India series: Simple and Sublime Ekachakra Dham.

Ekachakra Dham, is a beautiful place incredibly mystical and simple. The ride from Mayapur to Ekachakra is about 41/2 hours, the last stretch is really bumpy, the roads are practically non existent and are full of ditches. On reaching Ekachakra a beautiful arch welcomes you to the birthplace of Nityananda, the most merciful Lord. The ISKCON temple is home to a set of very beautiful deities Nitai Gaurachandra, who appear to be like two naughty little boys ready to play a prank on the so called caste brahmanas. The place is like a hidden jewel, still untouched by the commercialism, that has now hit Mayapur with full intensity. Also present is a very life like murti of Srila Prabhupada. The first two days in Ekachakra were very austere. Being winter, the bath water was bone chilling and to top it there was no mirror in the guest house. That was a greater austerity than the cold water..No mirror, for a narcissist like me is an Austerity indeed. With crooked tilaks and plain faces we went downstairs for the deity greeting.

The actual Janmasthan or birthplace of Nityananda Prabhu is a stone's throw from our ISKCON temple. The deities there (see the video attached) are extremely beautiful. Big kohl lined eyes and bright smiles greet a weary visitor to Janmasthan. The powerful energy in the place draws you into a quiet introspection where time stands still. You are in the association of mercy personified and you want to grab every bit of it. The deity of dancing Nimai there is so captivating. Every day of the 4 days that we were there, we made it a point to have darshan of these deities and spend time chanting under the banyan tree and in the courtyard of the temple. A little distance away from Janmasthan is the temple of the Chaitanya Saraswat Math. where we encountered beautiful, tall, huge deities of Gaura Nitai, a Goshala and an enthusiastic Mataji who preaches the glories of Harinam.  

We visited a few places in and around Ekachakra. Among them what stands out in my memory are the roguish boys who were near the Banka Raya Temple. The temple where Nitai is said to have merged into the Banka Raya deity. Taking pictures is prohibited there, so i do not have any. A blind Prabhu was completely absorbed in singing for Nitai and recounted some pastimes, this made us feel that he had vision, but of another kind, and was on another dimension, not of this world.That side of Ekachakra is more boisterous and reminds one of Vrindavan. The kids stretch out their hands screaming " Haribol Paisa do!" Little do they know that they have the wealth of all the worlds in their grip. The dust from Nitai's lotus feet!

All around Ekachakra one can strongly feel the presence of Nitai and his Dwadasa Gopalas. At Sarva kund, or Hantugada Kunda, we witnessed Him in his serpentine form. My husband sat down to worship his salagram shilas, while Vrinda and I waited, chanting and looking. All of a sudden we noticed a streak in the water, which was heading towards the bank of the kunda. As it neared us, we could see him, a water snake, blackish in color, suddenly he turned course and went away towards the floating debris. Still mesmerized by the water and the temple spire that is above the water, we saw another one go up the temple spire and curl around the Sudharsan chakra atop the spire. Vrinda and I felt a chill running through our spines.. As we filled the Charanamrita from the kunda that had bathed our shilas into our bottle, i hesitated for one second before grabbing the bottle and having a sip of Charanamrita. Can't say what thoughts were going on in my mind, except for the thought that Nitai is very much present there.

Another incident that happened during Mangal aroti..As they were concluding the Mangal arotik song, in our ISKCON temple, there was a huge knock on the gate and clanging of the chains that held the gates together, accompanied by loud voices demanding something in Bangla...At 5 AM in the morning it felt a little out of place.The security guards surveyed the gate warily. My wild mind;  started running in a negative direction thinking that it must be some dacoits, maybe it was a riot, never once did it think, "We are right in front of Nitai Gaurachandra and Prabhupada, what harm can befall us?" That is my Komala Shradda, weak faith. It turns out that they were a bus load of tourists on their way to some festival, stopping by to have darshan of Nitai Gaura. I heaved a sigh of relief settling down for japa, trying to understand my lessons from this incident.  The Lord seeks out Arjuna's intelligence and argues with him to convince him to surrender to him in the second Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Through Arjuna He taught us that though He was present before the the confused Arjuna, Arjuna at that point in time was unable to see that. Here, I  was experiencing what it means to surrender, at my level. I was no less than a Mayavadi then, thinking that the deities were mere wood or stone. Begging Nitai to reveal the secrets of surrender i chanted intensely in a more humble frame of mind.

