Before taking sannyas, Sree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Srila Jagadish Pandit to go to Nilachala to preach Sree Krishna-bhakti and the religious practice of the age, Sree Harinama-sankirtan.
When Srila Jagadish Pandit arrived in Sreedham Puri, he went for Lord Jagannath’s darshan and melted with love when he saw Him. On his way back to Bengal, however, he felt extreme separation from Lord Jagannath.
(Thousands and thousands of people go on pilgrimage to Puri every single day. All of them take darshan of Jagannath, but how many of them are overcome by feelings of separation when returning home? Perhaps once in a while some fortunate individual is able to feel such emotions. If one truly feels such pangs of separation, then this is a sign of Jagannath’s mercy; if not, then one has not truly received the grace of the Lord.)
Lord Jagannath Deva saw Srila Jagadish Pandit crying and so mercifully appeared to him in a dream and told him to take His vigraha and serve. Simultaneously, He appeared to the king of Orissa and ordered him that at the time of the nava-kalevara, when the wooden deity of Lord Jagannath is renewed, the outgoing form should be given to Srila Jagadish Pandit. As a result of this dream, the Maharaj considered it to be a great honor to give Srila Jagadish Pandit, Lord Jagannath’s outgoing form, which is known as the samadhi-stha-vigraha.
When Lord Jagannath’s deity was handed over to Srila Jagadish Pandit, he wondered how he will carry such a large deity. Srila Jagadish prayed to Lord Jagannath, asking Him just how he could possibly carry the heavy figure of the deity all the way back to Bengal. Lord Jagannath answered him that for his sake He would become as light as a cork. Then Srila Jagadish Pandit was to cover Him with a new cloth and then carry Him suspended on the end of a staff.. Lord Jagannath further told him that he wouldhave to make permanent arrangements to stay wherever He would sit down on the ground.
Srila Jagadish enlisted the aid of two Brahmins, and they took turns carrying Lord Jagannath as far as the village of Yashra on the banks of the river Ganges, near the town of Chakdaha in Bengal. Srila Jagadish Pandit left Lord Jagannath with one of the Brahmins and went to take his bath in the Ganges and to perform oblations of Ganga water. While he was gone, the Brahmin found that Lord Jagannath was suddenly becoming very heavy and that he was no longer able to hold Him up. When Srila Jagadish Pandit came back from his bath, he saw Lord Jagannath sitting on the ground and realized that the Lord wanted to stay in that very spot.
Chakdaha is a historical site and an ancient holy place. During the old times, it was known as Rathavarma. Pradyumna killed the demon Sambara there during Krishna’s incarnation at the end of the Dvapara age and thus it was known as Pradyumna-nagara. Prior to that, when King Bhagiratha was bringing down the mother Ganga in order to save the Sagara dynasty, he buried the wheel of his chariot here. Thus the town was also given the name Chakradaha, which in time has been corrupted into Chakdaha. When the local people heard that the Lord Jagannath deity from Puri had come to stay in Yashra, they flocked there in thousands to seek His darshan.
This is how Srila Jagadish Pandit decided to remain in Yashra rather than return to his home in Sreedham Mayapur.
