[Nectar] First day of Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama

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Fourth day of Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama : 12 km walk from Koladvipa

to Rtudvipa.

Holy places visited : Champahatti, Siddheswaritala,

Samudragada.,Ratupura, Vidyanagara.After the previous day's halt at

Pratap nagar, the parikrama party proceeded to Siddheswaritala, place

which is non-different from Ganga-Sagara. Then devotees walked to

samudragada, where both Dvaraka Puri and Ganga-sagara are directly

present here. Samudra Sena, a king and great devotee, held Krsna as

all in all. When Bhima came here with his soldiers to conquer all

opponents, he surrounded Samudragasa. The king knew that Krsna was the

only resort of the Pandavas and that when they were in danger, He

would come to their rescue. He thought that if he could get Bhima to

show some fear and cry out, then Krsna would appear, being merciful to

His devotees.

 

Thinking like this, he gathered together his soldiers, elephants,

horses, and foot soldiers and went to battle.. Bhima was very

oppressed by the shower of arrows, and in great danger he called for

Krsna within his mind. Hearing the plaintive call of Bhima, Krsna

appeared on the battlefield. No one could see that form except the

King. Seeing that form, the king fainted in ecstasy. After controlling

himself, he revealed his desire to the Lord, `O Krsna, You are the

Lord of the universe, the deliverer of the fallen. Everyone sings the

glories of Your pastimes, and hearing that, I desired to see them. But

my vow was that You should appear in Navadvipa. You have mercifully

upheld my vow by appearing in the form of Krsna in Navadvipa. But my

desire goes even further. Please become Gauranga before my very eyes!

As he looked on, the king beheld the sweet pastimes of Radha and

Krsna. Then in an instant this lila disappeared and he saw Gauranga

with His devotees in a huge kirtana. Gauranga was dancing and singing.

In a few moments, however, this all vanished. Deprived, the king began

to weep. Bhima had not been able to see this incident and thought that

the king had suddenly become afraid of his prowess..

Even Brahma cannot know the glories of this place. The ocean once took

shelter of the Jahnavi and came here to serve the Lord's feet with

devotion. Jahnavi said, `O ocean, very soon my Lord will stay in a

forest on your shore.'

Parikrama proceeded to Campahatta to take darshan of Gaur-Gadhadhar

mandir and residence of Dvija-Vaninatha. There was once a campaka

forest at this beautiful place, which is a portion of Khadiravana of

Vrndavana. Campakalata-sakhi takes campaka flowers, strings garlands,

and offers them to Radha and Krsna as her eternal pastime. When Kali-

yuga grew in influence, capitalists moved here and eagerly took the

flowers. They set up a hatta, or market, and sold the campaka flowers

to the villagers and townsfolk. Therefore this enchanting place is

called Campakahatta, or, more commonly, Canpahati.

At champahatti, Jayadeva Goswami stayed for some time at the request

of King Lakshmana Sena and worshiped Krsna according to the process of

raga-marga. Padmavati would bring heaps of campaka flowers, which

Jayadeva would offer to Krsna. Seeing his devotion, Lord Gauranga gave

his darshan . It is also in this place that Jayadeva wrote his famous

Gita Govinda. After wonderful drama and katha by Mahrajas, the

parikrama visited the residence of Dvija-Vaninatha. In satya-yuga, an

old brahmana lived in the campaka groves worshipping Sri Sri Radha-

Govinda deities with campaka flowers. Pleased with his worship,

Krishna appeared to this brahmana as Gaurasundara, revealed His future

appearance and pastime of distributing the holy name and Krsihna-

prema. He bestowed him the mercy that eh would take part in these

pastimes as Dvija-Vaninatha, the younger brother of Gadadhara

Pandita .

Next point is Ratupura in Rtudvipa, the island which represents

arcanam or offering worship to the Supreme Lord. Replica of Radha-

Kunda is where Caitanya Mahaprabhu performed His mid-day pastimes of

sankirtana-rasa.Vidyanagara - the place of learning , where the Vedas

were brought by Matsya-avatara for safe keeping. Valmiki wrote the

Ramayana here, Dhanvantri received Ayur-veda, Viswamitra received

Dhanur-veda and so on. This place is also glorious as Sarvabhauma

Bhattacarya took his birth here and had his school and taught his

philosophy of nyaya. Brhaspati, the spiritual master of the demigods

took birth as Sarvabhauma bhattacarya. Lord Caitanya stayed here when

He returned to Navadvipa for the first time after taking

sannyasa.Vidyavacaspati, Sarvabhauma bhattacarya's brother, served

Mahaprabhu for five days while he was here and also when Mahaprabhu

went to Kuliya.

The Parikrama party camped for the day at Vidyanagara.

