Dhirnayak dasa, Bengal-Orissa Padayatra leader
The Utkala-Banga padayatris celebrated Nityananda Trayodasi on February 14 at Khalisahi village, about 80km from Bhubaneswar. There we met Radhanath Maharaja disciple Gaura Gadhadhar dasa who has made his house a preaching centre where he serves Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. He welcomed us and made all arrangements for our stay and prasadam and insisted we observe the occasion at his house.
nityananda namastubhyam premananda-pradayine
kalau kalmasa-nasaya jahnava-pataye namah
I offer pranama unto Sri Nityananda Prabhu who bestows the bliss of divine love, who eliminates the filth of the age of Kali, and who is the master of Jahnava-devi.
Lord Nityananda is even more merciful than the munificent Lord Gaurahari!
On the day of the celebration, we all attended mangal arati and then went for nagar sankirtan. There is a Jagannath temple in Khalisahi and it was there that preparations began for the festival which was to be held in the evening. A big pandal was erected and all the villagers were invited to the programme. Abhishek was performed of our utsava deities Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and Gaura Gadhadhar’s Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and fifty-six bhogas were offered to Their Lordships. We were then blessed to hear Nityananda katha by Radha Govind Maharaja disciple Hayagriva dasa who had come from Delhi to join us.
After katha there was maha arati of Their Lordships and prasadam was served to all the assembled devotees and guests. This year’s Nityananda Trayodasi was very special as it was the first Nityananda Prabhu birthday celebration for our padayatra. We all prayed to Their Lordships’ lotus feet to give us strength to preach and serve the orders of our spiritual master.
