In a bid to promote the glory of Nilachakra placed atop the Jagannath Temple in Puri, monks and saints have decided to perform a special Aarati ritual of the metal blue wheel, which is said to be lord Vishnu’s most powerful weapon ‘Sudarshan Chakra’.

The Nilachakra Aarati, which began on the temple top on Sunday, the holy day of Ekadashi, is to be performed every evening by the Shree Nilachakra Aradhana Seva Sansthan. It is believed that a devotee gets blessings with a darshan of the Nilachakra.The Patitapabana Bana, the holy flag is fixed atop the Nilachakra. The darshan of Nilachakra with Patitapabana Bana is said to yield equal results of darshan of the deities inside the temple. “The Nilachakra is the symbol of lord Jagannath. According to Agni Purana, the Sudarshan Chakra of lord Vishnu after being cursed for its ego, the lord blessed it to be worshipped along with the deities on Ratna Singhasan on lord Jagannath’s left side in form of a pole,” said Ramcharan Das Maharaj, convener of the Nilachakra Aarati programme and former managing committee chairman of the temple. During the ‘Anasara’ period when the deities suffer from fever and devotees cannot see them on the Ratna Singhasan in the temple, they get satisfaction after having darshan of Nilachakra and Patitapabana Bana, he said. The most wonderful thing about the Nilachakra is that it changes its colours throughout the day. In the morning when the Sun rises, the colour becomes red. With the increase of sunlight during the daytime, it is slowly changed to blue. Among the wonderful things about the Temple, the shadow of Nilachakra is never visible and the Patitapabana Bana flies opposite the direction of the wind, Das Maharaj added.

Notably, Mahodadhi (sea) Aarati is also performed every evening at the sea beach. The Nilachakra Aarati was added to the list of rituals performed in the Srimandir every day.