Vaisakha

Expressions researched:
"April and May" |"April or May" |"April, May" |"April-May" |"April–May" |"Vaisakha"

SB Canto 5

SB 5.1.30, Purport:

Although Mahārāja Priyavrata devised a very powerful chariot as brilliant as the sun, he had no desire to compete with the sun-god, for a Vaiṣṇava never wants to supersede another Vaiṣṇava. His purpose was to give abundant benefits in material existence. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks that in the months of April and May the rays of Mahārāja Priyavrata's brilliant sun were as pleasing as the rays of the moon, and in October and November, both morning and evening, that sun provided more warmth than the sunshine. In short, Mahārāja Priyavrata was extremely powerful, and his actions extended his power in all directions.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.8.11, Translation:

The land became a person and collected all the drugs and herbs needed for installing the Deity. The cows delivered five products, namely milk, yogurt, ghee, urine and cow dung, and spring personified collected everything produced in spring, during the months of Caitra and Vaiśākha (April and May).

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 11.14-15, Translation and Purport:

When Nityānanda Prabhu was ordered to go to Bengal to preach, these two devotees (Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa) were ordered to go with Him. Thus they are sometimes counted among the devotees of Lord Caitanya and sometimes among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda. Similarly, Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa belonged to both groups of devotees simultaneously.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura writes in his Anubhāṣya, "There is a place named Dāṅihāṭa, near the Agradvīpa railway station and Pāṭuli in the district of Burdwan, where the Deity of Śrī Gopīnāthajī is still situated. This Deity accepted Govinda Ghoṣa as His father. Even until today, the Deity performs the śrāddha ceremony on the anniversary of the death of Govinda Ghoṣa. The temple of this Deity is managed by the rāja-vaṁśa family of Kṛṣṇanagara, whose members are descendants of Rājā Kṛṣṇacandra. Every year in the month of Vaiśākha, when there is a bāradola ceremony, this Gopīnātha Deity is taken to Kṛṣṇanagara. The ceremony is performed with eleven other Deities, and then Śrī Gopīnāthajī is brought back to the temple in Agradvīpa."

CC Adi 13.61, Purport:

In the Bengali year 1331 (A.D. 1924) a thunderbolt struck the temple of Ekacakrā-grāma. Therefore the temple is now in a broken state. Before this, there were no such accidents in that quarter. Within the temple there is a Deity of Śrī Kṛṣṇa established by Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. The name of the Deity is Baṅkima Rāya or Bāṅkā Rāya.

On Baṅkima Rāya's right side is a deity of Jāhnavā, and on His left side is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The priests of the temple describe that Lord Nityānanda Prabhu entered within the body of Baṅkima Rāya and that the deity of Jāhnavā-mātā was therefore later placed on the right side of Baṅkima Rāya. Afterwards, many other Deities were installed within the temple. On another throne within the temple are Deities of Muralīdhara and Rādhā-Mādhava. On another throne are Deities of Manomohana, Vṛndāvana-candra and Gaura-Nitāi. But Baṅkima Rāya is the Deity originally installed by Nityānanda Prabhu.

On the eastern side of the temple is a ghāṭa known as Kadamba-khaṇḍī on the bank of a river called the Yamunā, and it is said that the Deity of Baṅkima Rāya was floating in the water and Lord Nityānanda Prabhu picked Him up and then installed Him in the temple. Thereafter, in a place known as Bhaḍḍāpura, in the village of Vīracandra-pura, about half a mile west, in a place underneath a nima tree, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī was found. For this reason, the Rādhārāṇī of Baṅkima Rāya was known as Bhaḍḍāpurera Ṭhākurāṇī, the mistress of Bhaḍḍāpura. On another throne, on the right side of Baṅkima Rāya, is a Deity of Yogamāyā.

