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The First Gaura Purnima Festival: The Journey To Kheturi
The First Gaura Purnima Festival: The Journey To Kheturi
Sri Jahnava cooked various types of delicious food which she first offered
to Gaura Candra and then fed affectionately to the different mahantas. Sri
Yadunandana and his followers did not take their meal until after Sri Isvari
had eaten. After the meal, they all engaged in nama sankirtana in the
courtyard of Gauranga. Thereafter Sri Yadunandana and his followers
prepared for the trip to Kheturi. Within each village, people were satisfied
to see the mahantas on their way to the great festival. Because of the
presence of the great Vaisnavas, each village they entered became a holy
place and the people of the village became fortunate. That day they
rested in the village of Telia Budhari and the happiness of the villagers
was boundless.
When they left Budhari for Kheturi, the villagers accompanied them to the
bank of the river Padmavati. Sri Santosh Dutta had hired a large boat
which took them to the opposite bank of the river. Upon the arrival of the
Vaisnavas and Mahantas, Kheturi village became the center point of
divine happiness.
Srinivasa and Sri Narottama led the party which came forward to receive
the honored guests and the village people fell at the feet of the great
Bhagavatas. Seeing the reception one man commented that formerly the
villagers had been heretics but by the association of Narottama they had
all become religious.
Srinivasa and Narottama arranged individual living places for each guest.
The vaisnavas were astonished to see so many living places, such a vast
stock of food and so many attendants taking responsibility for the festival.
The people of Kheturi forgot their individual miseries upon getting the
association of the great Bhagavatas, and they all looked forward to the
beginning of the grand festival. They considered themselves very
fortunate because the village was blessed by the dust of the feet of the
great devotees. They were impressed with the decorations on the houses
of the mahantas and on the throne of Mahaprabhu although the Lord had
not yet sat upon it. The next day was Phalguna Purnima and the six
deities of Krsna would be placed on the thrones. Tomorrow the great
devotees would assemble and even the demigods would observe the
grand festival. Everyone eagerly awaited the performance of sankirtana.
Devidasa, who sat on the left side of Narottama, started by stroking the
sweet mardala. The other musical instruments joined in, each one
seeming to speak in sweet words. Narottama led the kirtana and Sri
Vallabha dasa and others repeated each line in turn. Sri Gauranga dasa
and others played other instruments and sang in a sweet pitch. There are
two methods of kirtana, namely unbinding and binding. Sri Gokula sang
the first method and his sweet voice impressed everyone. The audience
was mesmerized by the dramatic performance and the musicians.
During the kirtana recital, demigods from heaven poured flowers on the
singers. Narada and other famous saints and ascetics came in disguise
from heaven to attend the kirtana. Even the animals, birds, snakes and
other creatures were mesmerised by the songs. As the ocean of
sankirtana little by little overflowed its banks, the people in the
sankirtana pavilion forgot their own existence and bathed in their tears.
When Sripati, Srinivasa and others regained their external senses they
could not believe that they had actually enjoyed the association of the
Lord. The people in the audience were also amazed by the vision they had
seen. Srinivasa and Narottama explained to them that they had been
witness to another lila of Mahaprabhu and that the Lord's pastimes are
always beyond the comprehension of the laymen. Sri Jahnava Isvari
confirmed this by saying that Mahaprabhu had fulfilled the great desires
of His beloved devotees by appearing in living form during their
sankirtana. By this merciful appearance Mahaprabhu delivered many
heretics from sin and damnation and lifted mankind out of its ocean of
sorrow.