MAYAPUR BHRAMAN

I've heard about Mayapur quite many times since I arrived at Kolkata, however, never got a chance of making a plan to this spiritual land earlier. But one fine day, our destiny called us to this divine place. It was a sudden short trip to the 'Land of Kirtans' (Kirtans=religious performers). We have visited the 'ISKCON', during our stay in Bangalore, when it was newly built about a decade and a half ago, however, coming across the country or overall world 'The International Society for KrishnaConsciousness (ISKCON)' has been built in a lot of other places too. Since my visit to Mayapur, I began to gather my knowledge about this incredibly exponential Society. The first and foremost thing that made me amazed and substantially feeling proud of is that the headquarters of ISKCON is actually located in Mayapur, in my birth state of West Bengal. And the founder of ISKCON -  A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, is the disciple of the son of Bhaktivinoda Thakur and was actually born in Kolkata. There are a number of pages in Wikipedia about these spiritual reformers, which were quite interesting to know. However, let me begin my day's journey to the spiritual land- 'The Kirtan Capital of the World- Mayapur'.

It was in the mid-December, very apt time to visit Mayapur, and also the peak season which is in fact from November-March. We were unaware about the pros and cons of the location because we decided to visit in a very short span of time, people had started booking at least one month earlier, and it is very important to check for the vacancy online through mayapur.com. There are different modes of the transport system to take you over to the Holy Land, there are daily buses directly from Kolkata to Mayapur and of course trains from Howrah and Sealdah are always available. We planned to take our private family car with seven-seaters, and off-late since a winter morning, we begin our journey around 7:40 am. It wasn't a busy day in Kolkata, so we weren't restricted to the traffic jam.

Paddy cultivation in Nadia (West Bengal)

Around 9 am we happened to cross Helabattala Barasat, enjoying the scenic views by my side and the life of village settlers. It was a fresh revision to me about my own state. Seeing the other side of West Bengal, going on our way from Krishnagar Noapara, I realized that my own native is really a beautiful cultivating land which cultivates huge amount of rice, sugarcane, mustard seeds, banana, cotton, brick-stones, etc. My state resembles a vast pride of culture, education, tradition, language etc,.

Mustard Field

We entered in the Nadia district, crossing our way from Aamdanga PS, there are numerous educational centers such as Kalyani public school, Barasat school for teacher's education, Vidyasagar B.Ed college, BSF- practice base camp. On the whole way fields covered with the cultivation of Mustard, plants are in plenty which we find on both the sides of the road. Just a little further on turning to the left side is Kalyani followed by AIIMS, then comes MAKAUT-  the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, which is one of the reputed engineering institutions of West Bengal, JNM is the biggest medical hospital in West Bengal. Jeerut 400 watt substation is the power generating station for the district. Thereby, you get to see a lot of small vegetable markets by the roadsides, but Gadamarahat had been a long stretch market with the whole bunch of colorful and fresh Vegetables. The people celebrate and organize fair to pay tribute to the farmers, which I happened to witness in Birohi, Nadia, where they organized 'Krishi Mela' (Krishi-=farmer, Mela=fair). Few more names of the places we were passing by, I noted to expand my dictionary of knowledge and remember the remote places of this vast district- BadaJaaguli Mohanpur Nadia, Muragacha, Shimurali, Uttar Panchpota, Baidyapur, all of these places fall under the Chakdaha town of Nadia district.

Jute

Ranaghat is one of the most important towns of this district, as most of the government offices are established here. Ranaghat Krishak Bazaar is a huge vegetable supply and market. Jute production is mainly done in this state and Nadia district gives the higher percentage of its national Jute supply, we find people engaged in drying these jute sticks after separating the jute fiber, they use these jute sticks for cooking purposes etc. there is a big Jute mill which falls on the way.

People of all religion resides in this town and there is no boundary for their worship home- St.Stephens Church. Just a little distance away falls one of the urban sided supermall- Sentrum mall, Forest range office at Ranaghat which falls on this long route of National Highway (NH 34).

