20230224 NMP Day 2 Addresses

20230224 Śrī Navadvīpa Mandala Parikramā Day

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami:

Hari-Hara Kṣetra: Just as you leave Hari-Hara temple and go over the bridge, on the other side there is a forest, just with the Gauradaha forest, but a little to the east. By the other side of the water body, which is the Alakānandā. There Lord Caitanya, as a child, with Gadādhara and Jagadānanda Paṇḍita they ran after school, and there Lord Caitanya saw a parrot. He said, “I am a devotee of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, you are non different from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, so please tell me the glories of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” The parrot began to chant, “Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura!” Lord Caitanya held His hands to His ears. “No, no, no! I want to hear the glories of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” And He released the parrot, and the parrot went and sat on another branch. “Why don’t you chant the glories of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa?” Lord Caitanya asked. The parrot said “I have been chanting since time immemorial this mantra. I cannot help it, so I again chant, Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura!” Mahāprabhu said, “No, no, I want to hear the glories of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” The parrot said “I see here Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā in the form of Gadādhara Paṇḍita, and Kṛṣṇa is Lord Gaurāṅga. I am chanting the name of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, combined. Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura! Gaura Gaura!” So Lord Caitanya, Gadādhara and Jagadānanda went running off. Haribol! I hope that everybody is enjoying the parikramā.

Now on the Android phone we have the Māyāpur app, it is available on the Google Playstore. You can download Māyāpur and see the App.

Koladvīpa: Navadvīpa town, ahead was the eastern bank of the Ganges. The western bank is Koladvīpa. The train station was constructed by the British and this town was created. In the scripture it is called, aparādhā-bhañjana-kuilyāpāṭ. Here various devotees who got forgiven for their vaiṣṇava-aparādhā is in this Kuliyāpāṭ. That is why we pay obeisances to all the Vaiṣṇavas that knowingly or unknowingly, whatever offences I may have committed, please forgive me for them, and they can get forgiveness here. This place is Koladvīpa because Koladeva, Varāhadeva placed one lotus feet here and killed Hiraṇyākṣa. Here there is a Varāhadeva Deity installed by the Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. And there are various pastimes which happened here.

Near Navadvīpa dhāma ghāṭa, there were two disciples of Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī. One was you know, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who was a goṣṭhyānandī. And there was a bhajanānandīs who was Vaṁśīdāsa Bābājī. His āśrama is near the Navadvīpa ghāṭa. He used to take His Deity to the Ganges for giving bath. There is a lot of history about him. Now we are going first to Prauḍa Māyā. She is Devī, the protectress of the dhāma. And Vṛddha Śiva is the protector of the dhāma and He is behind the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. I had gone there and prayed for all of you that you are able to enter the Navadvīpa Maṇḍala parikramā. All of you should pray to Prauḍa Māyā that you are able to enter the Navadvīpa dhāma.

After that we will be going to Siddha Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī. His samādhi mandira is there. He achieved siddhi there. There is lot of history; but I will not say much. Before coming here, he was in Vṛndāvana. There if one does devotional service they would get a thousand times benefit, but if they commit offence then they will get one thousand times punishment too. So hearing this that in Vṛndāvana, the result of committing offence was so severe, he decided to come to Navadvīpa dhāma. Here he achieved siddhi. Everyone can achieve siddhi here.

After that we will go to Dhāmeśvara Mahāprabhu. That Deity was made from neem tree and Viṣṇupriyā and made it. The tree under which Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was born, a branch fell off and from that she made the Deity. The tree that is there now is a new tree. Here you can take darśana of the Deity of Viṣṇupriyā and pray to her and hear the pastimes. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Kholāvecā Śrīdhara: Kholāvecā Śrīdhara pāṭ, another name for this is resting place of Mahāprabhu. Here Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu had a talk with the Chand Kazi and told him that, “No one should obstruct the saṅkīrtana.” After that Lord Caitanya went from there and rested in the house of Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. Lord Caitanya wanted to drink some water. But, Kholāvecā Śrīdhara was extremely poor and had a broken iron pot. He wanted to go to the neighbor and get a better pot to serve water. But Garuahari said that, “You give Me whatever you have.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “That is not useful”, and he hid the iron pot. But Lord Caitanya, He had long hands and He stretched His hands and took the iron pot over Kholāvecā Śrīdhara’s head and drank water from it and said, “Aha! It is very nice!” Haribol! This way Kholāvecā Śrīdhara had wonderful qualities.

