Rath Yatra: Unique idol of Jagannath explained

His līlā, our stories! Somewhere (Jagannath Puri), God's eyes are wide open in mahābhāva prakāša (manifestation of transcendence), ecstatic because of our love. Somewhere, He keeps them partially shut (Tirupati) because we cannot bear with His full brilliance, the expression of energy of the whole cosmos that He is. On the occasion of the upcoming Rath Yatra, a popular social media post is being recalled with some additions as under, with words from Hindu iconography spelt with diacritics and necessary terminal vowels to justify their respective pronunciations in Sanskrit, apt for studies in the Indian religion:

Jai Jagannath! Jai Balaji!

Why Jagannath has large eyes but no limbs

Rohiñī, Balarāma's mother, had witnessed the līla in Vrindāvana. Once in Dwaraka, all queens of Kriśña approached her to recount the stories. Initially, she was hesitant, thinking Vrindāvana was so attractive that its recollection would make Kriśña move back there, which they did not want. So, she asked Subhadrā, sister of Kriśña and Balarāma, to guard the place and not let Kriśña in. 

But as Rohiñī started, Subhadrā got engrossed in the story. Kriśña then arrived and stood quietly by His sister and then so did Balarāma. The brothers were so discreet that the sister did not notice their arrival. Then, as Rohiñī narrated the accounts of gopīs' love, the eyes of Kriśña, Balarāma and Subhadrā widened; their pupils dilated while the legs and hands shrank into their eyes. This transcendental form was to express to the bhaktas the deep emotion Bhagavān feels when He receives our love.

All of a sudden, Nārada arrived. The siblings immediately got back to their normal human form. But by then, the devarshi had caught a glimpse of the mahābhāva prakāša already. He pleaded with God to let the whole mankind benefit from the adbhut rūpa. Kriśña agreed and said that He, along with His brother and sister, will appear as Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā in Puri.

The legend of Puri says, of course, that Višwakarmā was making these mūrtis under the condition that he would not be disturbed until he finished his work, but he was. Višwakarmā left when the door of his workshop was knocked. Rājā Indradyumna was aghast, looking at what he thought were incomplete figurines. As he lamented, an ākāshavāñi explained what the mūrtis meant.

Iśopanishad calls the form "Om purñam", perfect and complete, although not visibly so. Besides seeing, the eyes of Jagannātha perform all the work that limbs can and those eyes feel, smell, taste, speak and hear too. It's the concentration of all senses and more, as those eyes can do what no able-bodied human being can.