65. Pastime of Appearance of Lord Jagannath's Maha-prasada, from Caitanya-mangala by Srila Lochan Dasa Thakura

Pastime of Appearance of Lord Jagannath's Maha-prasada, from Caitanya-mangala by Srila Lochan Dasa Thakura:

Most people assume that maha-prasadam has always been available in this world. But this is not true. Prior to the pastime narrated below, Lord Vishnu's maha-prasadam was absolutely not available in this material world; not even for demigods like Lord Shiva nor sages like Narada. Although today we take maha-prasadam for granted, attaining it is actually a rare privilege available only to the most fortunate living entities.

One day in Jagannatha Puri, Murari Gupta told Damodara Pandita the story of how Lord Vishnu's maha-prasadam appeared on this planet.

Murari said, "While playing his vina and continually glorifying Gauranga, Narada Muni travelled among the demigods informing them of the imminent advent of Sri Caitanyadeva on earth.

During his travel, Narada heard a conversation between the great Haridasa (servant of Lord Hari) named Uddhava and Bhagavan Sri Krsna. At that time, Uddhava admitted that Krsna's merciful remnants were the only cause of his exalted status in devotion.

Uddhava said:

tvayopabhukta srag gandha,

vaso lankara-carcitaḥ

ucchista bhojino dasas,

tava mayam jayema hi

"Simply by decorating ourselves with the garlands, fragrant oils, clothes and ornaments that You have already enjoyed, and by eating the remnants of Your meals, we, Your servants, will indeed conquer Your illusory energy. (SB 11.6.46) To tell you the truth, my dear Lord, the ability of this Haridasa (Uddhava) to conquer Maya comes from eating Your maha-prasadam remnants. Therefore, I always desire to receive Your food remnants." In the presence of the Lord, Uddhava praised that maha-prasadam.

After hearing this conversation between Sri Krsna and Uddhava, Narada became dumbstruck. He thought, “Although I myself have been on the path of devotion for a long time and have been constantly chanting the holy name of the Lord, still I had no idea about the potency of Sri Krsna's maha-prasadam. Simply on the strength of the Krsna's maha-prasadam, Haridasa Uddhava had become an empowered pure devotee of the Lord."

“Within his heart, however, Narada felt deprived because he himself had never tasted Vishnu's maha-prasadam. Then he thought of how to please Lord Vishnu with his actions, so that He would give me a taste of His maha-prasadam. With this idea, Narada visited Vaikuntha and rendered various services to Lakshmi devi for 12 years. Satisfied with his seva, Lakshmi-devi affectionately said, "Tell me Narada, what do you want? I will give you a boon."

Narada Muni replied, "My dear Mother Lakshmi, you must promise that whatever I ask for, you will grant." Lakshmi devi vowed that she would gladly fulfill his desire.

Narada decided to reveal his heart's desire, so he folded his hands and said, "For a long time, I have been feeling pain within my heart. Everyone knows that I am your servant. But somehow, I never got the chance to taste Lord Vishnu's maha-prasadam. Please glance favourably upon me and give me the boon of receiving a handful of Lord Narayana's maha- prasadam. This is my only desire."

Suddenly Lakshmi devi's mood changed and her face became clenched with worry. "Please ask me for anything else except for the Lord's prasada," she begged. "A few days ago the Lord instructed me not to give His prasada to anyone. You must understand that I cannot disobey my husband's order. My dear son, I cannot give you prasada."

Narada was very adamant and reminded devi of her promise. "You are the dear wife of Lord Narayana," Narada Muni said. "You must grant me this boon. Somehow or other you must give me the Lord's maha-prasada."

Lakshmi was now in great trouble. What to do? She told Narada Muni to wait and that she would look into what could be done to satisfy his desire.

