Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura disapproved of the Puri pandas behavior

[Paramananda das]

PAMHO
AGTSP
In 1870th Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote about the Jagannath pandas, and he had all rights to as he was in charge of the worship for some years, in his article about Jagannath temple :http://nitaaiveda.com/All_Scriptures_By_Acharyas/Bhaktivinoda_Thaku..., he writes
"We must admit that the Pandas and their Gomasthas (generally of the Kayestha class) take a great deal of trouble for the sake of their pilgrims and sometimes advance money for their expenses on the road. The Bengal Jattris generally visit Puri at the Snana Jattra and the Ratha Jattra festivals but the upcountry men come to Puri at all times in the year. When the pilgrims arrive at Purithe Panda, whose agent brought them, visit them with some Mahaprasad near the Narendra Tank at the approach of the town. The pilgrims see Jagannath on the very day that they arrive and perform the ceremony of Pancha Tirtha on the following day or the day after that. By Pancha Tirtha is meant the business of bathing in the Tanks of Markandeya and Indradyoomna and in the sea and, after performing Sradha in those three places, seeing the emblems of Jagannath and Balarama in the temple. The Panda all along keeps silent, but on the last day he is sure to take everything that the pilgrim has and sometimes to take a bond for an amount according to the circumstances of the pilgrim. That day the Panda with all his usual gravity takes the pilgrim to an elevated roof in the northern part of the temple called Koili Vaikoontha and there uttershis Mahabakya and Shufala in order to persuade the pilgrim to pay whatever he or she has with him or her. Thus the pilgrim returns to his native place without anything but a patara of sweetmeat Mahaprasada and a few slips of Jagannath’s likeness in rude paintings!
In fact the temple servants, one, and all, are not a bit a better than Brahminical priests who deal with the next world as a means of gain. They are rude in the extreme and quite ignorant of Hindu Theology. They never attempt to teach or learn, but often rove in quest of money. Most of them are fond of drinking a liquor prepared from Bhang and hence they have (nearly all of them) a swelling of their legs sometimes coming up to the stage of disease called elephantiasis. With all their gains, the temple servants can never store wealth because they are very careless. Besides the temple they generally keep a place called an Akhra where they meet together for the purpose of drinking Bhang and seeing the dance of young boys clad in the dress of females! We will try to give you an account of all the Akhras in Puri in my next paper, and as this paper has become much longer than we at first intended, we take leave of you for the present."

this is from the historic account of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura by Nandanandana Prabhu:

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/srila_bhaktivinoda_thakura.htm


The Establishment of the ‘Bhakti-mandapa’ in the Jagannatha Temple

Lord Jagannatha had brought the Thakura to Puri, attracting him on the pretext of government work, just to accept the loving service of this worthy servant. His stay in Jagannatha Puri became transformed into service to the Lord by accepting the post of manager of the Jagannatha Temple. He became a strong faction of the government for removing the malpractices and the want of regularity in the deity worship of the Jagannatha Temple. The Thakura’s heart being very much attracted to the divine lila [pastimes] of Lord Jagannatha, he became very devoted to His service.
In the courtyard of the Jagannatha Temple, where the footprints of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are preserved, Thakura Bhaktivinoda established the ‘Bhakti-mandapa’ and at that place he arranged for daily discourses on Srimad-Bhagavatam to take place.
At various celebrated Gaudiya Vaishnava tirthas, specifically at places like the Tota Gopinatha Temple, the samadhi tomb of Haridasa Thakura, the Sidddha Bakula tree and the Gambhira [where Sri Caitanya lived in Puri], Bhaktivinoda would spend long hours absorbed in discussing Krishna-katha [talks of Krishna] and chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. During his stay at Puri Bhaktivinoda devoted much of his time to discussion of religious works and he prepared notes on the Vedanta-sutras, the use of which was made by Sri Syamalala Gosvami in the edition which he published with the Govinda Bhasya of Baladeva Vidyabhushana.


The Appearance of an Acharya

In a large house adjacent the Narayana Chata Matha near the famous Jagannatha-vallabha Gardens in Jagannatha Puri on the fifth day of the dark fortnight of Magha [January-February] in the year 1874, the fourth son of Bhaktivinoda took birth. The Thakura named him Bimala Prasada and later on he would be known as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the powerful acharya of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya and the founder of the Gaudiya Matha. Two years previous to his birth the third son of Bhaktivinoda, Kamala Prasada, took his birth.


