Introduction:
Jagannath Puri Dham is situated on the sea shore of the Bay of Bengal in the State of Orissa. Lacs of devotees gather for yearly Rath Yatra that is shown on television. All other relevant details are mentioned in detail in https://jagannathpuri.com. What I want to tell is my experience and not faces & other history.
My visit was meant to be an official one until I could spare a day and was able to witness one of the best days of my life. Not long ago, in Jan 2005, I had to visit Orissa for official work for 20 days or so. Orissa is a very hot place as compared to the winters of Delhi and nothing too astonishing I witnessed except when I had a chance to go to Puri.
The magical Sunday:
With only one had, i.e. Sunday in hand, me and my friend started early in the morning. By train, we reached Puri by 8:30 am. We took a rickshaw from the station straight to Jagannath Puri temple. It was so different from Vaishno Devi Temple (J & K) as the rickshaw wala dropped us to the gate of the temple. I mean no foot travel whatsoever. I thought if there was some difficulty to reach then interest to visit doubles.
We were immediately accompanied by lot of pundits. Please be cautious as they keep on persuading till you accept them to be with you. No harm intended but the solicitation is very irritating, unlike any temple I visited earlier.
The temple:
After having a bath, we went to the temple. As a rule, all leather items should be parted before one goes to the temple and one should be Hindu to enter. Don’t know how justified is that but anyways we were thru accompanied by of course the pundit. The place was so holy: the fragrance, the crowd, the hymns of the people and what not; a different world altogether.
The Statue:
The statue consist of Lord Baldeva; Smt Subhadra Devi; Lord Jagannath; Sudama from left to right.
I learned that not many people are lucky to get to the inner chamber and see the statues from near. I was lucky and SPELLBOUND by seeing the status. The statue of Lord Krishna was like pulling me to him. I was speechless and kept looking at it. I couldn’t think of anything else. Even after I did the prayer and was leaving, I could not go. I repeatedly turned to see Lord Krishna. The magic was so intense that I couldn’t think of anything else for 15 minutes after that. Not only this, the picture kept rolling in my mind for days. Even as I write and think of it, my hands are shaking.
Man, the god is there and some don’t believe that. Just have a visit to the place and you will feel what I felt. The remembrance is so intense that even today; I have the picture clicked in my mink. No picture, no photograph, no video is more intense than the one in mind after seeing the temple firsthand.
Other places to visit:
Some 49 odd temple & tourist places to visit are mentioned in https://jagannathpuri.com/jptourism.aspx. However we were not fortunate and didn’t have time to see them. What we did see besides the magical temple of Puri is given below:
Loknath Temple:
It is walking distance away from the Puri temple, maybe 2 km. This is Lord Shiva’s temple and we were fortunate to be here. The pundits tell you lot of history about the place but the only thing I could remember that it is a very ancient temple and a must visit.
Konark Temple & Beach:
Konark is one hour away from Puri. Konark temple is also known as the Sun Temple. It was under renovation/ repair. We saw the temple only from outside and had a little photo session too. It was a good place.
But the sea beach was heavenly. The beach was so clean and very less people were there. Not so crowdy as Puri beach or Juhu beach. Very nice beach and again a must visit.
Puri Beach:
It is more popular and hence crowdy beach (as compared to Konark). We had a little bath at puri beach, ate some fast food and went for the return.
Conclusion
The place may be far from Delhi, but the remembrance is so close from here. I am a big fan of the place. It will always remain a mystery for me how could a statue be so powerful that can touch and have an influence on the mind and heart of the people. Visit with love for the almighty to Puri and he will surely meet you.