Now the temple and temple corridor rest on a high plinth, and on a concrete structure in front of the temple is a kīrtana hall. It is also said that on the northern side of the temple there was a Deity of Lord Śiva named Bhāṇḍīśvara and that the father of Nityānanda Prabhu, Hāḍāi Paṇḍita, used to worship that Deity. At present, however, the Bhāṇḍīśvara Deity is missing, and in his place a Jagannātha Svāmī Deity has been installed. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu did not factually construct any temples. The temple was constructed at the time of Vīrabhadra Prabhu. In the Bengali year 1298 (A.D. 1891), a brahmacārī of the name Śivānanda Svāmī repaired the temple, for it had become dilapidated.

In this temple there is an arrangement to offer food to the Deity on the basis of seventeen seers (about thirty-four pounds) of rice and necessary vegetables. The present priestly order of the temple belongs to the family of Gopījana-vallabhānanda, one of the branches of Nityānanda Prabhu. There is a land settlement in the name of the temple, and income from this land finances the expenditures for the temple. There are three parties of priestly gosvāmīs who take charge of the temple management, one after another. A few steps from the temple is a place known as Viśrāmatalā, where it is said that Nityānanda Prabhu in His childhood used to enjoy sporting with His boyfriends by enacting the rāsa-līlā and various other pastimes of Vṛndāvana.

Near the temple is a place named Āmalītalā (Imlitala), which is so named because of a big tamarind tree there. According to a party named the Neḍādi-sampradāya, Vīrabhadra Prabhu, with the assistance of twelve hundred Neḍās (Buddhist monks), dug a great lake of the name Śvetagaṅgā. Outside of the temple are tombs of the Gosvāmīs, and there is a small river known as the Mauḍeśvara, which is called the water of Yamunā. Within half a mile from this small river is the birthplace of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. It appears that there was a big kīrtana hall in front of the temple, but later it became dilapidated. It is now covered by banyan trees. Later on, a temple was constructed within which Gaura-Nityānanda Deities are existing. The temple was constructed by the late Prasannakumāra Kārapharmā. A tablet was installed in his memory in the Bengali year 1323 (A.D. 1916), in the month of Vaiśākha (April-May).

CC Adi 14.48, Translation and Purport:

Sometimes the Lord would go with other children to bathe in the Ganges, and the neighboring girls would also come there to worship various demigods.

According to the Vedic system, when small girls ten or twelve years old would go to the bank of the Ganges to take their bath, they would especially worship Lord Śiva with prayers to get good husbands in the future. They especially wanted to get a husband like Lord Śiva because Lord Śiva is very peaceful and at the same time most powerful. Formerly, therefore, small girls in Hindu families would worship Lord Śiva, especially in the month of Vaiśākha (April-May). To take a bath in the Ganges is a great pleasure for everyone, not only for adults but for children also.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 7 Summary:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the renounced order of life in the month of Māgha (January-February) and went to Jagannātha Purī in the month of Phālguna (February-March). He saw the Dola-yātrā festival during the month of Phālguna, and in the month of Caitra He liberated Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. During the month of Vaiśākha, He began to tour South India. When He proposed to travel to South India alone, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu gave Him a brāhmaṇa assistant named Kṛṣṇadāsa.

CC Madhya 7.6, Translation:

During the month of Caitra, while living at Jagannātha Purī, the Lord delivered Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, and at the beginning of the next month (Vaiśākha), He decided to go to South India.

CC Madhya 7.113, Purport:

The holy place of Kūrma-kṣetra, or Kūrma-sthāna, was actually reestablished by Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya under the influence of Lord Jagannātha-deva at Jagannātha Purī. Later the temple came under the jurisdiction of the king of Vijaya-nagara. The Deity was worshiped by the Vaiṣṇavas of the Madhvācārya-sampradāya. In the temple there are some inscriptions said to be written by Śrī Narahari Tīrtha, who was in the disciplic succession of Madhvācārya. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains those inscriptions as follows: (1) Śrī Puruṣottama Yati appeared as the instructor of many learned men. He was a very favorite devotee of Lord Viṣṇu. (2) His preaching was accepted throughout the world with great respect, and by his power he liberated many nondevotees with strong reason and logic. (3) He initiated Ānanda Tīrtha and converted many foolish men to accept sannyāsa and punished them with his rod. (4) All his writings and words are very potent. He gave people devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu so they could be elevated to liberation in the spiritual world. (5) His instructions in devotional service were able to elevate any man to the lotus feet of the Lord. (6) Narahari Tīrtha was also initiated by him and became the ruler of Kaliṅga Province. (7) Narahari Tīrtha fought with the Śabaras, who were caṇḍālas, or hunters, and thus saved the temple of Kūrma. (8) Narahari Tīrtha was a very religious and powerful king. (9) He died in the Śaka Era 1203, in the month of Vaiśākha, in the fortnight of the moon's waxing period, on the day of Ekādaśī, after the temple was constructed and dedicated to the holy name of Yogānanda Nṛsiṁhadeva. The tablet is dated 1281 A.D., 29 March, Saturday.

