24/2/15 NMP Day 3: Today, Guru Maharaj woke up at 7 am. After his shower and breakfast, he decided to go for pool therapy. It has been more than five months since he used the pool. In Mayapur, we have a nice walking pool for Guru Maharaj. Now, since the winter is fading off, it is the perfect time to resume the pool exercise. After walking 432 steps in the pool, at around 11.30 am, Guru Maharaj left from the Gada Kitchen area, driving off to Yogapitha to meet the Gita Course parikrama party. He spent about 45 minutes narrating the special pastime of how Nimai was bathed by the demigods on a golden snana bedi (bathing arena). This is an amazing pastime which Guru Maharaj explained in detail. From Yogapitha, we took off to Taranpur Ghat to cross the Jalangi river. From across the Jalangi, we drove for almost 45 minutes to Pratapnagar to meet the International party. While Guru Maharaj's car was pulling into our ISKCON camping site at Pratapnagar, we saw that the devotees were settling down for their lunch. They had passed through Nabadwip Town, today, with a vibrant kirtan led by HH Sacinandana Swami. Before the lunch was served, Guru Maharaj narrated the significance of Koladvipa for about 20 minutes. HG Jananivas Prabhu, HG Pankajangrahi Prabhu, His Holiness Bhakti Nityananda Maharaj and others were also there to give association for the International group. Guru Maharaj also took this chance to announce about the effort of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust to protect and preserve some of the most important holy places which have already been discovered but are still under the possession of non-devotees. Guru Maharaj requested the devotees to extend their help, if they wish to do so, in order to purchase those places. The places which are yet to be bought are Kuruksetra, Naimisaranya, Brahma Pushkar, Radhakunda and Shyamkunda.
From here, we drove about 10 minutes to meet the Russian party which was just streaming into our newly purchased parikrama camping site, called Maganpur, at Vidyanagar. This place is one of the most beautiful camping sites of ISKCON. It is full of mango trees, palm trees, beetle nuts trees, ponds, etc. During Guru Maharaj's class to the Russian party, he mentioned that 500 years ago, Navadvipa Dham was exactly as this Maganpur is now. Yes, truly amazing. His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Maharaj, who was leading the Russian party, acknowledged Guru Maharaj's description of this place. For Russian devotees, it was a feast for both the ears and tongue, as Guru Maharaj was narrating pastimes of Lord Caitanya while they were having lunch.
Towards the end of the class, Guru Maharaj, who originally planned to visit another parikrama party, decided to go back to Mayapur to take rest. Guru Maharaj honoured his lunch on the way, driving to Mayapur. We reached Mayapur at 6 pm. Guru Maharaj went inside the temple hall to take darshan of the deities. After darshan and dinner, Guru Maharaj decided to go to bed early. Now, it is 10 pm, and Guru Maharaj has just gone to bed. - Maha Varaha Das
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