On the 11th of June 2017, devotees from Bali assembled at the Merta Sari (Nectarine Ocean) beach in order to celebrate the annual Cida Dahi Festival. Panihati, on the banks of the Ganges, remains glorified for the pastime of Sri Nityananda Prabhu blessing Sri Raghunatha das; and today, by the mercy of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the same pastime is being freshly enacted in all corners of the globe.
The Cida Dahi festival was started in Bali a few years ago under the guidance of HH Subhag Swami with only a few devotees. Now by the mercy of Gour Nitai, around 1000 devotees assembled to celebrate the festival.
Preparations on the beach started the day before and continued way through the night with devotees putting up the altar and the pandal, decorations, arranging the chipped rice, assortment of fruits and other paraphernalia for the festival.
On the morning of the festival, Sri Sri Gour Nitai deities from 7 temples around Bali assembled to the Merta Sari beach. Once all the deities had reached, They mounted Their respective chariots and made Their way to the ocean waters. Devotees then took Their Lordships to the ocean waters and an ecstatic bathing ceremony took place. Many devotees also joined in bathing in the ocean along with Sri Sri Gour Nitai.
Many tourists and visitors were struck with wonder at this wonderful scene. They took pictures and expressed their appreciation of the event.
“These public festivals have proven very effective in spreading knowledge about Krsna consciousness to all the citizens.” (SPL to Galim dasa, November 20th, 1971)
After the bathing had finished, Their Lordships were taken to the altar and an abhishek ceremony was performed. Beholding all the deities on one altar was simply magnificent. HG Premadhana das lead a wonderful kirtan drowning the devotees in bliss.
After the abhishek ceremony, while the deities were being dressed and offered bhoga, HG Shyamasundarananda das (Mayapur) delivered a class on the significance of the festival. He narrated a number of pastimes related to the happening of the festival. Arati was then performed and special cida dahi prasad was distributed to all.
“We are finding these festivals very successful for attracting the citizens to our activities. More and more these festivals may be held, at least very large festival in a year, simply for glorifying Krsna in public places.” SPL to Bhakta dasa, November 20th, 1971
We take the opportunity to express our utmost gratitude to all the wonderful devotees who came forward to help in the most amazing ways. There were the ones who arranged the pandal, the funds, kirtan, prasadam, abhiseka and also those ones who took care to keep the place clean. Special thanks goes to the team of devotees from Radha Gopinath Asram, Baha. We would also like to thank HH Kavichandra Swami and HH Ramai Swami, the GBCs of Indonesia for their continuous support. We also thank HH Subhag Swami for encouraging the devotees to carry on with different aspects of Sankirtan and thus remain close to Srila Prabhupada.
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