Churni bridge

Just after passing Binpara, Satigacha- Ranaghat, you find a small tributary of river Jalangi and we crossed the river over the Churni bridge. Ranaghat is well established and structured town with big educational institutions, example-St Mary's college. There is a small ISKCON temple built in the name of Gourdhan near Phulia (Lord Krishna is also called as Gourdhan/ Govardhan).

Mango Plantation

On passing the State Highway 3 (NH34), we come across plenty of Mango trees planted over huge fields on both the sides of the road.

Now we were at a point of 3 directional way, at the leaving point of Ranaghat town, on our Left-hand side falls Santipur and towards our right-hand side is Krishnanagar. We were heading to Krishnanagar (the name of this place has been misspelled or miswritten as Krishnagar/Krishnanagar). Krishnagar is very famous for burnt mud clay pottery such as clay pots, dolls, and models. On entering this town, we find whole lots of Mango trees, and few more places to cross by this route were Gobindapur, Itla Kalirhat Krishnagar, Chakdinagar in the Nadia district.

Jalangi Bridge

Finally, we reached the Nabadwip more, thereby we were very close to our destination. We crossed over the Jalangi Bridge on the Jalangi river, one of the tributaries of river Bhagirathi (a tributary of Holy river Ganga). Here comes a point where the roads are non-concrete, and as the wheels roll on the dust, it covers all the glass panes making everything invisible, so it is very important to close the window panes on the entire route. Since these are remote areas the roads are unsurfaced (kuchha), that is why they are very dusty.

We witnessed a superfast train passing by, which I missed to capture in my camera, and for this, we had to wait for about 10 minutes on the way. We then entered Dharmkata, where you get to see the typical Gobar cakes been put on the walls of the houses and side walls for drying. But everything that you find here is pleasing to the nature's best at Belpukur with beautiful lush green fields on both the sides of the road. Many foreigners have been settled in these places building their own homes.

We come across Dargatala, a little further is Baamunpukur Bazaar, and finally, we reached Shri Mayapur, Nadia. It took almost 4 hours to travel a distance of 130 kilometers or even more from our house to Mayapur (Nadia district).


The first thing that comes on the way is the 'Satsang Vihar' at Mayapur. Since it was the peak season of the year, here onwards the crowd increased rapidly, people were rushing, hushing and bushing at each other, it was astoundingly surprising and very congested too.


We were clueless as to where do we park our car, and the guards were just trying to move us as quickly as possible to vacate the roads from getting a jam.

Shri Chaitanya Gaudiya Sevashram

On the very opposite side to the magnificent Mayapur Iskcon Temple, there was a huge area to park the private cars. After parking, we got fresh and looked for lunch, as it was already 12 past 10 minutes, and we all were stubbornly hungry. There are a lot of eating and lunching outlets by 'Mahaprabhu's', which provide simple vegetarian delicacies (Saatvik Bhojan). After filling our unrest tummy with the humble lunch, we hired a 'Toto' (Tuktuk gaadi) for the journey through the narrow lanes of Mayapur. Toto is 4 to 5 seater open van which charges Rs.10 per person.

Toto Van

Mayapur City

MAYAPUR ISKCON TEMPLE

Mayapur city is at the confluence of two important rivers of West Bengal, they are the Jalangi and the Hooghly. Mayapur is located on the banks of the tributaries of Holy river Ganga. It is situated in the Nadia district of West Bengal and considered to be one of the most sacred places worldwide. The ISKCON Temple at Mayapur is said to be one of the largest in the world, and if you visit at this time, you find the biggest temple is getting constructed and would be completed in a year or two. The temple is been structured in the dome-shape of the Vedic Planetarium, and this dome is the world's largest. Many devotees from around the world travel to this spiritual place to pay their tribute to the founder of ISKCON- Srila Prabhupada. The interiors of the temple are beautiful and serene, consisting of two sections, where one part installs the idols of Radha-Krishna, and the other section has the idols of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Gaudiya Vaishnav Acharyas.

