(4/5) Come for Nabadwip Dham Parikrama

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Betur area,
Evening, 25 January 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

We have come today here as part of our Nabadwip Dham Pracharani Sobha programme. We have come to call you to Nabadwip Dham parikrama. If you want to get relief from the roaming of this material world (samsara-parikrama), you must circumambulate Sri Nabadwip Dham. You have heard the kirtan:

শ্রীগৌড়মণ্ডলভূমি, যেবা জানে চিন্তামণি,
তার হয় ব্রজভূমে বাস ॥

sri-gauda-mandala-bhumi, yeba jane chintamani,
tara haya vraja-bhume vasa

‘Those who always think about Sri Gauda Mandal reside in Vraja.’

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

This year, the parikrama duration was increased by one day, so the parikrama will be five days. Try to come for seven days. Everyone can come with us. We walk during the parikrama, but if somebody cannot walk, they can also come with us in a rickshaw or toto.

People mostly go to Mayapur only, but actually Nabadwip consists of nine islands (nata dvipa), with Antardwip (Mayapur) in the centre and the eight other islands situated around it. Each of the nine kinds of devotion resides on a corresponding island. For example, our temple is situated in Nrisingha Palli – it is Godrumdwip, the place of kirtan (where the Lord’s glories are chanted). Simantadwip is the island of sravan, the place of listening to Hari-katha. Antardwip, the central island, is Mayapur – it is the place of atma-nivedanam (self-submission). Koladwip, where our old temple is, is the place of pada-sevanam (service to the lotus feet of the Lord). There is Rudradwip near Simantadwip, Madhyadwip near Godrumdwip and three more islands that are formally part of Bardhaman district (Ritudwip, Jahnudwip and Modadrumdwip). We walk to all these places. Prasadam is prepared every day. We sit down at about 1 p.m. every day, take prasadam and then continue our way, returning to the temple in the evening. We return to our temple by buses – usually, about one thousand people come, so we rent ten–fifteen buses.

We have a book called Sri Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala. It describes all the different places we go to during the five days of the parikrama. When we come to each place, we sit down and speak and chant the glories of the place. This book was compiled based on those talks. It is written beautifully. At the beginning, there is some poetry, you may not understand it, but the main book is written very nicely in plain Bengali.

When we go to Ritudwip, we speak about Samudragad. When we come to Jahnudwip, we remember Jahnu Muni – how, when the Ganges dried up, he released her from his thigh. Everything is described very beautifully in this book. There is also Ayodhya within Modadrumdwip. We cannot go to Ayodhya (the place of Lord Ramachandra’s pastimes), but when we come to Modadrumdwip on the last day, we can get the result of visiting Ayodhya. When Rama and Sita lived in exile, they came to that island of Nabadwip. It is a beautiful pastime. Ritudwip is also a very beautiful island…

So, the nine islands form Nabadwip, and each of the nine kinds of devotion reside on the corresponding island. Therefore, if you want to practise the nine kinds of devotion, you should come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. We circumambulate the nine islands in five days, starting out in the morning and coming back in the afternoon or sometimes in the evening. We walk during the parikrama, but those who have pain in their legs and cannot walk can take some transport. I know there are some ninety-year-old(!) ladies who have been coming for this parikrama for thirty–forty years already, and they walk all the way every year. When I see them, I feel enthusiasm. You know, when you walk chanting the Holy Name, you can walk so far without even looking back. We go on the parikrama with drums and karatals, chanting and walking.

The so-called ‘dol’ day is Mahaprabhu’s appearance day, and the following day, there is a great festival celebrating Mahaprabhu’s appearance in the house of Sri Jagannath Misra and Sri Sachi Devi. We celebrate it with great joy, and thousands of people come to the temple and take prasad on this day. For those who stay at the temple (usually, one–two thousand people), prasad is arranged three times a day. When we do parikrama, we stop in some field or some place, and prasad is brought there in trucks. For example, in the morning, we usually take muri with ghugni (whole pea) and potato. After prasad, we take some rest and then continue walking. We do not walk continuously the whole day – we stop and sit down for a while in some places because it is necessary to talk about the pastimes of all the places. We live in Kali-yuga, and because we are conditioned souls, many of us do not know what Nabadwip is. Many people come to Nabadwip in a bus, do some sightseeing and leave, but this is eye-exercise…

Practice makes perfect. Do we learn to sing in our mothers’ wombs? We do not. You can see the foreign devotees here. They are from Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico – they come from so far and learn to chant kirtans. Have you seen them chanting in Bengali? They have books where all kirtans are written in English – they chant reading their books and in this way learn all kirtans by heart. Practice makes perfect. It is necessary to always practise.

Except for fortunate souls, nobody can understand these things. Only fortunate souls can listen about the Lord and can chant the Lord’s glories.

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Religion of This Age
2) Know Thyself
3) Qualification for Chanting Holy Name
4) Come for Nabadwip Dham Parikrama
5) Live Sincere Devotional Life