SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Koladwip (Pada-sevanam: serving the lotus feet of the Lord)

Kuliya and Sri Gupta-Govardhan

Darshan of Sri Varahadev and Gupta-Govardhan

This island is famous as Kuliya Hill because it is situated on a mountain-like elevation on the bank of the Ganges. Scriptures describe this Kuliya Town as Koladwip.

In Satya-yuga, there lived a boy called Vasudev who every day worshipped Lord Varahadev. As he worshipped the Lord, he always prayed, ‘O Lord! Please allow me to have Your darshan – please make my life successful! Without having seen You, my life will pass in vain!’

One day, Lord Varahadev mercifully appeared before Vasudev in an enchanting miraculous form of a boar (kola). Adorned with various jewels, Varahadev was as tall as a mountain. As soon as Vasudev saw the Lord, he fell on the ground in a prostrate obeisance, overwhelmed with divine love. Pleased to see his devotion, the Lord then spoke: ‘Vasudev, you are My devotee, and I am very pleased with your worship. There is no other holy place in the entire three worlds that could compare with this Nabadwip Dham. You are so fortune to live here. Because you are worshipping Me here in Nabadwip, when I appear in Kali-yuga as Gaura, you too will be born and you will be able to see My sankirtan pastimes.’ Saying this, Lord Varahadev disappeared.

Vasudev was overjoyed. After that incident, he engaged himself in sankirtan, always chanting the Holy Name of Gaura. Having got the darsan of Lord Varahadev, Vasudev called this island Koladwip.

When Sriman Nityananda Prabhu came here with Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, He said that this Koladwip is non-different from Giri-Govardhan. That is why this place is also known as Gupta Govardhan, or ‘hidden’ Govardhan. Therefore, if you do the parikrama of this Sri Nabadwip Dham, you automatically get the result of doing the parikrama of Govardhan.

There are also other very exalted places existing eternally within this island of Sri Koladwip, such as Bahulavan, Khadiravan, Dvaraka, Maha-Prayag, Ganga-Sagar, Kuliya, Samudragad, Champahatti and the school of Vidya-Vachaspati.

Kuliya Gram: Aparadha-Bhanjaner Pat

The contemporary name of Koladwip is Nabadwip Town. Before that, it was known as Kuliya-gram (the village, or ganj, of Kuliya), and there is one very important pastime that took place here.

When Mahaprabhu Nimai Visvambhar took sannyas, He left Nabadwip and travelled to Puri Dham. However, some time later He expressed His desire to go to Vrindavan, and on His way there He again came to Gaudadesh. When everyone got the news that Mahaprabhu was coming to Nabadwip, thousands and thousands of people thronged to see Him. There was no end to the crowd! Even those who were offensive to Mahaprabhu – all the sinners, atheists, etc. – came to Mahaprabhu and fell at His feet, asking Him forgiveness for their offences. Because Mahaprabhu forgave everyone’s offences and bestowed transcendental love for Lord Krishna onto them, this Kuliya Gram where it happened became famous as aparadha-bhanjanera pat: ‘the place where offences are forgiven.’ Even Chapal Gopal became rescued here (we spoke about him earlier, when we were in Sri Dham Mayapur).

Here in Kuliya Gram, there was a very famous house where a scholar called Devananda Pandit read Bhagavatam – many people came here every day to hear his lectures.

One day, Devananda Pandit prayed to Mahaprabhu for Krishna-prema, but Mahaprabhu told him, ‘You have made an offence to a Vaishnav, so I cannot give you Krishna-prema.’

Devananda Pandit was very surprised to hear this, so he asked, ‘To whom and when did I commit an offence? I do not remember anything like that!’ Then, Mahaprabhu reminded Devananda Pandit about what had happened between him and Srivas Pandit.

One day, Srivas Pandit came to Devananda Pandit’s lecture to hear Srimad Bhagavatam. As he listened to the lecture, Srivas Pandit suddenly became overwhelmed with transcendental love for the Lord. ‘Oh! Every letter of Bhagavatam is filled with divine love!’ – thinking in this way, he started to cry loudly. Some of Devananda Pandit’s disciples became annoyed and told Srivas Pandit, ‘Stop it! You are disturbing the class!’ Somebody else said, ‘Go from here! Leave!’ In the end, they took Srivas Pandit by the arms and took him outside. Devananda Pandit saw it and did not say anything. That was his offence. (We must always be very careful: we cannot understand when we are committing an offence.)

