Devotees relish chipped rice with yogurt as maha prasadam

Their Lordships Nitai-Gauranga were offered panchamrita abhisheka

The Panihati Chida-dahi Mahotsava, the festival of chipped rice and yogurt commemorating the feast arranged by Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami for Lord Nityananda and His 

Srila Raghunatha Dasa was one of the principal associates of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Before taking the shelter of the Lord, he was a householder in a rich aristocratic family. He was very much attached to the Lord and tried several times to run away from home to take complete shelter at His lotus feet and serve Him. Once, on learning that Lord Nityananda had come to Panihati, a town near Kolkata on the banks of the Ganges, he went there to take His darshan.

Lord Nityananda was seated on a rock under a tree on the banks of the Ganges surrounded by His associates and several other devotees. Raghunatha offered his respectful obeisances to the Lord from a distance without going close to the Lord. When the Lord was informed of this, He called Raghunatha near and said, “You are hiding like a thief. So I want to punish you. You have to arrange a festival and feed all My associates with chipped rice and yogurt.” Hearing this, Raghunatha felt very happy and immediately started preparations for the feast.

He sent his servants to purchase large quantities of chipped rice, yogurt, milk, bananas, sugar etc. Chipped rice was soaked in hot milk in a large pot. Half of this was mixed with yogurt, banana and sugar in a separate pot. The other half was mixed with condensed milk, sugar, clarified butter and camphor. As the news of the festival started spreading all around, many devotees, and others arrived at the spot. Everybody was given two pots of chipped rice; one mixed with condensed milk and the other with yogurt.

After this, Lord Nityananda brought Lord Chaitanya in meditation. When Lord Chaitanya arrived there, Lord Nityananda went to everyone and took one morsel of chipped rice from every pot and put it in the mouth of Lord Chaitanya as a joke. In turn, Lord Caitanya did the same to Lord Nityananda in great joy. But only a few fortunate devotees could see Lord Chaitanya as He was not visible to others. After this, both Lord Nityananda and Chaitanya ate the chipped rice and the remaining was given by Lord Nityananda to Raghunatha. Then a devotee offered a flower garland, sandalwood pulp and betel nuts to Lord Nityananda. In this way, all the assembled devotees happily celebrated the festival in the Lord’s association.

Their Lordships taking a boat ride in the temple pond

At the ISKCON temple, this delightful festival was held in the evening at the temple pond which was beautifully decorated with different patterns of colorful flowers floating on the water. Their Lordships Nitai Gauranga were offered a panchamrita abhisheka followed by a dip in the water and showering of the flowers. Then the pastime of Lord Nityananda concerning this festival was narrated. Their Lordships were offered a puja while the devotees sang a song by Lochanadasa Thakura.

Devotees receiving Chida-dahi prasadam during the boat ride

Then followed the final and the most exciting part of the festival – taking Their Lordships on a boat in the pond. Devotees showered Their Lordships with flowers and sang Their glories during the first round of the boat ride. In the second round, chida-dahi prasadam was distributed to all devotees who were eagerly waiting to relish this Maha prasadam. The festival concluded with shayana arati and prasadam feast.