Krishna and the Old Gopi

Yesterday night I called my friend Vrajchandra Prabhu to inquire about some aspects of the lunar eclipse. After a short chat we hung up. Five minutes later he called again. “I want to tell you a short story,” he said. I was all ears.
Here is the story:
Once there was an old gopi. She wanted to carry a pot of butter to her home, but it was too heavy. Suddenly little Krishna appeared on the scene. “O Krishna,” the old gopi said, “can you please help me lift this butter pot and put on my head?”
Krishna smiled, “No, I can’t do this,” and He left.
With great difficulty the old gopi lifted the pot, placed it on her head and walked to her house.
Krishna was waiting there. “Mother,” He gave a charming smile, “shall I help you to remove this pot from your head?”
“Yes, son, please do so.”
Krishna picked up the pot and gently placed it on the floor.
“My dear Krishna,” she asked, “why didn’t you help me when I asked you earlier?”
Krishna’s face beamed with joy. “Mother,” He said, “I am known to decrease the burden of My devotees; how could I add to yours?”

Panihati Cida Dahi Festival

Today is Panihatti Cida Dahi festival. It is associated with Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, an associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Raghunath Das was son of a very rich merchant in Bengal, yet he wanted to leave all material opulence and surrender to Lord. On this day, in Panihatti, on banks of Ganga, near Kolkota, nearly five hundred years back, he arranged for a massive festival in which cida dahi sweet was distributed to thousands of followers of Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya. After this festival, Lord Nityananda gave His mercy to Srila Raghunath Das Thakur, so that he could achieve the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya.
For the devotees of the Lord trying to obtain the shelter of Mahaprabhu, this day behooves us to beg Sri Nityananda Prabhu to bestow His mercy upon us so that we can too, soon achieve the divine lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Please pray to Lord and prepare cida with condensed milk and sweet curd, add camphor, dry fruits, bananas, mangoes, offer to Lord and relish it remembering this most merciful pastime.

Welcome

Dear ALL

Hare Krishna
I welcome all the readers to my blog. I plan to write my stories, poems and Krishna conscious articles here. I wanted a different name for the blog, but all good names were taken. I am grateful to my colleagues and seniors in BTG for all their help with writing, and also to my god sister Bhakti Lata Devi, whose devotional writings in her blog "Seed of devotion" inspired me to write short devotional essays and publish them on net. Through this blog I want to share devotional ideas and also present Krishna consciousness to secular readers, plus I will also write general things. This is not a strictly institutional publication, so I will allow myself freedom to explore different creative realms too.
Thank you
Your servant
Murari Gupta Das
(Dr Manik Mahajan)