Special Process of Having Darshan of
Lord Jagannath by Srila Prabhupada

Once, Śrīla Prabhupāda, accompanied by his disciples, visited the temple of Lord Jagannath. Upon reaching the temple, he stood behind the Garuḍa Stambha; he gazed at Lord Jagannath and said, “It is appropriate for us to have the darshan of Lord Jagannath from behind the Garuḍa pillar.” Prabhupāda explained, “Lord Jagannath is not someone we see; Rather He is the seer. When the living entities give up their ego of being the seer and fully realize themselves as the object of Lord Jagannath’s vision or enjoyment, only then do they become ‘sevonmukha’ (inclined to service). With the eyes of such loving service, they truly behold Lord Jagannath.” As long as we think, “We will see Jagannath,” we do not see Lord Jagannath. Instead, we see an idol made of wood or stone, or an unfeeling image as perceived by the Buddhist writer or historians. However, when we accept with all our heart that Lord Jagannath will see us and we all are the objects of His enjoyment; we have no right to enjoy independently and interfere in His enjoyment; He possesses absolute and unrestricted free will, only then does Lord Jagannath reveal Himself to us. But knowingly or unknowingly, the mundane people think that “I will see Jagannath, my physical eyes will measure and enjoy His sac-cid-ānanda form” and are deluded. Therefore, Although they pretend that they have seen Lord Jagannath, their minds rush toward various ugly mundane objects of the world.

There are three types of appearance of Lord Jagannath —
Sambandha, Abhidheya & Prayojana.

The first type of Darshan (Sambandha):

An impersonalist sees Lord Jagannath merely as a piece of wood. He thinks that to accept this image as God Him is a childish idea. This can not be a true understanding. If it were, one could see Lord Jagannath from His lotus feet to His head. In the ordinary view, one first sees the lotus feet of the deity. Seeing the wooden feet is “idolatry.” But to have the darshan of Lord Jagannath is not idolatry. When one tries to see the Lord, he first wants to see His lotus feet. But he cannot find them. If one finally beholds the splendor of His lotus feet, he will become disinterested in seeing anything else.He does not show His feet to deprive the ordinary people of neo-brahmism. However, the Vaisnavas consider Him as ‘murali-vadana’ (holding a flute at the lips) and see the splendor of His toenails. But a person like me, when tries to see Lord Jagannath in the sanctum sanctorum from a distance inside the temple, sees only that to which he is strongly attached; just like an old woman saw the spinach-trellis instead of Jagannath.Gaurasundara, however, directly saw Sri Krsna holding a flute at His lips. He did not see liberation nestled in ‘pranava.’ If anyone considers Jagannath one of the objects of the material world, he can not have the complete darshan. The first stage of seeing Jagannath is understanding the knowledge of Samvandha ie Lord Jagannath has appeared in the deity form for the benefit of humanity. He is directly the son of the King of Vraja and not merely a wooden idol. Those who see Him as a mere piece of wood are like fish in a dry well, (suffer greatly). Therefore, one should see Lord Jagannath with the knowledge of sambandha. “I am the most fallen soul in the world. But Jagannath is the Lord of the entire universe, the Lord of all the gods, the God of gods. We have no other duty except to serve His lotus feet.” One should see Him with such distinguished knowledge and the mood of service. Because “atah krsna namadi na bhaved grahyam idriyaih/ sevonmukhe hi jihvadi svayameva sphuratadah”No mundane object can approach the objects of the transcendental realm. He cannot be seen with the eyes of materialistic people. Only the worldly objects can be perceived through such senses. This type of tendency leads to delusion. Here, we come to see Jagannath, but we end up spending our time wandering in the material world. Without the knowledge of sambandha, one cannot see the Lord:
A Vaisnava is not like ordinary living beings. He is engaged in Krishna’s service under the shelter of Chaitanya. In every activity, in life and death, he is not busy with anything other than the service of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When people try to see Vaishnava through their own lenses, they do not see him properly. It is only by his mercy that he can be truly seen. When Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to Nilacala, He saw Lord Jagannath as “Murali-vadana Krsna”. But we see a spinach-trellis with our eyes. The material world does not see Lord Jagannath; it sees an inert wooden object. In this way, they are deprived of a glimpse of God. Some even see Him as a means of money.The first type of ‘darshan’ is called “sambandha” in the Vedic scriptures. The one who sees is the observer; the one who is seen is the observed; and the action by which the observer and the observed come together is called observation. Where the observer, the observed, and the observation are transient, that is called the Smarta tradition. However, the Vaisnava perspective is different, where all these three are eternal. First and foremost, it is necessary to attain sambandha-jnana (knowledge of the relationship). Without this knowledge, it is very difficult for us to attain the object we seek.If we do not study the episode of Śrī Sanātana Śiksā to attain this sambandha-jñāna, only adopt the external dress of renunciation and pretend to chant millions of holy names, it will only increase our pride and lead to offenses against the holy name. Without taking shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Guru, the chanting of the holy name does not yield results. Many people, not knowing the difference between ‘namaparadha’ and ‘nama’, end up accepting mud instead of nectar. Therefore, knowledge of the object of devotion is extremely necessary. Receiving initiation (dīkṣā) means understanding ‘why we perform bhajan (devotional practices)’ and ‘what the bhajan is’ from Śrī Gurudeva. The act of receiving initiation is indeed the receiving of sambandha-jñāna.

The second type of darshan of Jagannath/ with the knowledge of abhidheya:

From the perspective of ‘abhidheya’, or the second type of darshan, the previous ācāryas (spiritual teachers) served the Supreme Absolute through their cognitive pursuits. To teach this aspect, “abhidheya” emphasizes ‘arcana’ and the regulative worship of the Supreme Absolute. The great Vedantists who study the texts like “Śrībhāṣya” and “Anubhāṣya” are truly qualified for this path. Therefore, a living entity should perform bhajan (devotional practices) under the guidance of Śrī Gurudeva. Inexperienced people imitate bhajan in the name of devotion, but they cannot follow in the footsteps of the mahājanas. This is because, fundamentally, they do not have sambandha-jñāna due to their lack of submission to the Guru.

The third type of darshan of Jagannath or with the knowledge of ‘prayojana’:

Instead of pushing through the crowd to see Jagannath, it is better to see the Sudarsana Cakra at the pinnacle of the temple and feel the presence of the Lord. This allows continuous service at all times. Approaching closely and worshiping the deity is meant for the kanistha Adhikari. Worshipping with sambandha-jñāna is for the madhyama adhikari. And to see the Lord with a mind of service is the highest qualification. This is the level of a mahā-bhāgavata.