Darshan of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Sacred Blanket at Bhadrak (Orissa)

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

From http://www.bvashram.org/articles/137/1/

 

 

Dear friends and devotees,

 

Jaya Sita Rama. Please accept my humble pranams.

 

500 years ago, while walking from Navadvipa to Puri, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent the night in Bhadrak on the banks of the sacred Salandi river. He stayed at an ancient temple of Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana (located in Santhiya village). Before departing for Puri, He blessed the temple pujari by giving him His personal blanket. This blanket has been worshipped for the last 500 years by the descendants of the original pujari.

 

The blanket is kept hidden in the temple throughout the year, but on one day each year (the anniversary of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's visit to Bhadrak) the blanket is displayed to the public and a large festival is held. This year we were able to take a photograph of this sacred relic, so now everyone can have darshan of Lord Caitanya's personal blanket.

 

The blanket is brownish-red in color, and it is covered in sandalwood paste from hundreds of years of worship. The blanket is filled with white cotton, which is visible through some holes in the blankets cover.

 

If anyone would like to have direct darshan of this blanket, they should plan to visit Bhadrak just after the Ratha Yatra festival in Puri. Bhadrak was also the home of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, a great saint in the line of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, so you can visit the school where he taught and served as headmaster for several years. Devotees can also take the opportunity to see the sacred wooden shoes of Sri Madhavendra Puri (Sri Caitanya's param-guru) located at Remuna, around 45 km from Bhadrak. Sri Madhavendra Puri's samadhi is located there, as well as the samadhi of Sri Rasikananda.

 

Yours in service,

 

Jahnava Nitai Das,

Bhaktivedanta Ashram &

Bhaktivedanta International Charities

http://www.bvashram.org

http://www.foodrelief.org

 

 

[Guruvani]

Somebody should get them an airtight vacuum sealed box to keep such a sacred object in.

With modern methods the blanket could be preserved for many hundred more years.

Otherwise, it will be destroyed by air and environmental elements.

 

If the blanket is genuine then it should have an entire shrine devoted to it's preservation.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

Somebody should get them an airtight vacuum sealed box to keep such a sacred object in.

With modern methods the blanket could be preserved for many hundred more years.

Otherwise, it will be destroyed by air and environmental elements.

 

If the blanket is genuine then it should have an entire shrine devoted to it's preservation.

 

It *is* a wonderful thing to have the remnants of the Lord available to worship and honor.

 

Of course, with Guruvani's "if", I can't help remember somebody's comment that, if you took all the "relics of the True Cross" in the world and put them together, you could build a house.

 

Ultimately, the important thing is to surround ourself with reminders of the Supreme Lord and His Associates and pastimes. It doesn't matter so much if the reminder is a 500 year-old relic or a cheap postcard. What matters is our consciousness, right?

[Guruvani]

 

It *is* a wonderful thing to have the remnants of the Lord available to worship and honor.

 

Of course, with Guruvani's "if", I can't help remember somebody's comment that, if you took all the "relics of the True Cross" in the world and put them together, you could build a house.

 

Ultimately, the important thing is to surround ourself with reminders of the Supreme Lord and His Associates and pastimes. It doesn't matter so much if the reminder is a 500 year-old relic or a cheap postcard. What matters is our consciousness, right?

 

The relics can get to be an industry.

As such, the relics should be taken with some caution.

 

The most valuable relic is the instructions and teachings of Mahaprabhu and his pure devotees.

 

The change of heart is the most important thing.

 

The instructions of Mahaprabhu are as such much more valuable than are the remnants of cloth etc.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

There was a book compiled by one of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's disciples listing all of the physical remnants from Lord Caitanya's pastimes.

 

Several other items are even mentioned in Sri Caitanya's biographies themselves, and they can still be located today in the same locations mentioned, being worshipped by descendants.

 

This particular blanket is not mentioned in Caitanya's biographies, but is mentioned in the book by Bhaktisiddhanta's disciple, and it is universally accepted as authentic amongst Gaudiya Vaishnavas in India. Beyond that there is no chemical test to ascertain if it was touched by God or not.