Moreover, when Mahaprabhu later remembered Devananda Pandit, He became so angry that He said, ‘I will tear his Bhagavatam! Everything he explains is illusion, it is a farce! It is all misconception!’ Srivas Pandit and other devotees stopped Mahaprabhu and did not let Him do this. It is not so easy to read Bhagavatam. One time, Srila Swarup Damodar Goswami said, ‘Bhagavata pada Vaisnavera sthane, ekanta asraya kara Chaitanya-charane! Read Bhagavatam in the association of Vaishnavs and take exclusive shelter of the holy lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya!’ If you want to read Bhagavatam, you must take shelter of the holy lotus feet of Vaishnavs and hear Bhagavatam from their holy mouths; otherwise, independent reading of Bhagavatam can be equal to reading a newspaper.

Finally, Mahaprabhu told Devananda Pandit, ‘If you ask Srivas Pandit forgiveness for your offence, then you will attain Krishna-prema.’ Feeling utterly ashamed, Devananda came to Srivas Pandit and asked him forgiveness.

This happened here in this Kuliya town in Sri Koladwip.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

Coming to Sri Koladwip, there is one more profound thing that must be said: within Gupta Govardhan stands our beloved Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

Our Param Gurudev, Pujyapad Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, came here in 1941. At first, he stayed in a small kutir (hut) on the bank of the Ganges – his younger brother Mani Babu would give him ten rupees per month, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj lived there alone, supporting himself with that money. He did not go begging and did not particularly preach. Shortly after that, Sripad Sakhi Charan Prabhu offered him, ‘If you choose some land, I will give you money to purchase it.’ Remembering the glory of the aparadha-bhanjanera pat and Sri Gupta Govardhan, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj then choose this land in Sri Kolerganj (where Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math stands to this day), and the same year, on the holy day of Sri Jagannathdev’s Ratha-Yatra, he entered the new place and started living there. He named his temple ‘Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’.

Although we belong to Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya, the conception of the holy raganuga-bhakti (spontaneous loving devotion) actually first manifested through Srila Madhavendra Puripad – he is the seed of the spout of divine love; and we can see that by the influence of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this seed has become transformed into a beautiful, full-fledged tree. Remembering this core identity of our sampradaya, Srila Sridhar Maharaj included the words ‘Sri Chaitanya’ in the name of his temple. Also, the name of Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s gurudev is Om Visnupad Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad – therefore, to include the entire identity of our sampradaya, from the very beginning until the end, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj named his temple and mission ‘Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’.

At first, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’s land was just one acre (almost three bighas) – at that time, there were not so many trees, gardens or great buildings. There were just three mango trees, two guava trees and a bamboo grove. However, having purchased this land, the first thing Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj did was to go to a bamboo garden and personally choose a very long and expensive bamboo pole – he brought that pole to the temple and established it at the very place where the main temple stands now. Raising a flag atop the pole, he proclaimed:

srimach-chaitanya-sarasvata-mathavara-udgita-kirtir jaya-srim
bibhrat sambhati ganga-tata-nikata-nabadwipa-koladri-raje
yatra sri-gaura-sarasvata-mata-nirata-gaura-gatha grnanti
nityam rupanuga sri-krtamati-guru-gauranga-radha-jitasa

‘At this supremely enchanting divine ashram, materially destitute and spiritually loving devotees of Sri Gaura-Saraswati, who are expert at favourable practices of Krishna consciousness, constantly chant within their hopeful hearts the glories of Lord Sri Sri Gaurasundar, the greatly magnanimous source of all incarnations of the Lord, following in strict adherence the line of Sri Sri Rupa-Raghunath, the inexhaustible storehouse of the wealth of divine ecstatic consorthood love, being eternally eager to engage in the loving service to Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar and Their associates. This effulgent and supremely worshippable king among all temples, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, is situated within Koladwip, which is non-different from the king of mountains Sri Govardhan, on the enchanting bank of the revered Bhagirathi River, who rescues all fallen souls, in Sri Nabadwip Dham, a holy abode of touchstones that is non-different from Sri Vrindavan. Capturing Jayasri (the Goddess of Victory – Srimati Radharani), it exists eternally, leaving the entire creation of moving and non-moving entities astonished in the extremely cooling and loving shade of the soaring victory flag of its ever-increasing celebrated renown.’

Soon after that, a few devotees came and stayed together with Srila Sridhar Maharaj; also, many of Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s godbrothers were looking for him, and when they found him, they would also come and stay at the temple during some time. This is how Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math started.

(Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, circa 1955)

When Srila Sridhar Maharaj first came here, he had the Deity of Giridhari (a Govardhan sila) that he had brought from Vrindavan. Mahaprabhu’s Deity was installed in 1944–1945, and about four years after our Gurudev, Om Visnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, joined the temple, the Deities of Sri Sri Gandharva Govindasundar jiu were brought from Vrindavan and installed at the temple. The construction of the main temple began later, sometime in 1955, and it took almost twenty years to complete it (the construction finished in 1973). After that, in 1975, the construction of the nat-mandir started. This is the brief history of our temple in Koladwip.

When Sakhi Charan Prabhu heard the sloka extolling Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (‘Srimach-chaitanya-sarasvata-mathabara…’), he said to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, ‘You have nothing except a small thatched house – you are using a brick for a pillow and sleep on some straw – but you have put up such a big bamboo pole and composed such a high sloka!’ Srila Sridhar Maharaj replied, ‘You will see in the future what will be here.’ We can easily realise what Srila Sridhar Maharaj implied if we see the present-day miraculous form of the temple, resembling a whole town. And this is not just some grand buildings! When the ground floor of the temple was completed, the master of Koladwip (Sri Sri Laksmi-Varahadev) personally came here, out of His own accord and in a very miraculous way, in the form of a salagram-sila.

This salagram-sila originally lived in the house of a king, but because many problems started happening at the house, the king gave the salagram-sila to a big pandit. Some time later, problems started happening at the house of the pandit, too. One day, that pandit met with Srila Sridhar Maharaj and told him, ‘This salagram-sila is creating disturbance everywhere. Please take this salagram-sila away from here.’ Srila Sridhar Maharaj agreed, and told the pandit to send his sila to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

At first, the pandit sent the salagram-sila to the temple of Srila Jajavar Maharaj in Midnapore, but two weeks later the sila started creating so much disturbance again that nobody could even stay at the temple anymore! Then, Srila Jajavar Maharaj wrote a letter to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, saying, ‘Please take your sila away from here!’ Because Midnapore is a little far from Nabadwip, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told Srila Jajavar Maharaj to send the sila to the temple of Srila Goswami Maharaj in Kolkata, who would later send it from there to Nabadwip.

Srila Jajavar Maharaj sent the sila to the temple of Srila Goswami Maharaj, who thought, ‘I have got a salagram-sila! I will keep it here.’ He knew that Srila Sridhar Maharaj would not mind it, so he kept the sila at his temple. During the next fifteen days, again so many things happened at the temple. Srila Goswami Maharaj thought, ‘This sila is very bad for my temple!’ He wrote a letter to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, saying, ‘Maharaj, please take your sila from my temple as soon as possible.’ Then, Srila Sridhar Maharaj sent Srila Govinda Maharaj to Kolkata to bring this salagram-sila to Nabadwip.

When the salagram-sila finally arrived, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told Srila Govinda Maharaj, ‘What is the matter? Why does this sila cause so much disturbance? Look up the name of this salagram-sila.’ Then, Srila Govinda Maharaj searched the descriptions of many salagram-silas in Hari-bhakti-vilasa and Garuda Purana and found out that this salagram-sila had the symptoms of Sri Sri Laksmi-Varahadev. Srila Sridhar Maharaj also said, ‘I thought that it was Laksmi-Varahadev, too. He is the master of Koladwip, so He wanted to come to his Koladwip. But to be sure, write a letter to the pandit where the sila stayed at first and ask him.’ The pandit replied that, yes, it was indeed Laksmi-Varahadev. Then, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, ‘That is it! That is why He did not want to stay anywhere. This is His own place here, that is why He wanted to come here.’

The worship of Sri Laksmi-Varahadev is very difficult. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that Sri Laksmi-Varahadev must be offered nice, specially made sweet rice every day. From that time, Sri Laksmi-Varahadev has been living at the temple happily, and the temple started growing very quickly. Before that, there were no houses, no temple, there was only one three-room building; but after that, the temple was built and so many other buildings appeared – especially Sri Govinda Kunda, which manifested later in a very special and beautiful way along with the temples of Sri Sada Siva Gangadhar and Sri Giriraj Govardhan.

This is the abode of Sri Koladwip, and this is the history and glory of our main Math. It is a very auspicious place. ‘Kuliya gramete asi’ Sri Krishna Chaitanya hena nahi ya’re prabhu na karila dhanya. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Kuliya-gram and there was not a living soul who was not blessed by the Lord.’ If one commits an offence at this holy place, there is no salvation for this soul, but if someone commits an offence staying elsewhere and comes here and genuinely asks forgiveness, then their offences will be removed.

Jay Sri Koladwip ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay.
Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar jiu ki jay.
Sri Sada Siva Gangadhar ki jay.
Sri Gupta Govardhan ki jay.
Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Sri Nabadwip Dham.

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