SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Godrumdwip (Kirtanam: chanting)

Sri Hari-Hara Ksetra

By the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, continuing our parikrama of Sri Godrumdwip, we have now come from Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s bhajan-kutir to this enchanting place. This place is called Sri Hari-Hara Ksetra, and there is a very ancient pastime related to this place.

One time, a great sage and yogi Durvasa Muni was walking down the street when he suddenly met King Indradev. Durvasa Muni wanted to give his blessing to the king of demigods, so he took the garland from his neck and gave it to the king. However, Indradev, intoxicated with his ego and opulence, gave that garland to his elephant, Airavat. Seeing the king’s insolence, Durvasa Muni cursed him, ‘May you lose all your opulence along with the three worlds!’

Having heard about that incident and feeling very happy about it, demons declared a war against demigods. Demigods lost the war and had to flee from heaven. They all went to Brahma and started praying and crying to him. Brahma then came with demigods to the shore of the ocean of milk and offered praise and prayers to the Lord. Pleased with the praise offered by all the demigods headed by Brahma, Ksirodasayi Vishnu appeared and advised them to negotiate a clever truce with demons and churn the ocean of milk (using Mandar Hill as the churning rod and Vasuki, the king of snakes, as the rope) to get nectar that would grant them immortality. The Lord also warned them against showing greed or fighting for anything else that would come out of that churning.

So, following the Lord’s advice, demigods declared a truce with demons. Then, they went to Mandar Hill and offered demons to churn the ocean of milk together to get the nectar that would make them immortal. Demons agreed. Demigods and demons worked so hard churning the ocean that many demigods and demons actually died out of exertion, but the supremely merciful Lord came and brought them back to life. Because Mandar Hill floated in the ocean, it was impossible to churn it; so, the Lord appeared as Kurmadev (a tortoise) and, entering the water, held Mandar on His back. After that, many things appeared from the churned ocean, but first there was poison. Seeing the poison coming out, everyone got scared, but demigods came to Lord Sivji Maharaj and prayed to him for help. Sivji Maharaj mercifully came to the place and drank all poison: as the result, his throat turned blue and since that time he has been famous as Nilakantha. Although Lord Siva drank the poison, some drops of poison got scattered around, and when those drops fell on the ground, they entered the bodies of snakes, scorpions, poisonous trees, plants, etc. Having got rid of the poison, demigods and demons continued churning the ocean. Next, Surabhi Cow appeared. Demigods took her to perform fire sacrifices (cows give milk that can be turned into ghee, butter, etc.). After that, a horse called Uchchaihsrava came out. Bali Maharaj took it. Then, so many other auspicious gifts came out: the kaustubha jewel, the parijata flower, apsaras (angels), Laksmi Devi, and so on. Demigods took everything. In the end, the Lord appeared as a man called Dhanvantari and brought nectar.

Seeing the pot with nectar, demons decided not to lose time: they snatched the pot and quickly ran away. However, then demons started fighting among themselves, unable to decide who would drink it first. Demigods were shocked to see demons’ boastful vanity, so they went again to Vishnu and started praying. Without saying anything to them in reply, Vishnu assumed the form of Mohini, an extremely beautiful, enticing young girl. Coming to demons, Mohini cast some illusion on them, and all the demons completely fell for Her unbelievable beauty. The Lord, in the form of Mohini, understood that demons had become weak, so She agreed to divide the nectar among them. The demons were so blindly drawn to Her beautiful form that they did not even realise that the Lord had cheated them: the Lord gave all the nectar to the demigods! Foolish demons were so bewildered that they did not even notice anything.

Some time before that, Sivji Maharaj was once thinking about the Lord and prayed, ‘Prabhu, please show me some of Your pastimes. I want to see Your miraculous form and beauty.’ So, when the Supreme Lord Sri Vishnu appeared as Mohini, He decided to test Sivji Maharaj.

When Krishna suddenly appeared as Mohini after the churning of the ocean, He answered Sivji Maharaj’s prayer and appeared before him, playing with a ball. Seeing this amazingly gorgeous girl, Sivji Maharaj felt completed charmed and ran after Her.

Seeing him run, everyone said, ‘Oh my, why is this sadhu running behind a girl? Has he gone mad?’

Parvati (Lord Siva’s spouse) also said, ‘Oh my, where are you going, my husband?! I am your wife!’

What wife! Sivji Maharaj gave up everything and could not hear anything. In the end, he managed to catch Mohini, and as he embraced Her, the beautiful girl turned into Krishna and their bodies merged into one: one part is Hari, and the other part is Hara. The place where it happened became known as Sri Hari-Hara Ksetra.

By great fortune and the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma and all the guru-varga, we have come here today and have got an opportunity to remember this miraculous pastime of the Lord.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.
Sri Hari-Hara Ksetra ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.

The holy Deity of Sri Hari-Hara, Sri Godrumdwip, Sri Nabadwip Dham.

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