There was a pastime when in Lord Caitanya’s childhood, Kholāvecā Śrīdhara used to supply fruits, vegetables to Him. Kholāvecā Śrīdhara would do kīrtana throughout the night. The neighbors would be thinking that since he is hungry; he is screaming and doing kīrtana. Whatever money he earned, half he would do Gaṅgā-pūjā. Selling bananas in Navadvīpa is not very profitable. Every house has banana trees. So whatever the profit he got, he would keep half aside for Gaṅgā-pūjā. His neighbor once suggested to him that every year you don’t spend so much on the Gaṅgā-pūjā, you should save some money. And then you can have more money and then you can do better pūjā. Then Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “What guarantee is there that if I don’t do the pūjā now, I will do it after one year?” He said, “If Kṛṣṇa wills, He will give me more profit and still half of my earning I will spend on doing Gaṅgā-pūjā.” The neighbor said, “Your home is filled with holes on the roof.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said that “Oh, there is breeze that comes from them.” The person said, “Your dhoti has holes too.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “What happens if there are some holes in my dhoti, there is no problem.” The person said “You are mad!”

There was the 21-hour ārati of Lord Caitanya performed by Advaita Ācārya. He told Lord Caitanya that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Advaita Ācārya had prayed to the śālagrāma-śilā and offered tulasī leaves and loudly prayed to the Lord to come. Lord Caitanya said, “You called Me and I have come.” At that time Kholāvecā Śrīdhara was brought in and he saw that form of the Lord. And he fainted in front of Gaurāṅgadeva. The devotees lifted him and took him there. Lord Caitanya in the Mahāprakāśa ārati told Kholāvecā Śrīdhara “What do you want? I want to give you a boon.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “I don’t want anything.” Lord Caitanya said, “I will make you a king, you will have a kingdom, land and things.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “No, no, I don’t want to be a king.” Lord Caitanya said that, “I will give you mystic powers, like aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti, etc.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “I don’t want these mystic powers.” Lord Caitanya said, “What do you want? You have to say something.” Then Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “If I have to ask for something there is one thing I will want. That in every avtara/līlā of Yours I will also come and that You as a brāhmaṇa boy will come to me and I can offer you my bananas, vegetables and fruits. But if I am not qualified for that then at least I take birth in Your devotee’s home.” Lord Caitanya said, “I will give you that blessing which even Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva long for. I will give you kṛṣṇa-prema blessing!” And all the devotees there were amazed that this Kholāvecā Śrīdhara who was just a banana seller, he got the kṛṣṇa-prema from Lord Caitanya. They were very happy. You will come to the house of Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. There is a temple which is in a broken-down state. There used to be a Deity there. Now it is not there. Now see the plight there. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that we should cooperate and do service. If we love Śrīla Prabhupāda, then we will all together do service. You see now that because there was no cooperation amongst the devotees then, the Deity is no more and the temple is in a rundown state.

Sīmantadvīpa: Now you have come to Sīmantadvīpa. You will take darśana of Lord Caitanya and Sīmantinī devī. Also you will take darśana of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Sudarśana cakra. From there behind there is the Māyāmari Maṭ, where Lord Baladeva had fought with the demon Māyāsura. I hope that you are all liking the Navadvīpa-maṇḍala parikramā.

In Sīmantadvīpa there are many holy places for darśana. There is the house of Nīlāmbara Cakravartī Ṭhākura and Śacīmātā was here. Here Deity, that she worshiped as a child is still there. So, someone else in the parikramā will tell the story of that. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

We have now the Māyāpur App. You can download it on the Android phone on Google Playstore. This is just the first version. You can see, and can give your comments/advice.