At noon Lakshmi devi lovingly served lunch to her husband, Lord Narayana. Even though devi performed her duties with attention and expertise, still the Lord marked that his wife was very unhappy. Her face had become black and morose. Lord Narayana gently asked her the reason for her distress. Taking shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, Lakshmiji explained her predicament. Lord Narayana mercifully comforted His crying wife and said, "Just for today I will cancel this restriction. You may take My plate of remnants and give it to Narada. But you must deliver the prasada in such a way that I do not see. When I turn my face to the side you may take the plate away as if I do not know." The goddess became joyful.

Following her beloved husband's instruction, she deftly removed His plate of mahaprasada when He was not looking and happily presented it to Narada Muni.

Narada Muni, dancing in ecstasy, eagerly honoured the Lord's remnants. He relished Lord Narayana's prasada and did not cease for second from chanting the Lord's holy name and dancing in great bliss. As his ecstatic emotions increased, he could not control himself. Narada Muni with his vina in tow started running all over the universe like a madman. Chanting and dancing without stopping, he ran from the planet.

Finally, he reached Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was surprised to see Narada Muni chanting and dancing in such a state of ecstasy. Narada Muni, swimming in the waves of Vishnu-bhakti, did not notice Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva pacified Narada Muni. "Narada, I know you are always in ecstasy because you constantly chant the name of Lord Narayana. But I have never seen you in such a condition…!!! What happened to you?"

Narada told Lord Shiva that Lakshmi-devi had given him Narayana prasada. Then Narada Muni cooled down and explained everything. "I got so much pleasure and ecstasy after honouring the Lord's maha-prasada that I can't stop dancing and chanting," Narada breathlessly exclaimed.

Lord Shiva commented, "I must say Narada, you do look most extraordinary... What has made you so effulgent and spiritually surcharged?"

Narada continued, "Mahadeva, you will not believe it. But by the mere touch of Lord Vishnu's maha-prasadam, my own effulgence and spiritual potency increased 100 times. I experienced intense spiritual ecstasy and automatically started chanting Hare Krsna. Playing my vina, I journeyed here just to see you and tell you about my fantastic fortune."

Lord Shiva, folding his palms replied, "Oh Narada! You are so fortunate that you have tasted the mahaprasada of Lord Narayana." Lord Shiva smiled hopefully. "Dear Narada… Have you brought any prasada for me?"

Narada felt very sorry, for he had not brought any prasada to share with Lord Shiva. Putting his head down, Narada stood with folded hands before Lord Shiva. Then he saw that a morsel of prasada had stuck to his fingernail. Narada gasped, "Oh yes! Here is some prasada…!!! Prasada kanika matra. A morsel of prasada just for you."

Narada Muni carefully held up his hand for Lord Shiva's inspection. "Oh Shiva. You are so fortunate. Please take this maha- prasada." Narada Muni put his finger into Shivaji's mouth. As soon as that small morsel of maha-prasada touched the tongue of Mahadeva, he felt great ecstasy and happiness, so much so that he could not remain quiet.

"Lord Shiva started dancing wildly in the joyous ecstasy of Krsna-prema. His dancing increased as his ecstasy intensified. His dancing became so vigorous that he manifested the “Tandava”, the dance indicating the time of annihilation. The whole universe started to shake. Everyone became frightened, thinking "What happened? Why is this dance taking place untimely? It is not time for annihilation."

The earth trembled under the pounding of his feet and Mt. Sumeru rocked back and forth dangerously. Bouncing off the dome-like covering of the universe, Mahadeva's euphoric roaring of Krsna nama reverberated in all ten directions. The whole universe was trembling in ecstasy. The hood of Ananta deva was stretching back to the point of touching the back of Kurma. Startled by this strange tickling sensation, Kurma poked His head out of his shell and stared at Ananta.

Shiva's devastating dance almost drove the earth to the bottom of the universe. "Terrified, Mother Bhumi (earth personified) ran to Mount Kailasa and appealed to Lord Shiva's wife, "O Parvati devi, I will die if your husband does not stop dancing. Not only that, but the whole material world is in great danger. Please, do something if you want to save the creation from destruction".

Mother Parvati arrived on the scene and saw Lord Shiva dancing in uncontrollable ecstasy.

