O n our 2nd day of Parikrama we further explored the land of Godrumadvipa visiting the Holy places such as Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s house and Naimisharanya. First of all we came to Gaura daha which is nondifferent from Kaliya Daha in Vrindavan. For the surprise of the devotees HH Bhakti Purushottama Swami related two wonderful lilas of Kaliya’s previous birth . What a story! HH Bhakti Nityananda Maharaja explained in detail the pastime of how the crocodile who lived in that lake – Gaura daha- for 4 yugas was delivered by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His sankirtan party. In this special place the devotees, as advised by our ecstatic Maharajas, put the dust of that holy place on their heads while others rolled on the ground.
HG Agnideva prabhu led us on beautiful bhajans” Nadiya Godrume” and “Boro Sukher Kabor gai” at Surabhi Kunja. In this song , Lord Nityananda’s transcendental market place of the holy name or the Nama Hatta is described.There we heard from HH Bhakti Ratnakar Ambarish Maharaja about Russia’s outstanding preaching activities. Maharaja said: ” There are 500 nama hattas in Russia. 150 of them are just in Moscow, where everyday at least one of the 10 sankirtan parties goes around the city distributing the holy name side by side with Srila Prabhupada’s books” Paying our respects to Godrumadvipa we entered Madhyadvipa around noon time. It was very special to reach Madhyadvipa at that time because it is at noon that Lord Caitanya comes there with His associates singing and dancing. “Madhya” means “middle” or “middle of the day” .This island represents the process of smaranam or remembering.
At Naimisharanya HH Bhakti Nrisimha Maharaja spoke to us about smaranam: “if anybody asks a Christian, Muslim or Jew what it means to be religious, they will have different answers. If somebody asks us ‘what does it mean to be Krishna conscious? What does it mean to be religious for you Hare Krishna people?’ The answer is : to always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna.”
Rajendranandana Prabhu is Srila Prabhupada disciple who has been coming to Parikrama ever since it began. His speech was very enlightening. He spoke about the glories of the Srimad Bhagavatam as well as the person Bhagavatam Srila Prabhupada. He reminded us that Srila Prabhupada’s purports are his spiritual ecstasies. Reading and hearing is non different, therefore we get the direct association of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada simply by reading the Bhagavatam daily. He concluded his speech: ” First you come to the Dhama and serve it properly. Then what happens? You will get sadhu sanga:the association of devotees who want to chant and hear the pure glories of Gauranga . So what is our goal ? Krishna Prema. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said :’First serve the Dhama,then being purified… chant the Nama…. chant and hear the name purely, then you get Krishna Kama, pure devotional service in love of God.’.”
Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama ki jay!
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