Once Narada Muni desired to have Lord Vishnu’s Maha Prasadam. So he started serving Mother Laksmi sincerely day in and day out. Pleased with Narada Muni’s service, Mother Lakshmi asked “Tell me Narada Muni what is it that you desire for?”. Then Devarshi meekly expressed his desire to have Lord Vishnu’s Maha Prasadam. Mother Lakshmi promised to fulfill his wish. That day when Lakshmi Devi was serving Lord Vishnu, The Lord instructed her that His Prasadam should not be given to anyone. Now she was in dilemma and started thinking what to do. Seeing Lakshmi Devi in deep thoughts, Lord Narayana asked the Goddess of Fortune what was troubling her. Then Mother revealed about the promise made to Narada Muni. Lord Vishnu said “I have a solution, you can take Prasadam from my plate when I am not looking at it “.
Next day while Lord Vishnu was having His Bhoga, Mother Lakshmi distracted His attention and took some of the remanants from His plate and gave it to Narada Muni as promised. Narada Muni honoured it with great joy, after which he felt great divine power flowing within and he started to dance in ecstasy, moving around in different Lokas. When he went to Kailash to share this great news of his good fortune with Lord Siva, the Lord said “How could you do this? Why didn’t you share it with me? “. Then he asked Narada Muni to see if any morsel is stuck with his fingers. Narada found bit of Maha Prasadam stuck in his nails, which Lord Siva honoured it with pleasure.
The joy of Lord Siva overflowed and he also started to dance in ecstasy. Because of his dance, the tandava, there were calamities in the world and everyone went to Mother Parvati to request Lord Siva to stop his dance as it was not the time for devastation. Mother Parvati went to Lord Siva and asked for the reason of his ecstatic mood. When she got to know about the Mahaprasad, she was very upset as there was no more MahaPrasad left for her.
Angry Mother Parvati started praying to Lord Vishnu for Maha Prasadam and pleased with her prayers Lord Vishnu appeared there and promised to give Maha Prasadam to her. But the compassionate Mother Parvati, being Mother of universe said “I want this Maha Prasadam to be available not just for me but for all my children”. Then Lord Vishnu pleased with her request, blessed that His Maha Prasadam will be available for all at Sri Jagannath Puri dham.
Till date in Sri Dham Jagannath Puri, after offering Maha Prasadam to Lord Jagannath it is first taken to Mother Bimala Devi’s temple. After Mata Bimala Devi honours Maha Prasadam, it is then distributed to all. Thus we get the Maha Maha Prasadam honoured by Lord Jagannath and Mata Bimala Devi at Sri Dham Jagannath Puri.
Jai Jagannath
