Archive for January, 2001

Simantadvipa, Navadvipa By the end

Dhanurdhara Swami January 16th, 2001

Simantadvipa, Navadvipa

By the end of the day I am totally exhausted from the full day of parikrama, kirtan, and katha, but I feel enlivened. This type of exhaustion is good for Krishna
consciousness, as it does not leave one with time for anything but Krishna, and it definitely makes my sleep totally devotional service. I don?t know, however, how I will write this journal as I can hardly lift my hands from the keyboard and my brain is too fatigued to think. I?m that worn out. I?ll just scribble a few notes and finish later.

When people arrive from the West, they often are not steadily practicing Krishna consciousness, filled with anxiety, and have little taste for chanting and hearing. The guide may initially have to carry the group by his own enthusiasm until, by the mercy of the dhama, the devotees become peaceful and thus more spontaneous in their attraction for chanting. It sometimes can become an austerity. This year, however, the devotees are enthusiastic from the very beginning of the parikram. It is surely the mercy of Sri Nabadvipa-dhama.

Today also we begin our parikram at the Yoga-Pitha. Again, full absorption in the holy name and unbounded enthusiasm with the sense we can chant forever. I only stop the kirtan to explain a little about the place we have visited and because there are many other places to visit today. Following the path of Sri Caitanaya Mahaprabhu we again walk to Srivas Anga, and then a half-kilometer to the Caitanya Gaudiya-Math, which marks the forest of Vraja in Mayapur. There we take darshan of Radha and Shyama kundas, Govardhana Hill, and the samadhis of Srila Gaura Kishor das Babaji and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Each holy place has a distinct personality and mood that can be easily detected by an experienced visitor. For those of us who have visited Vrindaban before, it?s uncanny how much the Caitanya Gaudiya-Math, established personally by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvat Thakur, mirrors the mood of Vraja.

We proceed another two kilometers down the road to the island of Simantadvipa. According to the Nabadvipa-dhama Mahatmya, a very long time ago, and for the only time in history, Lord Jagannatha left Jagannatha Puri for the purpose of seeing Sridham Mayapur?all on the pretext of a great demon that had attacked His abode. Lord Jagannatha is still being worshiped at Simantadvipa in a beautiful open-air temple in heavenly tropical surroundings that is now well managed by the ISKCON Mayapur?s pujari department. Like Jagannatha Puri-dhama, Lord Jagannatha here is offered chapan bhoga?56 items at one offering. Unlike Puri, however, there are no restrictions in entering the temple. We have audience of Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra and then take the remnants of Lord Jagannatha?s noon chapan bhoga. I overhear comments from several members of our party that the feast was by far the best they ever tasted.

Born and bred, anxiety-filled, New Yorker Deva Dhrita, from the Lower East Side, comments in unbounded appreciation at every place we visit?in a New York accent that even makes my Brooklyn brogue sound like a British School teacher??It ain?t normal!?

As Deva Dhrta has been awe struck with appreciation at every place we?ve visited, it?s obvious that by this unusual phrase he is not criticizing the places we?ve visited, but praising them. I thus ask him, ?Why do you keep on saying at each place that ?It aint normal!??

He replies with typical city logic that somehow twists to a crystal clear point. ?It aint normal! Da world is jus sufferin. It ain?t normal!?

It is our second day and I conclude that without Nabadvipa parikrama it is difficult to understand the concept of mercy. Sure, there is a sincere effort by our pilgrim group to serve the dhama by kirtan, but the reciprocation is way beyond our effort and expectations. By the practice of Krishna consciousness something may come by a sustained effort, but when our effort wanes, the fruit of our practice usually also soon fades, at least externally. Here, however, after our initial effort on parikram the flow of mercy seems to hover over us like a cloud, a companion of shade, that comforts us from the misery of Kali Yuga, follows us throughout the day and even welcomes us the next morning. The mood of Nabadvipa is magnanimity. We can feel it. Once accessed by nama-kirtan it almost seems to pour like a floodgate without much further exertion.

Is this just by own bubbling enthusiasm and insane optimism? I don?t think so. The others also share my sentiments, although they are generally the more pessimistic types, the hard to impress city folk from the West.

