Sweet Experience of an Extreme Fast, Bhisma Panchaka
by Sutapa Sadhu (Sugopi Tungavidya Devi Dasi): Life Coach and Bhagavad Gita Teacher
As I woke up this morning from sleep on this auspicious day of Utthana Ekadashi at around a quarter to four, the memory of Bhisma pancaka I spent in Vrindavan two years back surfaced my mind. By fortunate providence, I had the opportunity to spend over fifteen days in the month of Karthik in Vrindavan then. I never knew that I will have special mercy to observe Bhisma Pancaka vrata. I had heard about the austerities so, it was less likely that I could observe. Well, Krishna perfectly knows our heart and makes a perfect arrangement for us to pursue bhakti properly.
It was 2018 Utthana Ekadashi morning in Vrindavan and I had attended Mangla arti, Japa, Darshan arti and then Guru puja. The Mangla arti which starts at morning four-thirty is always special in all ISKCON temples. Here, in Vrindavan I don’t get proper darshan of the deities during Mangla arti as I am generally at the back with many people in front of me, but the song ‘vibhavari shesha..’ sung by the devotees and their presence at those early hours gives a special welcome to the Lordships and the day to unfold.
I like to do Japa partly in the temple, isolating myself in the centre near the bookstall where generally women do Japa and few rounds of chanting in the Library inside Prabhupada’s quarter. Both the places seem perfect for me as I look over the Tamala tree in the courtyard of the temple and remember the pastimes of Gopis, who would imagine the Tamala tree to be Krishna. I also feel how fortunate is the tree that it gets darshan of Radha and Shyamsundar all the time. The Tamala tree is eternally serving that way, standing there in the courtyard.The paintings on the right and the left side of the courtyard, depicting Mahaprabhu’s and Krishna’s Leela respectively, also fills my heart with enchantment to dive deep into the transcendental realm of their pastimes. It’s not that throughout my Japa I am looking at these figurines, as I also prefer to introspect within myself by closing my eyes while chanting. I feel ecstatic during these early hours of the day when nothing else other than these pure transcendental pleasures are to be experienced. Prabhupada’s quarter has peculiar energy to be always felt whenever inside. It is as if Prabhupada is still there to guide us to advance and practice pure bhakti. There is a feeling inside me to pay my obeisances again and again to those books written by Prabhupada. The books in various languages very nicely organized on the four walls of the room give a profound impact to the chanting. Again, I am not viewing them all the time, but occasionally to feel their presence. One needs to believe though the books may appear to be inanimate objects, they are the powerhouse of spiritual knowledge.
It is quarter past seven in the morning and it seemed that out of nowhere everyone suddenly gathered in the temple for Darshan arti. With the ‘Govindam adi purusam’ song by Yamuna Devi Dasi playing in the background, the temple reverberates a special grandeur to visualize Lordships bedecked in very beautiful attires. All the deities look majestic declaring that they run the world and nothing happens without their desire, even a leaf cannot move without their consent (Bengali proverb). Guru puja preceded just after the darshan arti and it is the perfect way to express our gratitude to our spiritual teacher Srila Prabhupada. It a good time to dance in ecstasy with loud kirtan playing. It brings up a special impetus to express our inner joy of practicing Krishna bhakti while dancing. This kind of morning program is never to be experienced anywhere other than ISKCON.
It was just after the Gurupuja that I was standing in front of the altar of Radha Syamsundar when pujari Rasikanada Prabhu came over to me with a garland prasad. He has known me for the past several years. I felt blessed receiving the garland and then he asked what I was planning to do in Bhisma Pancaka vrata. I said that I had no clue yet, though I plan only to consume fruits. He suggested that those who follow seriously will only consume each of the cow products (milk, curd, ghee, urine and dung) on each day. This has a sequence also. Because he understood that it will be difficult for me to observe this, he suggested that I can mix these five, called ‘panca gavya’ and consume that for five days along with fruits. He asked me to go to the goshala immediately to fetch these. The mere name of goshala exhilarates me as I love cows very much.
As per his instruction, I quickly started for the ISKCON goshala which has over three hundred cows. I was very doubtful if I will get milk as all the milk comes to the temple very early in the morning. Well, I never give up. I started enquiring a few of the gwalas there and luckily, a very young gwala boy said that he has kept some milk for someone and I can have a small portion from it. He gave me an empty tumbler to fetch cow urine. I felt blessed. Next, I was on a venture to fetch urine and was waiting for the cows to pee. It seemed a bit hilarious and definitely, it was fun. Ran to the cow who was urinating to fetch a quarter glass of urine. It was now the turn to fetch just a pinch of dung. Well, that was an easy task. After gathering these three, I spent some time caressing the cows and playing with them. On my way back to my room from a local shop, I fetched fresh curd and ghee. In my room, after offering arti and fruits to my Gopal, I was feeling apprehensive about how the ‘panch-gavya’ might taste. To my surprise, it wasn’t bad at all. It just seemed like milk with very slight flavor of cow urine. According to Ayurveda, this is a great medicine. For the next four days of Bhisma Pancaka, I was following the same routine, except that I was spending more time with cows with each passing day. The goshala boy was very helpful in keeping a glass of milk for me everyday. Just subsisting on the ‘panca-gavaya’ and fresh fruits rejuvenated my body and I felt special spiritual and physical energy. It was a way of detoxifying my body and consciousness in the holy Dham of Vrindavan. I could have never asked for a better way to conclude my Karthik Vrata.
