Audio Recordings
Recordings associated with this diary have been gathered here for a cleaner reading experience.
Good Bye Sri Dham Mayapur
Chaitanya Bhagavata by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura
Chaitanya Charitamrta by Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami
Dear Devotees
Nitai Gaura Haribol!
Today we booked our train to Jagannatha Puri, Purusottama Ksetra, where Lord Caitanya spent 30 years of His life. We will be on the over night train which arrives in Puri in the early morning hours. It will be my very first visit to Puri even though I have been visiting India for the past 28 years. When entering Vrindavan I usually never feel the need of going anywhere else. In fact I never want to leave Vrindavan when it comes to it.
Yesterday morning we visited Lord Caitanya’s birth place, which is only 20 minutes from Sri Dham Mayapur. One can still see the original neem tree under which Nimai was born. The temple houses the deities of Jagannath Mishra, Saci Mata and Nimai.
Next we visited Srivas Angan, the birth place of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement. It was here in Srivas Thakur’s home that a handfull of devotees in the association of Lord Caitanya started the chanting of Hare Krishna. These blissful kirtans took place behind locked doors throughout the entire night but soon spilled out into the streets to engulf everyone.
Furthermore we were able to see Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Maharaja’s samadhi and Murari Gupta’s residence. Murari was an intimate associate of Lord Caitanya, who revealed during His Maha Prakash Lila Murari’s eternal spiritual form as Hanuman. Murari was an ardent follower of Lord Ramachandra and we were not surprised when the pujari induced us to chant Ram, Ram, Ram.
Murari was also a physician or ayurvedic doctor who always debated grammar and logic with the Lord. The Lord thoroughly defeated all of Murari’s arguments and sent him home to study his books again. Thereafter Lord Gaurasundar asked Murari why he was wasting his time with grammar and logic, it would be better to cure people’s illness instead. In this way Nimai Pandit had wonderful exchanges with His devotee Murari Gupta. All these wonderful descriptions can be found in Vrindavan Das Thakur’s Caitanya Bhagavat.
With love and affection,
Your servant in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Gauranga Sundara Das