Since time beyond memory, the celebrated Deity of Krsna known as Jagannatha (Lord of the Universe) had been honoured with a great chariot parade at Jagannatha Puri, a city in Orissa at the Bay of Bengal. Every summer, millions of pilgrims gathered from all over India to join in the awesome and magnificent celebration in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead graced everyone -- highborn or low, pure or impure, rich or poor -- with His presence when He left His palatial temple and travelled in state to His peaceful summer retreat. The Deity of Jagannatha memorialised Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He manifested Himself in Dvaraka fifty centuries before. There, as part of His personal pastimes on earth, Lord Krsna had reigned as king in dazzling splendour and revealed the unsurpassable opulence and majesty of His Godhood.
Srila Prabhupada had been particularly enthusiastic to establish the worship of Jagannatha in the West. As he explained in one letter to a friend in India:
When we first start a temple, we start with Jagannatha Swami. My guru maharaja recommended temples of Jagannatha in these countries because He is kind even to the mlecchas.
Since 1967, ISKCON had staged the ancient Ratha-yatra festival in many cities of the world. More recently, it was scheduled for London, Pittsburgh, Calcutta, San Francisco, Tokyo -- and Melbourne.
May and June 1972 saw devotees work tirelessly on the multifarious aspects of Ratha-yatra -- fund raising, purchase and acquisition of materials, publicity, planning the actual parade, hiring a hall for after the parade, and organising a feast for thousands. Madhudvisa was well-aware of the enormity of such an event; he had helped organise the 1969 and 1970 Ratha-yatra festivals in San Francisco.
Prabhupada was convinced that the festival was an important part of Krsna consciousness culture. Prabhupada had personally told him that the parade itself was so spiritually potent that just by following the chariot of Lord Jagannatha as it passed down the road, one would be liberated from repeated birth and death. Madhudvisa also had his own, special, personal experience of the potency of the Ratha-yatra festival -- it had first attracted him to become a devotee.
Madhudvisa inspired others. Vaibhavi, now an accomplished artist, drew up plans for the cart from studying pictures of the massive chariots in Jagannatha Puri. After corresponding with Nara-Narayana who had designed the first carts in America, she came up with a specially scaled-down version that would fit into a single Melbourne traffic-lane. Notable also would be a special, custom-made mechanism to lower and raise the silken canopy to avoid the overhead tram-lines that spanned the city streets.
Vaibhavi decided on the final colour scheme, the position of the colourful blue and white swan motifs, the size of the Deity platform, and the location of the fencing. She tended to even the smallest details -- the dimensions of the spire, the design of the kumbha, the parrots, the length of the flag, and even the angle of slope for the multi-coloured canopy.
Work began under extreme weather conditions -- the Melbourne winter of 1972 was a severe one. A vacant lot in Carlton was donated for the duration of the construction. Devotees laboured day and night. Sometimes unknown men and women would turn up on the rugged, muddy site and volunteer their services for painting or construction. Once an old staggering drunk insisted on holding a kerosene lamp for hours so the devotees could work through the night. To the devotees, it seemed that Lord Jagannatha -- Krsna, the Lord of the Universe -- was personally, causelessly engaging these persons in His devotional service. Some of these men and women became so inspired that they actually became devotees.
And where was Lord Jagannatha? A Ratha-yatra parade held no meaning without the smiling, angular-faced Deities of the Lord and His brother Balarama and His sister Subhadra.
Dipak: One grey, overcast day I was out driving when I came upon an old sawmill. There I saw a huge seasoned log of hardwood lying on the ground. I purchased it and had it cut into three pieces then drove them back to the newly acquired Hare Krsna shop in Little Lonsdale Street and set them up in the chilly loft. The Lord had come to Melbourne!
Dvaipayana: I had a desire and one day it was fulfilled. Vaibhavi asked me if I would like to help carve Lord Jagannatha! I was thrilled and honoured. Dipak came back from the sawmill with three logs and we carried them upstairs to an area partitioned off from the Mighty Apollo Gymnasium. We started with a chainsaw and then continued with hand tools. Dipak carved Lord Balarama and I carved Subhadra and Jagannatha. Finally, Nartaki painted them.
Dipak: I remember daily entering that freezing loft. There was such a holy atmosphere. Each morning we would come and offer our obeisances to the unfinished Deities and then commence our work. It had such a powerful effect on us. To this very day, I have a deep attraction to Lord Jagannatha.
- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu
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