The Mysterious Controller of the Universe : Shri Neelamadhava - Shri Jagannath

ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review Madhava Madhava vacyam, Madhava madhava harih; Smaranti Madhava nityam, sarva karye su Madhavah. Towards the end of Lord Sri Rama’s regime in Tretaya Yuga, Sri Hanuman was advised by the Lord Sri Rama to remain immersed in meditation (dhyanayoga) in ‘Padmadri hill’ till his services would be recalled in Dwapar Yuga. When the great devotee, Sri Hanuman expressed his prayer as to how he would see his divine Master during such a long spell of time, the Lord advised him that he would be able to see his ever- The Mysterious Controller of the Universe : Shri Neelamadhava - Shri Jagannath Dr. K.C. Sarangi Lord, always desires His devotees to have cherished ‘Sri Rama’ in the form of Lord Sri equanimity in all circumstances: favourable or Neelamadhava whom he would worship in unfavourable, and to destroy their ingorance by ‘Brahmadri’, the adjacent hill and enjoy the the sword of conscience, ‘tasmat ajnana everlasting bliss ‘naisthikeem shantim’ as the sambhutam hrutstham jnanasinatmanah (Ch. IV, Gita describes (Ch.5, Verse 12). Sri Hanuman verse.42) and work in a detached manner was a sthitadhi. Those devotees, whose minds surrendering the fruit of all actions to the Lotus are equiposed, attend the victory over the world feet of the Lord so that the devotee does not during their life time. Since Paramatma the become partaker of the sins as the Lotus leaf is Almighty Father is flawless and equiposed, such not affected by water ‘brahmani adhyaya devotees rest in the lotus feet of the Lord karmani sangam tyaktwa karoiti yah, lipyate ‘nirdosam hi samam brahma tasmad na sa papena padmapatramivambasa’ (Ch.V, brahmani te sthitaah’, (ibid v.19). According Verse 10). The Graceful Lord desired His dearest to the sacred thought expressed in the Gita, the devotee to experience this blissful ecstasy and 122 JUNE - 2017 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 unalloyed purity since according to His own saying ‘ananyayogena bhakti avyabhicarini’ as ‘matcintah madgat prana……. nityam tusyanti ca explained in verse 10 Ch.13 of the Gita discussed ramanti ca’ (Ch.10, verse9). in the foregone paragraph. The great scholar and Indeed, no sublime thing in this world can sage Swami Ramasukhadasji explains in this be achieved without perpetual sadhana context. (perseverance). The Lord, therefore, has also Because of having shelter in this world suggested later, the solution, ‘mayi ca the spiritual practitioner becomes unable to get ananyayogena bhaktih avyabhicarini, rid of the illusion of body. The infatuation for body viviktadeshasevitwam aratih janasampadi’ is a great obstacle to know the ‘avyakta’, the (The Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 10). One can have Mysterious Controller. To help the devotee this equanimity of mind and undisturbed worship overcome this obstacle, the Lord advises to have and devotion starying in an isolated and pure place unalloyed bhakti which, in turn leads to unflinching through meditation concentrated japa (utterance faith in Him. This faith gradually reveals that the of Lords’s name) tapa (penance which literally material body is untrue. This establishes that means to be equally happy in hot and cold, good ‘devotion: chaste and meticulous’, enables the fortune and misfortune, pleasure and pain ‘sukha practitioner to cross the infatuation for the body2. dukhe same krutwa labha labhou jayajayau’ The above devotion is again a (Ch-II, verse.38), Yoga (about which the Lord consequence of the much cherished, ‘budhiyoga’. has explained in details in the Gita. What is The Lord has confirmed in the Gita that those essentially required is that the devotee through who are perennially engaged in meditating on Him the prescribed yogic process, should have and uttering His name, He bestows on them the undisturbed faith in the Lord. He should not ‘budhiyoga’ by which the devotee gets Him, develop any inclination towards staying in places ‘tesham satatayuktanam bhajataam enriched with human habitation, surcharged with preetipurvakam, dadami budhi yogam tam materialistic aspirations. Thus, the reasoning for yena mam upajanti te’ (Ch.10, Verse 10). The the advice to Hanuman to stay in Padmadri, an learned scholar and sage, Swami Ramsukhadasji, isolated and pure place is clearly perceptible. The however cautions that the practitioner in spiritual Lord desired that his dearest devotee should line should not develop any desire to get anything continue through unalloyed devotion and yoga and from anybody other than God. There should not remain undisturbed against the currents of time. be an iota of feeling in the devotee’s mind that he 1 This is one of the popular ‘Lokakathas’ about can get the ‘adhwatma vidya’ (spiritual wisdom) Sri Neelamadhava temple at Kantilo. It is now by virtue of his strength, intelligence or eligibility. not a legend but an acknowledged position Nor there should be the feeling