Like a commando team, our group of devotees, in the predawn darkness, drove off in a van for a special, sacred mission. Our secret target: the lotus feet of Sri Jagannatha, Sri Baladeva, and Sri Subhadra. It’s the Day After—the wee hours of the morning following Rathayatra. The carts and the Deities are now parked outside the Gundica Temple. Later this day the Deities will come down and enter their temporary home at Gundica.

We’ve been tipped off that the senior pandas (caste-brahmana priests), recuperating from the Rath parade, will rise late this morning. Little do they know that while the casteism cats are away, Prabhupada’s mice will play.

Ridiculous it is that foreign devotees are barred entry into the Jagannatha Temple. Is Jagannatha Lord of the universe or Lord of whomever the security guards think resembles a Hindu—whatever that is? Millions of Indian tourists and pilgrims funnel through the gate—no guard will ever know if they are cow-killers, dog-eaters, atheists, or murderers. Simply the people have to “look Indian.”

Most male visitors to the temple do not wear traditional devotional attire. Clad in Western-style shirts and slacks, with cigarettes in the back pocket, they move freely within the temple. Foreigners, whether devotees or not, are completely banned. But even if an Indian devotee enters, if he happens to be dressed neatly in dhoti and kurta and wearing neckbeads, japa bag, and fresh tilak, the guards will threatingly challenge: “ISKCON?”

The distorted folk notion is that Jagannatha is for Hindu-born worshippers, and that therefore even Indian members of ISKCON should be shunned, because they’ve helped disseminate throughout India and the world the illusion that Jagannatha is Lord of all, and anyone has the right to see Him.

Although the time is 4am, already 100 Indian pilgrims surround each cart, seeking a close-up experience. One hundred is better than the hundreds of thousands we knew would amass later. Our small party includes HH Radhanatha Swami, HH Sacinandana Swami, HH Chandramauli Swami, the twin Mayapura pujaris, Jananivasa Prabhu and Pankajangrahi Prabhu. From below we watch a few foreign ISKCON devotees, along with the Indian pilgrims, climb the carts. Their white bodies gleaming in the moonlight amidst the swarm of brown and black, if they managed to successfully clamber all the way up onto the main platform, they immediately ran into their next obstacle: the security guards and the pandas. By flashing 1000-rupee bills and thrusting them into the eager hands, the foreign ISKCON devotees suddenly morphed into official Hindus.

Like many temples in Orissa, the Jagannatha Mandira is under government management. That means all salaries for the temple servitors are controlled. Jagannatha’s priests are said to earn officially no more than 100 rupees per month—the equivalent of about $2 USD. Government regulations forbid the priests to hold another job—if they try they can be fired on the spot. Now, at the break of day, while the stodgy senior pandas sleep, the more liberal juniors rake it in—1000 rupees per white head, and step right up for your darshan. Nevertheless, these enterprising younger pandas didn’t allow the foreign devotees to intimately approach the Deity.

Our party had an inside connection: a young panda who appreciated Srila Prabhupada’s bringing Lord Jagannatha and Rathayatra all over the world. Dividing us into two groups, he first escorted Radhanatha Swami, Chandramauli Swami, and me to the back of Jagannatha’s cart. How, just three months after a debilitating car accident, I managed to climb up the world’s largest Rath carts is still a mystery to me. Determined like an Olympic gymnast pursuing a gold medal, I stretched my legs from one beam of wood high up to the next, and then with my arms hoisted myself up, level after level. Finally, we all attained the main platform of Jagannath’s cart. Led by our panda agent, we squirmed our way through the crowd of Indian pilgims desperate to see Lord Jagannatha. “ISKCON?” a security guard challenged. Not answering, we pressed forward to the front of the cart, to the Deity’s throne.

Now we were directly in front of Lord Jagannatha, less than an arm’s length before us. I focused upon the Caitanya-caritamrita’s description of Lord Caitanya’s seeing Lord Jagannatha. God Himself, as His own devotee, teaches us the supreme method for taking darshan of the Lord.

“Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very thirsty to see the Lord, and His eyes became like two bumblebees drinking the honey from the lotuslike eyes of Lord Jagannatha, who is Krsna Himself.

“The eyes of Lord Jagannatha conquered the beauty of blossoming lotus flowers, and His neck was as lustrous as a mirror made of sapphires.

“The chin of the Lord, tinged with buff color, conquered the beauty of the bandhuli flower. This increased the beauty of His mild smiling, which was like lustrous waves of nectar.

“The luster of His beautiful face increased at every moment, and the eyes of hundreds and thousands of devotees drank its honey like bumblebees.

