Dr. Prasanna Mishra |
| Blog | Posted By: hindtodaynews on:7/7/2011 10:26:10 PM |
“Why do I visit a temple?” I very often ask myself. “Do I show up before my Lord only after taking off my mask which I wear day in and day out? Do I prefer an eyeball to eyeball contact with the Deity by positioning myself in a posture of confrontation?” These are just a few thoughts out of many that cross my mind. During my last visit to the great temple at Puri and I chose to watch the playful hide and seek of my Lord by positioning myself behind the pedestal of the Garuda and recollected my days of childhood and the visits with my pious grandfather who would tell me many interesting things about the temple. One of those related to the finger marks of Chaitanya Dev on the wall behind the pedestal of the Garuda. Chaitanya was, I was told, was standing behind the pillar with great eagerness to have a glimpse of the Lord, his heart pounding with aroused expectations. Suddenly he had a glimpse of the Lord and was so ecstatic that he lost control of himself and his hand sought support of the nearby wall. The ecstatic force was strong and warm enough to leave the finger impression deep on the rock of the wall. I would have touched those marks a number of times in my childhood. During the recent visit I found men, women and children seeking those marks of faith on the wall. The temple truly speaking is the place where my faith gets rekindled and my awareness about my being nothing beyond a transient spec in the universe becomes stronger. That is the place for gaining strength through surrender.
World over, faith and love for charity have been inseparable in different religions. In case of Hindus there has been no exception either. Depth and extent of charity among Hindus have been demonstrated in the massive treasures of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, one of the most famous Lord Vishnu Temples in Thiruvananthapuram. Lord Vishnu is enshrined there in the Anananthasayanam posture (in eternal sleep of yognidra), lying on Sri Anantha, the hooded snake. According to traditions, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Kshetram is believed to have been worshipped by Chandra (Moon God) and Lord Indra (the head of the Devas). The idol is made up of 12008 salagrams. Followers believe that the Lord has personally come in disguise and had saved many times the Travancore Kingdom from the clutches of enemies. Similar treasures in Somanath Temple had prompted invaders to plunder the temple many times. Many believe that the Temple of Lord Jagannath could have been equally resplendent with treasure had there been no invasion in the past and growing mismanagement. Materialistically speaking, the Temple at Puri has been the major driving force of the city’s economy; it has enriched some families. The temple sadly has not been the major beneficiary of the charity of the devotees.
The temple and its presiding deities are an integral part of the Oriya psyche. The origin of the worship as per legend was the devotion of the savara king Viswavasu to Lord Neela Madhav. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent Brahmin priest, Vidyapati, to locate the deity, worshipped secretly in a dense forest. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. He married Viswavasu's daughter Lalita. Viswavasu conceded to the repeated requests of his son-in-law and took him, blind folded, to a cave where Lord Neela Madhav was worshipped. Intelligent Vidyapati while going to the cave blindfolded, dropped mustard seeds secretly on the ground and seeds germinated after a few days. This led to the discovery of the cave.
King Indradyumna proceeded on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared. The king was disappointed. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without worship and observed fast unto death. His prayer was answered. Afterwards the king built a magnificent temple for Vishnu. Sri Narasimha Murti brought by Maharshi Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. An astral voice directed him to receive a sacred log on the seashore and make idols out of it. Accordingly the king got the image of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan made out of the wood and installed them in the temple. The temple in its present form was completed by King Ananga Deva in 1174. Worship in the temple continued until 1558, when Odisha was attacked by the Afghan general Kalapahad. The Deities were taken into safe custody by devout sevayats ( servitors) who kept them in hiding. Subsequently, when Ramachandra Deb established an independent kingdom, the temple was consecrated and the deities reinstalled.
Most Oriyas are aware of this hoary heritage .The Temple and the presiding Deities are held in great awe and respect by the Hindus throughout the world. Antics like seeing the Lord face to face at the sanctum sanctorum; positioning oneself inside the temple precincts to watch the pahandi (ceremonial carrying) of the Deities to the chariots or sitting comfortably on a spongy chair on the top of a roof and watching the chariots rolling on the road below appear to be a cocktail of arrogance, immaturity and ignorance. Our society must severely condemn such aberrations. Many other aberrations are equally disturbing. One relates to the climbing the chariots and touching the Deities while the chariots with Deities wait on the road even at night. An acquaintance of mine, financially solvent enough to spend lavishly, had confided in me how he along with some of his equally enthusiastic friends regularly drive down to Puri from Bhubaneswar around midnight after the Rath Yatra (chariot festival) and see the Deities on the chariots near the Gundicha Temple by climbing the chariots. Many embrace the Deities. I find no trace of faith in such acts of bravado. I only see crash commercialisation and huge risk to the Deities. We must put an immediate stoppage to such acts of hooliganism.
Rath Yatra, for millions, is the symbol of the quest of the Lord for His devotees. This is the occasion when God seeks His beloved; like a crawling hungry crying infant seeking its mother. The occasion has been attracting devotees in millions from distant and near places for ages so that they have a glimpse of the Lord. The festival is symbolic of an egalitarian society where the King also does the royal duty by serving the Lord. He sweeps the floor of the chariots in great devotion and humility. Why do then some people on the chariots position themselves in such a manner that the devotees find it difficult to have a glimpse of the Lord? The chariots stop at the grave of devotee Salabeg, himself a Muslim, and the Lord pays tribute to the great devotee. We seem to have lost sight of the significance of the great tradition. Millions of devotees fast till the Lord have His food. This year a situation arose when the servitors of the Lord did not perform their duty and the Lord had had no food while the Deities were on their chariots. Thousands of devotees who looked forward to Mahaprasad could not get it as there was no feeding of the Lord. Those who decided not to perform the rituals of the Lord cannot be said to be serving the Lord. The incident was not the sole instance of highhandedness. There have been precedents. Our society and government have been exhibiting lamentable inaction to stem the rot.
That such a painful happening took place while our Lords were on their annual sojourn to be with the devotees perhaps was a part of Divine design to trigger the wake up call to our society and the government that are enjoying a stupor. We have to seriously initiate reforms that would necessitate a critical visit to the existing practices and legal status. We should be guided by the historic state actions that had made possible accession of hundreds of princely states to the Union of India and the abolition of privy-purse of the ex-rulers of erstwhile princely states. We should think whether the rights of servitors should be hereditary or be based on suitability and professional qualifications. We have to decide whether the present practice of building chariots in wood every year should continue or we should make our chariots that would be changed only during Nabakalevar when the Deities get the new outer wooden frame. We must legally ban climbing the chariots by unauthorised persons as such action, apart from being ethically obnoxious and offensive is fraught with serious security risk.
Restoring the glory of our Lord has become an immediate necessity. We must not succumb to the arm twisting tactics of the vested interest. Our Lords have been kept in hostage far too long.
( The writer is a former secretary to Govt. of India )