D ear devotees, this morning with a heavy heart we left the temple of Madana Gopal in Belpukur.
The beautiful Madan Gopal was worshipped by Sachimata’s father. The worship has been going on for about 1.700 years. From there we entered Simantadvipa which corresponds to the process of hearing sravanam. Soon enough the first katha of the day was held under a huge banyan tree. It wasn’t just tall in size but it vigorously spread in all directions with branches which were almost as thick as the main trunk. It can only be compared to the tree Krishna describes in the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 15. That place is called Panca Vaktra, a name of Siva who possesses 5 mouths. In this connection Maha visnu swami led us in a truly ecstatic kirtan where he sang the following lines:
Brahma bole cathur mukhe Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Mahadeva panca mukhe Rama Rama Hare Hare
Next we had Guru Puja at the temple of Simantini Devi who is Paravati Devi after she placed the dust from Gauranga’s lotus feet upon the middle part of her head. That is called ‘simanta’. Because of this pastime this island is known as Simantadvipa.
From there the Parikrama arrived at Chand Kazi’s Samadhi where the kirtan went on a different dimension, reminding one and all of the historical kirtan procession Lord Caitanya held from Srivasa Angan to the dwelling of the Kazi. This pastime was enacted in a drama directed by HG Pancaratna Prabhu assisted by the talented Delhi devotees. Soon we arrived at our campsite at Rajapur, Jagannatha Mandir which is non-different from Jagannatha Puri.
Finally in the evening to complete our Parikrama experience we had a realization session where many devotees spoke up. They shared with the group how they have been transformed from day 1, how they loved the prasadam and how fortunate they felt to perform devotional service in the holy dhama in the company of so many wonderful vaishnavas.
To bless the occasion HH Jayapataka Swami arrived. After listening to most of the realizations, he addressed all the members with compassion, encouragement and gratitude.
On the 8th day (18th of March), we are going to see the sacred places in Antardvipa, the island of full surrender. It is interesting that a big part of ISKCON Mayapur complex is situated in Antardvipa. We are just 1km from Yoga Pitha. Those who come to Mayapur or live here are invited to practice the process of surrender; these are the blessings of this island. We are scheduled to reach ISKCON Mayapur campus tomorrow 9:00am where a Maha Milan (great meeting) will take place with all the parties meeting at the same time, which demands a lot of communication and organization from the leaders, securities, Parade commanders and Coordinators.
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