HARE KRISHNA

THE STORY OF A DEVOTEE

I am going to tell the story of a great devotee of Lord Jagannath, Dasia Bauri who lived in
extreme poverty. Once, people from his village were going to the Jagannath Temple in Puri.
Since Dasia was too poor to go along with them and had nothing else to offer to his Lord, he
gave them a coconut. He requested them to offer the coconut to the Lord outside the main gate.
The villagers laughed at his suggestion but agreed to his request. Next day they were amazed
to find only the shell of the coconut exactly at the same spot where they had left the offering.
This proved that the Lord had received the offering given by Dasia. After that every year Dasia
would send a basket full of ripe mangoes for the Lord. The next day the priests would discover
the kernels only, a sure sign that the Lord was accepting his loyal devotee’s affection.

One night Dasia and his family had nothing to eat. Lord appeared at the gate in disguise asking
for food. Dasia’s wife could not find even a small piece of food to feed the hungry guest.
Finally, she could manage a grain of rice and offered him. The guest accepted her offering,
declaring that he was satisfied and left. That night the King of Puri had a dream. It was revealed
to him that Dasia and his family were all going to sleep hungry because there was not a single
piece of food in the house. The King arranged for food to be sent every day to Dasia’s home.
To this day, just after the bhog is offered to the divine trinity, the first offering is sent to Dasia.

JAGANNATH SWAMI NAYAN PATH GAMI BHAVO TUME

HARI BOL