Title: Gauranga not embrace Jagannatha?

User: Swami Gaurangapada Date: 2007-03-11 20:04:17

 

 

Question: Lord Gauranga said " I vow that ,from today I will see Lord Jagannath from a distance ,I will never enter inside the temple room ; rather I will see Lord Jagannath while standing beside garuda stambha column , by good fortune ,I did not embrace Lord Jagannath , had I done this it would have been a serious predicament !" I find this very intereting as to why Lord Gauranga did not embrace Lord Jagannatha , pls can you shed some light on this pastime.

 

 

Answer by Swami Gaurangapada:

 

Every pastime of Lord Gauranga is unlimitedly meaningful. There are three primary reasons:

 

(1) Though Lord Gauranga is Lord Jagannatha Himself, when He exhibits the mood of His own devotee, He feels Himself unqualified and insignificant to approach Lord Jagannatha or to touch Him. This is how every devotee should feel and Lord Gauranga Himself is showing it by His example.

 

(2) Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu does not want to cause disturbance and inconvenience in the altar worship of the priests and guards of the Jagannatha temple because if He would rush to embrace Lord Jagannatha then they would all be alarmed like it happened when Lord Nityananda embraced Lord Baladeva on the altar.

 

(3) Lord Gauranga is the Supreme Lord and He has full right to embrace His own form of Lord Jagannatha and to even sit on the altar and accept worship like He used to sit on the throne of Lord Vishnu in Navadvipa in Shrila Shrivasa's home and accepted elaborate worship and prayers. In Chaitanya Mangala it is described how Lord Gauranga was placed on the altar of Lord Jagannatha in Puri Dhama and the priests worshiped both the forms of the Lord simultaneously. But Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu wanted to teach us that we should not make a show of our devotional ecstasies especially in front of those (99% people of this world) who may not be able to understand it. An advanced devotee should always try to intelligently conceal the devotional ecstasies so that the general people do not take devotional service very cheaply. Some infinitesimal soul would have tried to imitate Lord Gauranga's mood and would have tried to commit the biggest offense of jumping on the altar to try to touch Lord Jagannatha. That is why Lord Gauranga refrained from doing so. The altar of Lord Jagannatha is only reserved for Lord Vishnu, and Lord Gauranga and Lord Jagannatha are both the self-same Lord who is the origin of all Vishnu forms.