The devotees there are very friendly and practise what they preach. One morning after the Shringar Arati, i found Kanai prabhu mopping the floor and washing the temple floor. It so happened that one little girl from a neighboring village had passed urine on the floor. Kanai prabhu did not complain, did not grudgingly pick up the mop. It was just so natural a response that the Lord's temple has been dirtied and needs to be cleaned. The entire group of devotees were in that mood. "When will I develop such a mood?"The most remarkable attitude seen in almost all devotees there is complete focus on harinam. We were treated to the most melodious harinam that stirs your soul in an unique, inimitable fashion. All that we did in Ekachakra was eat  chant and sing in Kirtan. Simple living. Nitai rules and is the center of all activities. You are greeted with a Jai Nitai on the streets and the rickshaw wallah knows more sthala Purana than anyone else.

There were many places that we visited in Ekachakra and I made very secret prayers to our Nitai Gaura deities to fulfill them and remember me after this lifetime if cannot remember Them. All I can say is that I lost my heart in Ekachakra. Its a beautiful place so full of mercy that everyone must attempt to, desire to visit it, In the pictures and video we have captured a small glimpse of Ekachakra for your viewing pleasure and pray that we all get a chance to visit this magical place of Nityananda Avadhuta as many times as we can.
Nitai Nitai Sitanath Gaura Premanande.


Here is the link to the video 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7B_tLoUAfI&feature=g-upl&context=G28a12fcAUAAAAAAAAAA

Owl  figurines being made at the local deity shop in Ekachakra

Nimai and  Nitai

The deities of Nitai Gaur, Banka Raya, Sadhbhuja Gauranga, Jagannath, Kadambakhandi

Vrinda and her friend Vishaka

We named her rambunctious Rama

The new temple construction

Ekachakra Bhaban, the new guest house.

Most merciful Nitai and Nimai, Most beautiful too.

The deities of Jagannath Baladeva nd Subhadra that Nitai got done for his aging father Hadai Pandit.

Srila Prabhupada, without you there could never be any mention of Ekachakra.

Indra Kund

Lalita Kund

Radha kund

Shyam Kund

Nitai Pada Kamala

Nimai pada Kamala

He is in an animal body but rolls on the dust ecstatically and taught me the right way to roll, My rolling
Shiksha Guru. Unforgettable.

Blissful Dham vasis

Sankarshan Kund

Sarva Kund

The stub of Nitai's umbilical cord is said to be buried here

More Dhamvasis in their secret hideout

Pandav Tala.

The deities at Pandav Tala.

Padmavati Kund

Our ISKCON Ekachakra farm

Gargantuan bats, tapasya. 

Vishram Tala

Kadamba kandi whee Banka Raya deity was said to be found.

more deities before Nityananda Trayodasi.

Our Jagannath originally from Ekachakra but brought home from Brooklyn goes back to his sculptor after 11 years to have a Nava kalevara

Nitai bine Bhai radha Krishna paite Nai

India Series- Mayapur- Sri Jagannatha at Rajapur :)

Our first itinerary consisted of a visit to Sri Jagannath Puri Dham. But plans changed and we just decided to focus on MAYAPUR and Ekacahakra. Sice Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is non different from Sri Radha and Krishna and since the dhams are non different, we just decided to skip Puri, Remuna etc. and just visit Rajapur. With that went all my dreams of honoring malpua and rabri, khaja and kheer. Anyway i resigned myself to the fact that Guru Maharaja might just want it this way. Since our little Jagganth is originally from Mayapur, Ekachakra to be specific, i was just content to visit Rajapur and have Darshana of my Lord there. The ride to Rajapur is a little longer that most others. Seated on a flatbed rikshaw we would chant all the way up to Rajapur. On the way to Rajapur one can see signs for the house of Kolavecha Sridhara. Also seen is a new construction for the upcoming Simantini (Parvati) devi temple.

