Bhagwad Ramanujacharya in Jagannatha Puri divya dham

 

Srimate Ramanujaay Namah

Azhwar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam.

Coming across various propaganda stories about Ramanuja being kicked out of Puri divya dhaam by Jaganntha, he having darshan of Chaitanya or going to Mayapur to serve the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and  perfecting his bhakti from dasya rasa to madhurya rasa.

All these stories are nonsense and really hurts us.

look at this post and they way Ramanuja is presented: Disappearance Anniversary of Srila Ramanujacarya; or this You tube lecture which says Ramanuja was kicked out of Puri – Lecture by H.G. Amarnath Prabhu – Pastimes of Srila Ramanujacarya – 2/17/2016. The ‘Prabhu’ is too loud and apologetically spreading venom. Just notice his devious smile after saying so. (Infact,  It was Pundarika Vidyanidhi who was beaten right ,left and centre by both the brothers Balabhadra and Jagannath.)

Ramanuja mutts have service rights in the Sri Temple till date contrary to the society whose founder’s effigy was burnt by the pujaris of the temple to protest against Ratha yatra being taken out across the world at any arbitrary date.

https://www.indiadivine.org/content/topic/1315608-puri-priests-up-in-arms-against-iskcon-the-whole-thing-stinks-of-hypocrisy/

Ramanuja in Purushottama kshetra Puri

As per the instructions of Ranganatha Swami, Ramanujacharya swami was introducing temple reforms and Pancharatra aagama based worship rituals. He came to Jagannatha Puri. He stayed at Ramanuja Kota at Puri . With his influence , the then King Chodaganga Deva offered him land in front the temple to built his matha. He stayed their for some days. One of his disciple was named as Emabara .
Ramanujacharya established the Embara Matha in front the Jagannatha Temple . He established the Mahalaxmi Temple inside the Jagannatha Temple. He brought many Disciplinary systems in the Temple during that period. He established the process of carrying out various utsavams like dolotsava, chandana, rasa etc with utsava idols who are associated with ubhaya naayikas (Sri devi and Bhu devi). This is one of the particular features of panchartra-aagama based worship.

He furthur wanted to established the worship of Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra moola-vigraha as per vaishnava aagamas. Shakta aagamas were used in those days (administered by Puri peetha Shankaracharya) and is continued till date. The priests in the service of moola vigraha declined to accept this change as it would have meant arrival of vaishnava priests and they loosing their exclusive rights to carry out worship of Jagannatha. Ramanuja invited them for debate next morning.

The King too was favoring Ramanuja. The priests gathered in front of jagannatha and did unconditional sharanagati. Jagannatha mahaprabhu called  Garuda and Ramanuja was transferred to Sri Kurmam (in Andhra Pradesha) while he was in dreams. He accepted it as the will of God and established Vaishnava puja paddhati in Sri Kurmam.

Pic: Present descendant of the King.

Garuda stambha

Garuda Stambha is a unique feature of aagama based temples. We don’t see such features in temples of north India. That’s the influence of Ramanuja.

 

Utsava vigraha of Jagannatha swami along with ubhaya naayikas.

He is Dolo-Govinda. He is one of the two utsava idols of jagannatha swami. Another one is Madana-Mohana (below).

Utsava murtis are used in various utsavas like vasantotsava, dolotsava, kalyaanotsava etc. Both the utsava vigrahas are with Ubhaya naayikas: Sri devi and Bhu devi. Both enjoys various utsavas in the temple.

Pic: Madana-mohana with Sri devi (right) and Bhu devi (left).

Pic: Dolo-Govinda with Sri devi and Bhu devi.

The presence of Utsava murtis, ubhaya naayikas (Sri devi and Bhu devi) and they having Sri Vaishnava urdhva Pundra and various utsavas signifies the influence of Ramanuja in the temple.

Pic: Ramachandra utsava murti of Jagannatha Mahaprabhu

There are Amavasya Narayana and Madhava too, who are utsavars or Bijaya Pratima.

Paintings of Azhwars in Mahalakshmi sannidhi

Ramanuja established the sannidhi of Mahalakshmi in the Sri Mandir. Due to the restrictions on taking photographs, pics are not available. However, one can himself visit and observe it.

Sri Vaishnava Urdhwa Pundra at the entrace gate of the temple

Pic: Sri Vaishnava tilak at the top of the temple, below the flag.

Embar mutt and other mutts have service rights in the temple worship rituals.

Pic: Bhagwat Ramanuja in Embar mutt.

Adiyen Ramanuja dasa