Practical Choice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, 20 December 2020, part 4

Srila Janardan Maharaj: Here, they have a lockdown because they say many people are dying every day...

Here in India it is not like that. This whole India is a very big country (about 138 crores—1.38 billion—people live here now), but every day only three-four hundred people are dying. Anyway, when somebody's lifetime finishes, they have to die. Nobody can stop death. They can make so many rules and regulation, but Yamaraj is always ready to take you away. Birth and death come for everybody, we cannot stop that. We can neither deny, nor avoid that. Death can come at any time. This year, it is covid-19, next year something-20 will come, another year something-21 will come, another year something-23, and so on. We cannot stop our preaching, we cannot stop our spiritual practice. Otherwise time will pass and our life will finish while we are waiting for all the problems to go away. Why must we stop our preaching?

Question: Could you please tell us about Their Lordships Sri Sri Nitai Chaitanya jiu at Sri Puri Dham? According to the calendar, today is the anniversary of Their installation...

These Deities were installed by Gurudev. Every temple has Radha Krishna and Mahaprabhu, but Gurudev always thinks in a practical way. Sri Puri Dham is famous everywhere for Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra, but there are also some pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu that happened in Sri Puri Dham. Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda, Nityananda Prabhu always came to Puri with many devotees and Sivananda Sen. There are many pastimes of Nityananda Prabhu and Sriman Mahaprabhu there. Gurudev also said that Sriman Mahaprabhu rejected Nabadwip and accepted Puri. Krishna stole the heart and halo of Srimati Radharani and became Sri Krishna Chaitanya (Gauranga Mahaprabhu). The Lord showed the separation mood of Sri Radha from the Lord (Radha-bhav) in Gambhira and He shared those separation pastimes with Svarup Damodar and Raya Ramananda Prabhu. So, instead of choosing Radha-Krishna (Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharvika Govinda Sundarjiu), Gurudev rather chose Nitai Gaura for the Deities in Sri Puri Dham.

There are many Gaudiya Maths in Puri that were established before our temple, but their Deities are Radha-Krishna and Mahaprabhu, as installed by Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Yet here Srila Gurudev made it easier for the devotees to serve—the worship of Radha-Krishna is very high, but the worship of Nitai Gaurachandra is simpler. Besides, without the mercy of Nitai-Gaura we cannot reach Srimati Radharani or Krishna. That is why Gurudev chose Nitai Gaurachandra rather than Radha-Krishna and Mahaprabhu. And Gurudev also composed the arati song (Sri Sri Nitai Gaura Arati) for these Deities.

On the installation day of these Deities in our temple in Sri Puri Dham, Gurudev made a very big festival and even King Gajapati (descendant of King Prataparudra) was present there. Actually, it was the desire of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Everybody knows he did not make so many temples in his life, but he told Gurudev to make at least one temple in Kolkata, as well as in Vrindavan and Puri. Many foreign devotees come to India via Kolkata airport, and Dum Dum Park is near the airport, so they can come and stay there for one-two days and rest before going to Nabadwip. So, Gurudev made Dum Dum Park temple as a transit station for the devotees. He also made another temple in Vrindavan and in Puri. The land was purchased in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's time. Later, Gurudev also made another temple in Govardhan. In this way, Srila Gurudev fulfilled Srila Sridhar Maharaj's desire.

There are not so many pastimes that I know about. I have heard a little bit from Gurudev only. I remember Gurudev always liked to go to Puri by car, and I went with him sometimes also. Gurudev did not like to come to Puri when it was very crowded, so he always preferred to come some time after or before Ratha-yatra. Actually, he did not go to Puri so many times. Most of the time he stayed in Kolkata and Nabadwip. Yet we have visited Puri many times—we go there almost every year with all the pilgrims. I always take so many devotees to Puri at the time of Ratha-yatra. It is not very far from Kolkata, about five-six hundred kilometres.

We should understand and remember that this is an important place, an important temple of our Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

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