20210623 Pānihāṭi Mahotsava Lecture (in Bengali)

The following is a zoom special class in Bengali given at the Panihati festival program by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 23rd, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

In West Bengal, in Panihati, lots of people come. When I had been there some time ago, about one to two hundred thousand people had come for the festival. In comparison to that, for the festival in America, in New Pāṇihāti dhāma, less people come – like five thousand people. For them this is a festival. But cannot be compared to the Pāṇihāti dhāma festival. Raghunātha dāsa had run away from home many times. And his father and uncles were very rich and they brought him back with a golden rope. Then, he had the darśana of Lord Caitanya one day. He told Lord Caitanya that he wanted to give up everything and want to go with You. But Lord Caitanya said that don’t be a monkey renunciant. You stay in the material life, and in your (Raghunnatha dāsa Gosvāmī) heart you always keep Kṛṣṇa in your minḍ. Just like a married woman if she has a paramour then that lady’s mind is always with the other man. But she will perform all her household chores in a very efficient way, so she is not caught by the family members. In a similar way, you absorb your mind in Kṛṣṇa all the time. But from the external, you should act so people should think you are a materialist. In this way he remained at home for one year and there is big long history. One government official caught his family and said you are paying less tax. Then his father, brother and uncle, they all ran away from home, only Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was there and they arrested him. But they were afraid that since they were Kāyastha family and influential there could be problems. So that is a big history. And somehow Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī got his father and other relatives out. In this way Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he heard that Lord Nityānanda had come to Panihati. He was in Adi Saptagrāma, not far from Panihati. But somehow he came to Panihati. Lord Nityānanda was seated under a banyan tree along with His associates, and many gentlemen of that area were seated. Raghunātha dāsa offered his obeisances from a distance to Lord Nityānanda. One of the secretaries said there is Raghunātha dāsa. And he said oh, Raghunātha dāsa! he stays at a distance like a thief. Now I caught him I will punish him! Come here, come here I will punish you. If somebody says, come here I will punish you, will they go? He was lying down and paying obeisances. And Nityānanda Prabhu came and placed His lotus foot on the head of Raghunātha dāsa. Nityānanda Prabhu had this nature he was very kind and very jovial. Then he said, I am punishing you, your punishment is that you will feed all My associates chipped rice, fruits, yogurt etc. a feast. Raghunātha dāsa was very, very happy. Now a days mango, jackfruit, bananas, yogurt are expensive. But those things were very, very cheap in those days. I came here 50 years back. At that time, litchis were 1000 pieces for 25 rupees! And 100 pieces for 3 rupees. And 1000 for 25 rupees. Then imagine 500 years how cheap it was. But Raghunātha das ws a fabulously rich. You cannot call him a crorepati, he was billionaire, multi billionaire. Any way for him it was not difficult to conduct a festival like this. So, then Raghunātha dāsa, he sent all his assistants and secretaries to collect yogurt, fruits and chipped rice. Then everybody was served with two clay pots. In one, there was flat rice, mango, yogurt, banana etc. and in another one there was flat rice, condensed milk and fruits. Nityānanda Prabhu was served 7 different pots. What was prepared there we don’t know. In New Panihati dhāma, in America, there were less people, so what I knew we used to make in clay pots, different flat rice items. We had made 21 preps. 6 types of yogurt and sweets, and flat rice with different fruits. And 6 types of kheer and different fruits. Because in America they like salad, so I made 6 types of salty items. So then that was total 18 items. And then out of the 6 we would make one big pot of sweet For the other six we would make one big condensed milk one, then one big salty one, total we would have 21.

In Māyāpur there is ciḍā-dahi festival. today I heard that I was supposed to make a few pots. They said there are 36 items. I did not count.I don’t know how many there are! The original Panihati festival. When the people heard there is a festival, everyone came. They were running to the festival! Those vendors who had come to sell fruits, flat rice and yogurt, everything was purchased from them and they were also served with prasādam. Now there were so many people that the field completely filled up. Now in Panihati there are a lot of houses, in those days it was just wide open field, and very big and the entire field was filled up. More than a 100 thousand people there. Now because there was no space on the land, people took their pots and filled up the bank of the Ganges, and when the bank was filled they were standing in knee deep water. That was a huge gigantic festival. Then Nityānanda Prabhu, He invoked Lord Caitanya from South India. And there some people they could see Lord Caitanya but everyone could not see Him. Nityānanda Prabhu along with Lord Caitanya, went into the crowd. And Nityānanda Prabhu took some ciḍā-dahi from some devotees’ pots and put it into the lotus mouth of Lord Caitanya, and people could not understand They saw He picked up the ciḍā-dahi in His hand and it suddenly disappeared it in the air. And Lord Caitanya also would take some flat rice from a pot of a devotee and put it in the mouth of Lord Nityānanda. So everyone was chanting the names of Hari, Haribol! Haribol! So, nobody could hear anything else. Only word was heard Haribol! Then Rāghava Paṇḍita came and called Nityānanda Prabhu, please come and take rājā-bhoga prasādam. Nityānanda Prabhu said I am a cowherd boy. I like to make a picnic next to the river bank, with all my friends. Whatever you have cooked I will eat it later. And then He gave Rāghava Paṇḍita two pots and said, you take this also. In this way, this festival was conducted at the holy Panihati dhāma.

