Disappearance Day of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji

What is the disappearance day of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji?

Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji was a renounced Vaishnava saint of Vrindavana and Navadvipa. Each year devotees honour the day he left this world and entered the Lord's eternal pastimes. In 2027 his disappearance day falls on Tuesday, 9 March, the same date as the disappearance of Sri Rasikananda.

Significance

Srila Prabhupada names him in the disciplic succession he traces in the Caitanya-caritamrta:

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura accepted Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, the spiritual master of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 1

The line continues from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who in turn accepted Srila Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji. A Gaudiya biography says Bhaktivinoda met Jagannatha Dasa Babaji in Vrindavana in 1880 and received instructions on hari-bhakti from him.

The babaji was famously austere and could go three days without even water. Later he settled in Navadvipa, where he is said to have revealed many lost holy places of Mayapur, including the Yogapitha. Srila Prabhupada's biography adds that with the babaji's help Bhaktivinoda located the exact place where Lord Caitanya appeared. A prayer to Jagannatha Dasa Babaji recited at ISKCON initiations still recalls this.

How to observe it

Hear the stories of his renunciation, such as the day he ordered two hundred rupees of donations spent on sweets for all the cows of Navadvipa. Try to chant the holy names with something of his single-minded attention, and offer him a prayer of respect. Remember Sri Rasikananda too, whose disappearance falls on this date.