20230225 NMP Day 3 Addresses

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

Modadrumadvīpa: You have all now come to Modadrumadvīpa. Of the nine practices of devotional service the particular aspect here is dāsya. Here in Vaikuṇṭhapura, is the pastime place of Lord Rāmacandra. There is also the birthplace of Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. There is a Gauḍīya Maṭha there and they do service in this birthplace of Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has written the Caitanya-bhāgavata. And the Caitanya-bhāgavata is mainly on the childhood pastimes of Lord Caitanya. There is some about other pastimes, but mostly on Ādi-līlā and Madhya-līlā. Now, the mother of Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura was Nārāyaṇī devī. Nārāyaṇī devī was in Śrīvāsa’s house when Lord Caitanya was performing His pastime there. Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu said that Nārāyaṇī will be emotionally filled with kṛṣṇa-prema and immediately she was! Lord Caitanya this way, had the ability to give kṛṣṇa-prema! Anyway, this Nārāyaṇī devī, she had seen the manifested childhood pastimes of Lord Caitanya and this she had narrated to Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. Now, if we need to get an idea of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, we have to see all His books. Because one book written by one author and another written by another author, they did not want to duplicate what each other were writing. And in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there is more description of the Antya-līlā of Lord Caitanya. But, the major part of the Navadvīpa-līlā is explained in the Caitanya-bhāgavata. Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, all said that he was Vyāsadeva in kṛṣṇa-līlā. All of you will offer worship and pray to Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura in this temple.

Jagannātha Temple, Rājāpur: Hare Kṛṣṇa! You are all at the Jagannātha temple today. Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and Sudarśana cakra Deities are there. And also behind this temple is the temple of Lord Caitanya and Sīmantinī devī. I think you are taking prasāda. Anyway, this is the highest place in Navadvīpa dhāma. And when there are floods, there is no flood in this temple. After Lord Caitanya had His pastime with the Chand Kazi, the Chand Kazi declared that no one will disturb His saṅkīrtana in the future. Thereafter, Lord Caitanya, He went to various markets and ended in Kholāvecā Śrīdhara’s house. And there, He was thirsty, and He wanted to take some water. But Kholāvecā Śrīdhara only had a broken iron pot. So, Kholāvecā Śrīdhara wanted to go to the neighbor and borrow some nice glass for Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But Lord Caitanya said, “No, no, please give Me in what you have.” Lord Caitanya was very tall, and had long hands, so He reached over Kholāvecā Śrīdhara and without force He took the pot. And He drank the water from the broken iron pot. And He said “Oh, very nice water!” Lord Caitanya appreciated anything from His devotees. So, you can see here in Kholāvecā Śrīdhara’s place, there is a lake, now they are growing paddy in the lake. In the high ground there is a temple with a door removed. And, the Deities have been taken away. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, he was concerned that his followers would show their love for him, by how well they cooperated. So you can see there is lack of cooperation here, the Deities have gone, the temple door is broken. Here, Lord Caitanya rested, this place is also known as “Viśrāma-sthāna”. Sometimes devotees, would do a drama called where Lord Caitanya would buy vegetables and bananas from Kholāvecā Śrīdhara.

So, when Lord Caitanya showed Advaita Ācārya that He was Kṛṣṇa Himself for 21 hours, Advaita had fasted and worshiped the Deity of śālagrāma and prayed for the Lord to come down. So, to prove to Advaita Ācārya that He had fulfilled His wish, He did this Mahā-prakāśa-līlā. And, this pastime, He sent some people to bring Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. When Kholāvecā Śrīdhara heard that Lord Gaurahari wanted to see him, he fainted. The devotees did not know what to do. So they picked him up and carried him to Lord Caitanya. There, he was put down by the feet of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. And Advaita Ācārya was offering an ārati, Lord Nityānanda was carrying an umbrella over the head of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya asked Kholāvecā Śrīdhara that, “You have served Me, I will give you anything you want. Tell Me what do you want?” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said “I don’t want anything.” Lord Caitanya said, “I will make you a king, you will have many followers, wealth.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said “No, no, I don’t want to be a king.” Lord Caitanya said, “I want to give you aṣṭa-siddhi – aṇimā, lagimā, prāptī, etc. You accept it, I want to give you.” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “No, no, I don’t want aṣṭa-siddhi.” Lord Caitanya said “But you have to ask something, I want to give you! What are you going to ask?” Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “If I have to ask something then I want that I can take birth every time You descend from the spiritual world, and provide You with fruits and vegetables and banana products. And I can see that smiling face of the young brāhmaṇa boy. But if I am not qualified for that, then please if I can be born in the family of Your devotees.” Lord Gaurāṅga, He said, “I am going to give you the gift that Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā hanker for. I give you the boon of kṛṣṇa-prema.” Haribol! All the devotees could not believe it, this simple banana hawker he got kṛṣṇa-prema! They chanted Haribol! Haribol! Some devotees started rolling on the ground. They could not believe that Lord Gaurāṅga was giving such mercy! Haribol! When you go to the Jalāṅgī river, on your way, just before reaching the Jalāṅgī river, you can see the place where Lord Balarāma fought with the Māyāsura. The place is still called Māyamāri Maṭha. The field where Māyāsura was killed. So, you see that place on the way to the Jalāṅgī river. Haribol!

