Panihati Cida-dadhi Festival

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

We have gathered for a very festive occasion, the Panihati Cida-dadhi festival. Today’s program is a joint effort between Giridhari-priya dasa formally known as Bhakta Janesh, Janesh Patel, or John Patel [laughter], depending on where you are and what your relationship with him is. But now, in the devotee community, he is known as Giridhari-priya dasa because he was fortunate to be initiated into Srila Prabhupada’s family by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja two Sunday’s ago in San Diego [applause]. Giridhari-priya is a natural pujari. He loves to worship his Deities who you see before us—Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai—and as part of his worship, he loves to cook for Them. Today he has cooked at least fifteen varieties of cida with milk, yogurt, and different varieties of sweets and fruits and nuts and vegetables.

This particular festival falls on the Vaishnava calendar the day after Pandava Nirjala-ekādaśī which this year here is on Tuesday, June 22nd, but because Giridhari-priya will be going out of town and because we wanted to make it easier for all of you to attend, we are celebrating it today, on Sunday.

The history of the Panihati Cida-dadhi festival goes back about five hundred years to the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Prabhu when They were enjoying Their pastimes in Navadvipa and Jagannatha Puri and various places in India. This particular pastime relates to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. Actually Raghunatha dasa Gosvami offered this festival as a service to Lord Nityananda and His associates. Raghunatha dasa was born in a very wealthy family of zamindars in Bengal. He was the only son of his father and his uncle had no son, so he was the heir to the fortune of the Majumadara family. His father’s name was Govardhana and his uncle’s name was Hiranya. 

It is said that the Majumadaras were just like kings in opulence. They were very pious and very generous and it is said that the whole brahman community of Bengal was maintained by the [largess?] of the Majumadara family. 

From a young age Raghunatha dasa had the association of many of the most wonderful associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Majumadara’s family priest was Yadunandana Acharya who was a disciple of Advaita Acharya and an intimate associate of Vasudeva Datta. Raghunatha dasa was initiated by Yadunandana Acharya. The Majumadara family was also closely associated with Balarama Acharya, another associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and with Haridasa Thakura. Sometimes the Majumadaras invited Haridasa Thakura to speak at their assembly on the glories of the holy name. Haridasa Thakura was very affectionate to Raghunatha dasa and it is said that because of the blessings that Raghunatha dasa received from Haridasa Thakura he later gained the association and service of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. 

Although Raghunatha dasa was born into immense wealth, had affectionate parents, and a beautiful wife, he was not attracted to any of these things. Rather, by hearing of the glories of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he wanted to leave his position of material opulence and join the Lord in Jagannatha Puri. Once when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Santipura, Raghunatha dasa took the opportunity to meet Him. He asked Him if he could join Him. At the time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed him, “Do not be a crazy fellow. Go back home to your parents, serve your parents, and manage their estate just like an expert businessman, but internally be detached and within your heart always think of the service of Radha and Krishna. In due course when Krishna is merciful to you, you will be released from the bondage of family life.” So Raghunatha dasa returned home and he did exactly as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had instructed him. 

There is not much to add to this exalted story but when I was serving Srila Prabhupada in Juhu I always had the idea that I wanted to be like the Six Gosvamis and go to Vrindavan and roam about Vrindavan, but Srila Prabhupada wanted me to manage the Juhu project. I never said anything to Srila Prabhupada but one day when I was sitting before him in his room, just on his own accord he said, “First you manage your father’s estate (he was referring to himself) expertly just like Raghunatha dasa Gosvami managed his father’s estate and you go to Vrindavan and be a Gosvami.”

Raghunatha dasa was living at home, following the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but within his heart he really wanted to leave his domestic life there and join Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. One day he heard that Nityananda Prabhu had come to Panihati. Panihati is a suburb of Calcutta, of now metropolitan Calcutta. Raghunatha dasa’s home was not very far from there. So he took the opportunity to meet Nityananda Prabhu in Panihati. When he got there he saw that Nityananda Prabhu and His most intimate associates were sitting on a platform at the base of a banyan tree which is represented to us today by this oak tree. Raghunatha dasa, out of natural humility, offered his obeisances from a distance, and one of Nityananda Prabhu’s associates informed Him, “Look! There is Raghunatha dasa offering his obeisances from afar.” Then Nityananda Prabhu who is both very merciful and very humorous said to Raghunatha dasa, “Why are you offering obeisances from such a distance? You just like a thief hiding in the background, but now that I have caught you, I will punish you, and the punishment is that you should feed Me and all of My associates with cida (flat rice) and dadhi (yogurt).”

