E arly in the morning we left the beautiful Pratapnagar towards the Ganges shore (only 2 km walk). We boarded the boats and ship to Sankarpur. You can’t imagine how it is to get all these boats on the right time and cross the Ganga with more than one thousand people. How much managerial work is necessary to get these things done? To be honest with you there is no such thing as Boat Company here and the boats need to be hired individually, what takes a lot of time, patient and work.
Before leaving we offered respects with folded hands to the dhamvasis who were bathing in the Ganges and all the women started the auspicious uludhuani (the loudly sound like a conch shell that we only hear in Bengal), and we felt blessed by them.
After reaching the other side of the Ganges we came to a place called Sankarpur, in the island of Rudradvipa. In Sankarpura, the famous Sripad Sankaracarya had darshan of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The Lord told him “… this is my own place and I don’t want you to preach Mayavada philosophy here.. Please move on..” In this way Lord Gauranga freed Sri Navadvipa Dhama from Mayavada philosophy.
After hearing this pastime from HH Bhakti Vigna Vinas Narasimha swami we headed to Rukumpur. How beautiful is Navadvipa Dhama landscape! And you can’t see this kind of green color anywhere in India. The devotees had an amazing morning walk before reaching Rukumpur for breakfast. HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj joined us in Rukumpur, for many years he was trying to organize the Parikrama in such way that we could visit this place.
After breakfast our party moved again towards Belpukur. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mother, Sachi mata was living there with her parents. His famous father Nilambara Cakravarti was worshipping the deity of Madana Gopal; the beautiful deity is still in this place. We came here years ago and the deity had a very small temple with muddy courtyard. In this time the local authorities constructed a very nice courtyard with marble floor. The devotees from international group had an ecstatic Sandhya Arati and the Mayapur Sankirtan devotees distributed 300 Bhagavad Gitas again, for the happiness of the villagers, as they are doing every evening during Parikrama.
The evening class will be given by HH Bhakti Vigna Vinas Narasimha Swami, he is such a good speaker and his classes inspire everyone.
Tomorrow will be our last day Parikrama and we will have a special program in Jagannath Temple, in the island of Simantadvipa.
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