SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

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

Sri Chapahati

By the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, continuing our way from Sri Samudragad, we have now come to this very charming place – this is the temple of Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar, established by Sri Dvija Vaninath Prabhu. In Mahaprabhu’s time, Mahaprabhu’s Deity was installed in three places: Sri Gaura-Gadadhar Deities served by Sri Dvija Vaninath Prabhu here in Chapahati; Sri Gaura-Nityananda Deities served by Sri Gauri Das Pandit in Kalna; and Dhamesvar Mahaprabhu served by Sri Vishnupriya Devi. These three Deities have existed in Sri Nabadwip Dham for over five hundred years now.

When Sriman Nityananda Prabhu was doing Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama together with Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, He came here and described the glory of this place thus:

In the previous age, there was a forest called Khadiravan in this place. Champakalata Sakhi gathered champa flowers in this forest and made garlands with them. Every day she served Radha-Krishna with those champa flower garlands. When Kali-yuga came, gardeners came to the champa forest and started gathering flowers; they established a market nearby where they sold champa flowers. That is why this place became known as Sri Champaka-hatta, or Chapahati (lit. ‘a champa market’).

Many years ago, when Sri Laksman Sen served as the king in Sri Nabadwip Dham (Nadia), a devotee called Jayadev Goswami lived here as one of the citizens of this area. Jayadev Goswami had a small cottage on the bank of Ballal Dirghaka (a pond in Ganganagar, Mayapur), where he lived together with his pious spouse Padmavati. Jayadev Goswami was a great poet, and many of his poems were composed here in Sri Nabadwip Dham. ‘Sri Gita Govinda’ and ‘Dasa Avatara Stotram’ are particularly famous among his works.

Many come to Chapahati and, remembering Sri Jayadev Goswami, chant his ‘Gita Govinda’, but we never do that. We mention the ‘Dehi pada-pallavam-udaram’ sloka from ‘Gita Govinda’ and talk about Jayadev and Padmavati, but tell me, who will you tell about Jayadev’s separation and who is able to understand it?… Actually, Jayadev Goswami started composing ‘Gita Govinda’ in another place in Nabadwip, but he could not finish it there. When he later came here, to Chapahati, he finished it here.

One day, when Jayadev Goswami lived in Chapahati and was going to write ‘Gita Govinda’, he forgot what the next line would be. Nothing came to his mind. Not being able to complete the sloka, he told Padmavati Devi, ‘I am going to take a bath in the Ganges. Please have the prasad ready, I will take it when I come back.’

A short while later, Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Himself came in disguise of Jayadev Goswami and said, ‘Padmavati, is prasad ready?’

‘Yes, you said you would take prasadam after taking a bath, so come and take it,’ she replied.

The Lord took prasad, and what did He do next? He went into the room where Jayadev Goswami would sit composing ‘Gita Govinda’, and the Lord Himself finished the sloka from ‘Gita Govinda’ that Jayadev Goswami could not finish. After that, He left the room and went away.

Soon, real Jayadev Goswami came home. He asked Padmavati Devi, ‘Padmavati, where is my prasad?’

Padmavati Devi was surprised, ‘What do you mean where is your prasad? You have just taken prasad and went to your room. I saw you going there and writing something.’

Jayadev Goswami could not understand anything, ‘What? I did not come before!’ Then, he went into his room and saw that the sloka was finished – it was written there, ‘Dehi pada-pallavam-udaram: I am placing Your holy lotus feet on My head.’ The Lord Himself came there, wrote this and left. Krishna Himself wrote what had to be written about Srimati Radharani (that the Lord Himself places Her feet on His head) and what Jayadev did not have the courage to write.

