Millions of people attend the Kumbh to experience the religious practices among the different sects of sadhus. The Naga Sadhus invoke lots of curiosity about their miracles in the people.
‘Vrindavan Kumbh, which is also known as the Kumbh of the gods holds a special place in the Vaishnava world. It is the confluence of Bhakti and religious practices on the bank of Yamuna, turn the devotion into nectar in ‘Vrindavan Kumbh’. There are stories of miracles associated with Vrindavan Kumbh, which are least known.
‘Vrindavan Today’ discovered a miracle from the history of Vrindavan Vaishnav Mahakumbh, that took place in the middle of eighteenth century.
It was 1740, when Prabhupad Shri Nandkishor Das Goswami permanently began serving the deities of Shri Nitai – Gour at Shringarvat. He served the Lordships with his heart and soul. Goswami ji was an inspiration for many devotees visiting Vrindavan. His intimacy with Shri Krishna Balaram and their gopa friends was well known at that time. He used to organize feast of Dal Bati at Bhandir Vat in which he would sit and eat with the Cowherd boys and Krishna Balaram. He was very compassionate to the devotees and sadhus. He would feed everyone who visited Shringar Vat for darshan. He used to pour his heart in serving the land of Vrindavan.
Shri Nand Kishor Das Goswami organized a grand feast in the honor of the devotees during the Kumbh Mela held in 1758. Everyone was invited to take Prasad in the feast. The sadhus, devotees, Brajwasis and everyone who came for Kumbh participated in the feast.
Shringarvat was the centre of respect for the Saptadevalaya temples and Goudiya Vaishnavas in those days. Thus Vaishnavas from all around the country came to take prasadam in the feast. While devotees from Goudiya Vaishnavism visited Shringarvat throughout the year, it was the occasion the Kumbh which attracted them more than any time of the year. Devotees from the nearby regions and distant places joined the feast. The traditional Braj delicacy of Malpua made of jaggery, cooked vegetable of radish and brinjal was being distributed among the devotees as Bhagvata Prasad.
Devotees came and they were being fed with compassion. It became evening that the sadhus kept on coming to take Prasad. The cooks ran out of the ghee needed to cook the malpua. There were still hundreds of people to feed. It became dark and the shops were closed by then. Vrindavan was a small village in those days. The shops were closed as it got darker in the evening. There was no electricity in the old times.
The Halwais i.e cooks ran in panic to Goswami ji. He listened to their problem calmly and told them not to panic. With a calm voice and firm conviction, he asked the cooks to bring the buckets and follow him to Yamuna. He pulled out six bucket full of water from Yamuna.
Some of the bhakts were dithered as to why he was filling the bucket with Yamuna water when they needed ghee. Several devotees ran to the river Yamuna following Goswami ji. They were surprised to find them heavy and when the buckets came in sight they were pleasantly shocked to find that they had actually pulled out the ghee and not water from Yamuna. Was Yamuna actually giving ghee?
Looking into it all they could see was water but as they fetched that water with the bucket, it would turn magically into ghee. Goswami ji said that they could pull as much ghee as they needed from the Yamuna, but only as much and not a gram more.
After fetching six bucket of ghee from Yamuna, it sufficed the requirement to cook for everyone. The Bhandara went on till late night.
Goswami ji ordered his devotees to buy equivalent to six bucket full of ghee on next day. After the ghee was brought at the site of Kumbh, Goswami ji took them to Yamuna and poured all of the ghee in it. The ghee immediately turned into water.
Goswami ji, then told his followers that he borrowed the ghee from Mother Yamuna , which was required to be returned. The devotees became very excited and would sing the glory of Shri Dham Vrindavan, Yamuna Maiyya and Shri Nand Kishor Goswami.
The feast during the Kumbh is more than the act of eating. It becomes an act of the Divine intervention in a cosmic event. The gods come to bless the place, the food, and the entire event. It is only natural that legends would be attached to these events.
