Memorable Day In Bamunpara

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 17 January 2021, part 2

I remember one time when Gurudev was in Nabadwip, he asked me, "You have made a temple at my birthplace in Bamunpara, but can I go to Bamunpara? A sannyasi is not supposed to go to his birthplace—he can only go there one time, not more than that. I have already been there once, so can I go there again?" Then, Gurudev said, "But I will not go to my birthplace! You have made a temple there, so I will go to the temple. Can you take me there?" Then, one morning Gurudev went to Bamunpara. Only Gurudev, his driver, me, and Gurudev's servant who cooked for him, went at that time. I sent some vegetables and Gurudev's favourite rice with another car and warned the devotees at the temple in Bamunpara that Gurudev was coming and asked them to prepare his room.

When Gurudev arrived in Bamunpara, he stayed at the temple for only a few minutes, after that he said, "OK, I want to see Bamunpara village. You brought me here only at the festival time and it was very crowded, I could not see the village properly after so many years. I want to see the places where I used to play and I want to show you some places also." I remember Gurudev was standing at the corner of the pond (Nityananda Kunda) next to the temple and pointed at the other side of the pond where there was a large banyan tree. Then, Gurudev told me, "Only you come with me." And we got into Gurudev's car (Gurudev, his driver, servant, and me), and went around the village. Gurudev stopped the car under one banyan tree, got out of the car and told me, "You know, this is a very ancient banyan tree. It was here even before Mahaprabhu's times." That tree must be more than five-six hundred years old. Gurudev also said: after Mahaprabhu took sannyas from Keshav Bharati in Katwa, He was going to go to Vrindavan. However, because the residents of Nabadwip (all the devotees of Nabadwip) had so much love and affection for Mahaprabhu and also due to some cleverness and trickery of Nityananda Prabhu, Mahaprabhu instead went from Katwa through Bamunpara and then directly to Kalna and Shantipur.

Nityananda Prabhu knew that Mahaprabhu wanted to go to Vrindavan, but He wanted to keep Mahaprabhu in Gaura-mandal, so Nityananda Prabhu walked first and He was trying to avoid Nabadwip because Mahaprabhu knew all the places and He would understand where He was if He went there.

So, Mahaprabhu took sannyas last Friday (15 January), and He reached Advaita Prabhu's house in Shantipur at night almost three days later. Gurudev told me that Mahaprabhu went through Bamunpara, then went to Kalna. There, one bank of the Ganges is Gauri Das Pandit's house in Kalna, and on the other side is Shantipur, Advaita Prabhu's house. Kalna is situated just opposite Shantipur, across the Ganges. Gurudev showed me that place in Bamunpara where Mahaprabhu passed...

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