Now this is a very humorous request because Raghunatha dasa was immensely wealthy and cida is like the most simple, plain, ordinary, cheap food you can get. It would be as if Governor Schwarzenegger came and said, “What can I do for you all?” And we said, “Well, we would like you to serve puffed rice to our little group here.” It is like sort of a joke [laughter]. So Nityananda Prabhu told Raghunatha dasa, “Yes, I want you to arrange a feast for Me and My associates and we will eat chipped rice and yogurt.”

So Raghunatha dasa went and bought the ingredients and soon the news spread that there was a wonderful festival of chipped rice and yogurt with Nityananda Prabhu and people from all directions started to come. Raghunatha dasa was buying more and more chipped rice and yogurt and milk and fruits and sweets and more and more people were coming. The news spread to the merchants so they also came with their chipped rice and yogurt and sweets and milk and fruit and they would sell their goods to Raghunatha dasa and then he would feed them Cida-dadhi with the same ingredients that they had sold him. 

Pretty soon there was no space to sit on the land, so people were sitting on the bank of the Ganges and eating their chipped rice and yogurt. Eventually there was no space on the banks of the Ganges, so people were standing in the Ganges and eating their chipped rice and yogurt. 

Nityananda Prabhu, out of His immense spiritual potency and compassion, called Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to join them and see the fun. So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came, invisible to almost everyone, and He walked alongside Nityananda Prabhu who went to all the devotees who were having chipped rice and yogurt, and He would take one morsel of chipped rice from each devotee’s pot and put it into the mouth of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In that way the two brothers, Gaura-Nitai, were enjoying pastimes, but almost nobody could see that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was present, but they could see that Nityananda Prabhu was in a very ecstatic mood. 

Then Raghava Pandita whose home was in Panihati, just near the site of the festival, he invited Nityananda Prabhu to have a feast at his place, and Nityananda Prabhu said, “No, we are having chipped rice and yogurt. This will be our lunch, but if you like, we can come in the evening and have a feast at your place.” And then in the evening Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu had a huge feast at Raghava Pandita’s house.

The next morning before Raghunatha dasa took leave to return to his home, he prepared a list with Raghava Pandita of all the devotees. He wanted to give in charity to all the devotees and he had brought with him gold coins that were extremely valuable. So he allocated so many gold coins for Nityananda Prabhu and then so many for His most intimate associates and then a smaller quantity for the lesser associates. 

Just before leaving, Nityananda Prabhu called him to Him and He placed His lotus feet on the head of Raghunatha dasa and He blessed him, He said, “I am very pleased with this celebration of the Cida-dadhi Festival and I bless you that very soon you will be relieved from the shackles of family life. You will join Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri where He will accept you as one of His intimate associates and He will place you under the care of His personal secretary, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. So you return home and when the time comes, everything that I have said will come to pass.”

So Raghunatha dasa returned home. He no longer slept in the inner area of the household but he slept in the Durga-mandapa, a temple structure outside the main house. His family was concerned that he would run away. So they had bodyguards watching him twenty-four hours a day to make sure he didn’t escape.

One night, in the middle of the night, Yadunandana Acharya came to the house, and he said to Raghunatha dasa that, “My disciple who is supposed to do the deity worship doesn’t want to do his service, so can you please come with me. We will go to him and convince him that he should do his service.” So Raghunatha dasa thought, “This is my chance,” because he was with Yadunandana Acharya, the family priest, so everyone had faith, “He is with Yadunandana Acharya. Nothing will happen.” He went with Yadunandana Acharya out of the compound and then he told him, “Guru Maharaja, there is no need for you to come with me to that disciple’s place. I will go myself and I will persuade him to take up his service to the Deities.”

