(2/10) Parikrama Adhivas: Fixed In Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama Adhivas, evening
Sri Nrisingha Palli, 22 March 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Nabadwip, as well as Mayapur, is not a place for strolls and outings; this is not a place for eye-exercise. You must do dham-parikrama (circumambulate the holy abode). Go on this parikrama being intently fixed on chanting kirtan with all the devotees. We will go with kirtan to different places within this holy land, and we will sit and listen to Hari-katha at all those places.

Crossing the Ganges, we will go first to one temple, offer obeisances there, and after that we will go to the temple where Gaura and Nityananda met for the first time. When Nityananda Prabhu left Ekachakra Dham, He first came to that place here in Nabadwip. You all know this place. It is the house of Nandan Acharya (‘Nandan Acharya Bhavan’). We will go there to offer our obeisances. After that, we will go to offer our obeisances at the puspa-samadhi of the founder of ISKCON, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, and speak some Hari-katha there. From there, we will go straight to Yogapith, the house of Sachi Devi and Jagannath Misra, where Mahaprabhu appeared under a neem tree. We will chant kirtans and speak Hari-katha there, too. From there, we will go to Srivas Pandit’s house, the place where Chand Kazi broke the mridanga. Nearby, there are also Advaita Acharya Prabhu’s and Sri Gadadhar Pandit’s houses (Advaita Acharya came to Mayapur from Shantipur and stayed there). We will not stop there for a long time because there is not much time or place there, so from there we will proceed to Sri Chaitanya Math, the place where Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur’s bhajan-kutir and samadhi are. We will sit there for some time and speak Hari-katha about Sri Chaitanya Math. From there, we will go to Chand Kazi’s samadhi. You know that this is that Chand Kazi who broke the mridanga. He did wrong at first, but later he became a devotee of the Lord, a devotee of Mahaprabhu, and his samadhi is still there, under a great tree. Before that, we will also go to Jagai-Madhai Ghat. That ghat is the place where Madhai hit Nityananda Prabhu. Although Mahaprabhu at first could not forgive him for this, Nityananda Prabhu forgave him, and later Mahaprabhu also forgave his offence. The current of the Ganges has changed, but before the Ganges used to flow through those places and there were many ghats in that area. When Madhai approached Mahaprabhu and asked what service he could do, Mahaprabhu gave him the service of cleaning the bank of the Ganges. A lot of people came to Nabadwip to bath in the Ganges, and there used to be no toilets (people would pass stool and urine on the bank of the Ganges), so Mahaprabhu put Madhai in charge of cleaning that ghat. Later, the ghat became known as Madhai Ghat, or Jagai-Madhai Ghat. We will go there, offer our obeisances and speak some Hari-katha. There is a new temple there now, and we started going there just two years ago. From there, we will go to Yogapith. After Chand Kazi’s samadhi, we will go to the place where we always take prasad. Everybody will get prasad, water, etc. at the same place as always. In the morning, we will also take prasad at the Math of Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj (the place where Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu met). Whatever is cooked here in the morning will be given there. We will cross the Ganges and take prasad at the first stop. After taking prasad at noon, we will go to the temple of Lord Jagannath and then to the place of Sridhar Pandit (‘Sridhar Angan’). From there, we will walk a little and take the buses again. About seven kilometres away from there, there is Rudradwip. We will pay our obeisances at Rudradwip, sit there for some time, listen to Hari-katha and then again get on the buses and return to the temple here. There will be an evening class every evening. Everybody must join evening aratis, classes and kirtans. I will also be here with you all.

I know that you want to come here and eat well, have a nice room and stay comfortably. I have been coming here twice a week lately, and I have been here for some time already, making sure you get everything for your stay. You can see that there is a new building now: it is not completed yet, but we got the rooms cleaned, painted and prepared.

Come here to the nat-mandir every day, join the kirtans and the classes.

The day after tomorrow, we will again take buses up to Gauranga Setu Bridge. You will not have to walk to the bridge because it is rather far from here. We will go up until the bridge by buses and start walking from there. We will do the parikrama of the other side of Nabadwip starting from our old temple and return again by buses after taking prasad. The second day is very short because there are not many places, so you will not have to walk much. Koladwip parikrama is not so long. There is a temple of Prauddha Maya (Paramatala), a temple of Vriddha Siva and the Deity of Mahaprabhu that was served by Sri Vishnupriya Devi (at her father’s house). Vishnupriya Devi worshipped Mahaprabhu even before their marriage, but after Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip, she personally had that Deity made and installed it at her father’s house. Mahaprabhu left her when she was only thirteen years old, and from that age she always lived thinking about Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu’s Deity and His wooden shoes bearing the footprints of His soles are there in that house. After that, we will go to Srila Jagannath Das Babaji’s samadhi-mandir and bhajan-kutir. He was the one who gave recognition to the appearance place of Mahaprabhu (Yogapith). We will go there and pay our obeisances. The place is small, but we will sit there for some time and speak Hari-katha. After that, we will take prasad and return to the temple here again by buses. The second day is short.

The next day will be ekadasi. I thought about it and decided not to make you struggle on this day. I was thinking that we would do the parikrama for five days this time, but we will go to Rudradwip on the first day, so you can stay at the temple on ekadasi, take some rest and hear some Hari-katha.

This is our programme for the nearest days. Remember it. If you go to other places besides this programme, this is anyabhilasita – your other, material desires. There are so many things to hear and to see, you can go to so many places, see so many sights, I know that. I heard that somebody has been to Mayapur today. I can understand who went there. I told everyone yesterday that we would go there, but they still went there on their own. They come to enjoy…

We come here to practise Krishna consciousness, to serve the Lord. Today is adhivas. What does it mean? ‘Adhivas’ means ‘Bhagavaner nikate vas’ (staying with the Lord). Both upavas (fasting) and adhivas (festival eve) have this meaning. You must spend your days serving the Lord. Do you think ‘staying with the Lord’ means you have to live in the same room with the Lord? Many want to stay close to their gurudev, but I can easily understand when somebody puts on a show. It is easy to understand that. If you read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, you can see that in Mahaprabhu’s time also there were many people who were like that. It is easy to understand this, and such people eventually get caught because you cannot pretend for long. Gurudev always said that people think that sadhu-sanga means staying near the sadhu, but even worms in stool and mosquitos stay close to the sadhu – do you think they do sadhu-sanga? They do not. They disturb the sadhu… If you make a show of doing kirtan, if you make a show of practising Krishna consciousness, it will not bring you any result. It is not necessary to be like that. You do not need to show anyone what service you do. Gurudev can understand what service you do or do not do. You do not need to say what you are doing. You must never praise yourselves in front of gurudev. It is an offence. If you are doing some service, do it from far. You must understand within you, internally, what service is necessary to do. It is not necessary to show anything.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Parikrama Adhvias: Forsake Your Happiness
2) Parikrama Adhvias: Fixed In Service
3) Relief of Surrender
4) Our Eternal Campaign
5) 'May You Always Remain In This Line'
6) Know the Relationship
7) Devotional Attachment
8) Seva Bhumi
9) Follow Vaishnavs' Example
10) Live a Sheltered Service Life