 

On Feb 23, 12:40 pm, cos... wrote:

> 8 Km walk in Godrumadvipa

> Holy places visited: Amra ghata, Suvarna Bihar, Gauradaha, Svananda-

> Sukhada Kunja ( House and Samadhi of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur) ,

> Surabhi-Kunja

>

> The second day of Parikrama started from Harihara ksetra after the

> morning arthi , proceeded towards Amraghata ( Am ghata). Amraghata is

> a mango grove, where once while performing Kirtana, Lord Caitanya

> noticed the devotees are becoming tired. He stopped the Kirtana and

> planted a mango seed in the ground at this spot. Within minutes, a

> huge tree fully grown with beautiful red and yellow mangoes that had

> no skin or seeds.

>

> Caitanya Mahaprabhu picked around 200 mangoes and gave to each of the

> devotee. After offering to Krishna, Gauranga ate one mango and

> distributed the rest to the devotees. It was amazing that one mango

> was sufficient to satisfy completely the devotee. The tree is so

> special that it supplied mangoes everyday for one year. These pastimes

> were narrated by HH Jayapataka Swami in his own dramatical way taking

> the devotees to the time when it actually happened.

>

> After 20 minutes walk from Amraghat, the parikrama group reached

> Suvarna Bihar.

> During Satya-yuga, a well-known king named Suvarna Sena lived here.

> For a long time he was simply engaged in ruling the kingdom, and even

> when he grew old he took no rest. The king's mind was absorbed in

> material hankering, and he was always thinking how to increase his

> wealth. Being merciful to the King, Narada mercifully instructed him

> on the Absolute Truth.

> "`You are very fortunate, for your kingdom is in Navadvipa. Now

> develop your faith by associating with devotees and singing the name

> of Krsna, let the sun of prema rise in your heart. Fortunate will be

> the coming of Kali-yuga, for Krsna will bring His associates here and

> manifest His pastimes as Gauranga. One who chants Gaura's name will

> get the mercy of Krsna, and he will be able to live in Vrndavana. One

> who worships Krsna without chanting the name of Gaura will get Krsna

> only after a long time. But he who takes Gaura's name quickly gets

> Krsna, for offenses do not remain within him.'

> While saying this, Narada lost control of himself and began to dance

> and chant the name of Gaura. `O Gaurahari! When will blessed Kali-yuga

> come?' Saying this, Narada went off, leaving the king filled with

> prema. Crying the name of Gauranga, dancing, and begging love of God

> from the devotees, he became free from material hankerings. Later,

> while sleeping, the king saw Gauranga and Gadadhara with their

> associates dancing in the courtyard. Surrounding the golden form of

> Gaura, they were all chanting `Hare Krsna!' while dancing and

> embracing one another. At that time, a voice spoke `O king, when I

> appear, you will be amongst My associates. Your name will be

> Buddhimanta Khan. You will receive the transcendental dhama and serve

> the lotus feet of Gauranga.' Hearing this, the king became composed

> and began to worship Gauranga.

> A nice small Radha-Krishna deities with life sized Lord Caitanya is

> worshipped in this temple. The original ruins of the palace which are

> still left behind are visible. HH Jayapataka Swami and HH Gopal

> Krishan Goswami , HH Bhakti Siddhanta Maharaj and others narrated

> these wonderful pastimes happened at this place. HH Jayapataka

> Maharaja also explained that as Buddhimanta Khan, king Sena served

> Lord Caitanya by sponsoring the costumes for Gauranga Mahaprabhu and

> His associates in the drama at Candrasekhara Acharya's house. He also

> paid all the costs for Mahaprabhu's wedding to Visnupriya.

> Gauradaha is the next stop which is on the main road. It is the place

> where Gauranga and NItyananda have rolled in the dust of the holydham.

> The breakfast was served here .Devotees also rolled in the dust of

> this place, experiencing transcendental joy.

> Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's house or svananda sukhada Kunja is the

> place where Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur spent his time in

> bhajana ,extensive preaching, wrote many books, From the verandah of

> this house, he saw the horizon of Mayapur light up under the

> effulgence of ,"one exceedingly beautiful temple will arise from where

> the eternal service of gauranga will be broadcast all over the world.

> Bhakti Vinod Thakur's murti and his personal deities Sri Gaur-

> Gadhadhar is in the altar. His Samadhi is also here. Bhajan Kutir of

> Srila Gaura Kishore das Babaji Maharaj is also inside the temple where

> he spent many years in chanting. Then devotees proceeded to Surabhi

> Kunja and many Maharajas spoke on different pastimes that happened

> here. It is the place where Surabhi cow is eternally living here

> absorbed in the meditation of gauranga under the banyan tree. Even

> during the devastation of creation, Navadvipa dhama is unaffected . HH

> Jayapataka Swami highlighted how Markendaya Rsi got Gaura-prema. Once

> this Rsi got the benediction to live for 7 kalpas. So, during

> devastation, he was tossed in the flood waters and surabhi pulled him

> off onto the shore of an island. He begged for milk and surabhi

> brought back his life. He asked surabhi what he should do to become

> free from this benediction. Mother Surabhi advised him to reside in

> Navadvipa and worship Gauranga. He stayed here chanting the name of

> Gauranga, crying and laughing in ecstasy. This is also Lord

> Nityananda's preaching head quarters fro nama-hatta preaching in

> Bengal. We should seek the mercy of Lord Nityananda so that we may

> become better preachers. HH Bhaktidhira damodara Maharaja narrated an

> incident from GauraKishora babaji's life - a beautiful instruction

> that the pure devotee never advertises himself and how Babaji

> maharaja taught us how to be humble and a pure devotee. HH Gopal

> Krishna Goswami explained the greatness of Srila Bhakti Vinod

> Thakur .Taking only 3 hours rest in a day, he worked hardly to preach

> the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and to identify the birth place of