Are the residents here experiencing what we, as pilgrims, are? I can?t say, but there is something to the common phrase that ?familiarity breeds contempt.? We have an advantage. We are here for a short time, without any other business then chanting and hearing, and for most of us, too new and in awe to create offense. Lord Caitanya instructs us that by humility one gains taste for the holy name and is able to chant incessantly. New pilgrims can be at advantage as the unknown creates a mood of humble dependence and thus creates receptivity for genuine sentiments of devotion.

Mayapur ?All important holy places

Dhanurdhara Swami January 15th, 2001

Mayapur

?All important holy places are situated in Navadvipa-dhama, and if there is any holy place that is not situated here, it has certainly lost all of its piety. Whatever is obtainable after spending one hundred years in places like Prayag, Ayodhya, Haridwara, Kasi, Kanci, Avanti, Puskara, etc., can be obtained by spending one night in Nabdvipa-dhama. One who walks through Navadvipa achieves with each step the merits of ten million asvamedha sacrifices? One never has to take birth again. Simply by eating the food grown in Navadvipa-dhama, one gets love of Godhead, and while one is sleeping one is offering dandavats (obeisances). By taking shelter of Navadvipa-dhama all souls easily cross over Kali-Yuga.? (Gauradesa, p.22)

Vraja Kumar, the building manager, is a great host?very competent, but soft-hearted. A real Vaishnava. Along with his wife he organizes and personally cooks our breakfast in the new kitchen adjacent to a small clean open-air prasadam hall that sits about fifty people and overlooks the Jalungi. We sit in rows facing each other behind small wood chokis (sit down tables) and are served a home-cooked breakfast that includes freshly baked German bread and fresh lettuce from the guesthouse gardens. It?s not quite yet Bengali fare?that will come?but we are eating as Vaishnavas, sitting together, being served nicely, and sharing krishna-prasadam.

These simple aspects of Vaishnava culture are so important for spiritual life, but unfortunately often rare in modern devotee life?especially in the West where the buffet style is prominent, and the traditional serve out, when done, is often by passionate and famished newer devotees.

Our parikram begins. We leave for the Yoga-Pitha, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, which is just one kilometer down the road. We opt, however, for the scenic back path, so we can pass through the villages of Mayapur. Due to the long plane ride and the general spiritual malaise of Western living, I expect little from the group on the first day?especially in terms of wholehearted kirtan. I am wrong. There is not a single straggler here. The kirtan is full of enthusiasm and the fervor increases as we enter Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu?s birthplace.

A perfected soul has two manifestations in perfection: a siddha svaraupa, an eternal associate of Lord Krishna in Goloka Vrindaban, and a sadhaka rupa, a practitioner of Krishna consciousness in Navadvipa-dhama. The latter seems attainable. Chanting through the villages of Mayapur and entering the Yoga-Pitha, absorbed in nama-kirtan, we glimpse our eternal identity?associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, kirtaneers in Nabadvipa-dhama.

Thirty feet south of the appearance of Lord Caitanya, which is still marked by a neem tree, is a very small temple with two Siva-lingas. The smaller one on the left is Gopisvara-Siva. The larger one on the right is Ksetrapala-Siva, the protector of the dhama. At the beginning of Navadvipa parikram, devotees pray to these Deities to reveal the dhama and to manifest gaura-prema within their heart since Lord Siva is in charge of the false ego.

Our false egoist conception as the enjoyer and controller cover our understanding of God as the master and our identity as His servant, naturally impelling us into seeing everything as separate from Him. One thus imbued by false ego is naturally incapable of perceiving the abode of the Lord, which is directly the Lord?s internal potency, and moves singularly for His supremacy and pleasure. As Lord Siva protects the dhama from non-devotees by the covering of false ego, sincere pilgrims pray to Ksetrapal-Siva to help them access the glories of Sri Navadvipa-dhama. We take a moment of silent prayer and beg for a successful parikram.

