Orissa Review
June-July - 2007
The Eyes That Harboured
All Infinity
Mahimohan Tripathy
The caption of this article is a line (with a variation)
from Sri Aurobindo's poem "The Stone Goddess".
The line is "A Form that harboured all infinity." A
striking feature of the image of Lord Jagannath is
His big round eyes. A familiar and lovable name
of Lord Jagannath is 'Chakadola', meaning round
eyes. The word 'Chakadola' is synonymous with
'Chakanayana', 'Chakaakshia'. Unlike those of
Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, the
eyes of Jagannath are round in shape. The
symbolic meanings of Chakadola are as
interpreted by some eminent scholars, recounted
below.
attains liberation. Buddhists believe that the seed
of enlightenment in each person's mind is nourished
in the process of visualizing and contemplating on
a mandala, a circle representing the wheel of time,
the universe, and the Buddha's enlightened mind.
A mandala, they say, is a store-house of vast
amounts of spiritual energy.
One of the avataras (incarnations) of Lord
Vishnu is Matschhya (fish) avatara. Rohita (Rohi
fish) and Animisha (having no eye-lids) are two
names of Vishnu out of his one thousand names
(Vishnu sahasra nama), which indicate Matschhya
avatara. The round lid-less eyes, like that of fish,
symbolise that Lord Vishnu or Jagannath is ever
active and vigilant. To Him, days, nights and fatigue
make no meaning.
Lord Jagannath is also called
Darubrahman'. It means the prime soul enshrined
in the wood. He is shrouded in mystery like
Brahman of Vedanta or Upanishad philosophy.
The eye-index of Lord Jagannath is higher
than that of the images of deities belonging to many
ancient civilizations e.g. the Indus valley, the
Mexican and Egyptian civilizations. Hence, it
could be presumed that Lord Jagannath is a very
ancient deity in the world.
We behold the image of Darubrahman Jagannath, but the Brahman in Him is invisible,
too subtle for our eyes ! As stated in Kena
upanishad (1-5-9), that which is not seen by the
eye, but by which the eye sees - know that to be
Brahman". In the Holy Quran (ch.6), it is
mentioned "Eyes can not reach Him, but he
reaches the eyes. And, He is t he
incomprehensible, the All-Aware".
Sun and Moon are the two eyes of Lord
Vishnu. Hence, His eyes are round in shape
("Sashi Surya netram", Gita).
Round wheel like eyes symbolise the
Buddhist concept of nirvan. The soul, passing
through many births, completes the circle and
Mahimohan Tripathy lives at M-A2, Brit colony,
Nayapalli. Bhubanesvar- 12
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