> Sri Caitanya. We are all indebted to him and as this is his place of

> Bhajana, he asked everyone to pray for his mercy. HH Bhakti marg swami

> said it is Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur who brought the notion of

> pluralism in Krishna Consciousness into the disciplic succession. He

> was so merciful and compassionate, as a pure Vaisnava, was interested

> in spiritual development of others. His songs are enriched with

> devotion and meant to wake up the jivas from the slumber of ignorance.

> We have to make a strong appeal to Thakur Bhakti Vinoda to take up

> demoniac qualities in us and give us the wealth of Krishna -prem. HH

> Umapati Swami gave a wonderful definition for Saranagati or surrender.

> He said to surrender to Srila Prabhupada's books, to surrender to

> devotees who read his books , who live as per his instructions , guide

> others as per Srila Prabhupada's desire is the true meaning of

> surrender and urged all the devotees to make this type of surrender to

> make their life successful. The Delhi temple devotees performed drama

> on the incidents from the life of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur like

> arresting the tantrik Bishkishen, praying to Lord Jagannath to send a

> ray of Vishnu, how he built a temple at the Mahaprabhu's birthplace by

> collecting one rupee from everyone.

> The day's parikrama ended at Bhaktivedanta Arogya Ashram . The

> devotees took darshan of Sri Jagannath, baladev and Subhadra mayi in

> the campus and honoured prasadam.

> " Wandering in Navadvipa is the best of all opulences, the best of all

> religious principles, the best of all kinds of worship, the best of

> all perfections, the best of all glories, and the best of all oceans

> of sweetness " ( Navadvipa Sataka-60)

>

> Third day of Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama - 12 km walk in

> Madhyadvipa and Koladvipa.

> Holy places visited : Hamsavahan Siva, Naimisaranya, Brahmana Puskara,

> Gomati river, Kuruksetra, Jagannathadas Babaji Samadhi , Dhameswar

> Mahaprabhu Mandir and Maha Harinam Sankirtan in the streets of

> Navadvipa.The parikrama started from Svarupganj, Bhaktivedanta Arogya

> Ashram to first holy place in Madhyadvipa , Hamsavahan Siva temple.

> Madyadvipa represents the devotional process of smaranam or

> remembering the pastimes of the Lord.

> HH Jayapatka Swami detailed the significance of this place. Here, Lord

> Siva riding on Lord Brahma's hamsa vahan . Once, when Lord Siva heard

> that Suta Goswami was about to speak on Lord Caitanya's pastimes, he

> abandoned his own carrier, Nandi the bull and took up Lord Brahma's

> much faster hamsa vahan. As Lord Siva is intensely burning with desire

> to see Lord Caitanya, he becomes very hot and to keep him cooler,

> water is continuously poured on the deity .HH Gopalakrishna Goswami

> explained that madhyam means middle and this name is given to this

> island because Lord Caitanya appeared here at noon time. Once the sons

> of Brahma performed austerities here. They became so absorbed in the

> chanting the name of Gaura , they gave up eating and sleeping. One day

> at noon, he appeared here with His associates and instructed them to

> engage in smaranam, discussing and hearing the pastimes of

> Krishna.Rupa goswami in Nectar of Devotion concludes that the purpose

> of all scriptures and knowledge is that always remember Krishna and

> never forget Krishna. The parikrama party next stopped at

> Naimisaranya. Srila Prabhupada Guru puja was done here. It is the

> place where Saunaka Rsi and the sages heard the Gaura-Bhagavatham from

> Suta Gosvami. HH Kavichandra Maharaj glorified the greatness of Sriamd

> Bhagavatham as ripened fruit of vedic knowledge. In this age, even

> though is full of faults, still by doing Krishna kirtan, one can get

> best liberation. We are fortunate to be in Srila Prabhupada's

> movement, who is kind enough to make Srimad Bhagavatham accessible to

> all. Drama of Kurma Brahmin getting the mercy of Lord Caitnaya by

> Russian devotee, Vacaspati das was appreciated by all the maharajas

> and devotees.

> A short walk for 15 minutes led the parikrama group to reach Brahmana

> Puskara . Puskara is the original tirtha and considered as king of all

> the holy places. All the sins are destroyed simply by taking bath at

> Puskara tirtha. In ...

>

> read more »

 

 

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