May 1, Appearance day of Jahnava Devi, N°1

[Guest guest]

Dear devotees,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his faithful followers!

 

Please kindly allow me to share some transcendental pastimes with you.

 

...."it is quite clear that Jahnava Ma won respect throughout the Vaisnava

community as well as constituting a strong influence on her two principle

disciples, Virabhadra and Ramacandra. She was known as Isvari, the feminine

form of the commonly used word for God, Isvara. Narahari Cakravarti Thakura

recounts in his Bhaktiratnakara that Yadunandan and the other devotees

gathered in Katwa as Jahnava Devi made her way to Kheturi out of respect ate

only after she had finished her repast...

 

Perhaps Jahnava Ma's most significant contribution was to the organization

and character of Bengali Vaisnavism as it endeavoured to deal with the

theological sophistication of the Vrndavan Goswamis... Her role there

(Kheturi Festival) was to lend approval to the innovations in the practice

of kirtan as well as the theological formulations on the nature of Caitanya

and His incarnation that Narottama and Srinivas Acarya had brought with them

from Vrndavana. (BRK 10.628.)

 

Jahnava Devi, doubtless impressed by the culture of the new leaders of the

Movement and the learning they had received at the hands of Jiva Goswami,

decided to go Herself to Braj and witness firsthand the developments which

had taken place there. Travelling with a large group of Vaisnavas and being

carried in a palanquin which protected Her modesty, She led the undoubtedly

rather impressive group which made the lengthy pilgrimage, taking between

five and six months to make the trip. Narahari Cakravarti Thakura describes

an incident which took place in a village en route:

 

The residents of the village were Candi worshippers who mocked the group of

Vaisnavas when they saw them bowing to and touching the feet of Jahnava

Devi. Considering that by offering respect to Jahnava Ma rather than their

local deity of Candi, the Vaisnavas had committed a great offense, they

vowed to slaughter the whole group of travellers. Candi, however, found this

proposal unacceptable and appeared in an angry form to her worshippers in a

dream and revealed to them the glories of Jahnava Devi, saying:

 

You rascals! You do not know the truth about Her whom you look down upon and

whom you have called a 'brahmana woman'. She is the wife of Nityananda-Rama,

an object of respect even to me and worshipable by all. Her name, Jahnava

Isvari, is exceedingly sweet. Simply by uttering this name, one can be freed

from life's worries. She is the beloved of Nityananda, the incarnation of

compassion; She voluntarily distributes loving devotion to Krsna to the

living beings. Whoever worships Her lotus feet and sings Her glories will be

delivered from the threefold suffering. (BKR 11.45.51)

 

Candi concluded by telling the villagers to beg Jahnava Devi for

forgiveness; which they did. Jahnava Ma converted them all to Vaisnavism and

stayed for several days in the village before moving on. Similarly, another

miraculous event took place at another village where robbers thought to

attack the group. They were unable to find Jahnava Ma and Her party of

travellers despite knowing clearly their location. They too converted to

Vaisnavism when they realized that Jahnava Devi was divinely protected...

 

It is said that while still alive, She had a murti of Radha made and placed

on the right-hand side of Gopinath in Braj, where a murti of Radha already

stood on the left. When She died, She entered into that deity, thenceforth

know as Ananga-manjari. Jahnava Devi's apotheosis as Ananga Manjari, the

sister of Radha, is perhaps what sets her apart from most other woman saints

in Gaudiya vaisnavism...

 

O Navadvipa Dhama, give me your mercy, for without your mercy, how can

anyone attain the Lord's Dhama? Please do not consider whether I am fit or

not, particularly in the service I have just done. I simply extracted the

essence of the instructions of Jahnava (Ananga-manjari) and Nityananda (Lord

Balarama), the Holder of all energies." Navadvipa-bhava-taranga.

 

If you are interested in reading more on this subject matter, you can dive

into p 59, 62, 65, 67, 68, 70-73, 81 of the book edited by Satyaraj prabhu

(Steven Rosen) and called 'Vaisnavi, women and worship of Krsna'.

 

TO BE CONTINUED ON N°2

 

Your servant,

Krsna-kirtana dasi.