The Story of the King of Puri

In l874 eighty-thousand rupees from the Jagannatha Temple had been misappropriated by the Raja of Puri for his own enjoyment. Thakura Bhaktivinoda found out about this nonsense and forced the Raja to give Lord Jagannatha bhoga prasada fifty-two times a day. Because of this the Raja's money was soon diminished to nothing and he was extremely angry at this action that Bhaktivinoda took on him. He wanted to kill the Thakura but he saw that it was not possible to kill him by ordinary means. Intent on killing Bhaktivinoda somehow, the Raja then began to perform of fire yajna [ritual] with fifty learned panditas. The yajna was being performed in the inner compartments of his palace so that the public did not find out about this attempt on the life of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Still, everyday information was coming to Bhaktivinoda about the measures that the Raja was taking to kill him. After thirty days of yajnas, when the last oblation of ghee was being poured on the fire, Thakura Bhaktivinoda was to have died at that moment, but instead the Raja’s dear and only son died within the palace when the last oblation had been offered.

Comment :Srila Prabupada has mentioned how the Ratha yatra cart stopped in front of Bhaktivinoda Thakuras house during Ratha Yatra, the baby was brought in front of Lord Jagannatha and a garland from the Lord fell on the child.Anyhow Jesus Christ also did not approve of the Pandas business like mentality 2000 years ago, this offends even some present indians , that think Jesus was simply puffed up for pointing out these things ,as the Pandas did 2000 years ago, according to some records Jesus was educadet in Manu Samhita in the Puri temple.But soon pointed out the disrespect to other jivas,especially to the sudras, and the history is the Pandas wanted to kill Jesus because he was bad for" Panda business",this is surely the reason they never allowed "non hindus " back into the temple, they can easy fool innocent hindus but not the rest of the world, and many indian ISKCON devotees have also witnessed the corruption in Puri temple, it is sad and I pray Lord Jagannatha,arranges for better worship, my humble suggetion and prayer to their Lordships Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra is to allow ISKCON to take over this worship following the footstpes of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura that greatly improved the worship for some time.
Anyhow yesterday there was this report so these things comes to mind
your servant
Payonidhi das


Priests Clash in Jagannath Temple
BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT


Oct 05, 2010 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — The Jagannath Temple in Puri was plunged into chaos following a clash between two groups of priests inside the sanctum sanctorum on Tuesday. A priest received grievous injuries on his nose and mouth in the free-for-all situation, prompting the shrine administration to perform purification rituals following presence of blood stains in the sanctorum.
Trouble erupted during the morning sahanamela darshan at around 10.30 am when a priest of Puspalaka Nijog, identified as Sankhamitra Puspalaka, had a spat with some servitors of Mekap Nijog over collection of dakshina from pilgrims.
Livid over this, the Mekap priests allegedly assaulted the Sankhamitra, who was present near the Deity of Goddess Subhadra in the sanctum sanctorum. The tussle left Sankhamitra with a bleeding nose.
There was quite a flutter among the pilgrims, who were frightened due to the clash inside the temple. Rituals of the Deities were also affected for some time.
Police registered a case against Rabinarayan Mekap, a priest, for allegedly manhandling Sankhamitra. "We registered a case basing on the FIR of Sankhamitra. We will arrest him soon. If some other priests are found guilty, they will be arrested also," Inspector-in-charge of Singhadwar police station, Manmay Kumar Senapati said.
The 12th century shrine administration said the errant priest/s would face music if found guilty after police inquiry. "The temple administration will also take action against the errant priest/s," temple Public Relations Officer (PRO), Laxmidhar Pujapanda said.
"Pujapanda priests performed a cleansing act in the sanctum sanctorum following presence of blood stains near the dais of the triad sibling Deities. Rituals resumed smoothly after a brief interruption," Pujapanda informed. Apprehending escalation of the tension, security was increased in the temple to meet any exigency.
Meanwhile, the Puspalaka priests took potshots at the temple administration for failing to restrict the entry of a large number of Mekapa priests in the sanctum sanctorum. "Only three Mekapa priests should be present in sanctum sanctorum. But to fleece the pilgrims, a number of unsolicited Mekapa priests enter the sanctorum everyday. When I opposed, the Mekapa priests beat me black and blue," Sankhamitra said.