“As their eyes began to drink the nectarean honey of His lotus face, their thirst increased. Thus their eyes did not leave Him.” (Madhya 12.211 to 215)

Ignoring the priests outstretched hands for money, I lowered my body, lunged forward, and pressed my head directly at Lord Jagannatha’s lotus feet. With all the sincerity I could muster in my tiny heart, I begged Him: “Please help me to please Srila Prabhupada.”

His Divine Grace so eloquently explains my modus operandi in a Seventh-Canto purport:

“This human form of body is a most valuable boat, and the spiritual master is the captain, guru-karnadharam, to guide the boat in plying across the ocean of nescience. The instruction of Krsna is a favorable breeze. One must use all these facilities to cross over the ocean of nescience. Since the spiritual master is the captain, one must serve the spiritual master very sincerely so that by his mercy one will be able to get the mercy of the Supreme Lord.

“ . . . The spiritual master is certainly very merciful to his disciples, and consequently by satisfying him a devotee gets strength from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore says, guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija: [Cc. Madhya 19.151] one must first please the spiritual master, and then one automatically pleases Krsna and gets the strength with which to cross the ocean of nescience. If one seriously desires to return home, back to Godhead, one must therefore become strong enough by pleasing the spiritual master, for thus one gets the weapon with which to conquer the enemy, and one also gets the grace of Krsna. Simply getting the weapon of jnana is insufficient. One must sharpen the weapon by serving the spiritual master and adhering to his instructions. Then the candidate will get the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (SB 7.15.45)

At the carts of Sri Baladeva and Sri Subhadra, we three swamis, led by our panda insider, repeated the transcendental gymnastic process up to the main platform. Thrusting my head down at the lotus feet of Sri Subhadra, I gently prayed for access to the Lord’s internal potency. On the last cart, submitting my lowly head at the lotus feet of Sri Baladeva, I cried out in desperation, “Please give me spiritual strength--on my own I’m so weak and feeble!”

Again let us hear Srila Prabhupada explain, in the same purport, why I made this prayer:

“Significant in this verse are the words jnanasim acyuta-balah. Jnanasim, the sword of knowledge, is given by Krsna, and when one serves the guru and Krsna in order to hold the sword of Krsna's instructions, Balarama gives one strength. Balarama is Nityananda. Vrajendra-nandana yei, saci-suta haila sei, balarama ha-ila nitai. This bala--Balarama--comes with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and both of Them are so merciful that in this age of Kali one may very easily take shelter of Their lotus feet. They come especially to deliver the fallen souls of this age. Papi tapi yata chila, hari-name uddharila. Their weapon is sankirtana, hari-nama. Thus one should accept the sword of knowledge from Krsna and be strong with the mercy of Balarama. We are therefore worshiping Krsna-Balarama in Vrndavana. In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.2.4) it is said:

nayam atma bala-hinena labhyo

na ca pramadat tapaso vapy alingat

etair upayair yatate yas tu vidvams

tasyaisa atma visate brahma-dhama

“One cannot attain the goal of life without the mercy of Balarama. Sri Narottama dasa Thakura therefore says, nitaiyera karuna habe, vraje radha-krsna pabe: when one receives the mercy of Balarama, Nityananda, one can attain the lotus feet of Radha and Krsna very easily.

se sambandha nahi yara, brtha janma gela tara,

vidya-kule hi karibe tara

“If one has no connection with Nitai, Balarama, then even though one is a very learned scholar or jnani or has taken birth in a very respectable family, these assets will not help him. We must therefore conquer the enemies of Krsna consciousness with the strength received from Balarama.” (SB 7.15.46)

An afterthought: Nothing is lacking in the Jagannatha Deites installed at our ISKCON temples. There, anyone of any body-type can have darshan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without security guards chasing you out because “you don’t look ‘Hindu’.” During Prabhupada’s ISKCON years with us, although he inaugurated Rathayatras all over the world, he refused to enter the Jaganatha Temple in Puri, because his foreign disciples were not allowed to have darshan. Why then did my Godbrothers and I apparently endeavor so mightily to see Sri Jagannatha in Puri?

Please understand that our real reason for visiting Puri was not to craftily circumvent the pandas’ foolish caste restrictions but to lead an ISKCON pilgrimage to all the holy spots associated with gaura-lila and to witness the original Rathayatra. Coincidentally, though, on the Day After, a special chance to intimately approach Lord Jagannatha had arisen—a window of opportunity, on the only day of the year when Sri Jagannatha is publicly accessible outside. So then why not take advantage--why not go for it? As Prabhupada once explained, devotees are the greatest opportunists. We happened to be in the right place at the right time, so we took advantage. Spiritual adventure, for pleasing Krishna’s senses, is also a part of the bhakti experience.