When Lord Jagannath went away with His devotee

Before taking sannyas, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Srila Jagadish Pandit (one of His devotees) to go to Nilachala to preach Sri Krishna-bhakti and the religious practice of the age, Harinama-sankirtan.

When he arrived in Puri, Sri Jagadish went for Lord Jagannath’s darshan and melted with love when he saw Him. When on his way back to Bengal, however, he felt extreme separation from Lord Jagannath.

Lord Jagannath Deva saw Srila Jagadish crying and so mercifully appeared to him in a dream and told him to take His vigraha and serve the same. Simultaneously, He appeared to the king of Orissa and ordered him that at the time of the nava-kalevara, when the deity of Lord Jagannath is changed, the outgoing form should be given to Srila Jagadish Pandit. Thus, when he met Sri Jagadish, the Maharaj considered it to be a great honor to give him Lord Jagannath’s outgoing form, which is known as the samadhi-stha-vigraha.

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 He would become as light as a cork; Sri Jagadish should simple cover Him with a new cloth and then carry Him with the help of a staff. Srila Jagadish would have to make permanent arrangements to stay wherever Lord Jagannath was set 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 Jashora on the banks of the mother Ganges, near the town of Chakdaha in Bengal. Srila Jagadish left Lord Jagannath with one of the Brahmins and went to take his bath in the Ganges. Suddenly, the Brahmin found that Lord Jagannath was becoming very heavy and that he was no longer able to hold Him up. Thus when Sri Jagadish 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.

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