Srila Prabhupada's Appearance on Nandotsava (13th Aug'2001)

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Srila Prabhupada's Appearance on Nandotsava (13th Aug'2001)

 

Prabhupada: Hm. The name was kept Abhaya. Abhaya means "There is no fear of

death of this child." In my maternal uncle's house, because I was born on

the Nandotsava, they kept my name Nandadulal.

Tamala Krsna: Nandadulal? Why were you called like that?

Prabhupada: Because I was born in Nandotsava day.

Tamala Krsna: Did they used to call you Nandadulal?

Prabhupada: Hm. In my maternal uncle's house I was called Nandadulal. Nandu.

Tamala Krsna: Nandadulal. It's always very nice for the devotees that we

celebrate your appearance day just following Janmastami. Guru and Krsna,

both together.(Sri Vyasa-puja, Hamburg, September 5, 1969)

 

The feasting should be held on the 17th, so that you can finish two

festivals in one--namely, Nandotsava and Vyasapuja (Spiritual Master's

Birthday).(Letter to: Satsvarupa, Montreal, 8 August, 1968)

 

Srila Prabhupada's Appearance

 

It was Janmastami, the annual celebration of the advent of Lord Krsna Some

five thousand years before. Residents of Calcutta, mostly Bengalis and other

Indians, but also many Muslims and even some British, were observing the

festive day, moving here and there through the city's streets to visit the

temples of Lord Krsna. Devout Vaisnavas, fasting until midnight, chanted

Hare Krsna and heard about the birth and activities of Lord Krsna from

Srimad-Bhagavatam. They continued fasting, chanting, and worshiping

throughout the night.

 

The next day (September 1, 1896), in a little house in the Tollygunge suburb

of Calcutta, a male child was born. Since he was born on Nandotsava, the day

Krsna's father, Nanda Maharaja, had observed a festival in honor of Krsna's

birth, the boy's uncle called him Nandulal. But his father, Gour Mohan De,

and his mother, Rajani, named him Abhay Charan, "one who is fearless, having

taken shelter at Lord Krsna's lotus feet." In accordance with Bengali

tradition, the mother had gone to the home of her parents for the delivery,

and so it was that on the bank of the Adi Ganga, a few miles from his

father's home, in a small two-room, mud-walled house with a tiled roof,

underneath a jackfruit tree, Abhay Charan was born. A few days later, Abhay

returned with his parents to their home at 151 Harrison Road.

An astrologer did a horoscope for the child, and the family was made

jubilant by the auspicious reading. The astrologer made a specific

prediction: When this child reached the age of seventy, he would cross the

ocean, become a great exponent of religion, and open 108 temples.

 

* * *

 

Abhay Charan De was born into an India dominated by Victorian imperialism.

Calcutta was the capital of India, the seat of the viceroy, the Earl of

Elgin and Kincardine, and the "second city" of the British Empire. Europeans

and Indians lived separately, although in business and education they

intermingled. The British lived mostly in central Calcutta, amidst their own

theaters, racetracks, cricket fields, and fine European buildings. The

Indians lived more in north Calcutta. Here the men dressed in dhotis and the

women in saris and, while remaining loyal to the British Crown, followed

their traditional religion and culture.

 

Abhay's home at 151 Harrison Road was in the Indian section of north

Calcutta. Abhay's father, Gour Mohan De, was a cloth merchant of moderate

income and belonged to the aristocratic suvarna-vanik merchant community. He

was related, however, to the wealthy Mullik family, which for hundreds of

years had traded in gold and salt with the British. Originally the Mulliks

had been members of the De family, a gotra (lineage) that traces back to the

ancient sage Gautama; but during the Mogul period of pre-British India a

Muslim ruler had conferred the title Mullik ("lord") on a wealthy,

influential branch of the Des. Then, several generations later, a daughter

of the Des had married into the Mullik family, and the two families had

remained close ever since.

 

An entire block of properties on either side of Harrison Road belonged to

Lokanath Mullik, and Gour Mohan and his family lived in a few rooms of a

three-story building within the Mullik properties. Across the street from

the Des' residence was a Radha-Govinda temple where for the past 150 years

the Mulliks had maintained worship of the Deity of Radha and Krsna. Various

shops on the Mullik properties provided income for the Deity and for the

priests conducting the worship. Every morning before breakfast, the Mullik

family members would visit the temple to see the Deity of Radha-Govinda.

They would offer cooked rice, kacauris, and vegetables on a large platter

and would then distribute the prasadam to the Deities' morning visitors from

the neighborhood. Among the daily visitors was Abhay Charan, accompanying

his mother, father, or servant.

 

>From SPL 1- Childhood.