The Mystery of Jagannātha’s Hair

A Puruṣottama-month Kṛṣṇa-kathā from Purī. A pūjārī, late for his service, leaves one hair loose; it falls on Jagannātha’s garland, the king finds it, and the excuse the pūjārī blurts out to save his neck — that the hair is the Lord’s own — is one the Lord then makes true overnight. The class turns on what the Lord is protecting, and whom He is glorifying.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, dear devotees. Please accept my obeisances. Thank you for this unique opportunity to speak about the Lord during such an auspicious month, Puruṣottama. One simply wants to glorify the Lord again and again.

I heard an interesting story from my spiritual master — not just one, but for now I will tell only this one. And in fact, this is not an invented story. It is said to have happened comparatively recently, during Kali-yuga.

The Pūjārī and the King

There was a great devotee of Lord Jagannātha, a pūjārī. Outwardly he was a simple priest, but in reality he proved to be a very exalted devotee. And there was another great devotee — the king of Purī.

What was remarkable was that the king had the unique opportunity to take darśana of Lord Jagannātha as many as nine times every day — at least nine times a day. Although he was a king — and, as you know, kings and queens surely have many responsibilities — he still came so often.

Sometimes we become so busy that unfortunately we cannot even see the Deities every day, only once a week. So sometimes devotees manage to become even busier than kings!

The king of Purī would come for darśana of Lord Jagannātha also to make certain that the worship of the Lord was being conducted in the best possible way — that purity and punctuality, at the very least, were properly maintained.

Now let us return to our other main character, the pūjārī. He was a wonderful, simple devotee — simple, but not ordinary at all. He was deeply devoted to the Lord. One detail about him is important: he had a very large śikhā, a long, thick, black tuft of hair. That was how it was worn in those days.

One Loose Hair

One morning, despite his love and devotion to the Lord, he was running a little late for his service. So it is better not to be late for service! Because he was hurrying, he did not have time to tie up his beautiful long śikhā properly, and some of his hair remained loose. That may be harmless in ordinary life, but it is not appropriate when serving the Deities. The hair should be properly tied.

At that very moment the king was preparing to enter the temple room. The pūjārī came running and, at the last possible moment, managed to complete his service to Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā. Just before the altar opened, he managed to offer a beautiful garland to Lord Jagannātha. So although he had been rushing, the altar opened on time, and the king was able to receive darśana punctually.

But because the pūjārī had not tied his śikhā properly, one long hair fell onto Lord Jagannātha’s garland. The pūjārī did not notice it.

When the king entered, everyone greeted and praised him, and at first he was very pleased. Everything had happened on time, and Lord Jagannātha was wearing a magnificent garland. The king asked that this beautiful mahā-prasāda garland be given to him. The pūjārī obeyed and handed him the garland.

And then — to his horror — the king noticed the long hair on it. He removed the hair and demanded: “What does this mean?” He required an explanation from the pūjārī. This was serious. We know that when hair touches an offering, the item is considered contaminated.

“That Is Lord Jagannātha’s Hair”

Trying to save both his neck and, quite literally, his hair, the pūjārī blurted out: “Actually, that is Lord Jagannātha’s hair! He is the Supreme Living Being. Why should He not have hair? We have hair, so He can certainly have hair too.”

The king replied: “You are certainly very clever and resourceful. But if I return tomorrow for darśana of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā, and They do not have hair, then your own hair will no longer remain upon your shoulders — and neither will your head.” And the king left.

A Night of Surrender

You can imagine, dear devotees, the emotional state of that pūjārī. He did not sleep the entire night. He had no idea what he should do or how events could possibly develop from such a situation.

And what was the king doing? The king paced back and forth through his palace all night. He was so angry that he constantly kept his hand upon his sword. He thought: “This pūjārī has become so proud that he is lying directly to me. I must teach him a lesson.” The king was absolutely determined.

Meanwhile, as we have already said, the pūjārī could not calm himself. All night he paced around his room, thinking about how such a situation could possibly have arisen. He looked toward Lord Jagannātha and said:

“Well, my Lord, this is Your will. I have dedicated my entire life to serving You. I truly have no other shelter. If I lose my head, then everything is finished. But if that is Your desire, then let it be so.”

The pūjārī entered a mood of complete surrender — śaraṇāgati. He genuinely surrendered himself to the Lord. As we will see, in the end the Lord helped him and literally saved both his head and his life.

Of course, the pūjārī had not made the mistake maliciously or intentionally. These things happen. We are human beings, after all, and human mistakes are not foreign to us. He prayed: “My Lord, if this is what You want, then let it be. I agree. I surrender to You.” Still, he remained extremely anxious. Eventually he managed to sleep for only a short while.

Jagannātha Grows Hair

Then brahma-muhūrta arrived. The sun began to rise, and the pūjārī awoke. The king also awoke, firmly prepared to carry out the punishment.

The pūjārī opened his eyes, bathed, performed ācamana, and entered the Deity room. There, he saw hair growing on Lord Jagannātha’s head. It was growing right before his eyes. When he saw this, he simply collapsed unconscious. He thought: “How can this possibly happen? This is not that age! Such pastimes do not happen in Kali-yuga. This cannot be real. I must be imagining it.”

When he regained consciousness, he saw that Baladeva and Subhadrā had also grown hair. My Guru Mahārāja said that Subhadrā had especially long, beautifully curling hair.

The pūjārī became completely ecstatic. He began jumping and clapping his hands. Here we see the depth of his devotion. He did not think: “Look how wonderful I am! I am such a great devotee that the Lord personally took care of me.” No. Instead he thought: “To save such a worthless person as me, Lord Kṛṣṇa has arranged such an extraordinary pastime!”

He jumped with happiness and cried: “Āśraya! Āśraya! Āśraya! You are my only shelter! You are everything I possess, my dear Lord Jagannātha!”

Then the other pūjārīs arrived for their service. When they saw the Deities, they said: “What have you done?! You cannot put wigs on the Deities. There is no such standard of worship! Remove them immediately and correct this!” But our pūjārī, the hero of the story, replied: “These are not wigs. This is real hair.” They did not believe him. They tried to remove the supposed wigs from the Deities. But they could not. Because these were indeed real hair.

The King Tests the Miracle

Then the king arrived. When he saw the scene, he also refused to believe that the hair was genuine. He said: “I see, dear servant of the Lord, that you are very clever. To save your neck, you have shown extraordinary ingenuity and put wigs upon the Deities.”

The pūjārī replied: “But these are not wigs. It is real hair.” The king said: “Enough of your lies! Remove those wigs from the Deities immediately.” He personally approached the Deities to remove them. He tried. But then he realised that he could not remove them. They were not wigs at all.

And in that very moment, a realisation came to him: how merciful the Lord is. Yes, His devotee had made a mistake. He had broken a principle of cleanliness. He had also been slightly late for his service. But because he was completely absorbed in serving the Lord, the Lord protected him.

The king understood everything. Overwhelmed with repentance, with love for the Lord, and with love for the Lord’s pure devotee, the king fell at the feet of the pūjārī. Imagine — a king! What did a king represent in those times? He was certainly no insignificant person within the kingdom. Yet he placed the feet of that pūjārī upon his own head. He said: “How fortunate you are!”

Everyone was filled with happiness. Then they looked again at Lord Jagannātha. And imagine this: He no longer had any hair at all. Lord Jagannātha simply stood there smiling. And now they could understand nothing anymore.