Another pastime happened when Jayadev Goswami composed ‘Dasa Avatara Stotram’. When King Sri Laksman read it, he was very happy, so he asked one of his men, ‘Whose poetry is this? Who has written this?’ The man replied that the poem had been composed by a poet called Jayadev Goswami. Excited, the king became very eager to meet with Jayadev Goswami. He then secretly found out where Jayadev Goswami was staying and one night, dressed as a beggar Vaishnav, came to him. Jayadev Goswami understood that it was the king but at first did not say it to him. After a while, the king revealed his identity to Jayadev Goswami and invited him to his house. Jayadev Goswami became annoyed and declined the king’s invitation, explaining, ‘I do not want to go to the house of a materialist. If you think that because I am your subject, you can order me around, then I will leave your land and go to some other place. Associating with materialists can never bring anything auspicious. I had better go to Nilachal (Sri Puri Dham).’ Hearing his words, the king became perturbed, ‘Please do not leave Nabadwip! Prabhu, if you do not want to stay here, there is a village called Chapahati on the other side of the Ganges – please come to live there. I give you my word that I will never come to you unless you order me to: I will not come to see your holy feet until and unless you call me.’ Seeing the king’s humility and hearing his soft speech, Jayadev Goswami replied, ‘So be it. Although you are a materialist king, you are a devotee of Lord Krishna. You have no attachment to the material world. I called you a materialist to test you, but you have no ego – hearing it, you tolerated it silently. This is how I can understand that you are a devotee of Lord Krishna. I accept your proposal – I will come to stay in Chapahati, and you can secretly come to see me, leaving behind all your royal opulence. I do not have any objection.’ So, the king constructed a small cottage in Chapahati, and Jayadev Goswami stayed there, engaging himself in his eternal worship of the Lord.

Every day, Padmavati Devi gathered many champaka flowers and gave them to Jayadev Goswami, who then worshipped the Lord with those flowers. One day, Supreme Lord Sri Krishna mercifully came in front of Jayadev Goswami and Padmavati Devi, revealing His effulgent form the colour of a champaka flower. Seeing the Lord’s wondrous form, they began to cry and immediately fell unconscious. Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu then took His two devotees on His lap and spoke, ‘You two are My dear devotees. Very soon I will appear here in Nabadwip from the womb of Sachi Devi. I will spread the Holy Name and rescue the entire earth, and when I turn twenty-four, I will take sannyas and leave for Nilachal. There, I will taste the exclusive mood of My devotees, and I will especially relish the nectar of your “Sri Gita Govinda” in the company of devotees. You are My dear devotees, so after you leave your bodies, you will come to this transcendental Sri Nabadwip Dham, but for now, please do Me a favour – go to Nilachal. You will serve Lord Sri Jagannathdev there and attain in this way transcendental love for the Lord.’ Saying this, Mahaprabhu disappeared.

Not being able to see the Lord anymore, Jayadev and Padmavati began to weep. Burning with the agony of separation, they lamented, ‘O Lord! What will become of us now? How will we live not being able to see our Lord? How can we ever leave this Nabadwip and go to Nilachal? We must have certainly committed some offence! Even if we are born as a beast or a bird, it is still better than leaving! We can lose our lives, but we will never be able to leave Nabadwip! O Lord! Please keep us here, at Your holy lotus feet!’ Both of them were crying and lamenting in this way when suddenly they heard a divine message in the sky, ‘Do not be sad. Go to Nilachal and remember what I am saying to you. You wanted to go to Nilachal before, so Jagannath has fulfilled your desire. He wants to meet with you – go to Him and make Him happy. When the right time comes and you leave your bodies, you will again return to Nabadwip and stay here eternally.’

Having heard this divine message and not being able to disobey the Lord’s order, Jayadev Goswami and Padmavati Devi decided not to delay and immediately set off to Nilachal. As they walked, they kept stopping and looking back at Nabadwip from time to time, with tears flowing from their eyes. From afar, they told all residents of Nabadwip, ‘Please be merciful to both of us. Please forgive our offences!’ Walking further and further, they kept looking back at their beloved Nabadwip, and when they could no longer see it, they crossed the boarder of Gaudades shedding incessant tears and some days later arrived in Nilachal. Only after having got the darshan of Lord Jagannath, they got their lives back.

