[From Part Three of Acarya Kesari, the Life and Teachings of Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja]
Eighty-four kosa Ksetra-mandala parikrama
After the Sri Navadvipa-dhama parikrama in 1945, Srila Gurudeva travelled with Sri Dinadayala Brahmacari, Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacari, Ananga-mohana Brahmacari and others to different places in Orissa, to enthusiastically preach suddha-bhakti and to plan a Sri Ksetra-mandala parikrama. They visited Balesvara, Sri Jagannatha Puri, Kataka, Basulisahi, Alalanatha, Vorkudi on the banks of the Cilka-hrada, Kalupada-ghata, Ranapurgarha state, Sonavali (a site of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s footprints), Nayaragarha, Khandapada, Kantila (Sri Nila-madhava), Narasimhapura, Khurda Road and various other places. Sriman Mahaprabhu passed through all these places when He went to South India. Single-pointed devotees of Sriman Mahaprabhu have the heartfelt desire to travel to all those places that He and His associates visited, while He was overwhelmed in bhava. Srila Gurudeva wanted to do parikrama of those places along with pure devotees to awaken the memory of Sriman Mahaprabhu. After preparing an outline for the future parikrama, he returned to Uddharana Gaudiya Matha in Chunchura.
On 16 October 1945, when all the arrangements had been completed, Srila Gurudeva started the journey from Howrah station to Sri Puri-dhama in a reserved railway coach, accompanied by pilgrims, sannyasis and brahmacaris from all over India. The party reached Puri the next day, and rested there. Then, under the shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s vijaya-vigraha (the small deity that is taken out on parikrama), they had darsana of Srila Prabhupada’s appearance place Bhakti-kutira (Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s place of bhajana). They also visited Srila Haridasa Thakura’s place of bhajana, Siddha-bakula; his samadhi ; Purusottama Matha; Tota Gopinatha and the temple of Sri Jagannatha. At Sri Jagannatha Mandira, they had darsana of Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra.
In the evening Srila Guru Maharaja narrated the glories of the dhama. He said that Purusottama-ksetra is not limited to the city of Jagannatha Puri, which is five kosas. Rather, its circumference is ten yojanas (approximately eighty miles) and the ksetra, which is eighty-four kosas in area, has the shape of a conch shell. If anyone within these eighty-four kosas leaves his body thinking of Jagannatha, he will not take birth in the womb of a mother again, but will go to Vaikuntha.
One Satya-yuga, Indradyumna Maharaja came here with his wife and subjects. He constructed a huge temple and, pleasing Sri Nila-madhava by his worship, he installed Sri Nila-madhava in the form of the four deities, Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Sudarsana. The arrangements he instituted for offering bhoga are followed to this day.
After Sriman Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, He resided in the Gambhira in Jagannatha Puri on His mother’s request. There He fulfilled His three inner desires with His intimate associates. Only those who are fortunate get the opportunity to visit the places marked by Sri Gaurasundara’s lotus feet.
The next day, the parikrama party had darsana of Cataka Parvata, Tota Gopinatha, Yamesvara Tota, Lokanatha Siva, Puri Gosvami’s well, Markandeya-sarovara, Narendra-sarovara, Indradyumna-sarovara, Gundica Mandira, Cakra-tirtha and Svargadvara.
On the third day, the party visited Govardhana Matha, which had been established by Sri Sankaracarya, Satalahariya Matha established by Sri Ramanuja, Jagannatha Vatika and other various famous places. After this, they arrived at the celebrated abode of Alalanatha. The deity at Alalanatha is named Sri Alvaranatha or Alalanatha because He is served by the alvars of the Sri sampradaya. Sriman Mahaprabhu would go there when He was feeling intense separation from Sri Jagannatha during anavasara, the time after snana-yatra when Jagannatha does not give darsana. When Mahaprabhu offered sastanga-pranama (prostrate obeisances) in the temple in this state of separation, the stones under Him melted, leaving an impression of His entire body. To this day, the impression of His transcendental body is present on one stone. The pilgrims had darsana of this sila and also worshipped it with great faith. In a village nearby are the houses and bhajana-kutiras of Mahaprabhu’s associates, Sri Raya Ramananda, Sikhi Mahiti and his sister Madhavi. These places are worth visiting even today.
On the banks of Cilka-hrada there is a village where the footprints of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu can be seen. This village has a famous history. It had been arranged that Purusottama Jana, the father of Maharaja Prataparudra, would marry the daughter of the king of Vidyanagara here. However, when the king of Vidyanagara came to know that Jana swept the street in front of Sri Jagannatha’s cart during ratha-yatra, he cancelled the wedding. Purusottama Jana attacked Vidyanagara with his army, but returned badly defeated. Very upset by the turn of events, he prayed to Sri Jagannatha and Sri Baladeva for victory in the next war. He received an auspicious indication from Sri Jagannathaji that his prayer had been accepted and therefore he proceeded with great enthusiasm with his entire army.
