Sripat Hapaniya Dham:
Auspicious Place

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
6 March 2018, Sri Hapaniya Dham
Deities' installation anniversary day

You are very fortunate—after so many days we have come in Hapaniya. This is a very auspicious place of our Guru-varga line, it is the birthplace of our Param Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

He was born in the room where the Deities are now. When Gurudev first brought Srila Sridhar Maharaj here, he wanted Srila Guru Maharaj to show which place exactly he was born in, and Srila Guru Maharaj said that he was born in this place. Later, Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj, Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Kamal Madhusudan Maharaj, and other his godbrothers came here and installed the Deities. That Deities is still here, you can see Them here—Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Gopinath.

When we went on the parikrama, you could see some of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's relatives' houses. They are still there. His nephew's relatives still live there. We also saw a kunda (pond)—it is called Sri Santi Sarovar. Gurudev gave this name in honour of one of the relatives of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. It is our Math's pond. The place where we started the kirtan is a temple of Lord Siva. In his childhood, Srila Sridhar Maharaj used to go to the Ganges every day (it was very far, three kilometers away), he would bathe there, take a lotus flower and bring and offer it to Lord Siva. This is also the place where Srila Sridhar Maharaj would start sankirtan with the village boys in his childhood.

Later, Srila Sridhar Maharaj went to study in Kolkata. After getting a graduate's degree he entered a law college and studied law. There, in Kolkata, he heard one day that that a sadhu (a great personality) was living in Ultadanga Road and was giving good lectures. He went there to listen to him, and after hearing those lectures for seven days he became attracted to that sadhu who was Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He ended up joining Chaitanya Gaudiya Math in Mayapur. We went there on the second day of the parikrama (actually, we always go there on the first day, but this year we went there on the second day). There, he would start the parikrama from Chaitanya Math. After Prabhupad's disappearance, he went to Vrindavan and then started our mission in Nabadwip.

That is the main history. Now we are here, this Hapaniya Dham. "Hapaniya" means "sweet water"—the taste of the coconut water is different here, it is very sweet. Srila Jajavar Maharaj, Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj and others considered this place to be Varshana, the appearance place of Radharani.

You know that Madhu Pandit served the prayojana-tattva Deity Radha Gopinath in Vrindavan, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj told Gurudev, "The Deities' Name will be Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Gopinath." Past year we have not been able to make a festival here for different reasons, but every year we make a festival here three times—in kartik month, on the day following Srila Sridhar Maharaj's appearance day, the day after Radhastami, and now, on pancham dol (after Gaura Purnima, on the Deities' installation anniversary).

This is the place where Srila Sridhar Maharaj was born and lived in his youth. All his family spoke Sanskirt, they were a brahman family. Eventually many of the Gaudiya Gurus took sannyas from Srila Sridhar Maharaj—the gurus from Devananda Gaudiya Math, Srila Madhusudan Maharaj from Chaitanya Math, Mayapur, Srila Goswami Maharaj from Gaura Nityananda Mandir, Mayapur, Srila Bhakti Aloka Parahamsa Maharaj from Gaudiya Math, and many other godbrothers of Srila Guru Maharaj. Many of them came here in Hapaniya also. When Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj would go here, he would walk twenty-five kilometres from Nabadwip and chant Srila Sridhar Maharaj's kirtan:

কৃষ্ণ-কৃষ্ণ-কৃষ্ণ-কৃষ্ণ-কৃষ্ণনাম-কীর্ত্তনং
রাম-রাম-গান-রম্য-দিব্য-ছন্দ-নর্ত্তনম্ ।
যত্র তত্র কৃষ্ণনাম-দান-লোক-নিস্তরং
প্রেম-ধাম-দেবমেব নৌমি গৌর-সুন্দরম্ ॥

krsna-krsna-krsna-krsna-krsna-nama-kirtanam
rama-rama-gana-ramya-divya chhanda-nartanam
yatra-tatra-krsna-nama-dana-loka-nistaram
prema-dhama-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

Later, the Supreme Lord travelled to the holy places of pilgrimage in South India with the clever intention of delivering the fallen souls. Appearing as a beautiful young renunciate, He distributed the sweet Names of the Lord, singing: "Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna he," as He strolled down the different pathways, entered temples, and visited homesteads during the sacred pilgrimage. Infused with an inconceivable type of divine inspiration, the Lord freely chanted "Rama Rama" and joyfully danced with the most charming gestures. Irrespective of time or personal qualification, the assembled bystanders were delivered by the Lord, who inspired them to chant Krishna's Holy Names. I offer my obeisances to that beautiful Golden Lord, Gauranga Sundar, the divine form of Krishna prema.

(Prema-dhama-deva Stotram, 22)

When he came here, he would look for the high school where Srila Sridhar Maharaj studied (Okarsha High School), the pond where Srila Sridhar Maharaj bathed, the playground where Srila Sridhar Maharaj played, etc. Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked him once, "You are my godbrother, I understand that you go to my birthplace, but why are you going there and looking for the place where I bathed, studied, etc.?" Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj replied, "You have written so many slokas, composed so many things and I seeing what you have written I remember Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami. That is why I search for those places."

Also, when Srila Sridhar Maharaj came here for the first time after taking sannyas, he thought he would stay here one night, but the villagers requested him and he stayed here for three nights instead. There are many things happened in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's life history, you know it, and this is the village where he appeared...

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