So the two of them parted ways. Raghunatha dasa went to the disciple’s place and convinced him to take up his deity service, and then he left for Puri. But he didn’t travel on the main road because he knew that as soon as his parents found him missing, they would send guards to find him and bring him back. So he travelled on the inner route. He had nothing to eat, no place to sleep. He walked seven days continuously and out of those days, maybe two or three days, he got a little something to eat, but he didn’t care. His mind was fixed on the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Thus he arrived in Puri and as he was blessed by Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him into His inner circle of associates. He placed him under the care of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami who took care of him just like an older brother takes care of a younger, dependent brother. Svarupa Damodara Gosvami was the personal secretary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Raghunatha dasa became his assistant. So he was the assistant secretary to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri. So many pastimes took place in Puri and Raghunatha dasa was there to witness the pastimes and to assist the Lord in His pastimes.

In due course Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left this world. That means He wound up His pastimes and all the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, almost all of them, wound up their pastimes on earth and joined the Lord in His pastimes elsewhere. So Raghunatha dasa, being bereft of the association of the Lord and His intimate associates, could not bear to live, and he decided to go to Vrindavan, offer respects to Rupa and Sanatana, and give up his life by jumping from Govardhana Hill.

When he met Rupa and Sanatana, they appealed to him, “Don’t end your life now. You were with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri, you witnessed His pastimes there. You stay with us. We will accept you as our younger brother, our third brother, and you stay with us and tell us about the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri.” Sanatana Gosvami told him that, “I also had the idea to give up my life under the wheels of the Jagannatha chariot, but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu forbade me. He said that, ‘Your body does not belong to you—it belongs to Me—so you have no right to destroy it. I have so many purposes that I want to fulfill but I cannot fulfill them through My body, but I will fulfill them through your body.’” 

So Raghunatha dasa agreed to stay with them. Further he took up the service of excavating Radha-kunda and Syama-kuṇḍa and he made his residence there on the banks of Radha-kunda just near Syama-kuṇḍa. And again so many pastimes took place there. Every evening he would discourse on the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the devotees would gather and listen. One of the devotees who would regularly come and hear him speak was Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami and from hearing Raghunatha dasa’s discourses about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and from the notebooks kept by Svarupa Damodara Gosvami in Puri and Murari Gupta, he compiled Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. 

So Raghunatha dasa lived to quite an old age. He wrote several important books, Manaḥ-śikṣā, very important book for devotees. He wrote many poems which were collected under the name of Stavāvalī and he wrote a drama.

We are all indebted to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. He has set the example of renunciation in Puri and in Vrindavan and he revealed to us the inner mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His confidential associates. Raghunatha dasa was completely attached to the service of Srimati Radharani. His mood was to serve Srimati Radharani and his prayers express his desire for Her service. So both by his external behavior and his internal moods, he has set an example for us who are following in the line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Gosvamis. 

And of course we are indebted to all of his guides. He had so many gurus who helped him: Yadunandana Acharya, Balarama Acharya, Haridasa Thakura, Nityananda Prabhu Himself, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami. They all blessed him and helped him in his spiritual journey. Of course we are indebted to the two brothers, Gaura-Nitai—Nityananda Prabhu who ordered him to celebrate the Panihati Festival and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who engaged him in His personal service, gave him His own govardhana-śilā, and blessed him with so much knowledge—and last but not least, to Srila Prabhupada who brought this knowledge, this culture, this process to us, translated Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta from which we have learned about Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and their pastimes, and who has presented to us the same process that Raghunatha dasa followed to attain perfection, given us the same process. If we follow it ardently. . . Of course we are not able to follow like Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. It is said that Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s regulative principles were like lines on a stone, they could not be broken, they could not be erased. He was so strict. But still, by the mercy of our paramparā, we can aspire to be the servants of the servants of his servants and chant the holy names and study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, worship the Deity, associate with devotees, reside in Mayapur, Vrindavan, Jagannatha Puri, or wherever there are Deities of Krishna and the association of devotees. And by following the same process, in the same line, we can also hope in some near or distant lifetime to achieve the same type of perfection.

We are indebted to Giridhari-priya dasa, Kunti devi dasi, Svarupa Damodara dasa, and many others—I wouldn’t say they are too numerous to mention. Given that I haven’t had any prasāda today, I don’t have the energy to mention them all, but they are in my mind and hearts. I am aware of you but I just don’t have it in me to mention each and every one of you by name. So thank you all very much. Hare Krishna.