This is the story of Srila Jayadev Goswami. This village Chapahati is situated on an elevated place (a hill) – Sriman Nityananda Prabhu told Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu that this was where Jayadev Goswami’s cottage was.

There is also another matter that should be mentioned here – the pastimes of Dvija Vaninath Prabhu. In Dvapar-yuga, Dvija Vaninath Prabhu took part in the pastimes of Lord Krishna as a gopi called Kamalekha.

Before that, in Satya-yuga, one brahman lived in this place. Every day, he would come to the champaka garden, pick champaka flowers and serve Radha-Govinda with them. What did the Lord, who is very affectionate to His devotees, do? Actually, you do not need to offer any expensive food to please the Lord. The Lord says, ‘If one worships Me with a drop of Ganges water and a Tulasi leaf, I become very happy.’ So, when that brahman served the Lord with flowers, the Lord became very pleased. One day, when the brahman was meditating and serving his Deities, Krishna decided to appear before him, revealing His beautiful form to him. The Lord thought, ‘This brahman has been serving Me so much, I shall grant My darshan to him.’ So, when the brahman was meditating on his beloved worshippable Deity (Syamasundar), Krishna appeared before him in His golden form, the colour of a champaka flower (as Lord Gaurasundar). The Supreme Lord said, ‘I will appear in this form that you see now in Kali-yuga.’ Saying this, Mahaprabhu disappeared. Since that time, the brahman always thought with pain in his heart, ‘Prabhu, how long will I live? Will I live to see this Kali-yuga?’ Hearing his thoughts, the Lord appeared before him in a dream on another day and said, ‘Do not become disheartened, do not cry! In Kali-yuga, I will come to the house of Sachi Mata and Jagannath Misra, and at that time you, too, will appear here in this village Chapahati.’

That brahman appeared in Kali-yuga as Dvija Vaninath, who installed the Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar at this temple here in Chapahati. Some time later, these Deities’ service eventually stopped, and almost one hundred years ago, Jagad-Guru Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur took charge of the Deities’ service. Since that time, the service at this temple has been running properly. We can find the history of how this temple became manifest in the holy scripture of Sri Gaudiya Math called Saraswati Jayasri. We are presenting this article with a detailed account of the events below for the eternal benefit of this world.

Jay Sri Chapahati ki jay, Sri Dvija Vaninath Prabhu ki jay.
Jay Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar ki jay.
Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

Srila Prabhupad Rescues Abandoned Service
to Sri Gaura-Gadadhar at Chapahati

From the present time, more or less four hundred years ago, a disciple of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s associate Srimat Gadadhar Pandit Goswami Prabhu called Dvija Vaninath Brahmachari Mahasaya revealed the service to the holy Deities of Sri Gaura-Gadadhar in the village of Champahatta, or Chapahati, situated near P.O. Samudragarh, within the present-day Bardhaman (Burdwan) District. The year when Srila Prabhupad first re-introduced Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama (Phalgun 1326; March 1920), the parikrama lasted only four days; however, with a view to make it possible for everyone to do the parikrama of all places in Nabadwip, Srila Prabhupad sent a few devotees to Champahatta in Ritudwip to discover all the places of the parikrama. Seeing the abandoned state of the temple and the service established by Dvija Vaninath in ancient days some four hundred years ago, Srila Prabhupad’s heart was pained in the extreme.

The original Sri Gaura-Gadadhar holy Deities lived without anyone serving Them, abandoned and unclothed. Snakes, scorpions, tigers, dogs and other animals established their empire all around Them. Is it possible that anyone would enter there, cutting their way through the impenetrable jungle! Some grihastha brahman (a meat- and fish-eater) was the guardian servitor, so if he felt like it, at his leisure, he would sometimes come to the holy Deities in daylight and give Them some puffed or flat rice! The very place where Sri Jayadev once sang Madhura Komalakanta Padavali – the place where Brahma, Siva and others once performed the royal ablution of the holy footprints of Sri Gaura’s lotus feet, the very object of their aspirations – the place where Dvija Vaninath once bestowed auspiciousness upon the world by chanting the glories of Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami – seeing this very place in such a deplorable state, Prabhupad could not restrain his tears.

