WHAT MOOD SHOULD WE OBSERVE THIS FESTIVAL?
I think our mood should be one of service. We should want to satisfy Lord Nityananda. We want to help great devotes like Das Raghunatha. Try to engage in the service of the supreme Lord and his devotees we are trying to be the dasanu anu das.
HOW TO OBESERVE THIS FESTIVAL AT HOME DURING THE LOCKDOWN?
Mix flat rice and yogurt and offer that to deities of Nitai Gaura or to the photos and take the prasadam. It’s not a fast day, this is a feast day. Lord Nityananda would take it as his lunch and later take other offerings.
Lord Nityananda was doing the pastime of Lord Krishna taking prasadam with his cowherd friends in forest!!
If you observe this festival, you can get the mercy of Lord Nityananda!!!!!!
We want to satisfy Lord Nityananda!!!
Today is a special opportunity to get special mercy of Nitai Gaura!”
– Excerpt from HH Jayapataka Swami’s morning class
HH Jayapataka Swami will be personally making a new preparation called ‘Madhavendra Puri’s Bhoga’ today!!
THE FESTIVAL OF PUNISHMENT!!
Why is it called so??
So this pastime, one can wonder why Lord Nityananda calls it a punishment. Why does he say, “You’re a thief.”? See Raghunatha dasa, he tried to achieve Lord Caitanya. He even personally and saw Lord Caitanya, but he was sent back, because if we want to go to Lord Caitnaya, we have to go through Lord Nityananda, and uh, now the way to Lord Nityananda is through His pure representatives in the guru-parampara. So, this pastime is famous because Raghunatha dasa sent his servants to the neighboring villages to get all the fruits, flat rice and yogurt available. So the news was going out, so merchants were coming with their bullock carts, ox carts filled with clay pots, yogurt, fruits and uh flat rice. And then, the word came out, “Raghunatha dasa is giving this breakfast feast.” At that time it was already approaching late morning, noon. People started running, not because they’re hungry, but because brahmana’s, vaisnava’s love feasts. They love parties, and this is that kind of a spiritual party, so everybody showed up, and even the merchants who were coming to sell their things, they were given two pots: one yogurt, one condensed milk, told to sit down, feast.
So, Lord Nityananda, He put a plate down for Lord Caitanya, an asana. Using His mystic power, He brought Lord Caitanya there. No one could see Him there except Lord Nityananda and a few elevated associates. So, there were very big clay pots. I mean big, like six feet. They used those to store rice in those days because the rats and varmints could not enter. So, they mixed and they used those big pots to mix. So they had different flavors. Lord Nityananda, they offered seven flavors. The other people, they offered two flavors: One yogurt, one with condensed milk.
For the fiftieth anniversary of ISKCON. We made up the menus yesterday and the day before, but last night, we had a doubt that maybe these quantities were too much for each flavor, so I had them make a prototype, and they found out that the quantities for each flavor were more. Total same, but since there’s more pots, each flavor was more. Anyway, this is the ecstasy of making pots. So, Raghunatha dasa, he was… while he was having his servants mix and offering the prasadam, his servants… people started to gather, and the whole field got filled up. In fact, there was no more room. People started to stand in the muddy banks of the Ganges. In fact, even that became filled. They began to stand in the Ganges itself, and the water was coming up to their ankles, but then there was no room. So people started standing in the Ganges up to their knees. The place became packed with people.
Then Lord Nityananda, He said, “I’m a cowherd boy, and these are my cowherd friends and we’re all taking our mid-day snack in the forest. Vana-bhojana.” It’s a picnic as you say in the West. Then, He walked through the crowd with Lord Caitanya, and everybody was chanting Haribol!
You wanted more, you’d say, “Haribol!” You’ve had enough, you’d say, “Haribol.” (laughter) Everyone was chanting Haribol! So Lord Nityananda took from one pot, and fed to Lord Caitanya. People would see the chipped rice rise in the air, and disappear. Lord Caitanya would take from someone else’s pot, and put it in Lord Nityananda’s mouth. It was just like kids that share eachother’s lunch, don’t care about suci or cleanliness. Just share eachother’s. Like that all the people were accepted as cowherd friends of Lord Caitanya. Would you like to be present in that festival?
Excerpt from a talk given by HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on June 5th, 2016 | Atlanta
Source: https://www.mayapur.com/2020/celebrating-panihati-festival-with-hh-jayapataka-swami/
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