In all ages, God comes to save and find out his devotees when the society divides into the narrow domestic walls of dogmatism, casteism and different discriminations.
There is always strife between higher cast and lower cast, haves and haves not. Casteism is nasty. People look down upon the lower cast in the name of untouchability.
In that crucial period, God hears the heartrending divine cry of devotees. The lord of the universe does not understand caste, colour, creed and mantra. Only he binds by the love of the devotees.
In the past, many devotees stood out like Dasia Bauri, Bhakata Sal Bega, and Sriya Chandaluni etc by their unflinching faith and deep devotion towards Jagannath. God also dwells in the heart of the devotees. Devotee’s heart converts into a Sree Mandir for him to unfold his mysterious leela. The word “leela or lila” means li-Embrace, la- Accept. It is a sacred quality among the Nabadha Bhakti (Nine path of devotion). In this material world, it has materialised and spiritualized and visualized before the whole world.
Somonnath Behera (75) became a true devotee of lord Jagannath, when the Sudarshan Daru was located near Khorda district, Balianta, Gada Khutunia. lakhs of devotees thronged that place and that place became a pilgrim centre by the holy visits of devotees. Though Somanath belongs to the fishing community but he did not hesitate to worship that Daru, when many the big trees were uprooted by the Super Cyclone in 1999 and this only Neem tree was saved. That was more curious for Somonnath to discover the mysterious existence of neem tree which was not any common tree but a Divya Daru. Since then his craving soul inspired him to offer his puja. He had been offering his puja for 15 years and he was waiting eagerly for the day when the Divya Daru will be worshiped and placed in the lard Jagannath Temple. His dream came true; God fulfilled his dream.
At last in 2015, Sudarsan Daru was located in that area. Here the lord proved that he cries for his devotees in every age. Sri Sri Thakur Anakul Chandra says, “love and service will conquer the whole world.” Similarly Somonnath is identified before the whole world for love and service towards lord Jagannath.
lord Jagannath’s leela again unfolded in an unknown area of Kharipada, Raghunathpur in Jagatsinghpur district. When Arikhit Mallick came to know that his neem tree that he had been worshipping for long will be a Jagannath Daru, his joy knew no bounds. Drops of tears rolled down on his chicks- he cried, danced and prayed and thanked lord time and again. When he was rejected by the conservative society, nobody liked him as he belongs to Harijan community. In that Harijan family, the Jagannath Daru was worshiped by late Purusatom Mallick. Then his son late Krushna Chandra Mallick did it. The story of worship continued for hundreds of years. Now Arikhit was the devotee when it was chosen for lord Jagannath’s Daru. Here lord Jagannath has proved that untouchibility and caste system are immaterial. He only understands love, faith, devotion. So, God comes by love, selfless service; He does not understand anything except unflinching faith.
(The writer is a research scholar in Jagannath cult and culture. He has got PhD in (language and literature) from Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar. M- 9438097732)