Indonesians driven out of Jagannath temple

suchandra · November 7, 2007

7 Nov 2007, 1557 hrs IST,PTI

PURI: Three Indonesian nationals, who had entered the Sri Jagannath Temple here, were driven out of the shrine on Wednesday morning by the priests and handed over to police, who later found them to be Hindus.

The three, including two women, were spotted during 'Mangala Aarti', a ritual performed daily when temple doors open, the priests said.

Police verification showed the Indonesians were accompanied by Mahabahu Das, a local ISKCON devotee, they said.

Police inspector in-charge of the temple Gyana Ranjan Mohapatra said the three were later found to be Hindus and were released after they produced their travel documents.

The foreigners were identified as I Gusti Made Krisiasis, Adraina Ash and I Made Arjana and are part of a 15-member team from that country on a trip organised by ISKCON, police said.

Non-Hindus, even ISKCON devotees are not allowed to enter the 12th century shrine and a board at the main gate of the temple says only "Hindus are allowed entry inside".

President of Sri Jagannath Seva Samilanee (a body of priests) Damodar Mahasuara said all ISKCON devotees mentioned Hinduism as their religion in their passports and demanded proper verification of foreigners when they come to the temple.

theist · November 7, 2007

These Puri priests sure know how to put on a dog and pony show. Every week it is something new. Last they robbed some dancers of 2,500 rupees and now this.

Can't wait for the next installment of the keystone priests.

suchandra · November 8, 2007

These Puri priests sure know how to put on a dog and pony show. Every week it is something new. Last they robbed some dancers of 2,500 rupees and now this.

Can't wait for the next installment of the keystone priests.

This isn't actually funny, people are paying so much to come there, it's almost like that you can afford it only once in your life. Next, from spiritual point of view, to see Lord Jagannath should be considered as final goal after transmigrating through millions of species of life. And these Puri priests make a total material affair out of having the darshan of Lord Jagannath. There would be surely millions of people having gone on pilgrimage to Puri but just when considering this racist mentality of these people they are disgusted to go there. It is embarrassing, Lod Caitanya appeared there just 500 years ago and the spiritual influence of the Lord is already totally nullified, zero, nothing. First become a Hindu and what are these Hindus are they preaching? So far all these Hindus who came here after Prabhupada, they don't even know how to properly preach. Actually even present Gaudiya-matha people, when they give a lecture to newcomers, they actually don't know how to explain the Vaishnava philosophy. They can't cut any opposing arguements, nor can they convince people to chant Hare Krishna. So why then this foolish idea, you first have to be born in Hindu family in order to see Lord Jagannath? Another thing is, although calling themselves Hindu, 99.9999999999999 percent of present Hindus are actually atheists, don't believe in a personal God. When bringing it really to the point and interviewing the priests of Lord Jagannath in front of a tv camera, these priests would finally admit that they actually don't believe that these Deities are identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna and that they do all these rituals of worship just to earn one's livelihood.

suchandra · November 11, 2007

Royal Concern for Pilgrims’ Plight

BY: SUN CORRESPONDENT

King Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb

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Nov 10, JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA (SUN) — King expresses concern over ejection of ISKCON devotees from Jagannatha Temple.

The Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb is concerned that three Hindu pilgrims from Bali in Indonesia, were humiliated at the hands of a few Jagannath Temple priests, who on Wednesday drove the trio off the shrine suspecting them as non-Hindus, whose entry is prohibited in the temple. The King has also asked the Jagannath Temple administration to look into the matter.

“This is really unfortunate that the Hindu devotees from Indonesia faced humiliation and difficulties at Jagannath Temple here. The temple administration including myself is deeply hurt and concerned. This should not have happened with Hindu devotees,” the Puri Maharaja said.

The King also admitted that identifying the religion of a particular person at the temple has been a contentious debate since long past. “It is really tough to confirm one’s religion by looking at his or her complexion. So, unfortunately incidents of this type do occur very often."

However, the shrine administration has been asked to look into it and its officials are already on the job of devising a measure to bring an end to the identity crisis of religion, said Dibyasingh Deb, also the Chairman of Jagannath Temple Managing Committee. Earlier, the police had shrugged off the responsibility of confirming someone’s religion at the temple, saying they are entrusted with the task of providing security to the temple.

“Hindus coming from outside Orissa to Jagannath Temple should not face any difficulties. All Hindus should feel comfortable and have a pleasant experience here at Puri temple. We all are trying hard to ensure that horrible incidents of that type do not repeat in future,” the Gajapati Maharaja said.

Meanwhile, he said that most of the people at Bali in Indonesian are Hindus and great lovers of Lord Jagannath. “A number of Hindu temples exist there. Last year I visited many places in Indonesia, including Bali. There is also cultural similarity found there like Orissa,” Dibyasingh Deb said.

Sephiroth · November 14, 2007

Actually, we shouldn't blame the priests for taking such measures. Last thing Hindusm needs is news of bomb blast by suicidal Muslims inside the temple areas which kills devotees.

We already seen Muslims setting off bombs in Railway stations, how long it going to be before they target temples?