Śaṅkarapur: Hare Kṛṣṇa! I hope that you are all enjoying the Navadvīpa-maṇḍala parikramā. So now you are in Śaṅkarpura. Here many pastimes happened. Lord Caitanya met different ācāryas here. And also, the special Śiva-liṅga called Nīla, Rakta Śiva-liṅga. This Śiva-liṅga was there and Rāvaṇa had carried it off. But there was one condition that wherever he would sit down the Śiva-līṅga would stay there. So Rāvaṇa first went to Jhārikhaṇḍa and then he had to pass water. So, he gave the liṅga to a brāhmaṇa who said he would hold it until he called three times or something. The deva in charge of urination gave Rāvaṇa unlimited urine and the brāhmaṇa called out three times but Rāvaṇa was still passing water. And the brāhmaṇa put down the Śiva-liṅga, as he was tired, and ran away. So Rāvaṇa was not able to move the Śiva-liṅga from there. That Śiva is now in Devagarh. Actually, that Śiva belongs in Māyāpur. So here Śaṅkarācārya came and he went to preach in Navadvīpa. But Lord Caitanya told him do not come to Navadvīpa, it is My place. And Śaṅkarācārya left Navadvīpa. So, this place is still known as Śaṅkarapur.

Jāhnudvīpa/Modadrumadvīpa: So you are just at the edge of Jahnudvīpa, about to enter Modadrumadvīpa. Here there are Deities of Vāsudeva Datta and Sāraṅga Ṭhākura. The Śrīpāṭ of Vāsudeva Datta is between here and Vṛndāvana dāsa’s birthplace. There is nothing there, except some ruins. So you can see that on the way. The principle of Lord Caitanya was that every devotee when they are mature, they should spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. At least they should make one disciple. So He repeatedly ask Sāraṅga Ṭhākura, “Have you made a disciple?” And Sāraṅga Ṭhākura decided that the first person I meet tomorrow morning, I will initiate him. Before maṅgala-ārati in the early morning he went down to the Ganges to take bath. And on the Ganges there was a body of a person who was bitten by a snake and he was put on a raft. Many people, when they are bitten by a snake, they are put on a banana raft because some ṛṣis or sādhus would know how to extract the poison of the snake. So, the dead body touched Sāraṅga Ṭhākura. So that was the first person that Sāraṅga Ṭhākura saw and so he pulled him over and said the initiation mantra in his ear. And I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa just to represent that. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! So that person, the dead body, came back to life. So that was the power of Sāraṅga Ṭhākura. And then Sāraṅga Ṭhākura gave him the name Murāri, Murāri Caitanya dāsa. And since he had come back from death, he was fearless. He went to the villages on the back of a tiger and told the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They were overwhelmed seeing who is this person who is riding on the back of a tiger. They would bow down and he would initiate hundreds at one night. Sometimes he would chant japa under the river water for two or three days. He would take large pythons around his neck, he had thousands of disciples. So one person, Sāraṅga Ṭhākura, by initiating him, he had thousands of grand disciples. So the parents came back and told Murāri that now you have been brought back to life, you come home. He said, “My life was given by Sāraṅga Ṭhākura, so he is my father.” So like that he refused to go back home. Sāraṅga Ṭhākura kī jaya! Murāri Caitanya kī jaya!

