Last night we managed to put Guru Maharaja to sleep by 10pm, for sufficient
rest. He woke up at 4.30am and as soon as he woke up, he revealed his
parikrama plan for today. His schedule was to first meet the International
and Bengali party at Suvarna Vihar. We planned to leave by 6.30am but we got
delayed and left Iskcon Mayapur only at 7.25am.
We reached Suvarna Vihar at 8am and met the International party who were
listening to the nectarine pastimes from different maharajas. As
the last speaker Guru Maharaja shared the pastimes of Suvarna Vihar and
mentioned that, “we need to have ghee like heart and as soon as we hear the
name of Gauranga, it should melt instantly.” Then everyone chanted
Gaurangaaaaaaaa!!!!”.”He continued,”We should cry for Krsna and
Gauranga!!!!…. Mahaprabhu’s mercy is flowing freely in Navadvip Dham and
one should take this mercy from here and distribute it to the other part of
the world. Every step that one takes here, should chant the name of Nitai!
Nitai! ” Crowd chanted Nitaaaaaai! Nitaaaaaai!!
At that time we heard a soft kirtan from far distance, Guru Maharaja said
the Bengali party is approaching this place so it is time for the
International party to leave.Guru Maharaja had His breakfast in that
interval. As he was about to end his breakfast, thousands of Bengali
devotees walked into the Suvarna Vihar Temple compound with flags in their
hands and chanting loud kirtans. As they walked in, the dust from the ground
clouded the whole atmosphere. The whole ground in front of Suvarna Vihar
Temple was completely filled with devotees yet stream of devotees still
flowing in. At every 10 minutes of the class a loud kirtan erupted and
filled the whole atmosphere with thousands of devotees clapping their hands
and repeatedly responding to Guru Maharaja’s chanting of Gaurangaaaaa
!Gaurangaaaaaa! And matajis were doing their uludhwani. Uhhhh!! It was a
sight to be seen. Uludhwani is the specialty of the Bengali party. After the
class, the Bengali party departed to their next place meanwhile Guru
Maharaja was wheeled into the temple hall for darshan.
Our next group to be visited was the Russian party who were in Pancaveni .At
10.15am we left to Pancaveni (Gauranga Bridge). This is the same place where
we met our Hindi party yesterday. When we reached the Russian party, the
matajis were honouring their prasadam and the prabhus were taking dip,
enjoying the cool water of Pancaveni. Since this holy spot is located under
the bridge and along the narrow bank of Ganges, there was not much space for
all to sit and have their breakfast. So first the matajis were allowed to
honour their breakfast. All their prasadam sitting rows were numbered
accordingly to make the distribution of prasadam easier.
Meanwhile Guru Maharaja had his fruits and gave darshan to a group of
Russian devotees. At 11.45am the class begun. His Holiness Bhakti Vaibhava
Swami, His Holiness Navayogendra Swami, and several Srila Prabhupada
disciples shared the pastimes of this holy spot. Guru Maharaja spoke about
the pastimes of several other places in Madhyadwip which were visited by the
party before reaching Pancaveni. He spoke on Hamsa vahana Shiva, Uccahatta,
Sapta Rishi Tila (still remain invisible), Kuliya Pahada in Koladwip. Then
Guru Maharaja requested Holiness Navayogendra Swami to continue the nectar
and start departing to meet the next group. (Hamsa refers to Lord Siva who
travelled with Lord Brahma’s swan carrier. Uccahatta is non different from
Kuruksetra).
Our last group to be visited today was the Hindi parikrama who were on their
way to Vidya Nagar. After entering into narrow dusty road which leads to
Vidya Nagar, we saw stream of devotees from the Hindi parikrama party
walking towards the same destination passing through the beautiful mud huts,
hay stacks, cows, calves and bamboo groves. The local villagers stood along
the whole road, greeted us with big smile on their face and non stop Hari
Bol!! Many fatigued looking elderly devotees and small children used
rickshaws to travel through this rough road.
As we approached the courtyard of small temple of Lord Gaur Nitai,
we saw His Holiness Lokanath Swami along with His Holiness Radha Raman
Maharaja under a neem tree. Rest of the devotees settled in front them to
hear the nectar.Guru Maharaja started the class first. He was mentioning
that the moment one hears the name Vidya Nagar, Avidya (ignorance) will be
destroyed. This is also the birth place of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. He also
narrated the story of local villagers who rushed to see Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu when they came to know He is in town. After the class Guru
Maharaja took the darshan of the presiding deities and departed to Iskcon
Mayapur.
Your Servant,
Maha Varaha D