Planet ISKCON

One of the most popular events in the holy town of Vrindavan, India – where Lord Krishna appeared 5,000 years ago – is the celebration of Jhulan Yatra, the Radha-Krishna swing festival. In Vrindavan among the local villagers and inhabitants this festival lasts for 13 days.

This is one of the biggest festivals of the year and Vrindavana is very crowded at this time. Literally hundreds of thousands of people from surrounding towns and villages visit Vrindavan over this period in the auspicious month of Shravana (July-Aug). The swings can be simple, but often they are made of gold or silver.

In Vrindavan for five days, in many of the 5000 temples there, the small Utsav-vighraha, functional Deities, are taken from the altar and placed on an elaborately decorated swing in the temple room. After receiving the traditional arati worship, the Deities are pushed on Their swing.

Members of the congregation are invited to participate. Each person offers flower petals and personal prayers, and then pushes the swing several times as the other members chant Hare Krishna, Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna jaya Vrindavan, or Jaya Radhe, Jaya Jaya Madhava dayite in kirtan. The atmosphere of this festival is especially sweet as everyone has the chance to intimately serve Radha and Krishna.

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subalo yah priya-sresthah sa gauridasa-panditah |

In Vraja, Gauri Das Pandit was Subala, one of the twelve Gopals. He is one of Nityananda Prabhu’s dearest associates. (Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika 128)

Gauri Das’s first residence was in the village known as Shaligram, not far from Muragacha. Later he moved to Ambika Kalna in Burdwan district, where his Sripat is extremely well known. His father’s name was Kamsari Mishra and his mother was Kamala Devi.

Gauri Das was possessed of great spiritual power. He was able to give or take Krishna prema to anyone. He surrendered everything he had to Nityananda and made Chaitanya and Nityananda the masters of his life and soul. (Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.11.26-7)

A wonderful story is told about Mahaprabhu and Gauri Das Pandit in Ambika Kalna. It is said that on the day that Mahaprabhu paddled across the Ganges to come to visit Gauri Das, he sat under the tamarind tree. Gauri Das asked for Mahaprabhu to stay permanently there in Ambika.

In order to fulfill his devotee’s desire, Mahaprabhu revealed that his form and that of Nityananda Prabhu were in a nearby neem tree. It is also said that when these deities were being carved, Nityananda was physically present. Conquered by Gauri Das’s love for Them, the deities would physically eat everything that he offered Them.

One time, Chaitanya Dasa, Gauridasa’s foremost disciple, organized a huge sankirtana festival on the bank of the Ganges. Enraptured by the kirtana, Gauridasa’s Deities jumped off the altar and joined the Devotees in chanting and dancing. Discovering the Deities missing from the Temple, Gauridasa grabbed a stick and ran to catch Gaura-Nitai.

Seeing his angry mood, Gaura-Nitai vanished. At that moment, Gauridasa watched in amazement to see Gaura-Nitai enter the heart (hrdaya) of Chaitanya Dasa. Gauridasa embraced his beloved disciple, bathed him with tears, and said, “You are most fortunate. From today your name will be Hrdaya Chaitanya, one who holds Shri Chaitanya within his heart.”

Gauri Das Pandit Goswami disappeared in the month of Shravan on the sukla dvadasi, the twelfth day of the waxing moon.