By Ratisha Das
The appearance day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami was celebrated for the first time at his birthplace, Srirangam, Tamil Nadu on the 8th of January 2007.
It was here Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed for the chaturmasya in the 1511 AD. Srila Gopalabhatta Goswami then only seven years old kid was engaged in the service of Mahaprabhu by his parents, Venkata Bhatta. Sri Venkata Bhatta was the chief priest of the Sri Ranganatha Swami in Srirangam.
Devotees had a nagar Sankirtan from the Srirangam Iskcon centre to the Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami?€?s house passing across the Sri Ranganatha Swami temple complex. Devotees had an ecstatic kirtan followed by reading from Sri Chaitanya Caritamrata and articles related to Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami. The present occupants of the house, the successors of the Tirumala Bhatta, brother of Venkata Bhatta were very pleased to join us in the kirtans. The programme ended with honouring Mahaprasad by all the participants.
Thank you so much for this posting. My 21-year-old daughter, Krishna-darshana, was born on the appearance day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. My 15-year-old son, Radha-ramana, was born on his disappearance day. My children have always seemed to have a much deeper spiritual and psychic connection with one another than can be explained by their mere bodily relationship, and thus we have always wondered about the “coincidence” of their birthdays and have observed Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance and disappearance days. Thus this posting is most inspiring.