CC Madhya 9.244, Purport:

Regarding Śaṅkarācārya, it is understood that he was born in the year 608 of the Śakābda Era, in the month of Vaiśākha, on the third day of the waxing moon, in a place in South India known as Kālāḍi. His father's name was Śivaguru, and he lost his father at an early age.

CC Madhya 20.199, Translation:

“The predominating Deity of the month of Māgha is Mādhava, and the predominating Deity of the month of Phālguna is Govinda. Viṣṇu is the predominating Deity of Caitra, and Madhusūdana is the predominating Deity of Vaiśākha.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 4.115, Translation:

Sanātana Gosvāmī had come to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī during the month of April-May, and during the month of May-June Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu tested him.

CC Antya 19 Summary:

This chapter further describes how Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the Jagannātha-vallabha garden during the full-moon night of Vaiśākha (April-May) and experienced various transcendental ecstasies. Overwhelmed with ecstatic love at suddenly seeing Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa beneath an aśoka tree, He exhibited various symptoms of spiritual madness.

CC Antya 19.78, Translation:

One full-moon night in the month of Vaiśākha (April-May), Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to a garden.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 65:

To keep the gopīs in Vṛndāvana satisfied, Lord Balarāma stayed there continuously for two months, namely the months of Caitra (March–April) and Vaiśākha (April–May). For those two months He kept Himself among the gopīs, and He passed every night with them in the forest of Vṛndāvana to satisfy their desire for conjugal love.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 18, Purport:

Verse 18. Many plants and creepers that were almost dead during the months of April and May are now visible again in various forms, for they are nourished by their roots in the moist earth. These numberless plants and creepers resemble persons who dry up in severe penances for some material gain but then achieve their objectives and become luxuriously fat, nourished by sense enjoyment.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 6.1.46 -- San Diego, July 27, 1975:

Everything must be proved by evidence. So these are primarily three evidences. Pratyakṣa, direct perception, pratyakṣa; anumāna; and śruti. Anumāna means I cannot see directly, but by the symptoms I can imagine. That is anumāna. Just like I have seen that in the month of April, May, June, we can get mangoes. That is our direct experience. So similarly, we can say, in the month of January, we can say that "In the month of April, May, June, we shall have mangoes." In the January there is no mango. But because I know, I experienced in my last April, May, June, so similarly, this intuition is nothing but experience of my last life. That is called intuition.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.172 -- New York, December 14, 1966:

Now these prābhava-vilāsa forms, four-handed, They are also divided into different names according to the different months. Just like your calendar month is called January, February, March, April, May, June, and in India the calendar months are named as Vaiśākha, Jyaiṣṭha, Āṣāḍha, Śrāvaṇa, Bhādra, Āśvina, similarly, according to the Vaiṣṇava smṛti, there are the spiritual... These names, calendar months, they are according to the situation of the sun. Similarly, in the spiritual world the twelve months are named according to the different features of the Lord. And they are described here:

cakrādi-dhāraṇa-bhede nāma-bheda saba

vāsudevera mūrti-keśava, nārāyaṇa, mādhava

(CC Madhya 20.195)

