How did Lord Jagannath come to Simantadwip?

[Guest guest]

Lord Jagannath of Sri Simantadwip is not different from the Master of Sri

Nilacala Dham (Jagannath Puri) himself. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has

reestablished this truth by historical facts is his book Sri Navadvipa Dham

Mahatamya ("The glories of Navadvipa Dham"). The following is a story from

that book.

 

A long time ago, one demonic person named Raktabahu appeared in the region

of Orissa. He was very sinful and irreligious. At that time Raktabahu was

breaking temples of the Lord left and right. Thus be created a big panic in

the hearts of the pious people in Orissa.

When the devotees of Lord Jagannath in Puri came to know about the

mischievousness of Raktabahu, they became very much afraid. They immediately

approached Lord Jagannath, " O worshipful Lord ", the devotees asked ,"we

are in great anxiety knowing that a miscreant named Raktabahu is breaking

down all temples and the Deities inside. He is now proceeding towards this

direction. He may come at any moment and attack your temple. If that

happens, then we will have to give up our lives, because we'll never be able

to tolerate any action against You. Please, save us from this danger by

making proper arrangements for the protection of Your divine form and the

temple, O Almighty Lord!"

 

Being thus approached by his devotees, Lord Jagannath appeared in the dream

of head-priest that night and spoke to him as follows, " My dear pujari, I

am completely overwhelmed by perceiving the ardent love and devotion that

you devotees have for Me. You all love Me more than your ownself. This is

the symptom of a pure devotee. Actually nobody can harm My divine form or My

temple. I certainly need not to worry about that at all. Just by my powerful

will I can keep all miscreants away from the place where I stay along with

My beloved devotees. But in order to bless My devotees and to reciprocate

with them, many times I accept this kind of "hardship" willingly. In this

way My devotees' love and attachments for Me increases manyfold. And since

this is their desire, I will establish their love for Me in a more prominent

way.

 

Tomorrow, therefore, please, remove the Deties of Myself, Lord Balaram and

Subhadra Devi and set out for Bengal. You should take the path through the

jungle so that you can easily escape Ratkabahu, who is comig by the main

road. Do not fear, that I will always protect you!" The Lord then

disappeared from the dream and the head-priest woke up. He immediately

broadcasted the message, which stirred the devotees up, and they all started

to make the proper arrangements for the Lord's journey.

 

The traditional system on Jagannath Puri in connection to the Lord's service

is that the devotees from different sections of society are assigned for

different kinds of services. For instance, brahmanas are responsible to

worship the Deities of the Lord. Other devotees cook for the Lord's

pleasure. Those devotees known as the "sabaras" are assigned to perform the

service of carrying Sri Sri Jagannath , Baladev and Subhadra Devi from one

place to another when Their Lordships leave their temple to attend certain

festivals like snana-yatra, etc. When the message reached the Sabaras that

the Lord wants to leave for Bengal, they immediately made all necessary

arrangements in order to leave the next morning.

 

They walked all-day and just before dusk set in, they settled in a suitable

place. There they collected fruits, flowers and leaves from the jungle and

worshiped Their Lordships. Finally they put Them to rest, and after honoring

the Lord's maha-prasadam they put them to rest. The next morning, after the

Deities had been worshipped, the Sabaras again started for their next

destination. In this way, they spend eleven days. On the twelfth day they

arrived in Simantadwip, one of the nine islands of Navadwip Dham.

 

On this day also, the Sabara devotees performed their service in the same

way as they had done before and then took rest. That night, Lord Jagannatha

appeared in the dream of the head of the Sabaras and expressed His desire to

settle on this very spot because this place was most suitable, being

transcendental in all respects. At once, the Sabara devotees made all

efforts for the proper arrangements to fulfill the Lord's desire of staying

there permanently.

 

The Sabara Vaisnavas went on serving the Lord for generations to come. Due

to their pure love and devotion they all attained liberation and finally

went back to home, back to Godhead, to Lord Jagannath's eternal abode in the

spiritual sky. Till today the Sabara's village is located near the

Jagannatha temple and is known as Sabara's Danga, "the place of the

Sabaras." But gradually, by the influence of time, the Lord's Deities and

His temple went out of sight, but the Lord never left the place. That was

exhibited later, during the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.