20231123 Addressing the Kārtika Navadvīpa Maṇḍala Parikramā

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: I wanted to attend the Belpukur on the last day of the parikramā but my vehicle was sent to Kolkata for servicing, and other health reasons. I don’t know what līlā would have been told by the other speakers. So I would tell something no one had spoken.

One Sūriyadāsa Sarakhela, with his two daughters, Jāhnavā and Vasudhā, they were living in Śālagrāma, which is a little bit to the east of the present, at that time the Ganges was flowing by the side of Śālagrāma. So Kṛṣṇa Hora one of the associates of Lord Nityānanda, he thought that the two daughters Jāhnavā and Vasudhā would be a proper match for Lord Nityānanda, who had received the order from Lord Caitanya that He should enter the gṛhastha āśrama. So, at first Sūryadāsa Sarakhela refused. He said that, “Lord Nityānanda was an avadhūta!” That night he had a dream, he saw his two daughters were married to Balarāma. So then, he realized that he may have been wrong! So he told Kṛṣṇa Hora that he was agreeable. Then Kṛṣṇa Hora told Lord Nityānanda, who was giving a class in Navadvīpa. He understood what he said and He continued giving the class. So he was agreeable and They had a wedding ceremony. Lord Nityānanda married Vasudhā and Jāhnavā Devī. At that time, the Ganges shifted and was flowing in a place called Rukumpur, which is the northern tip of Navadvīpa dhāma. And it says that bathing there in the Kārtika month, especially on the Kārtika Pūrṇimā, gives hundred times the benefit of bathing in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. So Lord Nityānanda, He would take His parikramā party. Since Rukumpur was very far to the north, He would just point it out. Of course, Naru Gopāla says he takes a jeep parikramā and so they may be able to go to Rukumpur. For the walking parikramā it is too far. My disciple, Kīrtanapriya dāsa, he dresses the Deity of Madana Gopāla. And the sevaite is Nimāi Kṛṣṇa dāsa, he took initiation from me and there the Deity is 1100 or 1400 years old. And there is also Nīlāmbara Cakravartī and Śacī Mātā. Śacī Mātā personally worshiped the Deities before she was married. And this is a very important island, the island of hearing. I hope you all enjoyed your parikramā. Hare Kṛṣṇa!