the five spiritual friends

Om Akhanda Mandalâkâram Anantakoti Dhâranam, Brahmâ Vishnu Maheswaram pranamâmi Yogeswaram
Vandee bodhamayam nityam Gurum Shankara Roopinam, Yamashri tohi vakropi Chandrah sarvatra vachyate

In the holy land of Kalinga (Orissa) many saints, mystics, and devotional souls have taken birth,  from time to time, and have fortified the culture and the spiritualism. The land is witness to most of the important Hindu traditions and spiritual movements. Jeweled by sacred Buddhist monuments to temples of Shakti (the supreme female power), Shiva (the supreme male power), and Jagannath Vishnu (Lord of the Universe), the state is unique in itself. Most important spiritual rituals have been extensively practised here by several seers - including Buddhist ceremonies, Devi Tantra (tanric rituals involving worship of Shakti), Shaiva Marg (the path followed by devotees of Shiva), and Vaishnava Marg (the path followed by devotees of Vishnu). Hardly there is any Sadhak who would not pay a visit to the Shri Jagannath temple once.

Among the various great souls, the most prominent (in the domain of the known History) are the Panchasakhaa (=Five friends) who have deeply influenced both the Oriya Spiritualism & the Literature. These five friends lived between 1450 to 1550 AD and enrichened the spiritualism in a way that normal man can also understand and benefit from that. These great souls are: Achyutânanda Das, Ananta Das, Jasovanta Das, Jagannâtha Das, and Balarâma Das. They popularily were called as Panchasakhaa (=Five friends).

Pancha means five and sakhaa means friends -The great spiritual leader and naamayogi avataar Chaitanya Mahaaprabhu has referred to these five of his disciples as Panchasakhaa and stated that the panchasakhaa are like his pancha-atma, i.e., five souls (atmaa-tatva) and are in no way lesser than some of the avataars of Vishnu.

The Panchasakhaa  converted ancient Hindu texts into prose (of simple language) easily understood by the people of Udra desha (Orissa). The two prime works from the five writers are the Bhâgavata by Jagannath Das and the Jagamohana Râmâyana by Balarâm Das. The five saints believed in Vaishnavism and also cultured and developed other beliefs about the body, the mind, the soul, and the "Parambrahman" (the supreme Soul). Till today Jagannath Das’s Bhâgavata is the most valued book in Oriya literature. Besides this great work he also composed Artha Koili, Darubrahma, etc. Balaram Das also composed various works such as the Lakshmi Purâna, Vendântasaara, Guptagitâ, Anâkâra Samhita etc. Shri Achyutananda Das was the most prolific writer of the Panchasakhas and has written numerous books (called as pothi's), believed not in one life but in many successive lives. He is known as the Mahapurusha, which means - a great man. Mahapurusha Achyutânanda was a shunya sadhak and had acquired immense knowledge about almost every aspect, i.e. spiritualism, ayurveda (Indian healing medical science that uses only natural resources & herbs), various other sciences, and social regulations. Out of the all high-valued literature, depicting mysterious occult as well as simple explanations for noble life, to name a few are: Shunya Samhitâ, Chaurâshi Yantra etc. The Shunya Samhita (unfortunantely its hard to get the Original which is lost ! ) dealt with high spiritual mysteries and Physical sciences like solar science, atomic and molecular concepts, and aerospace concepts. The term Chaurâshi Yantra means "84 Yantras", which specifically is related to the '84 yantras' embedded within the Human Body, the later itself is ~84 fingers in length and each yantra is located for each finger-length space. However, the most popular one is an "Oracle of Prophecies" named as Bhavishya Malikâ, which reveals the major events of the future, mostly for the whole world. Its not overly easy to interprete the meanings of such future-indications, but to the astonishment of many, quite of few of the events, that was predicted in Bhavishya Malikâ,  have actually occurred. 

!! Shunyaru khasilaa Pavane misilaa, anaakare helaa thula !!

!! Thula bhangigale athule misiba, rahijiba anaahata !!

" Mahapurusha Achyutananda ", was belived to have been born from " " which is symbolic for lord Jagannath himself, hence the name  is Achyuta ("A + chyuta"). Achyuta is also another name for Lord Vishnu. Occasionally, " Mahapurusha Achyutananda " is also referred to as "Achyuti", which literally means "who has no fall (chyuti nahin jahara)".

During this era of Panchasakhaa, another seer His holiness Arakhsita Das (the presiding seer of Olasuni near Paradweep) who was not among the Panchasakha but was a revered saint, once found a divine child and handed over the newborn child to Mahapurusha Achyutananada. This child was known as Ram Das who is the disciple of Mahapurusha Achyutananda and the Panchasakhaa together as well. Subsequently the Pancha Sakhaa and Arakhsita Das, in Samaadhi, could know that in the 13^th birth (also the last birth) of this child (Ram Das), all their souls (atmaa-tatva) will remain in Ram Das and he will perform Yuga Karma on behalf of his Gurus during the transaction from Kaliyuga to Satyayuga. The devotees/followers believe that His holiness Baba Shri Buddhanath Das is the last incarnation of saint Ram Das and is enlightened by the conscious of his six Gurus.