SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Modadrumdwip (dasyam: servitude)

About Sri Saranga Murari

Continuing the parikrama of Sri Nabadwip Dham, we have now arrived at this very beautiful place, the temple of Sri Saranga Murari. A devotee called Sri Saranga Thakur used to live here, and later the temple became known as the temple of Sri Saranga Murari (Saranga Murari’s Math). Here is how it occurred.

In olden days, there were many snakes in jungles, and many people died when they were bitten by a snake. (You can still see that during the rainy season, people go to a healer or a shaman to take out snake poison. It is practised to this day.) One day, a young boy was bitten by a snake in this village. The parents could not rescue him, so they put the dead body of their son on a raft and set it floating down the Ganges.

In the meantime, there was also Sri Saranga Thakur who lived here. He had gone very old, and one day he came into his prayer room (his Deities, Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath, are still here at the temple) and prayed, ‘Dear Lord! What will happen now? I have gone so old, I cannot serve You properly anymore – I cannot offer You bhog, I cannot do all the services… Please send somebody who can take charge of Your service. I cannot do it anymore…’

The Lordships heard his prayer, and when Sri Saranga Thakur went to bed that night, They came to him in a dream and said, ‘Saranga, We will send one person to you. You must give him initiation and accept him as your disciple.’

‘Yes, Prabhu. I will do that,’ Saranga Thakur answered. ‘How will I understand who that person is?’

‘When you wake up and go to the Ganges to take a bath, give initiation to whoever you see first.’ After the Lord said this, the dream broke.

The next day, Sri Saranga Thakur woke up and went to the Ganges to take a bath. When he came to the bank, he saw a banana-tree raft floating down the Ganges towards him – there was that boy’s dead body on it. Sri Saranga Thakur remembered what Gopinath had told him, so, following the order of the Lord, he spoke the mantra into the dead boy’s ear: ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.’ When this mantra entered the boy’s ear, the boy opened his eyes. He slowly got up and looked around him – seeing Sri Saranga Thakur, he offered him an obeisance, accepting him as his guru. Sri Saranga Thakur took a bath in the Ganges and took the boy to his temple. Since that time, the boy engaged himself exclusively in the service to his guru and the Deities.

Meanwhile, the boy’s parents heard that their son had survived and was staying in a nearby village. They came to the temple and started to cry, ‘Dear son, you have not died! Sweetheart, please come with us, come. Let us go home!’ But the boy replied, ‘I will not go with you. You have thrown me into the Ganges, so I am not yours anymore. I am not your Murari – I am now Saranga’s Murari! I belong to my gurudev.’

When Sri Saranga Thakur left his body, Saranga Murari stayed here and continued serving. This is a very beautiful place: a place where Mahaprabhu’s associates lived. Coming here, we are remembering how powerful the Holy Name of Lord Krishna is – if it is the genuine Name, the result of chanting this Name is inconceivable.

Jay Sri Saranga Thakur ki jay.
Sri Saranga Murari ki jay.
Sri Modadrumdwip ki jay.
Sri Harinam sankirtan ki jay.

(The holy temple of Sri Saranga Murari.)

(Sri Saranga Thakur's original Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath.)

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