So, the boys went to the brahmans’ houses and asked the wives of the brahmans for some food. Hearing Krishna’s Name, the wives became very happy, ‘Oh, Krishna has sent you to get something to eat?’ They began to run around, ‘What do we have? What can we give to Him?’ They were still cooking at that time, so they gathered everything they had – what was cooked, what was not cooked – and went with the boys. They were very anxious to see Krishna. Seeing their wives going out, the brahmans were very angry again, ‘They do not obey us! They have left home without even asking us for permission! On top of that, they are going with those cowherd boys! What is this?!’

Anyhow, the brahmans’ wives brought so much food to the forest – so many pancakes, so much paneer, butter, cake, curd, cheese and other preparations. Krishna was very happy. He and all the boys, all His friends, also took the food they had brought.

‘OK, now you can go home,’ Krishna said after they finished eating.

‘But we did not come here to go back!’ the brahmans’ wives objected. ‘We have come to stay here with You!’

‘You are brahmans’ wives,’ Krishna tried to reason with the ladies, ‘and I am a kayastha. It does not look right for you to stay here, people will start talking nonsense. It is better if you go back to your homes.’

‘No, no, no. Our husbands are very angry, they will not take us back. They will kick us out of our homes…’ the ladies said.

Then, Krishna created some illusion – some Maya Devi came – and the brahmans felt much attachment to their wives, so when the evening came, they started worrying, ‘Where have our wives gone? Why are they not coming back?’ When their wives finally came home, they accepted them back as if nothing had happened.

Actually, there are many things described in Srimad Bhagavatam. There was a long conversation between the brahmans’ wives and Krishna. Krishna told them, ‘You do not have to stay with Me. Make My murti (vigraha, or Deity) and worship Me at home.’ The brahmans’ wives said, ‘Oh, You only like Vraja-gopis, You do not like us! All right, then we will become gopis’ servants and serve them!’ Hearing this, Krishna thought, amused, ‘They are very clever! They want to become gopis’ servants! They want to stay here one way or another.’ In the end, Lord Krishna created some illusion to arrange for them to return to their homes, and everything continued as before. This is how the yajna-patnis got the Lord’s mercy. After that pastime, they started worshipping Bala-Gopal at their homes.

This month (Magh month, according to the Bengali calendar) I am going to a place in Basirhat where all the housewives do Gopal puja. They say that every year one thousand Gopals come to that programme, which means one thousand families will be joining this programme, and every family will bring their Gopal. Devotees will offer bhoga and make a sankirtan programme there. They told me to fix the date and to come this year. Every year, another (sahajiya) sampradaya came to this festival, but this year they asked me to come…

…Sri Kavi Karnapur writes that Sri Jagadish Pandit and Sri Hiranya were two yajna-patnis, two wives of those brahmans. In another book, it is also written that Sri Jagadish Pandit is Chandrahash (a dancer) and described that he now became renowned as ‘Nritya-vinodi’ (‘she who pleases with her dance’) Jagadish Pandit.

As I have already told you, the birthplace of Sri Jagadish Pandit is in Guwahati, Assam. His father was a brahman called Sri Kamalaksa Bhatta. Sri Jagadish Pandit also had a brother called Sri Mahesh Pandit. Sri Jagadish Pandit and Hiranya lived together on the bank of the Gages, near Sri Jagannath Misra’s house, and Mahaprabhu would often come to their house.

It is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita that Sri Gaurasundar once told Jagadish Pandit, ‘You can come to Nilachal and preach about the Holy Name of Krishna there.’ Following the Lord’s order, Sri Jagadish Pandit came to Puri. He came to see the temple of Lord Jagannath and prayed to Lord Jagannath, and when he came back to Chakdaha, he saw that there were Deities of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra in his house! Those Deities are served at his house to this day. He also established a Deity of Gaura Gopal there.

Sri Gaurasundar and Nityananda Prabhu often came to the village of Yasor (Chakdaha) and chanted and danced at Sri Jagadish Pandit’s house. There are many pastimes described in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata and Sri Gopal-champu. Sri Jagadish Pandit and Hiranya were two dear friends of Sri Jagannath Misra, and both of them knew that it was the Lord Himself who was born in Jagannath Misra’s house. That day when Mahaprabhu cried a lot and His parents took Him to Sri Jagadish Pandit’s house, Sri Jagadish Pandit and Hiranya said, ‘We were just making an offering to the Lord, and now we see that Krishna Himself has come to take our offering!’ When Mahaprabhu came and took their offering, they actually had the darshan of Bal-Gopal (baby Gopal) at that time. Seeing the beautiful form of the Lord, Sri Jagadish Pandit and Hiranya began to chant, ‘Hari bol! Hari bol!’

Every year, when Gaudiya devotees went to Sri Puri Dham, Sri Jagadish Pandit would go with them. Also, when Nityananda Prabhu came to Panihati for the festival of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Sri Jagadish Pandit was present there.

These are some of the glories of Sri Jagadish Pandit that I wanted to tell you about today…

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }