25/2/15 NMP Day 4: Last night, Guru Maharaj went to bed at 10 pm and as a result of that, he woke up fresh at 5:30 am, today. Till 6:30 am, Guru Maharaj did his exercise and chanting. After that, Dr Vaisnava Prana and Dr Dina Pavana came to collect the blood sample of Guru Maharaj as per the routine check-up. Today, the plan was also to leave as early as possible to visit as many parikrama parties as possible. Let's see what is going to happen... Guru Maharaj's car left the Mayapur campus at 9:30 am to Sri Caitanya Math which is located past the Yogapitha. There, Guru Maharaj met the Hindi parikrama party and spoke for 30 minutes. Our next plan was to visit the Russian Party which was at Pratapnagar Camp. Madhava Kanta Prabhu reported that they had just finished breakfast and were about to leave to Pratapnagar Ghat in 15 minutes. For Guru Maharaj to reach Pratapnagar Camp from the current location (almost at the Taranpur Ghat), it would have taken around 50 minutes. So we, the servants, were in a deep confusion regarding if we should really visit the Russian party now or not. We didn't want to hold them for another 35 minutes, unnecessarily, at the camp site. We all were thinking deeply about what to do next. By now, our car (with Guru Maharaj inside) had reached the Taranpur Ghat. Then Guru Maharaj came up with a superb idea. He said, "The Russian party will leave the camp in 15 minutes plus take 25 minutes to walk to the ghat. So they will be at the ghat in 35 minutes." Guru Maharaj then asked Madhava Kanta Pr to ask the boatman how long it would take to reach Pratapnagar Ghat if we left now. The boat man said that it would take 40 minutes, since we were cruising upstream, against the current. Guru Maharaj said, "So let's meet them at the ghat and I will give class there, sitting on the boat." We cruised along the Jalangi for 15 minutes and after reaching the confluence of Ganga Mata and the Jalangi, we took a sharp right turn, leaving behind the Jalangi and merging into the Ganga. Vikas, the ISKCON boatman, cruised the boat along the bank to avoid the wild central surface current of Ganga Devi. Again, this was our second beautiful boat ride on the Ganga. As we were approaching Pratapnagar ghat, we heard the soft kirtan and it was growing stronger and stronger. We reached exactly in 40 minutes. Now the time was 11:40 am with the soothing sun over our heads. As soon as Guru Maharaj's boat was docked, the Russian devotees walked forward and filled up the semicircular muddy bank of Ganga mata. From our boat, which wasvway up the hill, we could see the local villagers lined up like a wall behind the devotees to witness the program. The whole atmosphere was peaceful and somewhat silent except for the sound of Ganga slapping the little stones along her shoulder. That was very pleasing to the ears. To add more pleasure, Guru Maharaj started his class, explaining about the significance of Arktila and how the Pandavas visited Mahatpura, etc. Guru Maharaj finished his class within 30 minutes since the Russian party had an hour's boat ride to Rukunpur, which was their next destination. Towards the end of the class, Guru Maharaj also reminded the devotees not to hang their feet off the boat as it may touch the liquid form of mother Ganga and thereby cause one to commit an offence to her. Guru Maharaj also reminded devotees not to sit on the edge of the the boat as the cooling breeze of Ganga may put one asleep while riding; hence, one may fall into the Ganga. He also said that once, a brahmacari fell into the Ganga and was saved by the matajis' boat.
As the Russian devotees were settling down on their respective boats, we lifted Guru Maharaj with his wheel chair, climbing up the small hill until we reached the smooth path. Our next destination was to meet the Bengali parikrama party who was in the Navadwip town.
As the streets of Navadwip are narrow and congested, the big vehicle which I was in, was not able to make it all the way to the temple of Dhameswar Mahaprabhu. Guru Maharaj met our third parikrama party for the day, which was the Namahatta Bengali party. We joined Guru Maharaj an hour later when he returned by the same way. From Nabadwip Town, Guru Maharaj went to the Maganpur ISKCON camp site at Vidyanagar to meet the international party. As our car pulled in, we saw a stream of devotees walking into the camp, dancing in ecstasy and chanting, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" This electrified the whole atmosphere with the mood of Gauranga. As devotees were settling down to honour their lunch prasadam, Guru Maharaj narrated the beautiful pastime of the visit to the house of Vidya Vacaspati. When the news spread around Navadwip, like wild fire, that someone spotted Lord Caitanya at the house of Vidya Vacaspati, the people of Nabadwip went mad, dropped everything and rushed to get a glimpse of Mahaprabhu. When boats were not able to accommodate the people, nobody stood behind. People swam across the Ganga and the whole Ganga turned from saffron to black - all you could see was nothing but heads. All you could hear was the chanting of, "Gauranga! Gauranga! Destination! The house of Vidya Vacaspati." While Guru Maharaj was narrating the whole pastime with emotion, the loud, non-stop chanting of, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" erupted into the air, following the flow of the story, and thus, added more ecstasy. It transported everyone to the Caitanya Era. Some devotees followed Guru Maharaj's car, chanting, "Gauranga! Gauranga!" all the way until his car left the camp.
Next, from Maganpur, we drove to Swarupganj to meet our fifth parikrama party for the day. It was the second Namahatta Bengali party. Guru Maharaj had his lunch on the go. After having darshan of Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra, Guru Maharaj spoke for 20 minutes, here. Then, we headed towards Harihara Ksetra to meet our sixth parikrama party, which was the Gita Course party. Here, Guru Maharaj spent more than 30 minutes narrating the story of Lord Caitanya and the parrot Suka. Though Guru Maharaj has narrated this pastime hundreds of times, more than 700 devotees sat and enjoyed listening to the whole pastime. Towards the end, the famous, "Gaura! Gaura!" act of parrot chanting went on and on and on for 10 minutes.
It was not Guru Maharaj's plan to visit all six parties today, but somehow, the parties were close to each other and the fever of Gauranga took us around Nabadwip Dham. Now, we are on our way back to ISKCON Mayapur. Today, I had a wonderful realisation. Sometimes, I feel that staying in the ISKCON camp is still too opulent - internet, mobile phones, pizzas, etc etc. Unless one wanders around like a mendicant in the wonderful land of Lord Gauranga, passing through the remote villages, forests, kicking the soft sandy roads, rolling in the dust, visiting all the holy places and chanting the holy name, one cannot discover this great wonder of the world. This is why our acaryas requested everyone to join this Nabadwip Parikrama at least once in a year. As Guru Maharaj always says, here, Lord Caitanya's mercy is flowing freely to everyone - now come and grab it! - Maha Varaha Das
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