that he can be accepted by many scholars that the cult of Lord able to realise the ‘divine wisdom’ by the help of Sri Jagannatha is inextricably linked with the other human beings, preceptors or spiritual books. tradition of Lord Shri Neelamadhava at Kantilo. Only by the grace of the Lord, grace alone, he But the above legend has a secret gets a chance to realise the divine wisdom, the message. Usually where the spiritual struggler ‘Brahmavidya’ His only saviour is the Lord finds difficulty is, how to have this Himself and his total surrender before His lotus JUNE - 2017 123 ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review feet always paves the way. This surrender is a tiger was safeguarding the cave where Lord ‘ananya yoga’ i.e. uncommon yogic practice.3 Madhava was worshipped. Biswabasu, the Sri Hanuman, therefore was advised to staunch devotee of Madhava and the father-in- practice this ‘ananyayoga’ staying in ‘Padmadri’ law of Vidyapati, (the ambassador of King and worship Lord Sri Rama in the form of Lord Indradyumna) is believed to be belonging to Jara Shree Neelamadhava, the Divine Splendour with Savar’s dynasty. His incomparable beauty and elegance. In the Reference about the present construction prayer of Goswami Tulshidasji for Sri Rama, one of Lord Sri Neelamadhava’s temple is very may observe a hidden prayerful description of difficult to be traced in contemporary scriptures/ Lord Sri Neelamadhava, the Lord revealing literature. Except ‘Neeladri Mahodaya’, Himself with incomparable effulgence and always recorded chronicles are almost rarities in this kind enough to save the humanity from the regard. But the lovable legends around are soul- confusion of Kaliyuga. stirring. One such source says that a king, namely nilotpala shyama kama kotisobhaadhika Merukalpa, who happened to be in the genealogy sunia tasu guna grama jasu nama agha of Kakabhusandi, constructed the temple of the khaga badhika.4 Lord. Celestial beings from heaven and seventy two local sevayats contributed their combined The Lord, whose body is like a blue lotus, efforts to build the temple. Originally there were whose beauty defeats the beauty of crores of 752 caves in and around the temple. Kapila Kamadeva, listening to whose sacred name, the Samhita gives a vivid description of the river devotee destroys all his sins, (as a hunter kills Mahanadi, flowing by the side of the temple. birds), it is beneficial always to hear about the According to the above masterpiece in Sanskrit leela of the same Lord, Sri Rama- literature , by the blessings of ‘suradhuni, Neelamadhava. Tulshidasji has also held that the papanashini Divine Mother Ganga, who was Lord’s name is the medicine to cure the disease happy with the penance of ‘Sukanti’ a sage in of the cycle of birth and death. The man or Tretaya Yuga, (son of Sage Pulastya and woman who hears this, all his/her wishes will be Habirbhu), river Mahanadi situated at the place fulfilled by the ‘enemy of Trisirari’ i.e. Sri Ramaji: of penance to the point of mingling with bhava bhesaja raghunatha Jasu sunahin je Purvasagar was declared as the incarnation of the nara nari sacred river, the Ganges. tinhakara sakala manoratha siddha karahi A sacred book namely Neelamadhava trisirari.5 Mahatmya written and compiled by Sri Samsari At a later period, at the end of Dwapar Behera correlates marked similarities in the cult Yuga, Lord Krishna advised Jara Savar (as the of Sri Alaranath at Brahmagiri and Sri Madhava latter was totally flabbergasted due to his soul- at Niali with the tradition of Lord Sri killing blunder of piercing the Lord’s lotus feet Neelamadhav at Kantilo. The book also describes with an arrow) to go to Brahmadri and see the that Lord Sri Neelamadhava was also worshipped Tiger cave (Byaghra gumpha) there and worship earlier somewhere near the Bay of Bengal, the Lord there. The legends say that in those days proximate to the present Shreekshetra Puri. The 124 JUNE - 2017 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 Lord whom Indradyumna saw in the dream was even today, the principal traditions of Sri Neela the Lord Neelamadhava. But when Indradyumna Madhava, at Kantilo are largely similar to the came with a large number of courtiers and traditions followed in Srikshetra, Puri. followers to offer his prayer to the Lord, Yamaraj There are some exceptions, however. took shelter before the Lord and explained that if One such exception is the Magha Sukla Ekadasi the Lord would give darshan to all those human celebration when a five day long fair is held at beings coming, then everybody would get Kantilo. It is said that those who take sacred salvation and the Yamaloka would be vacant. ablution in Chitrotpala-Mahanadi and get the holy Hence administration in Yamabhuvan would be in shambles. With the request of Yamaraj, the darshan of Lord Sri Neelamadhava especially Lord disappeared from the referred place and on the above sacred occasion, attend salvation.

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