Goswami’s experience is a fascinating tale of mystery and magic that underscores omnipresence and omnipotence of the Almighty.
Lord Jagannath Tales 7
Goswami Tulsidas was a great devotee of Lord Rama. He had heard that Sri Jagannath was an incarnation of Lord Rama. Once he decided to visit the Jagannath Temple to have darshan of his Lord Rama in the incarnation of Lord Jagannath. However, when he entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and saw the three deities, he was filled with a sense of disappointment. He could not sense the presence of Rama and came out with a feeling of disenchantment.
As he was descending the steps of the temple known as Baishi Pahacha (Twenty-two Steps), a monkey came jumping and snatched away the shawl which covered his upper body.
He could not sense the presence of Rama and came out with a feeling of disenchantment.
Suddenly a person appeared, apparently out of nowhere
Goswami did not know what to do. It was quite dark and he could not see anyone. Suddenly a person appeared, apparently out of nowhere. His face was glowing and his presence seemed divine. He asked the monkey to return the shawl to Goswami. The monkey promptly did so and the creature and Goswami’s benefactor disappeared. Goswami just stood there amazed at the incident. The entire sequence of events had left him searching for answers.
At night Goswami had a dream in which he heard his Lord’s voice. “I am surprised that you came back from the temple disappointed. How did you not feel my presence in the image of Lord Jagannath? He and I are one and the same. The monkey who took your shawl was none other than Hanuman who just wished to give you a little shake-up whereas the man whom the monkey obeyed was none other than Vibhishana.
It is believed that even now, every night Vibhishana and Hanuman visit the temple of Lord Jagannath.
Next day Goswami Tulasidas returned to Sri Jagannath temple and sure enough he saw the presence of his Lord in the sanctum sanctorum.
He asked the monkey to return the shawl to Goswami.
These stories have been republished from the book Tales of Lord Jagannath by Ramendra Kumar. This book is available on Amazon.in and has been published by: B K Publications Pvt. Ltd.
The opinions shared by the writer are personal.
Ramendra Kumar’s Effective Parenting: A New Paradigmis available on Amazon and Flipkart.
Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an award-winning writer, performance storyteller and inspirational speaker with 49 books. His writings have been translated into 32 languages and included in 26 textbooks and many anthologies in various countries. Ramen has written across all genres ranging from picture books to adult fiction, satire, poetry, travelogues, biographies and on issues related to parenting and relationships.
His writings have been published by the major publishing houses in India. His books brought out by National Book Trust (NBT), India have notched up sales of more than 4.9 lakh copies in just one year.
Ramen has been invited to several international literary festivals as well as Indian events such as Jaipur Litfest and seminars organised by Sahitya Akademi and IGNOU. The author has won a total of 41 awards in the competition for writers of children’s literature organised by Children’s Book Trust (CBT) over the years, which is among the highest by any writer.
Ramen was chosen as the ‘Author and Storyteller of the Year’ (2022), on ‘Talking Stories’, London, UK’s number one Radio Programme dedicated to the art of storytelling. He was nominated as a Jury Member for the Best Children’s Author Category of The Times of India’s ‘Women AutHer’ Awards, 2020. Ramen was also selected as a mentor for the Scholastic Writers Academy.
An alumnus of the prestigious Hyderabad Public School (HPS), Ramen is an Engineer & an MBA. He and his inspiration, his wife Madhavi, were General Managers at SAIL, when they took Voluntary Retirement to pursue their respective passions. Their children are bonsai celebrities in their own right. While Ankita is a youth icon and a travel blogger with an Instagram following of 296 K, Aniket creates cool Apps and designs covers for his dad’s books.
Ramen is now a Cancer warrior and an inspiration to many.
His website is www.ramendra.in and he has a page devoted to him on Wikipedia.
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