Sri Visvarupa Mahotsava

What is Sri Visvarupa Mahotsava?

Sri Visvarupa was the elder brother of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He left home and took sannyasa under the name Sankararanya, and devotees honour him on Sri Visvarupa Mahotsava. In 2027 the festival falls on Wednesday, 15 September, which is also Bhadra Purnima and the day of Srila Prabhupada's own acceptance of sannyasa.

Significance

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta says that Visvarupa, the son of Jagannatha Misra, was highly qualified because he was an incarnation of Lord Baladeva. Srila Prabhupada's purport adds that Visvarupa is also an incarnation of Sankarsana in the Lord's four-fold expansion. As the part is nondifferent from the whole, Visvarupa is nondifferent from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Visvarupa travelled across the country and at last reached Pandarapura, in the district of Sholapur, where he left this world. Later, at that same place, Sri Ranga Puri told Mahaprabhu that the sannyasi Sankararanya had attained perfection. Of Visvarupa's renunciation, Srila Prabhupada writes:

When arrangements were being made for the marriage of Viśvarūpa, He took sannyāsa and left home. He took the sannyāsa name of Śaṅkarāraṇya.

Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 13.74, purport

How to observe it

Hear about Visvarupa from Srila Prabhupada's purport to Adi-lila 13.74, and from chapter nine of the Madhya-lila, which tells of Pandarapura. Offer obeisances to Lord Nityananda Prabhu, whom Sri Caitanya-caritamrta names as the original Sankarsana and Baladeva. Chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with extra attention, and share prasadam.