 

As a side note, the blanket is now down to a piece of just 7 or 8 inches square. I am sure it started as a full blanket and different saints were given pieces of it over hundreds of years gradually making it into a tiny portion of the original blanket.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

That's an interesting tid-bit about the book listing the remnants.

 

Well, certainly, we can be more assured that, in India, with a long-standing written and oral tradition, and arguably more political stability than the Middle East and Europe have known, there is less room for forgery.

 

Still, as I recall, even over 500 years, some fog of mystery had settled over the life and pastimes of Sriman Mahaprabhu. It took the efforts of Srila Bhaktivinoda and his successors (like that disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati) to bring some clarity.

 

Certainly, we're all fortunate that Jahnava Nitai Prabhu has given us a glimpse into the ongoing pastimes of the Lord.

 

 

There was a book compiled by one of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's disciples listing all of the physical remnants from Lord Caitanya's pastimes.

 

Several other items are even mentioned in Sri Caitanya's biographies themselves, and they can still be located today in the same locations mentioned, being worshipped by descendants.

 

This particular blanket is not mentioned in Caitanya's biographies, but is mentioned in the book by Bhaktisiddhanta's disciple, and it is universally accepted as authentic amongst Gaudiya Vaishnavas in India. Beyond that there is no chemical test to ascertain if it was touched by God or not.

[Guruvani]

This brings to mind the subject of Srila Prabhupada's remnants.

At one time I had a small piece of cloth in a box on my altar.

My kids must have got into it and the piece disappeared.

 

What bothers me is that there are some older ISKCON devotees with closets full of dhotis, coats, blankets etc. while some very dedicated ISKCON devotess never even got a small piece.

 

The hoarding of sacred remnants is to me an offense and an act of greed.

 

I think these sacred remnants should have been shared with all the dedicated disciples of Srila Prabhupada.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Ah, yes!

 

If only I had saved one of the cookies he gave me...

 

I haven't looked at it yet, but I saw somebody posted a video clip called "Prabhupada's Cookies" or something similar. I don't know if it's the same clip, but there's a video where you can see me being held by my Mata in New Dwaraka while Srila Prabhupada distributes cookies.

 

 

This brings to mind the subject of Srila Prabhupada's remnants.

At one time I had a small piece of cloth in a box on my altar.

My kids must have got into it and the piece disappeared.

 

What bothers me is that there are some older ISKCON devotees with closets full of dhotis, coats, blankets etc. while some very dedicated ISKCON devotess never even got a small piece.

 

The hoarding of sacred remnants is to me an offense and an act of greed.

 

I think these sacred remnants should have been shared with all the dedicated disciples of Srila Prabhupada.

[Guruvani]

 

Ah, yes!

 

If only I had saved one of the cookies he gave me...

 

I haven't looked at it yet, but I saw somebody posted a video clip called "Prabhupada's Cookies" or something similar. I don't know if it's the same clip, but there's a video where you can see me being held by my Mata in New Dwaraka while Srila Prabhupada distributes cookies.

 

I saw that video.

I also got some cookies from Srila Prabhupada that way.

 

It was a mad house during the cookie pass out.

It was every man for himself.

 

I just fought my way through the crowd to get a cookie.

It was totally disorganized.

 

I guess if you want some prasadam you sometimes just have to fight for it.

[Pita das]

When Srila Prabhupada was last in New Dwarka His Divine Grace would hand out cookies to all the children after every class I was lucky to get one each time Srila Prabhupada did so.As Srila Prabhupada gave me the cookie His Divine Grace would push the cookie down with his Lotus finger into my hand.I also had a flower that Srila Prabhupada threw out to us which I caught .I taped that flower into my Bhagavat Gita .I dont have that Gita any longer I must of left the Gita in New Dwarka before going to India the Summer of 1977 I never noted to other readers of that Gita that the brown mass taped down was a Flower thrown to me by Srila Prabhupada.I wonder who is useing that Gita now???