Vrinda and I would play a guessing game each day, what color dress would Jagannath be wearing today, and He tricked us every single time. The somewhat dense Mango orchards surrounding the temple precincts, remind us of the pastimes when Jagannath and Baladev were caught stealing mangoes. We had the immense good fortune of getting a taste of the extremely delicious Noon Prasadam. The deities Themselves are extremely merciful, especially when it comes to fulfilling desires. Lord Shiva is seen seated in one corner of the courtyard, alongside whom stands the Kalpavriksha tree. On the lower branches of the tree seen hanging are little stones. My curiosity was piqued and I learnt that if we make a wish and hang the stones with a thread onto the tree, our wishes would be fulfilled. Not the one to lose out on any mercy, I scouted for a stone and found a thread, it was a thread maybe plastic, which had fallen loose from a construction bag, maybe a cement bag, I endeavored to tie the stone with the thread, it kept falling off, finally i succeeded. Before the altar of Jagannath could open, i ran up to the tree, Vrinda followed close behind and we tied the thread onto a branch, wishing from my heart..What i wished for is a secret that i will refrain from sharing ;-). But my prayers were eventually granted. All glories to Bhavagrahi Jagannath, All glories to Ashutosh Shiva, All glories to the Kalpavriksha tree that carries the weight of so many desires. Some material, some spiritual!

I realized that when the desires are desires to serve we are not overburdened by them, beacuse of their spiritual nature, but if the desires are material, they are like heavy stones that we carry on backs for lifetimes and we will eventually become overburdened by them. Only a tree of the magnitude of the Kalpavriksha can carry the burden of all material and spiritual desires and not be overburdened. For ourselves, we need to develop that Vyavasatmika buddih, that single pointed focus to be engaged in the srvice of Radha Krishna, by engaging in the service of the holy names. School history lessons flashed across my mind- Desire is the cause for suffering- Gautam Buddha.. Were the stones I tied material or spiritual, only time will tell! Sometimes one can cloak mateial desires in the name of dovetailing in devotional service, but we can't cheat the supreme cheater.

India Series - Mayapur.. lord Caitanya , more merciful!

It was time for Mangal Arotik,Being in the ground floor of the conch building, i could hear voices of devotees outside,the local visitors had formed a line passing through the metal detector..Deciding to throw on a salwar kameez that day, i put my tilak on, rushed out of the room and stood in line. As i edged forward in the line. "No cell phone, camera?" enquired the lady guard as she passed the detector over me. Nodding her head in approval, she allowed me to enter..On entering the temple, i quickly made my way to the back to offer obeisances to Srila Prabhupada and returned to the front. Having experienced a unique emotion while waiting for the curtains to open revealing the beautiful forms of Radha Madhava and Asta Sakhis the previous day, I rushed forward and was about to approach the cordoned off area mostly filled with Western matajis. A guard stopped me and literally chased me back to the middle of the temple. The altar was opening, but my mind was focussed on my hurt false ego, which said "i am a devotee, i should be allowed to go in the front." Tears flowed from my eyes, tears of anger. I had waited for years for this day to give up the comfort of watching the mangal arotik from across the seas, in the confines of my home to visit Mayapur and these guards, they were ruining my day! The modes were about to take over, but one look at the deities beautiful faces, Radharani's beautiful face made me to dismiss the incident temporarily. Returning to the room after Japa i thought about it again, this time my mind had calmed down..It shot back at me " The guards were only doing their duty, besides don't you remember Amanina Manadena," Sighing my false ego accepted defeat. As i narrated this to my husband, he gave me a simple solution, " Enter from the Pancatattva Altar door," he said. The next day, I walked around the block and to my surprise, there was no line, no one even stopoed you at the door.
Lessons learnt, Approach Radha Krishna through the Panchatattva, Approach the holy names through the Panchatattva..do not try to circumvent Them.It was a valuable lesson indeed. Gauranga and Nityananda are very merciful to their devotees.What was heading towards offensive thoughts towards the dham vasis had been transformed into a lesson by the mercy of Guru and Vaisnavas.
Unfortunately i have no pictures of Mayapur, ISKCON and whereabouts to share,but the next post will focus on Ekachakra Dham, which i managed to cover in great detail.

