SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Godrumdwip (Kirtanam: chanting)

Sri Suvarna Bihar

By the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, we have started our second day of Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama and have first come to Sri Suvarna Bihar Gaudiya Math, which was established in Godrumdwip by Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.

A king called Sri Suvarna Sen lived in this place in Satya-yuga. He had so much deep material attachment that he was always busy with the affairs of his kingdom, and he did not stop even when he became old. Ever engrossed in his material life, he was always thinking, ‘How can I increase my wealth and property?’

King Sri Suvarna Sen had some sukriti, or punya, from his previous lifetimes, owing to which he once got to meet with a Vaishnav: by some fortune, Sri Narada Muni happened to come to his house. Although a materialistic king, Suvarna Sen had a good habit: whenever a saint or a guest came, he treated them well and was hospitable. So, because the king showed much respect to Narad Muni, Narad decided to bestow special mercy on him. He took the king to a secluded place and gave him the following spiritual advice:

‘O King! Your days are passing in vain! You are busy with your material life all the time, thinking only, “Money, money, money!” that is why you are always attacked by illusory environment and always feel attachment to material things. You are wasting your life! Think just once deep in your heart: what is bad and what is good? Anartha (lit. ‘something that is wrong, inauspicious or unworthy of being offered in worship’) means material desires, but paramartha (lit. ‘the highest aspiration or religion’) is something else – paramartha means transcendental knowledge.

‘When you die, neither your wife nor your son nor your friends will help you. They are nobody to you! They may be your friends now, but they stay with you only out of their own interests. When you die, they will take your body to the crematorium, throw it into fire (or set it floating down the Ganges) and return home. Why cherish all these false hopes then? Why are you always running behind farce? You have nobody in this world. If you say, “This is not so. I have no sadness in my life. I only want happiness in my life, that is why I am naturally trying to earn some money,” this is a lie. Even if you have money, you still suffer from the threefold miseries (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik: the miseries caused by other souls, by the nature and by your own mind). If you have money, does it mean that all suffering and hardships will go away? Does having money make one happy? What will become of you when the time comes to leave everything and go away? All these material things will go away one day – all your wealth and property will be gone. This life is not eternal: you will be alive for a hundred years, and after that you will have to give up everything and leave.

‘Therefore, you must overcome all this illusion. When you cross the illusory world, you will understand that there is no unhappiness – real happiness is devoid of any fear or grief. Tell me, how is it possible to achieve such a miraculous result? Everyone knows that if you want to get something, you must give something up for that, but this result that I am telling you about cannot be attained by any austerity or knowledge. Renunciation and knowledge will dissolve your material bondage, but all you will get through that is impersonal Brahman (the Supreme Absolute, one without a second). There is no joy in impersonal Brahman – your entire being will vanish. As the result, you will lose everything without getting any highest benefit. So, those who are intelligent give up all enjoyment and liberation and practise Krishna consciousness.

‘You, king, are very intelligent, so judge yourself how you can attain benefit.

‘The knowledge of the relationship, the means and the goal is in detachment from the material world and attachment to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. If you want to come to Krishna, you can only come to Him through devotion – not through any material actions (karma), not through any knowledge (jnana), not through any supernatural perfections (yoga). All desires for enjoyment and liberation are extremely trifle.

‘If you keep thinking about your material desires all the time, then, by the influence of Maya’s touch, you will always remain bound within the illusory environment. The jiva souls who live within illusory bondage are always busy with various activities – wandering in the illusory net, they keep coming and going in this world. They sometimes practise astanga yoga, sometimes brahma-jnana, they try to practise all sorts of religions, but everything is in vain: they do not attain even the knowledge of who they are. Eventually, “having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Sri Guru and Krishna, fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper (brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva, guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija)”: after coming and going, coming and going, as the result of some fortune, conditioned souls reach the lotus feet of Sri Gurupadpadma and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and get faith and pure devotion. Having got pure saintly association, all dirt, all unwanted elements go away from such fortunate jiva souls’ hearts and they become firmly fixed in their spiritual life. From firmness gradually comes taste; from taste, attachment; from attachment, transcendental love and devotion. This is how full result comes through listening (sravan) and chanting (kirtan).

‘Dear king, you are so fortunate – you live right here in Nabadwip! Make your faith firm in the association of saints and chant the glory of the Holy Name of Krishna! Then the sun of transcendental love must no doubt arise in your heart.

‘When Gauranga Mahaprabhu comes in Kali-yuga, everyone will get the mercy of Lord Krishna. You, too, will again come here at that time, and you will be chanting the Holy Name of Gauranga. If you worship Krishna without chanting Gauranga’s Name, it will take you a very long time to reach Krishna’s land; but if you chant Gauranga’s Name, all offences will go away from your heart and you will get Krishna very quickly.’

As Narad Muni spoke all this, he became overwhelmed with transcendental love for Lord Krishna and began to dance and chant, ‘Gaura! Gaura!’ His vina also started chanting, ‘Gaura-hari! Gaura-hari!’ In the end, Narad said, ‘When will this blessed Kali-yuga come? When will this Gauranga come? Chanting Gaura’s Name, I will become so fortunate!’ Saying this, Narad left.

After King Sri Suvarna Sen got the association of Narad Goswami, he started thinking about what he had heard. The seed of material attachment growing in his heart gradually began to perish, and after that, first, detachment from the material world, and then transcendental love, arose in it: affected by Narad Goswami’s words, he started to dance, chanting, ‘O Gauranga! O Gauranga!’ Falling at all saints’ holy lotus feet, he started begging them for transcendental love: all his material desires and attachment were gone far away.

One day, Sri Gaura-Gadadhar, along with some devotees, came to the king in a dream. The king saw that everyone was dancing in his courtyard, embracing and greeting each other, with the sounds of ‘Hare Krishna’ being chanted and heard all around. When the dream broke and the king awoke, he began to weep. Suddenly, he heard a divine message from the sky: ‘Dear king, when Gauranga Mahaprabhu comes, you too will come as His associate. Your name will be Buddhimanta Khan, and you will get an opportunity to serve Gauranga.’

In this way, he who was King Sri Suvarna Sen in Satya-yuga became Buddhimanta Khan in Kali-yuga.

In 1936, Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur established a temple of Sri Gaudiya Math here in Sri Suvarna Bihar, and we have been coming here and remembering these beautiful pastimes every year by the mercy of our Sri Gurupadpadma.

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.
Sri Suvarna Bihar ki jay.
Raja Sri Suvarna Sen, Buddhimanta Khan ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.
Om Visnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.

Entering Sri Suvarna Bihar Gaudiya Math.

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CONTENTS