At Sri Samudragad

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Four
Koladwip, 27 March 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

[His Divine Grace chants 'Avatara sara Gora-avatara'.]

Continuing our parikrama of Sri Nabadwip Dham, we have now come to Sri Samudragad. In ancient times, a king called Raja Samudrasen lived in this place, and this is how the place got its name. You know that we did the parikrama of Koladwip during the second day. Samudragad here is also part of Koladwip, and Ritudwip starts from the Champahatti temple of Gaura Gadadhar, which we passed on the way (after speaking here, we will return to it). Nabadwip Town is known as Kuliya, and the area here is known as Kalinagar. It is said in the scriptures that Samudragad is non-different from Sri Dvaraka Dham and Gangasagar.

In the previous age, a king named Raja Sri Samudrasen lived in this area. Although he was a great king and possessed much wealth, he was also a big devotee of Lord Krishna — he always thought about Krishna and knew nothing else except the Lord, and he wanted to get Krishna's darshan very much. However, it is not so easy to get His darshan — if one wants to get Krishna's darshan, they should connect with His devotees.

One day, Bhimasen came here to conquer the kingdom. Bhimasen and his soldiers had surrounded Samudragad, but Raja Samudrasen was very intelligent: he knew that Krishna was the master and close friend of the Pandavas, so if any of the Pandavas got into danger, Krishna would definitely come to rescue them. So, the king thought, 'If I scare Bhima, then the Lord will hear his prayer and come to my land, and this poor and fallen soul will be able to get His darshan.' In this way, thinking about the Lord, the king brought his elephants, horses and soldiers, and there started a great battle. In the end, the king's plan was successful — as the battle went on and on, Bhima eventually became very afraid. Seeing no way out, Bhima prayed to the lotus feet of Krishna, 'Prabhu, please protect me! I can neither win this battle nor lose it! If I lose it, I will not be able to tolerate so much humiliation.'

Lord Sri Krishna, the master of the Pandavas, heard Bhima's cry and personally came to the battlefield. Then, something wondrous happened: King Sri Samudrasen got the darshan of Lord Sri Krishna's form of exquisite beauty; he could see nothing except the Lord. At the sight of Krishna's beauty, the king became overwhelmed with divine love and was on the verge of fainting. The king then prayed to the Supreme Lord, 'O Lord, You are Krishna, the Lord of the entire world, Jagannath, You are the rescuer of the fallen — seeing this fallen soul, You have come to me! The whole world is chanting Your glories, and now that I have seen You with my own eyes, my desire has been fulfilled. At the same time, O Lord, I have promised that I will not go anywhere from here until You have come to this Nabadwip Dham. O merciful One! Have You come to fulfil my promise? However, my hidden desire is to behold You as Gauranga.' Saying this, the king suddenly first saw the Vrindavan pastimes of Radha and Krishna and then the mysterious form of Rasaraj-Mahabhav Gauranga Mahaprabhu: Nimai Visvambhav was chanting and dancing in maha-sankirtan together with His devotees. Some time later, the Lord disappeared, and when everything became calm again, the king began to cry.

In the meantime, Bhimsen saw the king crying (he could not understand why because he had not seen the Lord) and was astonished; Bhimsen thought that the king was crying out of fear. So, Bhima again started fighting, and this time the king let him easily win the battle. Bhima got the tribute from the king and went away, feeling pleased with himself. From then on, the whole world chants the glories of Bhima, calling him 'digvijay', the conqueror of all directions.

Samudragad (Samudragarh) is situated near the border of Sri Nabadwip Dham, and even Lord Brahma himself does not know its glory.

One time, Samudra (the Ocean) came here and, taking shelter of Ganga Devi, started serving devotees. Ganga Devi told the ocean, 'Prabhu, every soon my Lord will come and stay on your shore.'

'O Devi!' replied the ocean. 'Can I tell you something? Sachinandan Gaura Hari never leaves Nabadwip. Even if He stays on my shore for a few days, He actually always stays in Nadia in an unmanifest way. All the Vedas say that the eternal pastimes of Mahaprabhu continue eternally in Sri Nabadwip Dham. O Devi! I will stay here, in your shelter.'

Saying this, the ocean stayed in Nabadwip Dham and continues sitting here, in Samudragad, to this day, meditating on the eternal pastimes of Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

Sriman Nityananda Prabhu told Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu about the glory of this place, and by the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, we get to know about all this from Sri Nabadwip-dham-mahatmya. It is our greatest fortune that we are doing this parikrama today in the association of all the devotees and that we have got an opportunity to hear the glories of Sri Nabadwip Dham.

If you keep faith in the devotees of the Lord, the Lord will certainly bestow His mercy on you.

Jay Sri Samudragad ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.
Harinam sankirtana ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, Koladwip ki jay.
Samagata Sri Gaura-bhakta-vrinda ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

We will chant one more kirtan. [His Divine Grace chants 'Bhajahu re mana' and proceeds to Sri Champahatti.]

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