Odisha Review
ISSN 0970-8669
Shree Jagannath Consciousness and Culture
Dr. Dibyajyoti Moharana
R
eligious liberalism and peaceful coexistence
seem to be base of the Shree Jagannath
consciousness which has spread all over the world.
This consciousness has helped spread the feeling
of friendship among the human fraternity and
nations sending messages for upkeep of
integration. It has created miraculous vibration of
humanity regardless of caste, colour and creed.
Shree Jagannath consciousness is above all the
sects, colours and communities and languages. It
has encouraged the world brotherhood to be
united and inseparable. Because of these qualities
the Jagannath consciousness seems to be gaining
ground in most of the countries in the world.
There are four religious dhamas in India.
This dhama culture is prevalent in India since
ancient time. These dhamas (places of religious
activities) include Puri in the eastern part,
Dwaraka in the western part, Badrinath in the
northern part and Rameswar in the southern part
of India. Puri, which is otherwise known as
Jagannath Dham, is said to be the ancient dham
of India. Devotees not only from inside India but
also from Nepal, Shree Lanka, Myanmar,
Malaysia and Mauritius come to Puri to have a
darshan of Lord Jagannath to feel the
completeness of their lives. This apart, people of
different religious sects from America, England,
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Russia, German, France and other countries also
come to Puri during the time of Car Festival in
order to avail the scope of having a glimpse of
Puri Triad.
Puri, one of the most sacred and religious
destinations of India, is identified in different
nomenclatures like Shreekshetra, Sankha
Kshetra, Niladri Kshetra, Martya Baikuntha
Kshetra, Nilagiri, Nilasaila, Nilakandar,
Shreedham, Jagannath Dham, Bhuswarga
(Paradise), Purusottam and Nilachandan etc.
Puri is the most ancient religious place of
India which has gained popularity as one of the
important pilgrim cities of world. A place of
pilgrimage is a tirtha or tirthasthana. A
pilgrimage is a tirthayatra and pilgrim is a
tirthayatri. The meaning of a tirtha is a sacred
place charged with the power of Gods and
Goddesses and resonant with purity. A tirtha
possesses three elements that make it so sacredit is suchi, pure; it brings punya; merit and
goodness and it is shubha; auspicious. This makes
a tirtha a place where you can gain Nirvana;
enlightenment and achieve Moksha or liberation.
Pilgrims aspire to attain salvation by visiting holy
shrines to prepare for release from the temporal
world. Moksha cannot be attained before fulfilling
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Odisha Review
one’s duty towards one’s family and society.
Pilgrimage, thus, came to be consciously
promoted by traditions that have grown up around
a shrine and its locality. They are used to explain
and sustain the shrine’s claim to sanctity. Thus,
arose a large corpus of literature called
Sthalapuranas (Ancient stories of a sacred site)
or Mahatmya (greatness of a shirne). A sacred
geography is created by the process of bringing
together cult centres of a particular tradition
through myths and symbols. In India this has
happened at various levels i.e. local, regional and
pan-Indian. Cults created their own religious
topography through links with other regional
centres by means of myths and legends evolving
around a specific cult.
reach a great height of success. The culture builds
up a human being in an orderly manner in the
social, political and spiritual fields. Shree
Jagannath culture and consciousness bear identity
of a great ideal spreading messages of Triguna.
Culture is a thought- provoking process. It
exposes the hidden qualities of a person and
strengthens the human spiritual process by guiding
a human being to the path of theism. Considering
these definitions’ of culture, it is ascertained that
Shree Jagannath Culture is ideal one to be
followed by human beings. The theology
concentrating on Jagannath culture has been
described in different Puranas (mythological texts)
like Skanda Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Shiva
Purana and Matsya Purana.
It is interesting to know that in this
Kshetra, layers of cultural or historical traits are
seen in the way of living traditions such as rituals
and festivals. It could be observed that such
powerful ethos pertaining to the cultural layers in
Indian context are also observed in some of the
sacred Kshetras like Kasi, Kanchipuram, Gaya,
Ujjain, Nasik, Tirupati, Madurai, etc. and kept
alive the Indian tradition which is some way or
other bounded by divine order written in the
scriptures, believed in practice. Puri is such a
place where the living Godhead play like human
being, suffer like a common man, partake among
the ocean of humanity in the way of festivals like
Rath Yatra that exhibits all the Godly and human
traits.
The Jagannath cult and culture has
encouraged the whole world to be bound on
world brotherhood giving up separatist ideas. The
car festival of Lord Jagannath has spread the
message of love for one and all besides
encouraging one to resort to brotherhood amongst
all.
The definitions of culture are many. One
of them is –The culture helps the human society
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One vital essence of Jagannath
consciousness is complete surrender. The
consciousness is based on devotion. One can
feel the miracle of Lord Jagannath when he or
she completely surrenders himself or herself to
the Lord. At that time only communion with the
Almighty can be possible. Humanistic appeal is
one of the aspects of Jagannath consciousness.
Although Lord Jagannath is the Lord of the whole
world, He keeps up His style in royal manner in
this brittle mundane world. Puri temple is like a
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Odisha Review
royal palace and each bit of activity in the temple
is royal. In the past the kings and emperors of
Odisha considered themselves as representatives
and servants of Lord Jagannath. From this kind
of mentality borne by the kings prove that the
physical power has been vanquished by the
spiritual power. This is the unique feature of
Jagannath consciousness.
Lord Jagannath comes down to the midst
of sea of humanity during Rath Yatra and becomes
one with them. Everybody irrespective of caste,
creed and colour can openly have the darshan
of Lord Jagannath on the chariot. It is said that
Lord Jagannath meets the devotees during
Rath Yatra on the Grand Road of Puri to
exonerate their sins. Therefore, Rath Yatra
is called Patita Paban Yatra. The thought of
being one amongst others is another vital
essence of Jagannath consciousness.
Ratha Jatra or Chariot Festival is a Hindu
festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at
Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is the oldest
Rath Yatra taking place in India and the world,
dating back to 10 - 11 century and its descriptions
can be found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana,
and Skanda Purana and Kapila Samhita.
This annual festival is celebrated on
Ashadha Shukla Paksha Dwitiya (second day in
bright fortnight of Ashadha month). The festival
commemorates Jagannath’s annual visit to
Gundicha Temple via Mausi Maa Temple (aunt’s
home) near Balagandi Chhak, Puri.
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As part of Ratha Yatra, the deities of
Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra along with
Sudarshan are taken out in a procession to
Gundicha Temple and remain there for nine days.
Then the deities return to the Main temple. The
return journey of Puri Jagannath Ratha Jatra is
known as Bahuda Jatra.
The Ratha Yatra festival has become a
common sight in most major cities of the world
since 1968 through the ISKCON Hare Krishna
movement, which successfully transplanted the
festival which now happens on an annual basis in
places all over the world in over 100 cities
including Lagos Nigeria Dublin, Belfast,
Birmingham, London, Bath, Budapest,
Melbourne, Montreal, Paris, New York,
Singapore, Toronto, Suva in Fiji Islands,
Antwerp, Kuala Lumpur and Venice, California.
The Rathajatra in Dhamrai, Bangladesh, is one of
the most important occasions in Bangladesh. Many
of the European nations observe Rath Yatra
pompously. The Indians and Hindus living in
foreign countries celebrate Rath Yatra in a religious
way.
Jagannath culture and consciousness
teaches us to be humble in our each effort of
building the society in a righteous manner giving
up false pride and self-elation, clinging to the
honest ways and methods.
Dr. Dibyajyoti Moharana, Shree Shree Ayurveda
Hospital, Kanakpura Road, Bangalore.
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