Sri Radhastami in
Sri Hapaniya Dham (2)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Appearance day of Srimati Radharani, Hapaniya
17 September 2018, part 2

In his childhood, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not spend time on playing football and gossiping—he always spoke Sanskrit with his family and village boys. They were all from brahman families, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj would chant the Holy Name here, at the small temple near this temple's gate. At that time, there was only a house here, and the Deities of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Gopinath are installed at the exact place where Srila Sridhar Maharaj was born.

One day, Gurudev brought Srila Sridhar Maharaj here and said, "I want to make something here in remembrance of you, so please show me where exactly your birthplace is." Srila Sridhar Maharaj showed it to Gurudev and told him, "This is my actual birthplace." After that, Gurudev built this temple here. It was many years ago, perhaps fifty-forty years ago. This temple here was made by Gurudev, and the Deities were installed by Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj. Many of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's godbrothers came at that time for the inauguration, and Gurudev also brought Srila Sridhar Maharaj. At first, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not want to come to his birthplace, but Gurudev managed to persuade him. When Srila Sridhar Maharaj came here, he wanted to come and go the same day, but the village people did not allow him to leave on the same day. They said, "You have come here so many years after leaving this village, and you have become a big guru, you must stay here at least for a few days!" In this way, Srila Sridhar Maharaj stayed here for three days. This is the history, or pastimes, of Hapaniya Dham.

'Hapaniya' means 'ha-paniya'—'paniya' is 'water' and 'ha-paniya' is 'sweet water'. Sometimes, we get coconut water here, and if you taste it, you can feel that it has a special taste, different from other coconut water. Coconut water is sweet here.

Every year, we make a festival here to celebrate Sri Radhastami and after Gaura Purnima (on pancham-dol) on the installation day of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Gopinath. We make big festivals here on these two days. In this way, remembering the appearance place of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, we come here every year.

You have heard about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu going to Halisahar. We have a branch near that place—another name of that place is Chaitanya Doba ('doba' means 'a pond'). How did that pond appear? Mahaprabhu went there and told devotees, "This is My Gurudev's birthplace." Hearing that it was Ishvar Puri's birthplace, every devotee took a small piece of soil from that place, and, because there were so many devotees with Mahaprabhu at that time, there appeared a big pond. That big pond is not called Chaitanya Doba. Mahaprabhu taught in this way that from time to time one can go to the birthplace of a holy, divine personality. That is why we come here to Hapaniya, we go to Bamunpara, Gurudev's birthplace, we always come to see the birthplace of Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur near Bamupara, the birthplace of Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami in Jhamatpur Baharan, the birthplace of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami and many other holy personalities.

We will chant some kirtans now and then again speak about the appearance of Srimati Radharani. In this way, we shall observe this day.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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