To help Their dear servant, Jagannatha and Baladeva went ahead dressed as young soldiers riding on two horses, one red and one white. On the way, They met an old woman carrying a pot of yoghurt on her head. Being thirsty, They asked the woman to give Them some yoghurt to drink. When the old woman asked for money, one of the horsemen gave His golden ring to her and said, “We are the king’s soldiers. He is coming behind with the army. Show him this ring and ask him for money.” Saying this, They again went ahead. A short while later, when the king came with his army, the old lady showed him the ring and asked for money for her yoghurt. On that ring, which the king had himself offered to Sri Jagannatha, were marked the words ‘Sri Jagannatha’. The king’s eyes overflowed with tears, and he became convinced that his worshipful Jagannatha and Baladeva were in the forefront of his army to help him in the war, which he indeed won. The king gave the old lady ownership of a whole village, and even today her descendants are enjoying that property.
From there the parikrama party reached the very beautiful Vorakudi on one side of Cilka-hrada. The pilgrims then crossed Cilka-hrada on many boats and reached Ranapuragarha. All of these pilgrimage places in Orissa were surrounded by deep, thick jungle, where tigers and other dangerous animals were a real threat. The pilgrims were under protection, but still they went by foot with great care. In spite of the dangers, worship of the deity, offerings of bhoga, recitations and lectures went on daily as a matter of course.
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana appeared in a village near Cilka-hrada. One evening before the assembled Vaisnavas, Srila Gurudeva explained about Baladeva Vidyabhusana’s transcendental qualities. [The following is the story he related.]
“From his boyhood, Baladeva Vidyabhusana was a brilliant person endowed with transcendental intelligence. After becoming expert in Sanskrit, he went for specialized education to Udupi, Srila Madhvacarya’s place in South India, where he concentrated his studies on Anu-bhasya (Madhvacarya’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra) as well as other well-known writings of the Madhva sampradaya. He also studied Sri Ramanuja’s Sri-bhasya. Afterward, in Puri, Baladeva Vidyabhusana met Sri Radha-Damodara Gosvami, a follower of Nayanananda in the disciplic line of Sri Syamananda. Baladeva Vidyabhusana was so impressed by Sri Radha-Damodara Gosvami’s teachings that he took diksa from him. He then travelled to Sri Dhama Vrndavana, where he met the learned and topmost rasika Vaisnava Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, who taught him how to enter into the philosophical conclusions of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas.
“Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana spent the remaining part of his life dedicated to the service of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, studying the literature of the six Gosvamis and other famous Vaisnava treatises. Seeing his qualification, Sri Cakravarti Thakura sent him to Galta-gaddi in Jaipura, where an assembly had gathered for philosophical debate. There he defeated the Ramanandis and other scholars who were opposed to the Gaudiya Vaisnavas, and he established the Gaudiya philosophical conclusions. It was at this time that he wrote Govinda-bhasya, his commentary on Brahma-sutra, which established the prestige of the Gaudiya sampradaya in every direction.”
Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu, a solid pillar of the Sri Gaudiya sampradaya, is prominent among the rupanuga Vaisnava acaryas. Nowadays, some modern so-called Gaudiya Vaisnavas do not accept him as a Gaudiya Vaisnava acarya. That is their great misfortune. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura calls such ignorant people the spies of Kali.
Srila Gurudeva also explained, “The sutra, ‘ekam evadvitiyam – the Absolute Truth is one without a second’ (Chandogya Upanisad 6.2.1), does not refer to a nirakara nirvisesa-brahma (brahma without any form and qualities). The word advitiya here means, among many He is the one unparalleled, supreme Truth. We do not perceive one or the number 1 in the word ekam, because the word ‘one’ has three letters, and when we write the number 1, it is composed of millions of dots. The ‘one’ mentioned in this sutra refers to an all-inclusive one brahma which is second to none. In other words, it can be called ‘unity in diversity’. Bhagavan is seen as one in His feature of sarva-saktiman, possessed of all potencies, together with the special features of His holy name (sri nama), His qualities (guna), His pastimes (lila) and His associates (parikara).
“To illustrate this ‘unity in diversity’, we can give two examples. The first is that of the human body, which is made up of a conglomeration of parts. If even one part is omitted, the body cannot be accepted as complete. The eyes, nose, ears, tongue and other parts have special features. For example, the left and right eyes are not the same, and they act differently. An eye also has many different parts, such as the eyelids and eyelashes. The inner eye, too, has a pupil and many component parts. In the same way, the other parts of the body have individual distinctive features.