Mother Parvati humbly approached Lord Shiva and when he came to his external senses, she inquired, "My dear husband…!!! What happened to you? What has caused you to dance in such ecstasy?" And how have you become more effulgent than 10 million suns? I have never seen you exhibit such a magnificent form. Please tell me, why is it that today you have displayed such unlimited rapture in Kṛṣṇa-prema?"

Lord Shiva replied. "Devi, listen to the joyful news of my good fortune. Today, the great sage, Narada gave me some of Lord Narayana's maha- prasadam. Although glorified in the Vedas, Vishnu's maha-prasadam is inconceivably rare. In all three worlds, it is very difficult to get Krsna's remnants, which are mixed with the nectar of His lips. Today, my life is a success because of attaining Lord Narayana's maha-prasadam. This alone is my real wealth and the source of my ecstasy."

Agitated and disturbed by her husband's words, Parvati said, "I foolishly believed that you were always kind and merciful to me. You have accepted me as half of your body, therefore, as husband and wife we are one. But today, your false love is revealed. It was all just a pretense; a false show. You cheated me..!!! After getting that rarely attainable maha-prasadam, you ate it all yourself and did not even give me a speck of it".

Lord Shiva could not answer. He had managed to get only one morsel of prasada from Narada. How could he have saved any?

Murari Gupta continued, "Feeling slightly guilty, Shiva replied, "O Parvati, actually you have no right to receive this transcendental wealth."

Shiva's statement ignited a fire of furious anger within his wife.

Parvati said, "Don't you know that one of my names is Vaishnavi, because I have deep devotion for Lord Vishnu. Now everyone listen carefully. Today, I make a solemn vow that if Lord Narayana bestows His compassion upon me, I will make sure that Bhagavan's maha-prasadam is distributed to everyone in the universe from the demigods to the dogs and even the jackals; every living entity will receive maha-prasadam...!!!"

Parvati was angry that she did not get maha-prasada. "I am deprived of Lord Narayana's prasada."

She was so furious that the fire of her anger started to burn the whole universe. From the lower planets to the higher planets, everyone felt the burning heat. The sages and saints understood that everything was going to be finished by the hot anger of Mother Parvati. No one could pacify her.

Finally all the demigods headed by Lord Brahma rushed to Vaikuntha to inform Lord Vishnu. Hearing the situation, Lord Vishnu travelled to Kailash riding on the back of Garuda to uphold Parvati's promise. As soon as Parvati devi saw Lord Narayana, she came forward to offer her obeisances. Lord Narayana blessed His devotee and told her, "I will give you as much as maha-prasada you want. Please be pacified and give up your anger. Otherwise, all of your children will be finished."

But Mother Parvati protested. "I will not be satisfied if You give your maha-prasada only to me. I request You to give your maha-prasada to all of my children, to all of the living entities. I do not want to see any of my children suffer like as I am suffering now due to being deprived of your maha-prasada. You must arrange something so that all living beings, including the dogs may honor Your maha-prasada."

Lord Narayana smiled and said "Tathastu. Let it be so. My dear Parvati, to fulfill your desire I will appear in Nilachala dham. My temple will be famous for distributing My prasada. Whoever takes My prasada will be liberated. All my prasada will be offered to you first. Then only will the remnants become maha- prasada. This maha-prasada will be distributed to everyone without consideration. I will keep you next to Me. You will have your temple just behind Mine in the inner courtyard. Lord Shiva, because he neglected to give you maha-prasada, will stay at a distance. He will have his temple outside the courtyard."

The Lord appeared in Puri as Jagannath. Parvati devi is there in the name of Bimala. All of Jagannath's prasada is offered first to Bimala devi. Then only is it distributed as maha-prasada. In Puri there is no distinction between low and high-castes for taking Jagannath maha-prasada. Jagannath maha-prasada is so pure that sastra says that a brahmana can take maha-prasada from the mouth of a dog. It can never be contaminated. 

(Vishnu-Katyayani Samvada from Padma Purana cited in Caitanya Mangala)