Lord Jagannath in Puri, India (Lord Krishna)

Swami Vishwananda had Satsang last night, Friday, December 4, 2009 in Springen. Gurudev explained, in detail, the meaning of the Hirangarbha Lingam. Click on Link: http://swamivishwananda-info.blogspot.com/2009/12/satsang-about-hiranyagarbha-lingam.html

Jagannath Temple Puri, India
Swami Vishwananda: In Puri, India there is a temple for Lord Krishna in the form of Jagannath. Lord Jagannath is a rather funny aspect of Krishna. Every year there is a big festival when the deities are brought out into the street. Millions of people attend this festival, and even the ruling king at the time will go out and help clean the street. All the people help to clean the street very nicely so that the chariot of the Lord Jagannath may be brought out.

Lord Jagannath, Brother Balaram, Sister Subdra
Once, it so happened that a very rich merchant came to Puri to see the Lord Jagannath annual festival. He saw the murthi of Lord Jagannath together with His brother Balaram and sister Subdra, and he said to himself, “This is just a mere wood statue with big eyes and a big smile. It's just a black statue." So he said very proudly, “I will show my wealth, I will give a hundred thousand rupees.” So he went to the priest and said, “Priest I will donate 100,000 rupees to the temple to feed the Lord. There is one condition, that you spend all the money on the food (Prasad – blessed food) for the festival of Lord Jagannath.

The priest wondered for a while how to spend the 100,000 rupees on food. "Even if I use the best ghee, the best ingredients to make the Prasad for the Lord, I could not finish all that money. So all the priests gathered and started to discuss how they could finish 100,000 rupees for the prasad of the Lord. Then the high priest came to a conclusion, saying, “Okay, we can’t make any decision. Let Lord Jagannath Himself, let Krishna Himself make the decision." Then they went to the merchant and said: "Listen, we have not come to a conclusion, but we will let the Lord Himself decide which kind of prasad he would like to have. So meanwhile please stay with us, till the Lord Himself tells us which kind of Prasad He wants."

Three days passed as the priests and the rich merchant waited for Lord Jagannath to tell them what kind of Prasad he wanted. After three days the high priest had a dream. In the dream Lord Jagannath appeared to him and said, “Tell this merchant that I am very happy that he is offering me the Prasad.” Of course the Lord knows the pride that was inside the merchant, and the pride in the way the merchant was offering the prasad to Him, the Lord.

After his dream of Lord Jagannath, the priest went to the merchant and said, “Merchant, the Lord has come in my dream and talked about the prasad.” The merchant said, “Yes, tell me.” The priest said proudly that the Lord had requested little betel leaves with some paste inside." Thus the king said, “What, Lord Jagannath only wants these little filled leaves, this is nothing.” But the priest said, “Wait I am not finished. The Lord has asked that inside these betel leaves should be smeared the finest ground pearl powder.” And the merchant said, “This is nothing for me.” And the priest said, “Yes, but the Lord said also another thing. This pearl that you will use for grinding should not be just a normal ordinary pearl. It has to be a pearl which comes from the forehead of an elephant, from under the skin of the forehead of the elephant.”

So the proud and arrogant merchant started thinking: Yes, but how many elephants do I have to buy to be able to get just one pearl? And here I am offering a hundred thousand rupees, but it will cost more than that. Suddenly, the merchant realised that he could offer to Lord Jagannath what He had asked. At that moment he threw his very expensive turban at the Lord, at the feet of Jagannath, kneeled down and said to the Lord, “Please forgive me. Out of pride I tried to bribe you, but I know I can’t give you anything which is on the outside. So now I offer you my heart.” And the once rich and arrogant merchant then changed completely.

A few days later the Lord appeared to the transformed merchant in his dream and said, “I’m very pleased with your heart, that is the only thing that I want, a heart which is full of love and devotion.” It is very simple and easy to offer your heart to God. So whenever we think that we have to offer something to the Lord, first look inside of you and offer your heart to Him. Say, “Lord I offer you my heart, it is not mine anymore, it is Yours. And the way you love makes me love the same way and You make me realize this Divine Love.” Spirituality is about a relationship to God. And this love relationship with the Divine will cause you to realize your Self.