Grand Festival in Panihati

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Annual chida-dahi mahotsav of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami
15 June 2019, Panihati

Here in Panihati, near this place, is where Srila Raghunath Das Goswami made the festival of flat rice and yoghurt, mango, jackfruit, etc. on the order of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.

Actually, Raghunath Das Goswami has been trying again and again to go to Mahaprabhu, but he could not get liberation from maya—maya always took him away from the service to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu also told him, "Batul hao na, do not become crazy. Go back to your home and chant the Holy Name in your heart. It is not necessary to show tilak, neck beads, etc. because when your father sees it, he becomes angry. It is not necessary to show markat-vairagya, false renunciation. Call out from your heart, and I will fulfil your desire."

So, Raghunath Das Goswami came back. He appeared in a nearby place called Adisaptagram, it is about 40 kilometres from here. Although he was born in a rich family of a landlord (his father's name was Govardhan), he kept trying to come and join Mahaprabhu's conception. Raghunath first met Mahaprabhu at Advaita Prabhu's house in Santipur, and since then, having become very attached to Mahaprabhu, he kept trying to come to Mahaprabhu, but he was the only son in the family, so his father, thinking, "Who will take care of the family property and the land, the whole kingdom?", kept bringing him back. Then, in the end Mahaprabhu told him, "Do not become crazy, go back to your home and practise internally, I will fulfil your desire."

After that, one day (on this day of gaura-trayodasi), Nityananda Prabhu came here to Panihati, and Raghunath, taking his father's permission, also came here. When he came, Nityananda Prabhu said, "You are a thief! Crossing Me, avoiding Me, you are going to Mahaprabhu!" Goda dingiye ghas kayoya (ঘোড়া ডিঙিয়ে ঘাস খাওয়া—bypass the proper channel; lit. jump over the goda [raised platform for cows to stand while eating grass] to eat grass)—you are going to one person and avoid the other. From this we can understand that without coming first to Nityananda Prabhu, we cannot get the mercy of Mahaprabhu.

When Raghunath came up to Nityananda Prabhu, he bowed down to Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu said, "I will give you the punishment today!" Raghunath asked, "What punishment will it be, Prabhu?" And Nityananda Prabhu ordered him to do Vaishnav seva. That Vaishnav seva (the chida-dahi manotsav) happened today, on this day of gaura-trayodasi. When the prasadam was ready, Nityananda Prabhu called Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu came here from Puri. Only few people could see Him because everybody does not have the eyes to see Him—mostly everybody has the eyes of illusory environment. That is why I keep saying that we cannot see who is a sadhu, and who is not a sadhu, we cannot see it with our eyes—even Brahma cannot recognise who is a sadhu. So, Mahaprabhu came here and, seeing the big festival, He became very happy.

At the end of the festival, Raghunath came to Nityananda Prabhu and asked, "Prabhu, please, give me Your mercy now." Actually, he had already got the mercy—he had done Vaishnav seva. Then, Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on Raghunath's head and said, "Now go, Mahaprabhu will accept you."

After that, Raghunath went to Puri. He walked there during twelve days and during this time he ate only three times. When he came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu gave him His mercy. He engaged him in the service to Svarup Damodar and later also gave him a kunja mala and a Govardhan sila.

In the meantime, that day when the festival happened, Raghav Pandit came from his house and asked Nityananda Prabhu, "Prabhu, I have cooked everything for You—what are You doing here?" Nityananda Prabhu replied, "Yes, I am coming to your house in the evening and will take prasadam there."

This all happened here in Panihati, on the bank of the Ganges. Also, during the chida-dahi mahotsav, so many people—millions of people—came to the festival, but the place here is small, so actually many people took prasadam standing in the Ganges up to their necks. Thousands and thousands of people were distributing prasadam—chida, dahi, kichuri, etc., and Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math preaches in this way also every year at this festival. This is good for everybody.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
All the Vaishnav-vrinda ki jay
All the sannyasi-vrinda ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

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