Sanatan Jyoti - Bharat Sevashram Sangha

ETERNAL LIGHT ♦ SANATAN JYOTI ♦ 2013Jagannath with empty stomach roamed house to house begging for food. Finallythey reached the Chandaluni’s house who offered water. The thirsty and hungrybrothers forgot their social status and accepted water from the hand of Chandaluni.Being tired and weak in looking for food, both the brothers arrived in a house of aChandaluni again. The poor woman offered food, with lots of reluctance Balabhadraand Jagannath decided to accept it to survive. Later on they found the Chandaluniwas none but Maha Lakshmi herself in guise to teach them a lesson ondiscriminating people in society. Lord Balabhadra realized HIS mistake andaccepted Maha Laksmi in the temple and removed all differences anddiscriminations in the society. This whole act was designed and played by LordJagannath to help the socially oppressed and disadvantaged people.This is not the only example in Shri Jgagannath culture that establishes charitabledeeds to support the poor in the society. The story of Bandhu Mohanty is anothercase of helping poor devotees. Bandhu Mohanty was a poor man but a greatdevotee of Lord Jagannath. He believed Lord as his close friend. One day when hehad nothing to feed his family, his wife suggested him to ask his great friend for help.With no other means on hand Bandhu Mohanty agreed and headed to Puri with hisfamily. It was quite late in the night by the time they arrived Puri. He asked everyonein the family to go to sleep. Everyone went to deep sleep except his wife. After awhile someone came to them with plenty of food and left with them. His wife wassurprised to see the stranger. In the morning when she told this to Bandhu Mohanty,he was taken aback and realized that the stranger was no one but his great friendLord Jagannath.How much the Lord is hurt when his devotees are oppressed by society is very wellrevealed by the story of HIS renowned devotee Balaram Das. The great poetBalaram Das had written Dandi Ramayana in Oriya language. But he was in lovewith a prostitute called Jamuna Bai and was disliked by the society for this act. Oneday when he was with the prostitute found that it was the famous Ratha Yatra (Carfestival) day and the chariots were about to be pulled by devotees. He immediatelyran to the chariot of Lord Jagannath and started climbing it. The priests found himcoming from the prostitute’s house with signs of turmeric and lipsticks on his bodyand resisted him touching the chariot and beat him. Poor Balaram returned cryingand went to the sea shore. He made three chariots on sand for Lord Jagannath, lordBalabhadra and sister Subhadra. With tears and anger he silently prayed his Lordsaying to stop the chariot and come to his sand made chariots. Lord Jagannathcould feel the pain of his devotee, suddenly all the three chariots stopped moving. Alleffort to pull the chariot failed, priest and Gajapati got worried and started prayingLord Jagannath. In dreams Lord appeared to Gajapati and told about the incidentand expressed his dissatisfaction on the insult of his devotee. Realizing the mistake,priests and king went to meet Balaram Das, begged pardon and brought him to thechariot with full respect. After that, all the chariots started rolling.These are few stories that illustrate how Lord HIMSELF was involved in helping thepoor and weaker section of people in society and teach other people to follow thepath. This is clearly visible in present time inside the temple where everyone is equal42BHARAT SEVASHRAM SANGHA OF NORTH AMERICA, CHICAGO