(4/7) Eternal Bond with Sri Ekachakra Dham

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ekachakra—Worldwide, 21 February 2021, part 4

Actually, I came here for the first time in 2004. Gurudev had come here in 1989 or 1990 when he was preaching in Bengal – he stayed in a nearby village, here in Ekachakra, during two days. At that time, he visited this place of Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance. After that, I came here in 2004. From the beginning it was my desire to make a temple here, but Gurudev did not agree – he was not so much interested in making a temple here because there are a lot of sahajiyas in this area. Despite that, in Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s time, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj would send to the birthplace temple of Nityananda Prabhu a five-rupee money order every year on the appearance day of Nityananda Prabhu.

When Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came back from Vrindavan and started Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Koleganj (aparadha-bhanjanera pat in Koladwip), many of his godbrothers wanted to take sannyas from him. Also, there were also some well-wishers who wanted to take initiation from Srila Sridhar Maharaj. At first, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not agree to give anyone initiation or sannyas, but then he came here, to the birthplace of Nityananda Prabhu, and when he prayed to Nityananda Prabhu for His guidance and mercy (‘What should I do now? Please give me Your mercy’), he heard a message from the sky – Nityananda Prabhu told him, ‘You have already got so much mercy from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad. First distribute that mercy, and after that, when you finish distributing it, you can ask Me for mercy again.’ Hearing these words, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj returned to Kolerganj and started giving initiations. This is the past history that I have heard from Srila Gurudev.

As I have said, Gurudev visited Ekachakra before he started visiting foreign countries. Later, in 2007, when Gurudev was in America, he called me and said, ‘You wanted to start a temple in Ekachakra. Now I am telling you that if you can find a good land, you can make a temple there.’ I bought this land here in Ekachakra in 2008. So many things have happened since then…

Before starting the construction of the temple, Gurudev told me to first make a guesthouse, a place for devotees’ residence. This is how I started the construction of this building where I am staying right now. Actually, I made this very room where I am sitting now for Gurudev, but due to his health condition, he could not come (he was very sick in 2007, you all know it). 2007 was Gurudev’s last world tour, during which he stayed in America for many months, and then came to Thailand. I was also in a world tour, preaching in Singapore and Malaysia at the time when Gurudev called me from Thailand and told me to come. I came to Thailand and Gurudev told me there to buy the land in Ekachakra. This is how, in 2008, I purchased this land here and started the construction.

Gurudev saw this guesthouse building, and he was very happy. He could not come himself, but he saw the video of the programme in 2008–2009. When I just got this land in 2008, it was a vacant land that used to be a wheat field. I cleared the land, made a big pandal and made the first grand festival. Gurudev saw the video broadcast – he saw that so many thousands of people came here – and he was very happy at that time. Gurudev gave the name to this guesthouse; he told me to call it with the name of Nityananda Prabhu’s parents – Sri Sri Hadai Padmavati Smriti Kunja.

After that, I started to make the nat-mandir and the temple, but in the meantime, Gurudev left this world. I could not finish the construction before his departure. The inauguration of the temple took place in 2011. According to Gurudev’s instruction, the size of the Deities here is very big – Gurudev ordered me to make life-size Deities. He chose a man who does Deities in Nabadwip to make these Deities in Ekachakra and instructed him about the size the Deities had to be. Mahaprabhu is 7’6 (228.6 cm) and Nityananda Prabhu is 7’4 (223.5 cm).

The Deities were installed in 2011, after Gurudev’s disappearance. So many devotees came here that year, and since then, many devotees have been coming every year also. It makes me very sad that foreign devotees cannot come this year because of the covid situation. Mainly, Venezuelan devotees always come and join this festival because their Deity is also Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra, so they always come here and help during the anniversary festival. Still, there are some Venezuelan devotees here with me now – Sripad Sajjan Maharaj, Sripad Sadhu Maharaj, Sudevi Didi, Ananda Moy Prabhu. There are also some Colombian devotees – Kamalendu Prabhu and others. I know many cannot come this year because of the situation. What can I say? It makes me very sad, and I miss them, but I hope that they will celebrate this day in their own centres, at their own homes. Every house should make a programme on this day – that is our happiness, because we cannot conceive of anything in our lives without Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy. If we give most of our attention to making Nityananda Prabhu’s festival, then Gurudev and Gauranga Mahaprabhu will be very happy.

Gauranga Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu to preach about Krishna, but Nityananda Prabhu preached about Gauranga:

ভজ গৌরাঙ্গ, কহ গৌরাঙ্গ, লহ গৌরাঙ্গের নাম রে
যে জন গৌরাঙ্গ ভজে, সেই আমার প্রাণ রে

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re
ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

‘Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga’s Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!’

(Sri Nityananda Prabhu)

Nityananda Prabhu preached about Mahaprabhu all over Bengal and other places in India. Without His mercy, it is impossible to conceive of anything in our lives. It was also Nityananda Prabhu who started preaching about Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama when He first did this parikrama of the nine islands of Nabadwip with Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, speaking about the glories of Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu’s pastimes that took place in Nabadwip, which is non-different from Sri Vrindavan.

শ্রীগৌড়মণ্ডলভূমি, যেবা জানে চিন্তামণি,
তার হয় ব্রজভূমে বাস ॥

sri-gauda-mandala-bhumi, yeba jane chintamani,
tara haya vraja-bhume vasa

‘Those who always think about Sri Gauda Mandal reside in Vraja.’

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

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Size: 26 Mb
Length: 52 min
Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Lord's Arrangement
2) Service Field
3) Gist of Guru-Mahima
4) Eternal Bond with Sri Ekachakra Dham
5) Sri Gauda Mandal Parikrama
6) Construction Pastimes
7) Pride in Our Identity