When I went there, many years back, then Śrīla Prabhupāda had gone,a he had gone twice to Panihati. He had said that we should have a temple in Panihati. And he had many different plans. At that time, there was Congress government. At that time the MLA some Chatterjee, was the MLA in Panihati. Śrīla Prabhupāda had visited Panihati with him. Then somebody had donated a śālagrāma-śilā for Māyāpur temple to Śrīla Prabhupāda then. There were many pastimes. Then I understood that Panihati was a very important and significant place. So I brought one or two truckloads to Panihati, and there was flat rice, fruits etc. But I did not know, the entire road was blocked and police said the vans lorries cannot enter. So many people, that we cannot even walk. Then there was rain. All the people went to shelters and then went away from the roads. Then we took out the ciḍā-dahi, fruits, etc. from the truck and ran. Then we reached up to the banyan tree. There was a pūjārī and paṇḍitas there. Then we had a boat and Nitāi-Gaura were in the boat. Then we brought half the things back in the truck. Then there was another rain. Then the road became clear again. Then we ran with all our goods. So in this way we had mixed some ciḍā-dahi etc. But the paṇḍitas under the tree were not very happy. But we did not know we had gone there for the first time. Then we made some bhoga with pots and offered to Lord Gaura-Nitāi, and then how do we distribute all of this? Then we took one pot and because of the crowd it fell down and the people they all rushed to grab the pot. Then everybody who was distributing, they kneeled through the people and came back. So we deiced we cannot distribute like this. Then one went into the tree and started giving prasādam like giving the birds. Then we decided we cannot serve like this. Then next year we made a pandal in the field, and made barricade and different arrangements.

Then Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja, he showed mercy, and then he made some arrangements. I remember when Nitāi-Gaura came from the boat, there was one pala kīrtana person, then one of his professional singers they were singing Nitāi-Gaura have come to Panihati, he has come! Nitāi-Gaura Panihati eshe che! Eshe che! And so much bliss was there. And there was rain, it was muddy and people were rolling on the mud. This is a very, very blissful happy event.

So in America in New Panihati dhāma, we told them that Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he got the punishment from Nityānanda Prabhu and he performed that service to his capacity. So, I said that Raghunātha dāsa is helped with the assistants, so Lord Nityānanda should be offered some flat rice. About 50 or 100 devotees, they right from early morning, they started cutting fruits, some soaked the flat rice, some would mix. Some people would place different fruits and ingredients into the pots. So, that everything is ready before 12 and can be offered before 1 pm. And in one groups was there, they would place different fruits and sweets and decorate the pots. In this way about 200 people they were busy in different services. Anyhow, in this way Raghunātha dāsa, he got the great mercy or mahā-prasādam of Lord Nityānanda. And in this way, we have to participate in this program, Anyone who attends, he gets unlimited mercy of Lord Nityānanda. I am very happy and grateful that you are performing this festival in Panihati, and in so many different places.

Now Panihati festival the way it was conducted this festival, how Nitāi-Gaura accepted everybody like Their own associates, cowherd boys and friends. How can we compare that? That was a special mercy! So in this way, you distribute prasādam and that is even better. And to hear these pastimes that is also very auspicious. In this way I hope that you are distributing prasādam and people are helping you with donations so that you can distribute the prasādam. In the West we auction out the pots. So in this way through the auction they can donate for the temple. There, in Atlanta, New Panihati dhāma, last Sunday, their holiday, they don’t get their holiday on Wednesday, so they held the festival on Sunday. So I auctioned one pot. And everybody wanted to donate for the temple there! So they had a bid 5000 dollars for one pot! About 3 lakhs rupees. So you are all distributing this prasādam free of cost. There also everybody was distributed prasādam, but some pots are auctioned out. And some pots are booked in advance.

So in Melbourne there was a festival. One pot was auctioned for 13,000 dollars! So I think that three pots were auctioned for 60,800 dollars then I left, I don’t know what was the total. My previous āśrama mother, suggested, why you are giving away everything free, you should auction, and we did. Everybody gets prasādam for free, and whatever is auctioned then whatever is collected from the auction that is used for the festival. Anyhow there is Panihati festival in different places. So everyone remembers Lord Nityānanda and Raghunātha dāsa and Their pastimes and everybody should remember.

Haribol!