ORIYA VAISHNAVA PREACHER SRI BALARAMA DASA
What is a temple?
One of our Oriya Vaishnava preachers was Balarama Dasa.He is called “Mutta Balarama” or “Passionate Balarama” as he used to get passionate while taking His name.He is the author who wrote “Laxmi Purana” in Oriya. You must have heard the story of Sriya Chandaluni. This story was originally written by him to remove the evils of the caste system from our society.
The story goes something like this…Balarama Dasa used to tease Mother Laxmi and used to call her “Boki” [temperamental] and “Teri” [squint eyed].
It is a custom in Puri and most of the South Indian temples that one must visit the temple of Laxmi after visiting Vishnu and sit in the verandah for a few minutes as a trip to a Vishnu mandir is incomplete without spending a few minutes with Laxmi and asking for her favor.
Balarama Dasa used to visit Srimandir every day. He would worship Jagannath on the ratna vedi and then return without spending a few moments visiting Laxmi.Laxmi got mad at Balarama and asked Balarama to explain.Balarama typical to his teasing attitude for Laxmi replied “Oh my temperamentally squint eyed mother, I see you standing next to my prabhu on the ratna Bedi.This is quite adequate and I do not see any reason why I must visit you in your temple”. This exchange of words made Laxmi quite mad and she reiterated that the temple is called “Srimandir” and the kshetra is called “Sri Kshetra” after her name as her name is “Shree” and Balarama had the audacity to challenge her.She cursed Balarama to spend his last days away from Sri Kshetra and Srimandir.
After a few days, Balarama had a fight with King Prataprudra Deva, and the king kicked him out of Puri and banished him to a place close to Brahmagiri (20 miles from Puri on the road to Chilika).
Days passed by and the time came when Balarama realized that his end was near. He decided to walk the 20 odd miles to die after visiting Jagannath on the ratna vedi. Alas, the curse of Mother Laxmi was in place. Close to the periphery of Puri, Balarama felt dizzy and sat under a big banyan tree. Lord Jagannath realized that Balarama could not walk the rest of the distance and he must visit Balarama.
Of course, Laxmi was too keen to accompany Him as she wanted to remind Balarama the significance of the practice of worshiping her in a Vishnu temple.
When Lord came with mother, Balarama woke up and offered his namaskar. Mother Laxmi reminded Balarama of her curse that Balarama was finally dying without visiting Srimandir on the Sri Kshetra. Listening this, Balarama smiled a bit, and said “Oh my temperamentally squint eyed mother, don’t you know where ever you stand next to my prabhu that place becomes Srimandir and that surrounding becomes Sri Kshetra”. After saying this he fell down and died.
Bhakta Kabi Madhusudan Rao has said it nicely in his bhajan that goes
“…ei mane bije toro nije NArAyaNa, tu kiyAn khojuchu buli chaudige mana…”
In my understanding of minimalist approach, the temple is in your heart
and the worship is in your feelings.
What is a temple?
One of our Oriya Vaishnava preachers was Balarama Dasa.He is called “Mutta Balarama” or “Passionate Balarama” as he used to get passionate while taking His name.He is the author who wrote “Laxmi Purana” in Oriya. You must have heard the story of Sriya Chandaluni. This story was originally written by him to remove the evils of the caste system from our society.
The story goes something like this…Balarama Dasa used to tease Mother Laxmi and used to call her “Boki” [temperamental] and “Teri” [squint eyed].
It is a custom in Puri and most of the South Indian temples that one must visit the temple of Laxmi after visiting Vishnu and sit in the verandah for a few minutes as a trip to a Vishnu mandir is incomplete without spending a few minutes with Laxmi and asking for her favor.
Balarama Dasa used to visit Srimandir every day. He would worship Jagannath on the ratna vedi and then return without spending a few moments visiting Laxmi.Laxmi got mad at Balarama and asked Balarama to explain.Balarama typical to his teasing attitude for Laxmi replied “Oh my temperamentally squint eyed mother, I see you standing next to my prabhu on the ratna Bedi.This is quite adequate and I do not see any reason why I must visit you in your temple”. This exchange of words made Laxmi quite mad and she reiterated that the temple is called “Srimandir” and the kshetra is called “Sri Kshetra” after her name as her name is “Shree” and Balarama had the audacity to challenge her.She cursed Balarama to spend his last days away from Sri Kshetra and Srimandir.
After a few days, Balarama had a fight with King Prataprudra Deva, and the king kicked him out of Puri and banished him to a place close to Brahmagiri (20 miles from Puri on the road to Chilika).
Days passed by and the time came when Balarama realized that his end was near. He decided to walk the 20 odd miles to die after visiting Jagannath on the ratna vedi. Alas, the curse of Mother Laxmi was in place. Close to the periphery of Puri, Balarama felt dizzy and sat under a big banyan tree. Lord Jagannath realized that Balarama could not walk the rest of the distance and he must visit Balarama.
Of course, Laxmi was too keen to accompany Him as she wanted to remind Balarama the significance of the practice of worshiping her in a Vishnu temple.
When Lord came with mother, Balarama woke up and offered his namaskar. Mother Laxmi reminded Balarama of her curse that Balarama was finally dying without visiting Srimandir on the Sri Kshetra. Listening this, Balarama smiled a bit, and said “Oh my temperamentally squint eyed mother, don’t you know where ever you stand next to my prabhu that place becomes Srimandir and that surrounding becomes Sri Kshetra”. After saying this he fell down and died.
Bhakta Kabi Madhusudan Rao has said it nicely in his bhajan that goes
“…ei mane bije toro nije NArAyaNa, tu kiyAn khojuchu buli chaudige mana…”
In my understanding of minimalist approach, the temple is in your heart
and the worship is in your feelings.
source : Extract from http://umeshdas.blogspot.in
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