Sivji Maharaj and Nandi:
Journey to Sri Nabadwip Dham

His Divine Grace
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj,
Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 November 2010

...I got the Giriraj Deity, and then it was necessary to get Sivji Maharaj. After Govardhan I was going to Haridwar and Kashi. Everybody told me that Benares Siva lingas were good, so I thought I would go first to Haridwar and then on the way I will stop in Kashi (Benares), but I could not wait. When we were in Haridwar, everyone went to the market (it is very cold in Haridwar and they sell many warm clothes, so Indian devotees like to shop there), and I went searching for a Siva linga. Finally, I got one Siva linga and Nandi there. They are still here in Nabadwip.

Then I had to arrange the transport. My bus driver agreed to bring Giriraj because he did not know much about Giriraj, but he refused to take Sivji Maharaj and Nandi. He said it was too heavy, it was a deity, etc., so I booked a place on a train. The linga and Nandi were packed and ready to be sent, but when I called them fifteen days later to ask if they had been sent, I found out that they had not. After I called them several times and gave them some money they finally sent it.

When Siva linga and Nandi were delivered to the Howrah station (Kolkata), I got a phone call and was told that the linga and Nandi were there but there were no papers for them. I took the car (the one that is now in the Centenary Museum) and my driver and went there, but at the station they said, "You cannot take the cargo because you have no papers for it. How do we know it is yours?" It was a big problem also because every day we had to pay a fine—one rupee per one kg. Siva linga and Nandi are very heavy, maybe 300-500 kg, so every day we had to pay the detention fine of Rs 300-500. We did not know how to get the papers also—who will go back to Haridwar and bring it? Then there was Krishna's arrangement.

One Nabadwip judge, my good friend, had been transferred at that time to Howrah (when there were some criminal incidents at the station he would decide the cases). I went to see him, and he took me to the railway station manager.

The railway manager told us that he could not release the Deities without the papers, but he agreed to free us from the fine. The judge was happy, but I had already come there with the car, spent the money, and so on, and did not want to leave without Sivji Maharaj and Nandi. Suddenly, Krishna gave me another idea. I said to them, "What am I to do now? I do not know when they will send the papers, but the inauguration festival is in three days. Many people are coming for the festival..." I made some illusion. The judge supported me, "I know Maharaj and his temple. He is a good man; he is not a thief." The railway manager believed him, and after the judge signed a paper vouching for me they released the Deity.

At that time, the road to Nabadwip from Dum Dum Park was through Madhyamgram (a town north-east of Kolkata), and because the linga and Nandi were so heavy the car broke on the way. I was alone, with a broken car and an angry driver. I left the driver to repair the car and hired another taxi. I finished at Howrah at 4-5 o'clock and came to Nabadwip only at 11-12 o'clock at night.

This is how Sivji Maharaj came here. So many things have happened, and it was all like a miracle...

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