ISKCON has been organizing Navadvipa and Vrindavana dhama parikramas for many years, giving the opportunity to devotees from around the world to spend time visiting and glorifying these holy places. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu considered three places very dear: Navadvip dhama, Vrindavana dhama and Jagannatha Puri dhama.
Jagannatha Puri was so dear to Him that He spent the final 18 years of His time on this planet there. Puri is the home of Lord Jagannath, the most worshipable Lord of the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thousands of devotees from all over the world visit Puri every year, despite the fact that Westerners are not allowed to enter the Jagannath temple. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotees are attracted to Lord Jagannath and therefore it is with extreme pleasure and spiritual enthusiasm that they visit Puri annually.
Even though so many devotees visit Puri, still not all of them have the opportunity to know the glories of Puri dhama and see all of the tirthas there due to lack of proper guidance.
Just as the scriptures recommend Vrindavana parikrama and Navadvipa parikrama, they also recommend participating in the special Puri parikrama known as Sri Kshetra parikrama. In the Skanda Purana it is mentioned that when Vidyapati went to Nilacala (Puri) dhama for the first time, after taking darshan of Nila Madhava (Lord Jagannath), he also engaged in parikrama of Nilacala dhama.
We find that great Vaisnavas state that this Sri Kshetra parikrama is very potent for our spiritual growth. It has been said that one will get the same result of observing Chaturamasy vrata, Kartik Vrata and Bhisma panchaka just by performing Sri Kshetra parikrama on a particular tithi.
Nowadays, this parikrama of Nilacala dhama is not very famous among the general public, but there are still some groups of Vaisnavas who perform this Sri Kshetra parikrama on a particular tithi (holy day). The pancami-tithi just after Kartika purnima is the day ascribed for Sri Kshetra parikrama. This year, in order to obtain the mercy of the previous acaryas and to facilitate the devotees, ISKCON Puri, with the support of some of the local leaders, has planned to hold a well-organized Jagannath festival and Sri Kshetra Parikrama.
As the date of the pancami-tithi falls just after Kartika purnima, it will be a good opportunity for devotees to visit Puri just after completing their Kartika visit to Vrindavana. For full information please download the festival brochure. If you would like to contribute to this festival the please download the sponsorship form.
Festival Schedule
5th November - Kartika Purnima
7th November - Arrival of devotees in Puri
8th November - First day of festival
4.30 am Morning program
9.00 am Prasad
10.00 am Parikrama - Places to Visit:
Haridas Thakur’s Samadhi
Tota Gopinath
Jagadananda Pandit’s house
Swarup Damodara’s house
2.00 pm Prasad
4.00 pm Jagannath katha
7.00 pm Gaura-katha
9th November
4.30 am Morning program
9.00 am Prasad
10.00 am Parikrama - Places to Visit
Siddha Bakula
Gambhira
Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s house
Sweta Ganga
2.00 pm Prasad
4.00 pm Jagannath-katha
7.00 pm Gaura-katha
10th November - Sri Kshetra Parikrama
This is a parikrama around Nilacala dhama, which is altogether about an 18 kilometer walk. The parikrama will start early in the morning and end at about 2pm followed by ocean bath and Jagannatha Mahaprasad.