to see the carpentry work. And therefore she requested the king to open the door. But Lord Vishnu in the form of carpenter was disappeared from that place. The idols were not in a proper shape. But they heard a divine voice that told to king Indradyumana to install the half completed idols in the temple. The king also installed the idols at the Jagannath temple as per the divine message.
Jagannath is worshipped as Vishnu or Krishna and Lord Balabhadra as Shesha. Simultaneously, the other deities are regarded as Lord Bhairava and Vimala Devi (Incarnation of Mata Parvati) installed in the campus of the temple.
The temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dham temples. The Vimala Temple is considered one of the most important of the Shaktipeeths. It is situated near Rohini Kund in the temple complex. Generally after making food offering to Jagannath it will be offered to Goddess Vimala.
The temple of Mahalakshmi is also situated in the main temple. It is said that preparation of naivedya as offering for Jagannath is carefully supervised by Ma Mahalakshmi. There are other shrines in the temple namely Ganapathy, Surya, Saraswati, Bhuvaneshwari, Narasimha, Rama, Hanuman and Eshaneshwara.
Daily offerings are made to the Lord six times a day. The Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath shall be distributed among the devotees in the temple. The temple's kitchen is the largest in the world.
IMPORTANCE
By worshiping the deities in Lord Jagannath temple, we would achieve the following benefits:
1. Sound mind.
2. Good knowledge, wisdom, courage and boldness.
3. Wealth position will improve.
4. Can get better life partner.
5. Pleasantness in mind.
6. Relief from all kinds of dreaded diseases.
7. Strong physical energy.
8. Our spiritual power will increase.
9. Strong bondage in marriage life.
Hence, let us worship Lord Jagannath at Puri along with Lord Balarama and Ma Subhadra at least once in our life time and get all the prosperities in our life.
“OM SREE JAGANNATHARE NAMAHA”
“OM SREE BALARAMARE NAMAHA”
“OM MATA SUBHADHRA DEVIYE NAMAH”
SENT BY
R.HARISHANKAR