Vāsudeva, according to the symbolic representation of the hands, They are differently named. Vāsudeva is divided into three: Keśava, Nārāyaṇa, Mādhava. Similarly, Saṅkarṣaṇa is divided into three: Govinda, Viṣṇu, Śrī Madhusūdana. Similarly, Pradyumna is divided into three: Trivikrama, Vāmana, Śrīdhara. Similarly, Aniruddha is divided into three: Hṛṣīkeśa, Padmanābha, Dāmodara. So all these, three into four, twelve, They are named in different months. Mārga-śīrṣe keśava. Mārga-śīrṣe means October. In the month of October He is known as Keśava. Then November, not exactly November, October, November. November, Keśava; and December, Nārāyaṇa. And then January, Mādhava. Then Govinda. Just take twelve names. Govinda, then Viṣṇu, then Madhusūdana, then Trivikrama, then Vāmana, then Śrīdhara, then Hṛṣīkeśa, then Padmanābha, then Dāmodara. Similarly, we have got dvādaśa tilaka. The same names are there. Lalāṭe keśavaṁ dhyāyet. When dvādaśa tilakas are made, these twelve names are remembered. Lalāṭe keśavaṁ nārāyaṇam athodare: Nārāyaṇa on the belly. Then vakṣaḥ-sthale, then here, then here, then here, then here. In this way, twelve names there are.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Also there is a story in the Bhāgavatam about the girls; they were offering to Lord Śiva.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is another feature of Lord Caitanya. He taught in that instruction that there is no need of worshiping demigods. The incident is that in India the unmarried girls, they are encouraged to worship Lord Śiva especially in the month of Vaiśākha, March-April. And they will go to the Ganges side and prepare Śivaliṅga, and they'll... That means Śiva will be pleased upon them to offer a husband like Lord Śiva. Śiva is very peaceful and very great devotee and most powerful at the same time. So that is the ideal husband.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: April, very hot. Actually, I'm pretty...

Prabhupāda: Except in Calcutta.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really? Calcutta was quite hot when we were there. Remember coming from Māyāpura?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But it's cool.

Prabhupāda: Calcutta and Bengal has got a facility. Every evening there is a small shower of rain. That keeps the temperature mild. During this April-May, you will find every evening there is a thunderstorm and little shower. That is in Bengal's special... A good wind will come. Sometimes it is cyclonic. And immediately the whole atmosphere will be reduced temperature. Sometimes in U.P. also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Another advantage of these months is that the mango starts to come into season.

Prabhupāda: Hm. In Bombay mango is the first-class.

1966 Correspondence

Letter to Janis -- New York 10 December, 1966:

I think I shall be engaged in California during January and February. So, April and May will be quite suitable for me to go to Montreal.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Dayananda -- San Francisco 12 April, 1968:

I am starting for N.Y. on the 17th of April, and I think I shall be engaged in N.Y. and Boston throughout the months of April and May.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Govinda -- Bombay 6 December, 1974:

Regarding the seminar, that is very good. April or May will be good, but May will be very good. I can come at that time.

Letter to Tribhuvanatha -- Bombay 15 December, 1974:

I am planning to come to England in April-May. So I will see you then. I hope this meets you in good health.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Miss Nedungadi -- Bombay 19 March, 1975:

I will be in Bombay at the end of April and beginning of May. So, if you can come then, I shall see you there.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Bombay 11 January, 1976:

Many people have mentioned the nice prasadam distribution program in our New York Temple. I have heard also that on Sundays there are 500 people attending. So there is tremendous scope for preaching. Now this building must be organized very expertly. I want to come in April or May, but whether my quarters are ready or not?

Letter to Jayatirtha -- Mayapur 20 January, 1976:

The average Indian makes about Rs. 400 per month ($50) and supports an entire family nicely. The savings will more than compensate for the ticket and maintenance, and once in a year, during the hot season of April, May and June, the child may return to the parents.

Letter to Sukadeva -- Mayapur 4 February, 1976:

As you say that the mango season is fast approaching, then I will come and visit by April or May. Everyone knows that I am very fond of mangos. Actually amongst all fruits I like them most. They are considered the king of fruits.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Vasudeva -- Bhuvanesvara 23 January, 1977:

So far my going for the opening of the temple, and installing the Deities, if my health is physically fit, then I can come in late April or early May, and if the temple can be opened then. So please go on and do everything nicely and I will try to see you then.