Ganga Ganga, Part 2

September 18, 2003

Another transcendental place is Chatrabhogagrama. This is described in Caitanya Bhagavat, Antya Lila, as follows:

65. Overcome in separation from Goddess Ganga, and always thinking of her, Lord Siva came to that place.

66. Seeing Goddess Ganga at Chatrabhoga, Lord Siva was overwhelmed with love.

67. The moment he saw her, Lord Siva fell into the Ganga. Assuming a form of water, Siva mixed with the waters of the Ganga.

68. Gazing at Goddess Ganga, the mother of all the worlds, Lord Siva worshiped her with great devotion.

69. Lord Siva knew the glories of worshiping Goddess Ganga, and Goddess Ganga knew the glories of worshiping Lord Siva.

70. Touching the Ganga's waters, Lord Siva assumed a form of water. In this form he humbly worshiped Goddess Ganga.

71. Lord Siva assumed a form of water at this place. That is why everyone calls it Ambulinga-ghata.

72. By the combined power of Goddess Ganga and Lord Siva, Chatrabhoga-grama became famous as a very sacred place.

73. Touched by Lord Caitanya's feet in His pastimes, that place became even more glorious.

74. Lord Caitanya went to Chatrabhoga. At Ambulinga-ghata He saw the Ganga divide into a hundred mouths.

75. Seeing this holy place, Lord Caitanya was overcome with bliss. Roaring "Hari!" He made a great tumult.

76. When Lord Caitanya fainted in ecstasy, Lord Nityananda caught Him. Everyone called out "Jaya!" and "Hari! Hari!"

77. Overcome with bliss, Lord Caitanya and His associates bathed at that ghata.

78. As He bathed there, Lord Caitanya enjoyed many pastimes. In the future, Vedavyasa will write about them in the Puranas.

79. After bathing, the Lord climbed onto the riverbank. He soon made the dry clothing He put on wet with tears of love.

80. With a stream of a hundred mouths the River Ganga flowed over the earth. Then, also with a stream of a hundred mouths, tears flowed from Lord Caitanya's eyes."

At Triveni we boarded the boats. That was a bit of an adventure since devotees were carrying baggage and the gangplank was about six inches wide and quite unstable. But by the mercy of the Lord, everyone made it on board.

After a blissful cruise on the Ganga, the first stop was Panihati. I recommend that everyone read about Mother Ganga, whose glories are too great to expound here. Suffice it to say that cruising on Ganga is transcendentally sublime.

Panihati is most famous for the Chipped Rice festival of Raghunatha das. This is fully described in Caitanya Caritamrta, Antya Lila, Chapter

6. "Hearing about the festival, all kinds of learned scholars, brahmanas and priests went there. Lord Nityananda Prabhu honored them and made them sit on the raised platform with Him." == REF. Antya 6.64

"There was food remaining in the three other big pots of Lord Nityananda, and a brahmana distributed it to all the devotees, giving a morsel to each." == REF. Antya 6.96

Caitanya Bhagavat desicribes that Panihati is the place of many pastimes of Lord Nityananda. We had a very long kirtan there, under the banyan tree where the Lord sat. Then there was a chipped-rice breakfast.

Panihati is also the home of Raghava Pandit, who is famous for his cooking for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.... "The food prepared and offered to the Deity by Raghava Pandita was like the essence of nectar. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came there again and again to eat such prasadam." ===REF. Antya 6.112

"He brought so many presentations that no one could know them perfectly. Indeed, it was a fact that the supreme mother, Radharani, personally cooked in the house of Raghava Pandita." === REF. Antya 6.116

Once Lord Nityananda was having an ecstatic kirtan at the house of Raghava Pandit. He suddenly asked for a kadamba flower garland. The pandit told Him that it was not kadamba flower season. Lord Nityananda directed him to a different type of tree that was in the courtyard and they found it full of kadamba flowers. Lord Nityananda blissfully received a big garland of kadamba flowers.

The chipped-rice festival still goes on at Panihati, sponsored by ISKCON with about two lacs of people attending. It is one of the major festivals held in India and is also held at New Panihati, Atlanta.

The special cooking of Damayanti, the sister of Raghava Pandit, is described in detail in Caitanya Caritamrta, Antya Lila, Chapter 10, starting with verse 25. At the house of Raghava Pandit, there is a display of the things she prepared. Please see the attached photo. Panihati was a place of pilgrimage for the likes of Narotamma das Thakura and Srinivasa Acarya.

Along the way, we had many stops for Nama Hatta Programs. There are at least ten thousand nama hatta devotees in Bengal. Gauranga Prema Maharaja travels around regularly. He and HH Subhaga Swami went ahead and arranged programs. These always meant hundreds of devotees greeting us with kirtan, conch shells, foot bathing and of course prasadam feasts. I cannot list all the places we visited. Sometimes it was several in one day.

The next holy place was Khardaha. Khardaha was the residence of Lord Nityananda in his household lila. After his disappearance, his wives and children continued to live there,aregular pilgrimage for Srinivasa, Narotamma das and their associates. Bircandra, the son of Nityananda and the incarnation of Maha Visnu, stayed there. He floated a 200-kilogram stone down the Ganga from hundreds of kilometers north and carved Deities from it. One set, Radha Shyamasundara, presides over the main temple of the town.

"After Nityananda Prabhu, the greatest branch is Virabhadra Gosani, who also has innumerable branches and subbranches. It is not possible to describe them all."

Purport: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes in his Anubhasya, "Virabhadra Gosani was the direct son of Srila Nityananda Prabhu and a disciple of Jahnava-devi. His real mother was Vasudha. In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (67) he is mentioned as an incarnation of Ksirodakasayi Visnu. Therefore Virabhadra Gosani is nondifferent from Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In a village of the name Jhamatapura, in the district of Hugli, Virabhadra Gosani had a disciple named Yadunathacarya, who had two daughters— a real daughter named Srimati and a foster daughter named Narayani. Both these daughters married, and they are mentioned in the Bhakti-ratnakara (Thirteenth Wave). Virabhadra Gosani had three disciples who are celebrated as his sons— Gopijana-vallabha, Ramakrsna and Ramacandra. The youngest, Ramacandra, belonged to the Sandilya dynasty and had the surname Vatavyala. He established his family at Khadadaha, and its members are known as the gosvamis of Khadadaha." = REF. Adi 11.8

"Although Virabhadra Gosani was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He presented Himself as a great devotee. And although the Supreme Godhead is transcendental to all Vedic injunctions, He strictly followed the Vedic rituals" Adi 11.10.

"He is the main pillar in the hall of devotional service erected by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He knew within Himself that He acted as the Supreme Lord Visnu, but externally He was prideless." Adi 11.11

"It is by the glorious mercy of Sri Virabhadra Gosani that people all over the world now have the chance to chant the names of Caitanya and Nityananda." Adi 11.12

We stopped at several bigger cities for nightly pandal programs. The local people come in droves and really appreciated seeing so many "dancing white elephants". All the devotees introduced themselves and told what country they are from. That always is very popular. The matajis who saying Bengali bhajans and lead kirtans are especially popular.

The end of the Ganga safari was Ganga Sagara. Many Hindus consider it essential to go there. It is the place of the ashram of Kapila Muni, after he instructed his mother. Maharaja Bhagiratha brought the Ganga to earth just to bring her there to purify his ancestors who had been burned up by the wrath of Kapila Muni. There is a small temple there and a blissful sumudra snana. From there we cruised back up the Ganga to Haldiya, a growing city of Bengal, for pandal programs and onward to Puri by road.

Hoping this meets you in the best of health.

Your servant,

Kavicandra Swami