“The second example is that of a mile post. One mile is made up of eight furlongs, and roads are marked with seven posts indicating distances from one to seven furlongs, after which a milestone appears. Then there are seven more posts at one-furlong intervals, and then a second milestone is seen. One can think that a mile comes after six or seven furlongs, but really it is eight furlongs, which make one mile. The important point is that the idea of ‘eight furlongs’ is relevant only in that it is equal to one mile; it does not exist separately. Similarly, lila-purusottama Sri Bhagavan is one when He is together with the complete variety of His transcendental pastimes. In this material world, a wonderful manifestation of transcendental pastimes, there is no other well-wisher and friend like Him. The sutra ‘ekam evadvitiyam’ is used to explain this siddhanta.”
From Ranapuragadha, the parikrama party reached the Nayagadha state, where the pilgrims were given a royal welcome. Sri Govardhana-puja and the annakuta festival were performed there. The king of that area, Raja Bahadura, participated in the annakuta festival along with his family. Then the parikrama party went to Kantila (Nila-madhava) via Khandapara. There, on top of the mountain, they had darsana of Nila-madhava. The Puranas tell the following story about Nila-madhava.
In Satya-yuga, Indradyumna, the king of Avanti, heard from some pilgrims about the glories of Sri Nila-madhava, the deity who presided in the area adjacent to Nila-samudra. He was quite impressed and sent his special envoys to find the exact location of Sri Nila-madhava. One of the envoys was Vidyapati, the son of his priest. In the course of the young brahmana’s search, he reached the shore of Maha-sagara which was close to Sri Nila-madhava’s mountain. One evening he came upon the house of the chief of the village, a man named Visvavasu, who belonged to the sabara caste. After some investigation, Vidyapati guessed that this Visvavasu was Nila-madhava’s pujari. Vidyapati then married Visvavasu’s young daughter. Some time later, to confirm his suspicions about Nila-madhava, he asked his wife where her father would go and who he was worshipping. He appealed to her to arrange that he might have darsana of those deities. Visvavasu consented to his daughter’s wishes, and fulfilled the desire of Vidyapati.
Visvavasu covered Vidyapati’s eyes with a strip of black cloth and did not remove it until they reached Sri Nila-madhava’s temple on top of the mountain. Visvavasu went to the temple garden to pick flowers. Vidyapati then saw an astonishing incident. A drowsy crow was sitting on a branch of a tree, which hung over a lake in front of the temple. The crow fell into the water and drowned. The crow’s soul immediately took a four-armed, spiritual form, mounted a transcendental airplane and departed for Vaikuntha. When Vidyapati saw this scene, he also wanted to jump into the lake, but a grave voice from the sky announced, “You have many things to do. Now you must wait.” Later, Vidyapati had darsana of Nila-madhava and then went home with Visvavasu. Thereafter, Vidyapati returned to his king in the town of Avanti with news of Nila-madhava.
[Upon hearing that the Lord had been located,] Maharaja Indradyumna departed with his family members and his entire army for Nila-madhava’s darsana. But when he arrived, he only saw a sand mountain; Nila-madhava’s whereabouts were not to be known. Feeling utterly helpless, the king went to the shore of the ocean to perform worship in order to attain Nila-madhava’s darsana. There, Nila-madhava appeared to him and said, “At this time I will not take this form of Nila-madhava. Instead, I will appear as Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Sudarsana, to accept your service and give darsana to the people of the world.”
The pilgrims had darsana of the pratibhu-vigraha of Nila-madhava, and Guru Maharaja described the history of the famous Nila-madhava as described in the scriptures.
From Kantila, Srila Gurudeva and the parikrama party returned to Puri-dhama. Along the way, they visited Kataka, Bhuvanesvara and other places. Bhuvanesvara, also known as Ekamra Kanana, is one of the principal places of pilgrimage in India and is situated within Sri Ksetra.
Parvatiji had heard all about the glories of Sri Jagannatha-ksetra, and performed rigid austerities in Ekamra Kanana to obtain darsana of Bhagavan. Because of her devotion, Bhagavan Sri Hari appeared before her in the form of Vasudeva Krsna. When the Lord saw Parvati’s austere worship, one teardrop (bindu) fell from His eyes, and this formed a huge lake (sarovara), which became known as Bindu-sarovara. It is said that the word Hindu, signifying the Aryan inhabitants of the area between the Himalayas in the north and Bindu-sarovara in the south, comes from the first syllable hi in Himalaya and the last syllable ndu of bindu.
In Bhuvanesvara is a huge Siva linga, which is famous as Bhuvanesvara. Nearby is the temple of Sri Ananta Vasudeva. Formerly, the bhoga offered in this Vasudeva temple was offered as maha-prasada to Bhuvanesvara Mahadeva, and Vaisnavas accepted the prasada from Sri Bhuvanesvara, although they do not accept the prasada from Sri Mahadeva anywhere else. (This custom of first offering bhoga to Visnu has been stopped, so Vaisnavas no longer accept Sri Mahadeva’s maha-prasada ; they only accept it from the temple of Ananta Vasudeva.)
On 19 November, the parikrama of Purusottama-ksetra was completed and everyone returned to their respective places.
[CC-by-ND GVP]