Pastimes of Lord Jagannath...

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Snana-yatra Festival

 

Snan-yatra or the Lords bathing festival takes place 14 days before

Ratha-yatra. During the 14 days period the temple remains closed for darsana

on the plea that Jagannatha Swami has caught a cold. It also enables the

Deities to be repainted, or renewed. Still others say that the reason that

Lord Jagannatha feigns sickness is to take a break from the thousands and

thousands of people who visit puri everyday, most of who are asking, " Lord

Jagannatha,please fulfill my desires, give me this, give me that." So Lord

takes it easy for couples of weeks, and along with his brother and sister

they peacefully enjoy fine sweet preparations and nectar drinks made cream,

molasses and invigorating herbs.

 

Actually it is the biggest festival of the year here and it was started by

the desire of the Lord. Since ISKCON has taken over the management of the

temple, we decided to increase the festival by taking a procession from

Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir. Many hundreds of devotees take their bath in the

Ganga and fill up a clay pot, then balancing it one their heads proceed to

walk to the Jagannath Mandir being led by out elephant "Gulab Kali" and a

kirtan party. As soon as the devotees arrive, the Deities are placed on a

marble "snan-vedi" bathing platform which has been erected in Their garden

The whole area is covered by a pandal to protect from the hot sun, and

hundreds of devotees bath Them with Ganga water or milk. This goes on for a

few hours until the Deities go back to Their temple, where They are dressed

in the hati-vesha (elephant dress), and offered a sumptuous feast and aroti

ceremony.. After aroti, mahaprasadam khichari, subji and sweet rice is

served in the mango grove to the many thousands of devotees and visitors who

keep arriving, and the serving goes on and on until the darkness of night

brings to a close.

 

Because many people are curious to know why Lord Jagannath, Baladev are

dressed in elephant costumes, we add this story. Ofcourse you may ask in

Puri, will give a slight variation or even a completely different one from

this.

 

One time a great devotee of Ganesh was visiting the king of Puri, but was

reluctant to visit Lord Jagannatha's Temple as his principle was to only

worship Sri Ganesh. Lord Jagannath is non-different than Lord Visnu, Who is

the origin of all devatas coaxed the king, who finally persuaded him to

visit the temple. It was snan-yatra day, and as he stood before the Deities

he asked Lord Jagannath, "If You are what they say You are, Daru Brahman

(wooden Brahman), then kindly show to me that form of Ganesh, whom I

worship." Deciding to bestow His causeless mercy, Lord Jagannath transformed

Himself into the form of Ganesh, to the great astonishment and delight of

His most fortunate devotee.