Jagannath Culture and Peace

Philosopher and Yogi, Sri Aurobindo, wrote in his essay ‘The Chariot of Jagannath,’ “The ideal society is the vehicle of the indwelling Godhead of a human aggregate, the chariot for the journey of Jagannath. Unity, Freedom, Knowledge and Power constitute the four wheels of this chariot.”

The conception of an ideal society has captivated minds of sages and philosophers throughout the ages. Whether the Upanishad’s exhortation ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, or the Jaina concept of ‘Anekantavada,’ or the Buddhist ideal of the ‘Middle Path’, or the Christian commandment ‘Love Thy Neighbor’, the religions and the wise throughout the ages have sung the song of love and peace.

Who does not want peace? Who does not want a peaceful life, without violence and suffering? But, is there peace? Perhaps the world has never been as violent as today. Within a span of six years, from 2011 to 2016, more than four hundred thousand people perished in Syria alone, forget other conflicts scattered across the globe. Death, displacement, refugee crisis, seem to be the order of the day. The menaces of religious extremism and terrorism, aggressive pursuit of interests, excessive materialism and negligence of spiritualism, have contributed to the moral depravity of our age.

When I talk about peace, I do not mean an uneven peace – a peace of the strong over the weak, or a peace enforced by power of bayonets, or a peace in which we have material comforts at its peak, but moral and spiritual depravity at nadir. I am taking about a peace in which there is no violence from within or without, a peace that no circumstances can disturb, a peace established within but reflected without, outside in our daily behavior – in our thought and action.

How does Jagannath come in to the picture when we talk about peace? What does the Lord and his chariot signify? Jagannath or His chariot are not mere wooden instruments to be venerated; they possess tremendous meaning for all of us and for the world. They hold the key to address our moral depravity and our spiritual bankruptcy.

Jagannath, literally meaning Lord of Universe, is in true sense the Universal God, who transcends all divisions, and embraces all, whether the sinner or the virtuous. The pervasiveness of Jagannath consciousness can only be felt when one rises to the occasion, and leaving aside the ego, merges himself with the divine. Mere rituals do not help, unless they positively impact our mind, our consciousness. How many of us can echo Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?  The devotee sang in his Sri Jagannathāṣṭakam:

“na vai yāce rājyaṁ na ca kanaka-māṇikya-vibhavaṁ

na yāce 'haṁ ramyāṁ sakala jana-kāmyāṁ vara-vadhūm

sadā kāle kāle pramatha-patinā gīta-carito

jagannāthaḥ svāmī nayana-patha-gāmī bhavatu me.

I do not pray to Jagannath for a kingdom, nor for gold, jewels, wealth, or even for a beautiful wife as desired by all men. My only prayer is that Sri Jagannath-deva, whose splendid glories are always sung by Shiva, be the constant object of my vision.

hara tvaṁ saṁsāraṁ druta-taram asāraṁ sura-pate

hara tvaṁ pāpānāṁ vitatiṁ aparāṁ yādava-pate

aho dīne 'nāthe nihita-caraṇo niścitam idaṁ

jagannāthaḥ svāmī nayana-patha-gāmī bhavatu me.

O master of the gods! Quickly deliver me from this worthless worldly existence. O Lord of the Yadus! Purge me of my limitless host of sins. Aho! You have promised to bestow Your feet upon the fallen and shelter less -- O Jagannath Swami, please be the object of my vision.”

I understand the concern of ‘roti, kapda aur makan.’ We need a healthy body and a healthy mind to engage in mundane as well noble activities. But, how much do we need? Mahatma Gandhi’s famous saying comes to mind: Nature has enough for everybody’s need, but not for everybody’s greed. We all aspire for peace, but we are not peaceful. We want the world to be peaceful, with no conflict in family, in society and in the world, but it does not happen. What is the reason? The reason we have to find within us. Alexander the Great while dying in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) ordered his men to put around him the wealth from the conquests, and told them, ‘Lo, I earned so much, but I am not taking anything with me.’ He was influenced by monks while returning from India. The monks inspired him to ponder over mortality of human life and vainglory. Flashing back to the 20th century English film ‘Death Becomes Her’, the protagonist refused to drink potion to become immortal, and argued that it is our work, our action here on the earth that makes us immortal.

Though Jagannath is considered a part of Hindu pantheon, He transcends religions or other social constructs. As Sri Aurobindo argued, Jagannath is the ‘Universal Godhead’, and the four wheels of the chariot represent ‘unity, freedom, knowledge and power’. Stories abound how the Supreme God embraced the fallen, the poor, the diseased, seekers belonging to diverse faiths. Whosoever seeks Him with all sincerity, He manifests. Whether it is Salabeg or Dasia Bauri or Bandhu Mohanty, Jagannath bestowed His grace on them. Do we call Jagannath in the spirit of these seekers, who ‘owned’ nothing, but Lord Jagannath?

What then is the major obstacle? The major obstacle is ego and its offshoots. I, Me, Mine – are useful instruments, but at some point they become obstacles to spiritual progress and to the building of an ideal human society. To quote the prophetic message of Sri Aurobindo in the essay quoted above, “But so long as the chariot of Jagannath is not built, the ideal society will also not take shape. That is the ideal and ultimate image, the manifestation of the highest and profoundest truth. Impelled by the Universal Godhead, the human race is striving to create it, but owing to the ignorance of Prakriti it only succeeds in creating a different image either deformed, crude and ugly or, if tolerably fair, incomplete in spite of its beauty.”

Sri Aurobindo pointed out that the human society is ‘striving’ to create an ideal human society, but ‘owing to ignorance’ it cannot realize the ideal. Ego is a reflection of this ignorance. While individual ego goads an individual to see and visualize everything through the narrow boundaries of I, me and mine, the collective ego – the aggregate ego of individuals living in a society or state – goads the leaders to aggressively pursuit national interest, leading to jingoism and war. The two world wars were mainly outcomes of the battles of the collective egos. May Lord Jagannath enlighten us, and save us from a Third World War with a nuclear catastrophe and with possible extinction of human race. Albert Einstein had said that if human race survives a Third World War, the Fourth World War will be fought with stones and sticks.

There is a light within us which impels us to rise beyond our individual and collective egos, and think of the world as one family, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.’ Lord Jagannath has provided us the way. It is time to follow it with all sincerity.

Let the Rath Yatra at Tampa in 2017 be a real Yatra – a collective march, and a collective promise to walk together, to work together, to establish an ideal human society, based on twin principles of love and harmony. It is time for action!

This article was written for the event of Jagannath Rath Yatra at Tampa, Florida, on 25 June 2017.