(5/7) Sri Gauda Mandal Parikrama

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ekachakra—Worldwide, 21 February 2021, part 5

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)

Gauda-mandal is Ramakheli (where Mahaprabhu first met Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami) in the north, Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance place (Ekachakra) in the west, and Pichalda in the south. Actually, I wanted to make a Gauda-mandal parikrama this year, but I wanted to make it with foreign devotees. Because not so many of you are coming for Gaura Purnima this year, I cannot make this Gauda-mandal parikrama this year. I was also going to rent a ship and go from Nabadwip to Ganga Sagar, but I have decided to postpone it until next year because foreign devotees cannot come and join it this year. If they can come to the Ekachakra festival next year, then I hope we will visit Ganga Sagar, the place of Kapil Muni and Indradev.

When I was in Russia and Mexico, I went with some devotees by speed boat. There were not so many devotees with us at that time. I want to go on a boat ride with two–three hundred devotees in a big two-deck ship. Mahaprabhu also travelled by boat – He went to Kalna with Nityananda Prabhu, and He rowed the boat Himself. I have seen a part of the wooden oar (boitha) that Mahaprabhu used. It is still kept in Kalna, at Gauri Das Pandit’s place. Kalna is about thirty kilometres from Nabadwip, we have a temple (a ladies’ ashram) nearby. It is a very nice place.

Come before the Ekachakra festival, and after Ekachakra we will go to Ganga Sagar (the ocean). We will rent a boat from Nabadwip with big rooms, bathrooms, toilets and other facilities. You can even get an attached bathroom in the lounge. We will make good prasadam and chant kirtan. The ride will take one whole day. We will stop at some place for the night, have a proper sleep, and then continue the way the next morning, reaching Ganga Sagar, the place where the Ganga mixes with the ocean, in the afternoon. On the way, we will be passing Kalna, Kolkata and other cities. There are many places along the bank of the Ganges. We can stop at our Uluberia Temple for lunch. We can visit Gauri Das Pandit’s place, which is within a walking distance from the bank of the Ganges (it is a fifteen-minute walk; if somebody cannot walk, we can arrange a rickshaw for them). On the one side of the Ganges (the west side), there is Kalna, and on the other side (the east side), opposite Kalna, there is Shantipur, Sri Advaita Prabhu’s place. It will be a very nice tour. And after Gaura Purnima, we can make Sri Gauda-mandal parikrama and visit Ramakheli, Ekachakra, Nabadwip, Pichalda and many other places. I have a list of all the places.

Sri Gauri Das Pandit is an exceptional devotee from Mahaprabhu’s and Nityananda Prabhu’s side. He is actually an associate (parsada) of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. There is also Acharya Srinivas, Shyamananda Prabhu, Narottam Das Thakur – they are all exceptional devotees. There are places of Sri Ramachandra Kaviraj, Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur, the birthplace of Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami. There are many nice places still existent in Bengal. The birthplace of Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami is situated near Katwa where Mahaprabhu took sannyas. Two–three kilometres from Katwa, there is Acharya Srinivas’s place, and another three–four kilometres from there, there is Sri Narahari Chakravarti’s place and Vasu Ghosh’s place.

যদি গৌর না হ’ত, তবে কি হইত,
কেমনে ধরিতাম দে ।
রাধার মহিমা, প্রম-রসসীমা,
জগতে জানাত কে ? ॥

yadi gaura na ha’ta, tabe ki haita,
kemane dharitam de
radhara mahima, prema-rasa-sima,
jagate janata ke?

‘If Gaura had not come, what would have happened? How would we have lived? Who would have revealed to the world Radha’s glory and the acme of Her ecstatic divine love?’

(Sri Vasu Ghosh Thakur)

Vasu Ghosh is the author of this song. There is also Govinda Ghosh. They are all related, they are all very nice devotees from Mahaprabhu’s time. There is also a place of Srila Narahari Chakravarti (Narahari Thakur), the place of Mukunda’s son, Raghunandan Prabhu. Mukunda Prabhu is Mahaprabhu’s dearmost devotee. There are places of Abhiram Thakur, Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur, Prabhodananda Saraswati. There are so many associates of Mahaprabhu…

Going on a tour down the Ganges, we do not have to stop in Kolkata – we can stop in Panihati instead…

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Lord's Arrangement
2) Service Field
3) Gist of Guru-Mahima
4) Eternal Bond with Sri Ekachakra Dham
5) Sri Gauda Mandal Parikrama
6) Construction Pastimes
7) Pride in Our Identity