When Srila Prabhupad returned from Champahatta and finished the festival of Sri Gaura’s appearance, he arrived at Sri Gaudiya Math in Kolkata and sent some devotees headed by Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhakti Vivek Bharati Maharaj to Chapahati for preaching. They arrived at Samudragarh station and then went three miles (almost 5 km) on foot, reaching Chapahati by noon. They asked people for the directions several times and eventually went inside the jungle; making their way with great difficulty, they finally reached the place where Dvija Vaninath established the Deity service many years ago. There, they saw an ancient dilapidated, shabby-looking brick house facing the east, with two ancient holy Deities kept in the northern room. A few days later, Srila Prabhupad came to see those two Deities and identified them as Sri Gaura-Gadadhar. The room of the Deities, which had turned into a kingdom of insects and spiders, was full of dirt-filled cobwebs. In an adjacent house, there were a lot of neglected clay pots and piles of fish scales on the veranda. They were told that some native inhabitant from the village of Mamgachi was the guardian-servitor of the Deities and that he came twice a week with some flat rice or puffed rice and offered it to the Deities with mantras. Whenever he came to do that, he would go to that adjacent house, cook some fish, etc. and have a forest picnic!

Srimad Bharati Maharaj and Atula Babu, who was with him, met with the prominent respected residents of Chapahati and Samudragarh and informed them that they wanted to recover the ancient service of Dvija Vaninath, and the prominent members of the village went the same evening to one old brahman’s house, which was adjacent to the house of Sri Gaura-Gadadhar. Everyone was exceptionally happy when they heard from Srimad Bharati Maharaj about the proposal of Srila Prabhupad to recover the service to the Deities. The guardian-servitor, who also came to that assembly together with the villagers, made a registry deed, transferring all rights and the responsibility for the service to Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar and all the articles required for the service to the Deities to Sri Chaitanya Math. The next day, Sripad Bharati Maharaj personally cleaned the holy bodies of Sri Gaura-Gadadhar Deities, who had been abandoned and kept in a neglected state for a very long time, dressed Them in new clothes and gave Them bhoga, offering preparations made from the best ingredients. From that time, following the order of Srila Prabhupad, the service to Sri Gaura-Gadadhar has been continuing in accordance with the scriptural prescriptions through the servitors of Sri Chaitanya Math.

Following the order and desire of Srila Prabhupad, Sripad Bharati Maharaj returned to Chapahati together with two brahmacharis and got some young boys and peasants from the village to clear the jungle at the place where the Deities were served and repair the thatched hut (it had mud walls and no roof) situated on the periphery of the Lordships’ house – there, devotees gave lectures, chanted kirtans and preached the teachings of Sri Chaitanya in the neighbouring villages. The service kept growing, and to make it even more exalted, Srila Prabhupad engaged one of the trustee acharyas of Sri Chaitanya Math, Sripad Paramananda Brahmachari Vidyaratna Prabhu. On the order of Prabhupad, Sripad Paramananda Prabhu, as a prominent servitor of Sri Chaitanya Math, manifested the exceptional effulgence of the service at Chapahati. It is not only the local residents who felt great joy seeing the holy Deities of Sri Gaura-Gadadhar, who are the joy of devotees’ eyes and hearts, and the clean and neat service – even devotees from all over the world who came to do the parikrama, got to behold the effulgence of the service here and acquire devotional sukriti by being able to join it.

During the third Nabadwip parikrama (on the ekadasi-tithi day of 25 Phalgun 1328 – 9 March 1922), devotees came here together with Srila Prabhupad. At that time, on the order of Prabhupad, there were constructed many temporary rooms, where the devotees doing parikrama could stay and take some rest. Preachers who have been coming here for a few days allow the current of Hari-katha to flow unhindered through Hari-kirtan, scriptural readings, lectures, etc.

(Entering the courtyard of Sri Chapahati)

(The Holy Deities of Sri Sri Gaura Gadadhar served at Sri Chapahati)

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