(1/2) Eternal Memory of Nabadwip

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 15 December 2020, morning, part 1
Translated from Bengali

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jago, jiva jago, gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

'Sri Gorachand says, "Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Stop sleeping, O jivas! Wake up! You have slept enough on the lap of Witch Maya! Do not sleep! Wake up! Chant the Holy Name of Krishna!

Chanting the Holy Name is the religion of this Age of Kali. No matter what you do – Deity worship, meditation, etc. – the root of all practices is the Holy Name. If you chant the Holy Name of the Lord, you can easily come to Him. Therefore, it is not necessary to engage in meditation like in Satya-yuga, to make fire sacrifices like in Treta-yuga, to get into archan and puja like in Dvapar-yuga – the religion of Kali-yuga is only Harinam-sankirtan. Puja and archan are formalities, because our minds are perverse.

I prayed to Gurudev, 'When will my mind become peaceful, calm (sthira)? When will I be able to tolerate everything?' This is what Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur asked when he was staying in Godrumdwip. 'Gurudev, I am ruined by the five diseases. I am old now, sick with five diseases...' These five diseases are avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that goes against one's enjoyment), and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits). Because I am afflicted with these diseases, I feel annoyed thinking about the Lord: I do not like chanting the Lord's Name, I do not like behaving like a devotee of the Lord, I do not like listening to what gurus and Vaishnavs say, I do not like to make holy festivals. These are the symptoms of a disease. We lack enthusiasm. We do not feel enthusiastic to do service, we do not feel excited about anything related to the Lord. When gurus and Vaishnavs come, we do not feel any excitement or happiness. That is why Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says that we are afflicted with five kinds of diseases.

We sing this in his kirtan (Gurudev bada krpa kari): you will not find it in Gaudiya Gitanjali books, but it is there in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's Saranagati. Actually, our Saranagati books have finished, so I am going to print them again. It is a very sweet book and used to cost only ten rupees – if we print it now the price will be much higher (because the cost of printing is higher than it used to be). It was printed in Gurudev's times, but it has been sold out now.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says, 'Gurudev, you have bestowed so much mercy on me by giving me a place in Godrumdwip.' Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur stayed in Godrumdwip. There are nine islands in Nabadwip, and Svarupganj and Nrisingha Palli are parts of Godrumdwip. Godrumdwip is an island of kirtan. Each of the nine kinds of devotion (sravan, kirtan, smaran, vandan, pada-sevan, archan, dasya, sakhya, atma-nivedan) resides on a corresponding island of Nabadwip. If you read Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala, you will find this described there nicely. Our previous, old temple is in Koladwip, and it is a place of pada-sevanam (service to the lotus feet of Sri Gurupadpadma and the Lord). Each of the islands has this kind of glories.

[His Divine Grace takes out the book.] Look how beautiful it is shown here. If you read it every day during the year, you will feel that you are doing Nabadwip Dham parikrama. It is not possible to do this parikrama every day, but if you read this scripture, you can feel that it is possible. Also, when you go for the parikrama, you may not be able to hear all Hari-katha because of the microphone noise, because of the crowds, but I have written everything nicely here, so you can read what our guru-varga say about each of the places. I have also put some photographs of the places and the map in the book. We must know which limb of devotion resides on which island. If anybody asks you which limb of devotion resides on a particular island, you can tell it to them.

When we say 'Nabadwip', you must understand that Nabadwip consists of nine islands. For example, our old temple is in Koladwip, and our new temple is in Nrisingha Palli; both places are within Nabadwip. Mayapur is also Nabadwip Dham; it is situated on the island of Antardwip. Antardwip is the centre of Nabadwip, and the other eight islands are situated around it. Antardwip is the island of atma-nivedanam (self-submission). We sing also in one of the kirtans ('Bhajahu re mana'): 'Pujana, sakhi-jana, atma-nivedana. Worshipping, serving as a friend, self-submission.' Our old temple, where Gurudev stayed, is Koladwip, it is the place of pada-sevanam (serving the lotus feet of the Lord). The place called Gauranagar, where we cross the bridge over the Ganges, is Gadigacha – this is Madhyadwip, the place of smaran (remembering the Lord). Svarupganj, Nrisingha Palli, Svananda Sukhada Kunja is Godrumdwip, the place of kirtanam (chanting the glories of the Lord and the Holy Name of the Lord). When we go on the parikrama, we go past Mayapur and visit Jagannath temple – this is Simantadwip, the place of sravanam (hearing about the Lord). Then, we go to Rudradwip (Rudra-nagar), it is the place of sakhyam (serving the Lord as a friend). Modadrumdwip is Mamgachi, where we go on the last day; it is the place of dasyam (serving the Lord as a servant). We also go to Jahan Nagar – it is Jahnudwip, the place of vandanam (offering prayers to the Lord). When we go to Champahati, it is Ritudwip, the place of archanam (Deity worship).

There is one old lady who used to cook for Gurudev (she is still alive). When I met her, she told me, 'We used to do Nabadwip parikrama with Hari Charan Prabhu, but I cannot remember where we went, but when I am reading this book that you have written [Sri Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala], I feel as if I am in Nabadwip!' I have written everything very nicely in this book.

Devotee: Where is the sakhyam island?

In Rudradwip. There are five relationships with the Lord – santa- (neutrality), dasya- (servitude), sakhya- (friendship), vatsalya- (parenthood), and madhura-rasa (consorthood). Rudradwip is the place of sakhya-rasa. I have just told you that there are nine kinds of devotion:

1) sravanam – hearing about the Lord;
2) kirtanam – chanting the Lord's glories and the Holy Name;
3) smaranam – remembering the Lord;
4) pada-sevanam – serving the Lord's lotus feet;
5) archanam – worshipping the Lord's Deities;
6) vandanam – offering obeisances and prayers to the Lord);
7) dasyam – serving the Lord as a friend;
8) sakhyam – serving the Lord as a servant;
9) atma-nivedanam – submitting yourself to the Lord).

You must learn these things by heart. If anybody asks you about the nine islands of Nabadwip and which kind of devotion resides where, you must be able to tell it. Otherwise, it means that you do the parikrama of the nine islands, and you only walk and look around, gaping at nice buildings. For example, people go to Mayapur all the time, but not everyone knows that Mayapur is situated in Antardwip, in the centre of Nabadwip. I have put a picture here and wrote the names of all islands.

When we do Nabadwip Dham parikrama, the last place where we go is Modadrumdwip, which is non-different from Ayodhya. Rama, Sita and Laksman resided there. When we go there, we do not get time to speak about this. We only come to the birthplace of Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur, the author of Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, and speak about him because it is late and everyone is tired and hungry. But when we go there, there is much more glory to that place. I wrote about it here. I also wrote here about Jahnudwip. I have bought a land in Jahnudwip. When we go there next time, we will not have to take prasad at somebody else's place. There is no temple there, but I have bought only some land because we have a lot of people with us, and it is hard for us to find a place to take prasad. When we take prasad at Vrindavan Das Thakur's place, it is a problem because everyone comes there to speak Hari-katha and chant kirtan, but do not let them do that. That is why I have purchased some land for prasad distribution...

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Eternal Memory of Nabadwip
2) Siksastakam in Nutshell