Puri: With a view to start the first day of the New Year with the blessing of Lord Jagannath, devotees more than thousand strength have thronged this pilgrim city of Puri Tuesday.
Monday, the last day of the year passed by, while a good number of devotees had darshan of Lord Jagannath and offered prayer seeking His blessings for prosperity, Tuesday thousands devotees were seen making bee lines at the Jagannath temple since morning.
According to some devotees, if the first day of the New Year starts from visiting and offering prayer to Lord Jagannath, it is He who will take care of them for the rest of the year. And some others visit the Jagannath temple here to seek the deities’ blessings for health and wealth.
“This is our first visit to Puri. We are going to celebrate New Year here” said Saumendra Mandal, who is here in the pilgrim city with his family from West Bengal. “We felt blessed as we witnessed the first sun of the New Year as we bathed in the sea. Then we had a peaceful darshan of Lord Jagannath, Mandal said adding they had a little problem in finding accommodation as they had not booked any hotel or lodges. They were able to get a lodge and they thanked Lord Jagannath for it.
I have visited Puri many times. But all these visits were before my service. After my company service, this is my first visit after a long time to this pilgrim city with my family,” said another devotee Surendra Padhi of Koraput. “This time I have availed four days leave. After seeking Lord Jagannath’s blessings for all the year round happiness for our family and people of our state, we are going to visit Chilika, he added.
PNN