Hera Sri Chaitanya MahaPrabhu along with His devotees use to derive ecstatic pleasure when HeraPanchami pastime of Lord Jagannath was enacted in Puri. He used to be so filled with love for Krishna in the Vrindavan mood that He sang and danced for long hours without being fatigued.
As per scriptures Lord Jagannath along with His siblings Balaram and Subhadra MahaRani goes out of His temple – SriMandir on Rath for a sojourn to the Gundicha temple and promises His wife LaxmiDevi to be back soon. Here He enjoys His Vrindavan pastimes with the Vrajvasis . On the fifth day, when the Lord doesn’t return back home, an anguished LaxmiDevi along with her servitors come looking ( Hera) for her husband and forcefully try to take back the Lord. The servitors of Jagannath try their best to withhold Him and by His sweet will the Lord stays back for few more days hence Laxmi Devi becomes furious and damages a part of Nandighosha. Finally she returns back.
At Mayapur, the birth place of MahaPrabhu, the devotees of ISKCON today gave a lively presentation of the HeraPanchami pastime. Knowing the importance MahaPrabhu gave to this pastime, the devotees organised a splendid show at the Prabhupad Ghat where the Gundicha temple has been constructed for the first time. Carried on her palanquin a disgruntled LaxmiDevi with a bunch of aggressive servitors came rushing towards the Gundicha temple in the evening where the Lord was gleefully enjoying melodious kirtans being rendered by His devotees. They tried to breach the boundary of Gundicha and in desperation damaged the Rath of Jagannath. LaxmiDevi seemed enraged at her husband for not informing about His whereabouts. She complained that although she was so restless for the last 5 days but the Lord seemed to be basking in the affection and care of His devotees. The servitors of Jagannath did not like this behaviour and a strife ( friendly) between them broke out. Ultimtely Shivji had to interfere and he pacified each group of supporters. It was an amazing spectacle to watch that how much the devotees of the Lord love Him, do not want to leave Him and cannot live without Him for a moment. A pure devotee of the Lord believes that each time he blinks his eyelids he misses an opportunity to see the Lord. He fears nothing except separation from the Lord.
Finally an agreement was arrived between the two groups that within 4 days the devotees of Jagannath will take Him back to SriMandir. Later LaxmiDevi herself performed Arti of the Lord and requested Him to return back soon.
A team of enthusiastic devotees which comprised of Alay Govind Das, Jagadhartia Das, Santa Gauranga Das, Jagannath Das, , Bakreshwar Gaur Das, Subal Das, Taraknath Das, and many others practiced hard to recreate the magic of HeraPanchami pastime. Hundreds of devotees witnessed this transcendental pastime being enacted on the holy land of Sridam Mayapur on the banks of river Ganga. Curtains were drawn by distribution of sumptuous Prasadam to each and every audience.
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