Disappearance Day of Sri Abhirama Thakura
Disappearance Day
All day
What is the Disappearance Day of Sri Abhirama Thakura?
On the disappearance day of Sri Abhirama Thakura, devotees remember how he left this world and entered the Lord's eternal pastimes. Also known as Sri Abhirama Gopala and Sri Ramadasa, he was one of the twelve cowherd friends of Lord Nityananda Prabhu known as the gopalas. In 2027 the day falls on Wednesday, 28 April.
Significance
In Krishna's pastimes he was the cowherd boy Sridama. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Lord Nityananda to preach in Bengal, He sent Abhirama Gopala and Gadadhara Dasa with Lord Nityananda. The Caitanya-caritamrta tells how Abhirama, full of a friend's love for Krishna, made a flute from a stick with sixteen knots. He lived at Khanakula-Krishnanagara, where he dug out the Deity of Sri Gopinatha, and a festival is held there every year. His whip, Jayamangala, is said to fill anyone it touches with love of Krishna. Srila Prabhupada describes his mission in a purport:
By the order of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Abhirāma Ṭhākura became a great ācārya and preacher of the Caitanya cult of devotional service.
Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 11.13, purport
How to observe it
Abhirama Thakura was Lord Nityananda's friend before he was a teacher, so hear about his life in that spirit. Read the pastimes of the Gopinatha Deity and the flute, offer your respects to Lord Nityananda, and chant extra rounds of the maha-mantra. His disappearance falls on the seventh day of the dark moon, when thousands gather at his temple in Khanakula-Krishnanagara.
Questions
When is the disappearance day of Sri Abhirama Thakura in 2027?
It falls on Wednesday, 28 April 2027, in the Vaishnava calendar for Kurukshetra. Gaudiya sources place his disappearance on the seventh day of the dark moon.
Who was Sri Abhirama Thakura?
Sri Abhirama Thakura was one of the twelve cowherd friends of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, known as the gopalas. In Krishna's pastimes he was Sridama, and on Lord Nityananda's order he became a great acarya and preacher.
What is the Jayamangala whip of Abhirama Thakura?
Jayamangala was the divinely empowered whip of Abhirama Thakura. Anyone he touched with it is said to have become a devotee full of love for Krishna, and Srinivasa Acarya is remembered as one of those it touched.
Where is the temple of Abhirama Thakura?
His temple is at Khanakula-Krishnanagara in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, on the bank of the Khana river. Its Deity is Sri Gopinatha, whom Abhirama Gopala excavated.
Reviewed by ISKCON Kurukshetra · Updated
Key facts
- Date
- Wednesday, 28 April 2027
- Pastime identity
- Sridama, a cowherd friend of Krishna
- Deity worshipped
- Sri Gopinatha
- Temple
- Khanakula-Krishnanagara, West Bengal
Seva for this day
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