Brahma can't be seen or shown, only realised

Whatever we see and practise in our day-to-day religious traditions, there is an essence in everything. There is a deep Vedic essence behind lord Jagannath’s idol; so also behind Nabakalebar (new incarnation of the deities).

let us look into the truth behind four idols of lord Jagannath Temple. The great carpenter, who had constructed the four idols, could he not make it in an anthropomorphic (human prototype) manner. He could have done it easily. What is given by Him behind this idolic essence – the eternal existence of Paramatma (Supreme Being) in a symbolic way. He Himself had constructed the idols as we see today in the lord Jagannath Temple. He had decisively composed the stanza of the ‘Gita Gobinda’ of Sri Jayadev (for which Sri Jayadev was wavering and was in a fix). A general opinion was that due to the immature intellect of a woman (Queen Gundicha), the hands of the lord are incomplete (half done). The gross appearance and existence of the universal lord is Balabhadra. He has eyebrow. He has many symbolical limbs like a living being. He has also a colour of His body. He rode black horse while He undertook expedition with lord Jagannath to Kanchi during the regime of King Purushottam Dev. The colour of Goddess Subhadra is yellow. She is Maya Shakti (Illusory power) between Jiva (Balabhadra) and Brahma (Jagannath). This illusory power has separated the two inseparable by outward ignorance.

lord Jagannath has no shape or colour. He is totally colourless, shapeless, and organless. Goddess Subhadra is subtle, lord Balabhadra is gross, and lord Jagannath is beyond gross, subtle and inexpressible. lord Sudarshan is the gross mightiest power of the lord. If we make them one being then He will be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent lord of the universe. This is the essence behind lord Jagannath. For this reason only, any sect, any religious leaders who have visited the lord, say to be theirs.

Then what is this Nabakalebar (new incarnation)IJ In commonsense, it is understood that a man (jiba) takes his birth on this earth and after some years he leaves his body and takes new birth with a body. This is Nabakalebar. When our clothes are torn, we wear a new one. So also, does the jibatma of this body. It takes a new body when the present body gets old and diseased. Thus spoke lord Krishna in the Bhagabat Geeta. He has told the humanity through Arjuna in the age of Dwapara. 

He decides as to how much old and torn body will take a new birth. But it is decided ahead in the Nabakalebara system of lord Jagannath. If there will be no Nabakalebar, what will happenIJ Generally, a person sheds his mortal coil during a bad time (for him only). The beings (including human being) who come and live in this world are all conditioned by time and space. There is tremendous influence of time and space on a being: be it a dust, stone, living being or Avatara. The difference is that the Avatara or Mahatma knows his end of worldly existence which a common man does not. Only the Atma or Paramatma (both are one and same) is beyond the influence of it (time and space). Whenever the joint Ashadha (month) comes that is inauspicious and is called Mala, no new and auspicious work is undertaken during the period. The Nabakalebar (new incarnation) of four deities is undertaken and completed before the advent of this Mala (inauspicious time).

When God or Paramatma takes His human form, His Body is called ‘Vigyana ghanamaya’ (dominated by Bigyana Kosha). It is full of Satwaguna. Satwa means full of goodness, kindness, love etc of positive qualities. So He has no body consciousness like common man. Our body has five sheaths (Kosha): e.g. Annamaya (made out of food), Pranamaya (made out of respiratory air), Manamay (made of mind only), Bigyanamay (made out of intuition and wisdom) and Anandamaya (made out of bliss only). There is Brahma or Atma or Paramatma (all are one and same) beyond   the Panchakosha body. It is within and without but the body cannot touch it. The five sheaths (Koshas) are under three Gunas (qualities: Satwa, Raja and Tama). The quantity of bliss depends upon one’s move from Ananamaya to Anandamaya. It is the end of journey when one attains his true self that is Brahman or Atma, he is to leave Satwa guna, Panchakosha also. Without Paramatma or Brahma (Siva), the jiba (being) is like a corpse (Saba). That’s why without the insertion of Brahma the four deities are incomplete.

Then what is this BrahmaIJ In the language of Paramahansa Sri Ramakrushna, the idol of salt when dips in the salty sea (ocean), can he come back and say that Sea (Brahman) is like this or thatIJ No, he cannot. His very existence will be lost there. That’s why Brahma or Paramatma is unreachable, unknown for sensory and worldly bodies and minds. Whatever is conceived it is only an impression or imprint in the consciousness of the Brahman not the Brahman himself.

It is said that who so ever (priest) transfers the Brahman from the old deity to new one, he dies some days after the ritual. It is not true. If, by chance, one dies, it is due to psychological thinking that death is haunting him. He has transferred it. This is the only reason coupled with curiosity that caused the disturbance in the tradition this time.

It is said in the Upanishads that “Brahmabid Brahmeiba Bhabati” that means he who knows Brahma becomes verily the Brahman. In other words, only Brahman can know Brahman (Himself). The substance which loses its identity in the ocean becomes one with the ocean. This symbolism, this faith leads us to self realization that we are Atman (Brahman), not this outer body made of five Mahabhutas (elements) only. The Nabakalebara is an essence of the drama which is enacted in this cosmos in regular intervals.

Rathayatra (Car Festival) is also an essence of Vedic wisdom. One who sees lord Jagannath on the wooden car (Rath) will be emancipated from the world. There is a Vedic dictum too. “Rathe to Bamanam drustwa punarjanma navidyate” . It means one who sees Bamana (lord Jagannath) on the car will not take rebirth at all. But it is only symbolic.

Unless one realizes the lord in one’s body, one cannot attain salvation. When one realizes and sees inside this lord (Brahman i.e. Jagannath), he becomes one with the Brahman. It is not a thing to be seen or to be shown it to others. It is solely a process of self-realisation.

(The writer lives at plot no 448, Chakeisiani, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar-10, (Cell)-9437136489)