Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb has envisaged the Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project should also incorporate the facilities of four yajnas mentioned in the Sanatana Dharma.
In an exclusive interview with OTV, the first servitor of Lord Jagannath cast light on what he has visualised the Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project should be.
He said the project shouldn’t confine to only toilets and cloakrooms but it should also have the facilities of four yajnas of Sanatana Dharma.
He said he has visualized a place dedicated to ‘Anna Yajna’. Any devotee visiting Puri has a wish to have Lord Jagannath’s ‘Mahaprasad’. But many are being deprived of having ‘Mahaprasad’ due to space crunch and prevailing non-identical prices of ‘Abadha’.
“To put an end to this, there should be three types of facilities for the devotees to have ‘Mahaprasad’. In the first one, a devotee can have ‘Mahaprasad’ free of cost. In the second one, there should be a neat and clean ‘Ananda Bazar’ where a devotee can have ‘Mahaprasad’ paying a nominal price. And, in the third one, there should be an air-conditioned hall where a devotee is served ‘Mahaprasad’ at a bit higher rate,” he said.
He has also envisioned a ‘Yajnashala’. “The ‘Yajnashala’ should be constructed in the style of Odisha style of architecture. Here, ‘yajna’ would be performed around the year to give devotees, no matter where they stay, be it America or New Zealand, an opportunity to participate in a ‘yajna’ on important days like birthday. The ‘yajna’ would be performed for their wellbeing and for the peace of the whole world as well,” he described.
He said there is a plan to construct an ‘Akhand Nama Yajna Mandap’. “There are many mutts here. And the Vaishnavas are performing ‘Nama Yajnas’ in their respective mutts. But in the envisioned ‘Nama Yajna Mandap’, there would be a huge ‘Nama Yajna Shala’ where the Vaishnavas of the mutts would perform the yajna in turns. There would be facilities for devotees moving around the ‘Yajna Shala’,” he shared.
While narrating about the fourth yajna, ‘Jnana Yajna’, he said, “There would be a museum in the name of Jagannath Heritage Museum. It would be constructed near the temple. It should have all the latest technologies. A devotee can get all the information regarding the history of Utkala and the Jagannath Culture. A 20-minute-long documentary would be screened there.”
“This apart, the top floor of the Jagannath Ballabh Pilgrim Centre, which is under construction, would have a spacious auditorium. It would also be dedicated to ‘Jnana Yajna’. The saints coming from different parts of the nation and abroad to the pilgrim city would deliver sermons there which would give devotees a celestial feeling,” he added.
Expressing his displeasure, he also said though he has submitted his proposals to the Chief Minister, the process has not started as yet.