Gaura Purnima Festival Report 2009

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

By the grace of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, our beloved Guru Maharaja Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Goswami Maharaj and all Vaisnavas, this years’ Gaura Purnima Festival was a transcendentally wonderful nine day event in Sri Mayapur Dham, West Bengal and the surrounding area.

A huge crowd of between 1,500 to 2,000 devotees from around the world joined the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math to celebrate the anniversary of the glorious appearance of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Who, 523 years ago, appeared in Sri Mayapur Dham to inaugurate the chanting of the holy name of the Lord and to save the fallen, conditioned souls from material bondage. Pilgrims came from as far away as the USA, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, over 200 came from Bangladesh and more than 1,200 came from different villages in West Bengal. All were welcome within the shelter of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math, with over 3,800 plates of prasadam being served on the busiest days.

Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja led a huge sankirtan party to auspicious places all over the nine islands of Navadwip and beyond; 8 buses full of eager devotees visited the place where Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took Sanyas from Keshav Bharati at Katwa; Jajigram (where Srinivas Acharya appeared) and to Sri-Khanda, where many stalwart devotees of the Lord Mahaprabhu performed sadhana, including Narahari Sarakar who’s eternal form is Madhu Mati Sakhi, Raghu Nandan who was the nephew of Narahari Sarakar, Lochan das Thakur Mahasaya who wrote Chaitanya Mangal book over there, Chiranjit Sen, Govinda Kaviraja, Ram Chandra Kaviraja and others.

On the 9th of March in celebration of the disappearance day of Srila Madhavendra Puripada, spiritual master of Iswara Puripada, Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math hosted the Visva Vaisnava Raja Sabha, the World Vaisnava Association Festival. The festival was a huge success with over 4,000 devotees in attendance, including more than 50 sanyasis and 200 bramhacaris. His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Vallabha Tirtha Goswami, current President of the World Vaisnava Association was unable to attend the day’s festivities, but did grace the Math the next evening by addressing the congregation of devotees.

The festival came to a close with a Maha abhisheka of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and with a huge feast the next morning in remembrance of Jagannath Mishra’s (father of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) blissful mood due to the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Devotees were led by Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja to the bank of the sacred Ganga river and invited to bathe in and then gather water in clay pots on their heads, to be carried back to the Math for use in the bathing of Mahaprabhu. Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja led more than 15 sanyasis of Sree Gopinatha Gaudiya Math in the opulent worship of Mahaprabhu and afterwards the remnants of Ekadasi prasadam were offered to the grateful devotees.

By the Divine order of Srila Bhakti Pramoda Puri Goswami, the beloved Guru Maharaja of Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Goswami Maharaja, the devotees of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math have been participating in Gaura Purnima festivities and parikrama of the Holy places of Navadwip since the year 1999. Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja says, “Participating in the Navadwip Dham Parikrama is the easiest and best way for the living beings to be delivered from this miserable material world.” All the devotees are extremely grateful to him and to Srila Bhakti Pramoda Puri Goswami Maharaj (Thakur) for each year inviting all devotees to come and participate in this grand festival for Love of Godhead and for thereby giving the whole world the opportunity to receive the mercy and blessings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and all of His devotees.

Written by Arati dasi, Kelowna, Canada on March 30, 2009