Parikrama Schedule

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Mahadvadasi
Evening class, 25 March 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First of all, I am offering my full obeisance at the holy lotus feet of Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy, after that I am offering my obeisance to all Guru-varga, to all my God-brothers and sisters, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees, to all devotees, and I am praying to you all for your mercy to this low soul.

Today is Mahadvadasi, and everyone has been observing ekadasi-vrata today. Many think that the day of ekadasi is the fasting day, and it is not necessary to fast on mahadvadasi, but it is not true. It is written in Hari-bhakti-vilas that if ekadasi is followed by mahadvadasi, then the fasting must be observed on mahadvadasi (it is not necessary to fast on ekadasi). "Upavas" (fasting) means "nikate vas" (staying close by)—it means staying closely engaged in service to the Lord. I have seen that many of you have been doing various services today, and if somebody did not, then chanting the Holy Name is also service, listening to Hari-katha is also service. Everybody does some service according to their capacity.

Tomorrow we are going out for the parikrama. Everybody must come for the mangal-arati, we will leave after the arati. We will go down the road leading to the new four-storey building. First, we will go to a place called Visramvat (also known as 'Pancha-rati-van'), we will offer our obeisance there, at the tree where Mahaprabhu took rest. From there, we will go to Subarna Vihar, the house of kind Raja Suvarna Sen who later became Buddhimanta Khan in this Kali-yuga and took part in Mahaprabhu's pastimes. From there, we will go to Surabhi Kunja. We will have prasadam distributed there. Next, we will go to Svananda Sukhada Kunja, it is nearby; and from there we will walk to Hari Hara Ksetra, we will sit and listen to Hari-katha there, and after that the road is straight, we will return here. Tomorrow the road is mostly brick road, so buses will not go there, that is why we will not be renting buses tomorrow. We will walk tomorrow. We have always done the parikrama of Godrumdwip on foot. We are fasting today, so tomorrow we will try to reach Surabhi Kunja quickly not to delay prasadam, so do not worry about anything.

The day after tomorrow we will go again by bus—we will arrive at Champahatti, the temple of Gaura Gadadhar, we will go to the place of Samudra Sen. From Champahatti we will go on foot. We will go to Ritudwip, Vidyanagar, then Jhanudwip, and Mamgachhi, where we will take noon prasadam. This day we will return here by bus too otherwise it is a very long way to return from Mamgachhi, it will be very difficult for everyone. So, we will go by bus and we will return by bus too.

This is the schedule of our parikrama, everybody must try to follow it and join the parikrama. If somebody cannot walk, there will be many 'totos' (electric/auto rickshaws) on the street, it is not a problem. So, everybody must come tomorrow to the mangal-arati at 4:45 a.m., and we will start out by 5:30. Try not to be late.

You know, I am always afraid that there may not be water, so I always keep two buckets in my room. Other things do not matter so much, but I must keep water—one bucket for toilet and one bucket for taking bath. I am used to this from the time I lived in Nabadwip—I have always kept two buckets of water in my room. Sometimes we would go for the parikrama and when we get back there is no water, then I would use the water from the buckets. It is my habit. There are many people here and sometimes we also run out of electricity—we have a single phase line, but I see that we have to run three generators, so we need a three-phase line. When I lived in Nabadwip, I also made three-phase lines everywhere—one at Govinda Kunda, one at the four-storey guesthouse, and one for the temple and brahmachari buildings. Here too we need to make two more lines. Otherwise every year the number of people is growing and it is becoming difficult...

Anyhow, this is our schedule for the next two days. Take care and do not forget to close the taps. Be careful when you leave your room—check that the tap is closed. If you leave the tap in your room running the whole day, then it will be a problem for everyone. The cooks at the kitchen also need much water, and if there is no water, it is a big problem. So, always be careful.

Now we will chant some kirtans and after that I will speak about the glories of ekadasi and the glories of Godrumdwip.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

[His Divine Grace then chants kirtans: 'Gurudev bada krpa kari', 'Kabe Sri Krsna Chaitanya Prabhu daya kare more', 'Parama Karuna', 'Radha bhajane yadi mati', 'Yasoda Nandana Krsna', Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

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