Jagannath appears as Ganesh
“I would like to know,” said our friend Krishnananda, “why Lord Jagannath appears as Ganesh today.”
“Listen,” said Sri Radharaman Charan Das Dev, “it has an interesting history—one that shows Lord Jagannath is truly the wish-fulfilling tree of His devotees.
“There was once a devotee named Ganapati Bhatta in Karnata, who had studied the shastras deeply. He believed that God, being the formless Brahman, was beyond the reach of the senses. He scoured the scriptures, hoping to discover if God could exist in a personal form—one he could see, and thereby attain mukti (liberation). Eventually, he found in the Brahma Purana a reference to God as Daru-Brahma (the Supreme in the form of wood) residing in Nilachal. His joy was boundless. He renounced all worldly attachments and set out for Nilachal.
“One day, as he rested along the way, he met pilgrims returning from Darshan of the Lord at Nilachal. Doubt crept into his heart. He began to regret his decision—‘Surely, Brahman could not reside in Nilachal,’ he reasoned, ‘for then these people could never have returned to this world.’ At that moment, God appeared before him in the guise of an old Brahmin. Perceiving the cause of Bhatta’s despair, the Lord assured him that Jagannath fulfills the yearning of every seeker, and that He would never let a devoted soul return without granting the salvation they desire.
“Encouraged by this encounter, Bhatta hurried to Nilachal. There, he saw Lord Jagannath—but sorrow gripped him, for he did not see the Lord in the form of Ganapati, the image closest to his heart. Disheartened, he began to walk away, when suddenly the Lord Himself spoke to one of the pandas (the officiants in His service) and summoned the Brahmin back to behold Him in the form he most desired. The Brahmin returned, and lo! It was Gajanan (Ganesh or Ganapati) who now met his eyes. Overwhelmed, he fell prostrate and sang praises to his Lord.
The Lord, in His boundless compassion, offered him a boon. The Brahmin humbly requested that the Lord, in His infinite grace, appear as Gajanan every year after the Snana Yatra. The boon was granted, and to this day, the Lord takes the form of Ganesh during that sacred time.
Fixing his gaze upon the Lord, the Brahmin was soon absorbed in samadhi. A radiant beam of light emerged from his body and dissolved into the divine form of the Lord.
Such is the origin of the Ganesh Vesha of Lord Jagannath.
English
nuestro ganeshna, que tan unido a los vaisnavas estas, en el corazon de todos habita dando el amor puro de Dios. cada escrito de sus apariciones es man increible que la anterior.