Antardvīpa, Caṅpahaṭṭi: Jayadeva Gosvāmī used to live in Antardvīpa earlier. But the king went to him and he got insulted that being a kṣatriya he went to a brāhmaṇa. And the king wanted that a learned person be in his court because Jayadeva Gosvāmī was a great poet. But Jayadeva Gosvāmī said I will leave Navadvīpa. The king asked him to forgive him, I committed an offence. You do not have to leave, you can live in Caṅpahaṭṭi which is above here. Then Jayadeva Gosvāmī started living in Caṅpahaṭṭi. Every day, he would go to have his bath in the Ganges. He was writing the Gīta-govinda poetry and at that point Rādhārāṇī was angry with Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Kṛṣṇa was asking Rādhārāṇī to forgive Him. This way he thought, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, how can He go and ask for forgivance and could not write it. So he stopped writing and he went to have a bath in the Ganges. Then, Lord Kṛṣṇa came taking the form of Jayadeva and went to his house and told his wife Padmāvatī, “There is something left that I would like to write now.” Then Kṛṣṇa, who was in the form of Jayadeva, wrote that Kṛṣṇa asked Rādhārāṇī to forgive Him. Then in the same form of Jayadeva, told Padmāvatī to give Him prasāda. Then he said, “I will go out to meeting someone and saying this he left.” Then Padmāvati was eating prasāda. Then the actual Jayadeva came after his bath in the Ganges. He asked Padmāvati, “How are you eating prasāda without offering me first?” She said, “You had come and you had eaten!” Then he ran and wrote something. Then Jayadeva went to see the palm leaf what was written. He saw that it was written that Kṛṣṇa was asking Rādhārāṇī to forgive Him. Then he asked Padmāvatī, “Who came?” She said, “You had come!” Jayadeva Gosvāmī told her that, “You are the most fortunate woman on earth. I did not come, it was Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself!” Haribol! Haribol! Anyway, many pastimes happened here. Then he went to Jagannātha Purī and there he wrote lot of poetry like the Daśāvatāra-stotra and took darśana of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Sudarśana cakra. Here Gaurāṅga and Gadādhara Deities are there. For a long time, the sevaite here like ISKCON. Earlier there was a Nayana dasa Bābājī Mahārāja, he was a disciple of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. And now every year we do various services. Some other devotees may speak on the Caitanya Gadādhara pastimes.

There is a new app Māyāpur which you can download from Google Playstore on Android phone. It is a basic app presently and not available on Apple yet. You can see the app and see what are the uses of this app. It is difficult for this app to be passed by Android phones initially. After some time gradually it will be become more easy. You can all give your views on how to improve it. I hope that tomorrow you took blessings and prayed in the Prauḍa Māyā temple requesting her for permission to enter Navadvīpa dhāma. Prauḍa Māyā is the protectress and Vṛddha Śiva is the protector of this dhāma. All the devotees in Yogapīṭha prayed to Vṛddha Śiva that we given permission to enter the dhāma. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Bangla Narasiṁhapallī: Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Another name is Devapallī. When Narasiṁhadeva had killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, He was very angry. And even Lakṣmīdevī could not approach Him. Then Lord Brahmā told Prahlāda that, “Lord Narasiṁhadeva came for your sake, so you go ahead and pacify Him.” There is a history that how Prahlāda offered prayers. How Narasiṁhadeva had blessed Prahlāda by placing His hands on his head. After that, Narasiṁhadeva was flying over this place. He saw below and said, “This is My dhāma, I will come here in Kali-yuga.” So He saw the audārya-dhāma, Navadvīpa dhāma below. And He got off. He came here and He was very peaceful. Because this is the quality of audārya-dhāma. All the Devas and Devīs with their spousesall came and built cottages in the hill nearby called Devapallī. There were lakes and sarovaras around and there was a mountain where the Devas stayed. They used to come and offer worship to Narasiṁhadeva. They would offer bhoga to Him. Those who could not get close to Narasiṁhadeva, they got this opportunity to serve Him closely here. So this is on the eastern side of Navadvīpa. Here we offer worship to Lord Narasiṁhadeva, sing and chant His glories. Here there is an ancient Narasiṁha Deity and you can take darśana. Here the temple has been developed by the Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust. The pūjārī is very favorable to ISKCON. The devotees donate a lot here and he gives them Narasiṁhadeva prasāda.

I hope that you all would have downloaded the Māyāpur App on your Android phones. You can try using it and see and give your views as to how to improve it or what is lacking. Hare Kṛṣṇa!