Subhadrā, daughter of Vasudeva and sister of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She was not only a very dear daughter of Vasudeva, but also a very dear sister to both Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva. The two brothers and sister are represented in the famous Jagannātha temple of Purī, and the temple is still visited by thousands of pilgrims daily. This temple is in remembrance of the Lord's visit at Kurukṣetra during an occasion of solar eclipse and His subsequent meeting with the residents of Vṛndāvana.
(Srimad Bhagavatam------1:13:3-4------purport).
Lord Viṣṇu should be offered everything, and His prasāda should be distributed to all the demigods. This practice is still followed in the temple of Jagannātha at Purī. There are many temples of demigods around the main temple of Jagannātha, and the prasāda which is offered first to Jagannātha is distributed to all the demigods.
(Srimad Bhagavatam------4:7:55------purport).
“The history of the Jagannātha temple in Māheśa is as follows. One devotee of the name Dhruvānanda went to see Lord Jagannātha, Balarāma and Subhadrā at Jagannātha Purī, wanting to offer food to Jagannāthajī that he had cooked with his own hands. This being his desire, one night Jagannāthajī appeared to him in a dream and asked him to go to Māheśa on the bank of the Ganges and there start worship of Him in a temple. Thus Dhruvānanda went to Māheśa, where he saw the three deities—Jagannātha, Balarāma and Subhadrā—floating in the Ganges. He picked up all those deities and installed them in a small cottage, and with great satisfaction he executed the worship of Lord Jagannātha. When he became old, he was very anxious to hand over the worship to the charge of someone reliable, and in a dream he got permission from Jagannātha Prabhu to hand it over to a person whom he would meet the next morning. The next morning he met Kamalākara Pippalāi, who was formerly an inhabitant of the village Khālijuli in the Sundaravana forest area of Bengal and was a pure Vaiṣṇava, a great devotee of Lord Jagannātha; thus he immediately gave him charge of the worship. In this way, Kamalākara Pippalāi became the worshiper of Lord Jagannātha, and since then his family members have been designated as Adhikārī, which means "one who is empowered to worship the Lord." These Adhikārīs belong to a respectable brāhmaṇa family.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------1:11:24------purport).
It is still the practice at the Jagannātha temple not to allow those to enter who do not strictly follow the Vedic culture known as Hinduism. Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī had had previous intimate connections with Muslims. Haridāsa Ṭhākura had been born in a Muslim family, and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, having given up their social status in Hindu society, had been appointed ministers in the Muslim government. They had even changed their names to Dabira Khāsa and Sākara Mallika. Thus they had supposedly been expelled from brāhmaṇa society. Consequently, out of humility they did not enter the temple of Jagannātha, although the Personality of Godhead, Jagannātha, in His form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, personally came to see them every day. Similarly, the members of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society are sometimes refused entrance into some of the temples in India. We should not feel sorry about this as long as we engage in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------2:1:63------purport).
Although Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura was born in a Muslim family, he was accepted as a properly initiated brāhmaṇa. As such, he had every right to enter thetemple of Jagannātha Purī, but because there were some rules and regulations stipulating that only brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras (members of the varṇāśrama-dharma system) could enter, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, out of his great humility, did not want to violate these existing rules.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------2:3:194------purport).
When Sākṣi-gopāla was brought from Vidyānagara in southern India, He stayed for some time at Kaṭaka. Thereafter, He was situated for some time in theJagannātha temple. It seems that in the temple of Jagannātha there was some disagreement between Jagannātha and Sākṣi-gopāla, a disagreement called prema-kalaha, a quarrel of love. In order to settle this love quarrel, the King of Orissa constructed a village about eleven miles from Jagannātha Purī. The village was called Satyavādī, and Gopāla was stationed there. Thereafter, a new temple was constructed. Now there is a Sākṣi-gopāla station, and people go to Satyavādī to see the witness Gopāla.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------2:5:9------purport).
Because the temple of Lord Jagannātha is situated at Jagannātha Purī, many devotees from all parts of the world came to perform saṅkīrtana in glorification of the Lord. All these devotees were certainly seen and heard by Mahārāja Pratāparudra, but he herein admits that the kīrtana performed by the associates of the Lord was unique. He had never before heard such saṅkīrtana nor seen such attractive features manifest by the devotees.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------2:11:96------purport).
The Guṇḍicā temple is situated two miles northeast of the Jagannātha temple. At the time of the Ratha-yātrā festival, Lord Jagannātha goes to the Guṇḍicā temple from His original temple and stays there for one week. After one week, He returns to His original temple. It is understood by hearsay that the wife of Indradyumna, the King who established the Jagannātha temple, was known as Guṇḍicā. There is also mention of the name of the Guṇḍicā temple in authoritative scripture.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------2:12:73------purport).
One day Sanātana Gosvāmī was summoned by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who wanted him to come to Yameśvara-ṭoṭā. Sanātana Gosvāmī reached the Lord through the path along the beach by the sea. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked Sanātana Gosvāmī which way he had come, Sanātana replied, "Many servitors of Lord Jagannātha come and go on the path by the Siṁha-dvāra gate of the Jagannātha temple. Therefore, I did not go by that path, but instead went by the beach." Sanātana Gosvāmī did not realize that there were burning blisters on his feet because of the heat of the sand. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was pleased to hear about Sanātana Gosvāmī’s great respect for the temple of Lord Śrī Jagannātha.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------3:4--------summary).
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya: "Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya composed a drama named Jagannātha-vallabha-nāṭaka, and he engaged two young girls who were professional dancers and singers to demonstrate the ideology of the drama. Such girls, who are called deva-dāsīs, are still employed in the temple of Jagannātha, where they are called māhārīs. Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya engaged two such girls, and because they were meant to play the parts of gopīs, he taught them how to awaken thoughts like those of the gopīs. Because the gopīs are worshipable personalities, Rāmānanda Rāya, who considered the two girls gopīs and himself their maidservant, engaged in their service by massaging their bodies with oil to cleanse them completely. Because Rāmānanda Rāya always placed himself in the position of a maidservant of the gopīs, his rehearsal with the girls was actually on the spiritual platform."
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------3:5:20------purport).
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa resulted in highly elevated transcendental madness. When He was standing near the Garuḍa-stambha and praying to Lord Jagannātha, a woman from Orissa put her foot on the Lord's shoulder in her great eagerness to see Lord Jagannātha. Govinda chastised her for this, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu praised her eagerness. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to the temple of Lord Jagannātha, He was absorbed in ecstatic love and saw only Kṛṣṇa.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------3:14--------summary).
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