250 meters from the Yoga-Pitha, on the Bhaktisiddhanta Marg, we enter Srivas-Angam, the house of Srivas Pandit, the place where the sankirtan movement began. The chanting explodes and we chant with abandon. It is a spiritual experience. Although the intensity of the kirtan increases, it does so without degrading into passion, as so often is the case when the youthful, or passionate, become enthusiastic in kirtan. I can?t help but feel our prayers at the Yoga-Pitha have been answered; the false ego is diminishing, we?re tasting the holy name, and the dhama is gradually being revealed.

I was in Vrindaban in 1976 when Srila Prabhupada asked the devotees to also attend the noon arati commenting that Vrindaban is meant for bhajan. Mayapur is also meant for bhajan. We therefore congregate in the late afternoon for more kirtan and to hear more gaura-lila. I read from Caitanya Bhagavat. We sit in rapt attention and hear how the sankirtan movement began in the very place that we chanted this morning.

I am so inspired by how things are going, I decide to book the guesthouse the same time next year for our pilgrimage. I am hoping that if devotees know the dates of the tour well in advance it will help them to makes plans to attend.

Mayapur ?He who lives in

Dhanurdhara Swami January 14th, 2001

Mayapur

?He who lives in Nabadvipa-dhama is very fortunate, for he achieves attraction for Krishna. He who happens to go there becomes freed from all offenses. What one attains by traveling to all the holy places is attained just by remembering Nabadvipa. In this way the scriptures sing. He who sees Nabadvipa-dhama gets ecstatic love of Krishna birth after birth. Even one who goes to Navadvipa desiring to gain material comforts through pious activities will not take another birth. The sastras say that one who walks around Nabadvipa attains the fruit of millions of asvamedhas-yajnas at every step. And one who lives in Nabadvipa and chants mantras obtains the sound of Caitanya as his mantra and easily gets free from maya. What yogis obtain after ten years at other tirthas is obtained in three nights at Navadvipa.? (Nabdvipa Mahatmya, Parikrama-Khanda, Chapter 1)

The facilities for our group are ideal. We have all to ourselves a small but spacious new guesthouse/conference hall in a rustic setting next to the temple goshalla and its pastoral gurukula, but only five minutes from the bustle of the temple by a scenic, tree-lined and winding dirt road raised over acres of the temple?s paddy fields. A few hundred feet behind our guesthouse flows the Jalungi River. From the window of my room I can even see across the river to svananda-sukhada kunja, Bhaktivinoda Thakur?s residence.

Everything is perfect, but where is our group? They were to arrive at 7AM. It is past 2PM.

I remember hearing a Bhagavatam class over twenty years ago years where the speaker described waiting as the greatest surrender. Surrender means to accept Krishna?s will. That?s hard to do when Krishna?s will is delaying the arrival of your friends. I am anxious to see all the new pilgrims and I struggle to surrender and wait patiently.

The group finally arrives after 3PM. Their plane was turned back to Delhi because of the heavy fog in Calcutta. It?s a nice mix of devotees, from recent high school graduates to working people, from newcomers to seasoned devotees. Many have longstanding friendships, but everyone feels welcome.

Several members of the tour had written to me independently with the same concern?they feel unqualified to enter the dhama and have some trepidation about going. Although many are not the strictest practitioners they are approaching the tour seriously in a humble mood. That makes them qualified to receive the mercy of the dhama and good association for me.

They settle in quickly. Not really knowing what to expect, I can sense their relief when they see that the facility is suitable in terms of their comforts, but also in terms of the setting in rustic India.

After prasadam we walk five minutes to Srila Prabhupada?s samadhi, a spectacular and powerful Vatican-like sacred space that appropriately communicates Srila Prabhupada?s stature. We are then surprised to find ourselves unexpectedly right in the middle of the temple?s colorful Sunday Deity procession, which happens to be circumambulating the samadhi at exactly the time we finish our darshan. The kirtans, the mantras, the flaming torches, and the beautiful Deities on Their huge elephant carrier? We are enchanted. It?s an exotic entrance into Mayapur that more than makes up for the tiresome journey to get here.

Calcutta/Mayapur Met Kaustubha, Jai Nitai,

Dhanurdhara Swami January 13th, 2001

Calcutta/Mayapur

Met Kaustubha, Jai Nitai, and Joe at the airport. Kaustubha and Jai Nitai agree to wait until tomorrow morning to pick up the devotees arriving from America so that I can go with Joe to Mayapur to make sure everything is ready for the tour.