Sīmantadvīpa: Namaste! Vaṇakkam! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Here we are in Sīmantadvīpa, at Śaṅkarpur. If you look to the north alongside the Ganges, about four kilometers away there is a holy place of Rukumpur. There, after Lord Nityānanda entered the gṛhastha āśrama, He moved there from śālagrāma. He was staying at a place called śālagrāma first. He moved to Rukumpur, and there is a Deity of Lord Nityānanda, Jāhnavā and others. So this Rukumpur, in the month of Kārtika, on Kārtika Pūrṇimā, there is a special day, by bathing in the Ganges at that time, you get the same benefit as bathing in Haridwar. There is also the pastime of one demon called Kolāsura. He had the head of a pig and I think Baladeva, He fought with that demon and delivered him. So, generally we don’t go, some years we went because it is about eight kilometers. So this place is also known as Rāma-tīrtha. And we want to pay our praṇāmas to Rukumpur from here.

Madhyadvīpa/Koladvīpa: Haribol! Now we are in Madhyadvīpa and we cross over a bridge and we come to Koladvīpa. Koladvīpa is named after Varāhadeva. And Varāhadeva was fighting with Hiraṇyākṣa, the elder brother of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Varāhadeva put His rear hoof on the earth and then He punched him with the front hoof, and he died on the spot. Where He touched the earth is Koladvīpa. And so, Kola is another name of Varāha. And so we are walking through Koladvīpa. As we are walking, we go by the Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha, the founder of the Maṭha gave sannyāsa to Śrīla Prabhupāda. In that Maṭha there is a Deity of Varāhadeva. And He had some līlā here in Navadvīpa dhāma. When you go ahead, you go past what is called Paramatala. It is a temple of Mahā-māyā devī, Prauḍa Māyā, she is the proctectress of the holy dhāma. Her husband is Vṛddha Śiva, his temple is behind the Yogapīṭha. I prayed during the adhivāsa to Lord Śiva, for us to enter into the Navadvīpa dhāma.

But you are going by the Paramatala, Prauḍa Māyā, you can offer your obeisances to the Vaiṣṇavīs on the right side and pray that you can enter into the holy dhāma of Navadvīpa. This Koladvīpa is also known as Kuliyā-pāṭ. And it is famous, you can get forgiven for any offence to the Vaiṣṇavas, in Kuliyā-pāṭ. In Kuliyā-pāṭ in Koladvīpa, you should pay obeisances, and you should pray that you want to forgive any Vaiṣṇava who has knowingly or unknowingly offended you, and that you want to be forgiven for any offence you made to any Vaiṣṇava. So then, after this we are going to the samādhi Mandir of Siddha Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī. There are many pastimes that he performed here. He was staying in Vṛndāvana, but there any offence you do, gets multiplied by a thousand. Of course, any devotional service you do, is also multiplied by one thousand. And in Navadvīpa dhāma you get the same benefit of a thousand times any devotional service offered. But the offences are not heavily counted. So, he came to Navadvīpa dhāma and he achieved his siddha-svarūpa. Behind the temple there is an āsana where he sat, where he achieved the siddha-svarūpa-upalabdhi. There are some pastimes that he had with the dogs and others, but I will leave something for others to say. On the way out we stop at the Dhāmeśvara Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, the Deity which was worshiped by Viṣṇupriyā. On every Friday, the Deity is dressed as a sakhi. You are going to see Him on Saturday, so He will be in His male form. Haribol!