Juggernaut

[Sanskrit for “lord of the world”] A variant name of Vishnu, the Preserver, second personage of the Hindu trinity.

The center of worship of Juggernaut is the Indian town of Puri where the main temple compound contains a giant statue of him. During the annual “car festival” each summer, the statue is mounted on an enormous temple cart and dragged by worshipers to his summer home, the Garden House, one mile away.

In ancient times, devotees would hurl themselves under the huge wheels of the cart in order to be crushed to death. As a result, “juggernaut” has come to be known as any massive inexorable force or object that advances irresistibly and crushes whatever is in its path. It has been used as a symbol representing mankind’s karma and its descent at an untimely moment.

Sources

Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 25, no. 47.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Mary’s Message for a New Day.