Joe, as many devotees know, is a professional comedian in New York. We talked on the way about my theory of the philosophical basis of comedy based on Bhagavad-gita, 3.27. To paraphrase, ?The spirit soul bewildered by the three modes of nature thinks himself the doer, but is forced to act helplessly according to the three modes of material nature.?

With a straight face I tell him what a serious subject it is. Of course, I?m only half-serious. It?s a long and very bumpy four-hour ride to Mayapur, and it?s really hard to concentrate on much else then a good conversation. I think, however, I?m onto an interesting realization and it leads to a thought-provoking discussion. We even discussed the different types of comedy and how they fit into my theory.

My premise is that everything in this world moves by God?s will for the purpose of liberating those souls who have turned away from Him and have adopted ahankara, the false egoist conception of being the doer or controller. This platform is foolish and laughable because, on this platform, one is not acting intelligently but indiscriminately by the force of his nature. Humor is the process of parodying non-malicious conditioned activities and thus discouraging them. This was my basic analysis of the purpose of humor based on the above Bhagavad-gita verse where Krishna calls the conditioned souls mudhas, or fools. In other words, a person with a good sense of humor can sense the passions of people and, in an indirect or subtle way, make comments or tell stories that mock and hopefully deter such conditioning. In contrast, when one controls his impulses and his actions are guided by intelligence, it is sober, respected, and thus generally praised and encouraged. Of course, everything has its useful and inappropriate application, but humor definitely has a place in spiritual life?even in the spiritual world.

We also developed my thesis in fun ways. For example, it came to light that the more one is under the modes of nature, surrendering his freewill and his ability to act with discernment, the more humorous his actions are. We concluded that that?s why a lot of comedy is based on people from New York, which is such hotbed of insane, passionate, and impulsive activity. We also thought that?s why New Yorkers often make good comedians: they somehow also have the smarts to recognize and appreciate such madness.

We also discussed the idea of me giving a seminar to his comedy group about the philosophy of humor. We had a laugh about how funny that could be and how difficult it would be to do with a straight face.

Of course, this was not a fully developed thesis, just some philosophical fun, but Joe caught the idea and the discussion was Krishna conscious. We thus concluded that humor, appropriately applied, can serve a liberating purpose for a somewhat discriminating person by discouraging actions that are passionate or ignorant, and by not acting impulsively or foolish oneself.

An hour from Mayapur we see the sign for Santipur, the home of Sri Advaita Acarya. Time to get serious. We begin kirtan and prepare ourselves for entering the dhama.

Audarya-dhama! We immediately feel the magnanimity of Lord Caitanya. We enter and receive a warm welcome from many of my friends there.

Vrindaban/Delhi I leave as scheduled

Dhanurdhara Swami January 12th, 2001

Vrindaban/Delhi

I leave as scheduled to Delhi to pick up my train to Calcutta, where I will meet the devotees coming from the US for pilgrimage. As usual, when traveling out of Delhi, I stop for prasadam at the house of my friend, Ghanashyama. They are exceptionally hospitable. With a phone call and a few hours notice I can send anyone there to take prasadam or stay the night.

Ghanashyama left home when he was ten years old to go to Vrindaban to be a sadhu. His father finally found him and told him that he didn?t mind if he didn?t want to get married, but he should help his family until he reached maturity. On the request of his father he completed his education and became a civil engineer to help support a joint family of his five brothers. However, he still remained somewhat of a sadhu and never married. He is renown in his community for his beautiful brajabasi bhajans?especially about Giriraja.

He is now working on a construction project in Nigeria, but his brothers always welcome me. When he is informed that I am staying at his house in Delhi, he often sends me a message by email. Last year he shared with me a thought-provoking realization:

?I think Vaishnavas sometimes get all their remaining karmic reactions for several lives in one lifetime so that they can finish up their business in this world and return to Godhead at the end of this life.?

This year, as planned, he retired to Vrindaban at fifty.

I can only stay a few hours and rush to catch the late afternoon Rajadhani to Calcutta. I am eager again to see Mayapur.

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