Navadvip Mandala Parikrama-Day 4,the 11th March 2011
Today is the 4th day of the parikrama. At 7.15am Guru Maharaja came down to the temple hall to take darshan. He comes down from His quarters to the temple hall through the Caitanya exhibition hall using the newly installed elevator. Unfortunately an embarrassing incident took place this morning. The key for the grill gate which divides the temple hall and exhibition hall was misplaced. Guru Maharaja waited for almost five minutes and while He was waiting, I saw the devotee who was pushing the wheelchair slowly stepped far away from Guru Maharaja, fearing he may get scolded. This is the second time such thing has happened. It was very embarrassing for me because at least 8 of us were there with Guru Maharaja but none made sure if the key is with us or went ahead to open the gate. Guru Maharaja kept himself quiet and decided to leave without darshan. Guru Maharaja has very high level of tolerance. He tolerates our mistakes so much. But one should not take advantage of His kindness. Anyway let's get back with the parikrama now.
We left Iskcon Mayapur at 7.30am. We drove towards Simantadwip which is about 20 minutes drive to meet the Hindi party. Guru Maharaja spoke about the pastime of Simantini Devi (Parvathi Devi) who got the darshan of Lord Caitanya. Simantadwip was named after this pastime.After spending 30 minutes with the Hindi party, we headed towards Pancaveni to meet the Bengali party. Guru Maharaja had his breakfast on the way to Pancaveni (Gauranga Bridge). Half way through our journey, we met the Bengali party whowere streaming along the main road with loud kirtan and colourful flags. They were stretched for almost 3 kilometres. We reached Pancaveni before them. While waiting for them, Guru Maharaja took a walk along the bank of Pancaveni.
Half an hour later as the kirtan was resounding near by, we knew the Bengaliparty which has 3000 devotees, were approaching us. As soon the party entered the road leading the downhill from the Gauranga Bridge to the bank of Panceveni, thick dust clouded the whole atmosphere. After the devotees settled down in front of the small stage, Guru Maharaja spoke for 30mins. By now it was already 10.15am and none had their breakfast. Understanding the situation, Guru Maharaja stopped the class and requested Satya Narayanan Prabhu to chant the prasadam prayers... sarira avidyajal..... We departed from Panceveni to Pratap Nagar at 10.45am to meet the Russian Party. Again we were ahead of the Russian party too. The Russian party arrived in Pratap Nagar at 11.10am and had their breakfast. After breakfast, Guru Maharaja narrated few pastimes which are significant to Koladwip. He mentioned, in Satya Yuga Lord Varaha appeared in this place and told Vasudeva Brahmana the following, "Whoever resides in Navadvipa will attain the results of residing in all other tirthas. There is no place in the three worlds equals to Navadwip Dham. Koladwip is also known as 'Aparadha Vanjan Kuliyapad ’the island which forgives all the offences... Guru Maharaja asked the devotees if anyone asked forgiveness for their offences committed against Vaishnavas knowingly or unknowingly while being in Koladwip. When devotees replied ‘nyet’ (no in Russian) he repeated 'Nyeeeet?' (Noooo) why? and told them to beg for forgiveness right here because this is the last spot for the Russian party in Koladwip. Immediately a loud prayers of Vanca kalpa...erupted. From Russian Party we left to meet the international party at Vidyanagar.
At this point of time the weather was little cloudy and started drizzling too. As we reached Vidyanagar, we saw some last batches of devotees still walking into the ground of Gaur Nitai Temple.At 2.20pm Guru Maharaja started his speech by thanking His Holiness Lokanath Swami for leading the International party so nicely. He mentioned in His class that all the knowledge from the Vedas was given from here.... Lord Ramachandra is expert at using the weapons, Lord Krsna is expert at herding the cows and Lord Caitanya is expert at Knowledge...He has so much knowledge that even attracted Brhaspati who was very eager to see the pastimes of the Lord where he is giving out knowledge..... His eagerness forced him to appear as Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya in Caitanya Lila much before than Mahaprabhu's appearance. At 3pm all Srila Prabhupada's disciples were invited to take lunch at HG Meenakshi Radha Mataji's house. She lives in Vidyanagar and feeds all the senior Vaishnavas every year during the parikrama. All Srila Prabhupada's disciples who attended the parikrama were served with traditional Bengali lunch feast.
Your Servant,
Maha Varaha D
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