Lord Jagannatha's Midday Routine 

In the previous issue of our Field Notes we discussed the morning meditation on Lord Jagannātha as baby Lord Kṛṣṇa, performed by the pūjārīs of the Jagannāth Purī temple. Let’s proceed with the second meditation. 
 
There are three more times for meditation. The second time is the madhyāhna period of the day. Madhyāhnameans midday. Midday means the sun is high in the sky and we meditate on Lord Jagannātha as sitting in the middle of the eight-petalled lotus. So, now it gets a little more formal. We are picturing a kind of a yantra. Kṛṣṇa is there, on this lotus, and the lotus is underneath a grand desire tree; so, we can imagine a very big beautiful spreading tree and a throne underneath the tree. And Kṛṣṇa is sitting on that throne and He is not alone. He is going to be surrounded by His associates—first the gopīs and then the gopas, and Nanda and Yaśodā, and various sages, and there will be yogīs, and they all will be sitting and meditating on Kṛṣṇa. And there are also Gandharvas and Apsarās. Anybody knows how the Gandharvas look? Like angels with wings? Really? In any case, we know that the Gandharvas sing very nicely, right? They are probably not just sitting there, they are probably singing. And what do Apsarās do? They dance. Yes, the Apsarās are dancing and Kṛṣṇa is in the middle of the gopīs. That is what is going on. A very nice meditation. What about the afternoon? Actually, not the afternoon, but the evening. Do you want to know?

—From a lecture by Krishna Kshetra Swami at Nava Yoga-pīṭha in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on June 17, 2019. 

Lord Jagannatha's Evening Routine 

Do you want to know on what to meditate in the evening? Are you sure? Because you will be surprised. 
 
Now you should meditate on Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā sitting on a deer skin in a garden, in the courtyard of one of His palaces, and He is sitting there with Nārada Muni. There are also some other sages there. What are they doing? They are discussing philosophy. 
 
Now you can meditate on what would that philosophy be, that they are discussing. In this way you can think as the time of dusk is approaching. You can stop whatever you are doing and if someone asks what are you doing, you can say, “What does anyone do this time of the day? We meditate on Lord Jagannātha as Kṛṣṇa sitting in Dvārakā discussing philosophy with Nārada Muni!” 
 
Well, then it gets very interesting. We come to the late night, rātri… [To be continued.]

—From a lecture by Krishna Kshetra Swami at Nava Yoga-pīṭha in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on June 17, 2019.