India Series- Sridham Mayapur

Mayapur: The Place that every Gaudiya Vaisnava devotee longs to go. It was our third trip to Mayapur and the most interesting one. As soon as we were on the road to Mayapur, we saw a hearse. The gross way in which the glass covering exposes the body for all to see somewhat disturbed me, even though such things are common place in India where i come from. It was soon replaced by the beauty of the place. On the way to the ISKCON Chandrodaya temple are the lush green fields. Occasionally we spot a date palm or two with clay pots hanging on to the trunk to collect the fresh sap. Mango groves with green crowns stand there, reminding us of the Aamra Ghata pastimes that happened some 500 hundred years ago. Rickshaw wallas drive around in their cycle rickshaws or the flat bed rickshaws and haggle on the price with the passengers. Some others are seen coaxing devotee tourists to ride their 'rishkaw' as they call it. The simple life and the simple beauty of the people's faces is noticeable. Though the sun used to go down early in the evenings, it being winter, there was a feeling of oneness and magic in air, because all along the streets all you could hear was the Gaura Arotik Kirtans..

Apart from spending considerable time in the Samadhi mandirs of our Acharyas starting with our Guru Maharaja, HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami, Srila Prabhupada, Sri Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Srila Bhakti vinod Thakura, Sri Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaja and Srila Gour Kishore Das Babaji Maharaja, we visited amongst other places, Yogapith, the birthplace of Nimai/Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Here i prayed to Nimai (our home deities happen to be named Nimai -Nitai,hence i have special affinity for this form of the Lord), to steal my heart on hearing descriptions of His unique childhood pastimes. Visting Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura's Samadhi brought back memories of the past visits. As the pujari led a deep throated sonorous kirtan, i desperately tried to absorb my restless mind in the magic of the moment. After a bit of protesting, it settled down and took control of my senses making them respond to the gong bells that sounded with the kirtan and the words of the song itself began sinking into my mind with a great intensity. Visits to the Caitanya Math culminated in circumabulating the samadhi temple with the local Gaudiya Vaisnavas. A toothless grin, a nod of the head, a wave of the hand and some broken bangla, made me join the old ladies in their daily ritual of circumambulating the Samadhi mandir of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Sri Gandharvika Giridhari and the 4 Sampradaya Acaryas, followed by circumambulating Srila Gaur Kishore Das Babaji Maharaja's samadhi. The caranamrita there always tastes the best.I remember Vrinda drinking all the caranamrita and asking for more during our previous visit. The place also reminded me of how my mind had revolted and received punishment when i fell down twice, once almost into shyam kund and the other time on the way out of Srila Gaura Kishore Das Babaji Maharaja's Samadhi Mandir, also the previous time. This time i was a changed person! I was reluctant to leave Mayapur. Mayapur had cast its magic on me. Everything, starting with the devotees who sold books in front of the main temple, the evening harinam procession with Gaura Nitai deities, the well timed aroti at the different altars in the temple, Lord Narasimhadeva's fierce countenance, the guards at the temple door, the mahaprasadam stall, the 'dab' stall round the corner to Guru Maharaja's Samadhi and even the roaring sound of the machinery used in the new temple construction seemed magical. Chanting seemed surprisingly easy. With no chores to do. No cooking, washing etc., food seemed a secondary consideration with the Mahaprasadam stall and the Govinda's restaurant.. .time was set aside automatically for chanting and absorbing the mind in thoughts of the holy name. HH Janananda Maharaja's words reverberated in my mind. In reply to my question, he had paused and studied me momentarily as if gauging my seriousness. Then satisfied with my attitude he replied by saying that the relationship with the holy name will be revealed only through service, and service without causing offenses to the Vaisnavas especially. Ruminating on Maharaja's words solaced me, but still the goal seemed elusive. Meditating on the verse Nama Cintamani Krsnas Caitanya Rasa Vigrahah, i tried to sleep excited about what the next day would bring!