Mayapur city on the banks of the confluence of river Jalangi and Hooghly

Priests/Sevaks of the Temple and the Pilgrims on the Boat

We reached the Nabadwip Ghat, took our entry tickets for the boat ride, which would take us through the Ganga river to the birthplace of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Many other boats also carried a crowd of people at the same time. Vast, huge, deep- the sacred Ganges is distributed in its two tributaries- the Jalangi and the Hooghly. And Mayapur falls at the banks of the confluence of these two rivers.
On crossing the Jalangi river at Mayapur, far there we could view the temple at Caitanya Mahaprabhu's birthplace, and at the right side is the Hooghly.

Countless heads crossing through the holy river Ganga, we came from the Jalangi river on our right side, Mayapur ISKCON can be seen in the center and Hooghly river flows down on the left.

Nabadwip town

This is how the Nabadwip town looks like, one noticeable thing you won't miss to find here is the Toto. We again hired two Totos for the 'Nabadwip Bhraman', the Toto-wala was a simple and polite person, who rode us carefully through the most narrow lanes and depressed routes. He took us to all the temples one after the other and we paid our worship to the ancient city temples.

Radharani Mandir

At first, we visited the 'Radharani Mondir' (Gupto mondir), a Hindu Temple devoted to Radha (Lord Shri Krishna's accord).This holy temple is beautifully architectured and you get to see the carvings of the medieval age on the walls beneath the ground, which is known as the 'Gupto Brindavan'.

Artists are busy making
new idols of the Gods.

They charge an amount of Rs.5 for the maintenance of the temple and restore the medieval structures. These charges are nothing but they are been included as the Pronami (money given at the time of offering obeisance to the God). Pronami is a Vaishnavism traditional way to collect the homage paid to the saints by their believers within Hinduism.  This tradition emerged from the 17th century in Eastern India, based on the teachings of Bhakti saints who genuinely followed and focussed on the preachings of Lord Krishna.

You find different display boxes where the idols have been displayed and each of these boxes represents stories of Lord Krishna and his different avatars such as Vishnu, also carvings of the Vaishnav saints- Mahaprabhu, Nityananda, and other Gaudiya Vaishnav Acharyas. There is a big hall for the visitors to sit and listen to the day-long devotional songs of Lord Krishna and Radha.

     

Maa Mansha Gandeshwari Mandir

Next, we went to the 'Maa Monsha Gondeshwari Mondir', a Hindu temple enormously devoted to the supreme power of the Goddess. We had to leave our footwear in the Toto-van because it is necessary to enter the temple barefooted to keep the temple premises sacred and divine, also to keep the sanctity of the temple pure, we need to wash off our legs at the tubewell present near the entrance of the temple. After paying our worship, the Purohits distributed Prashadam to everyone. (Purohits= Priest, Prasad= a devotional offering made to a God).

Shri Shri Nityananda Milan Mandir

All these temples were just few distance away, taking about 5-8 minutes to reach the next one. 'Shri Shri Nityananda Milan Mondir' was the next temple on our list that we visited, this temple is exclusively devoted to the best friend of the founder of Vaishnavism (Mahaprabhu), and this place resembles the meeting of these two great souls- Mahaprabhu and Nityananda, who were also known as Gaura Nitai /Nimai-Nitai and there names have always been taken together just like Lord Krishna and his brother Balaram.

Pancha-Tattva deities: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda, Advaita Acharya, Gadadhara and Srivasa

The next temple was one of the main of all the holy places on this land, which is entirely devoted to the God founder head of Gaudiya Vaishnavism- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. 'Shri Shri Gouranga Mohaprobhu', we offered our prayers and also took the Prashadam (dry prasad). Here we aren't allowed to click any pictures, as the place is very quiet and serene, prohibition of photos have been entitled to not cause any disturbance in the meditation and chanting to the name of the Lord. It is considered to be the Birthplace of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, by the locals.

Shri Shri Maa Dadar Gon

'Shri Shri Maa Dadar Gon' was the next Temple that we paid our homage, where the mother Goddess have been living for ages. There were countless other small and interesting to know about temples that we came across on the way. Such one was the Shri Shri Lokhinarayan Temple, which is devoted to one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu, who is the supreme creator of the universe- Shri Narayana and his wife Lakshmi.

Porama Mondir

The last, but not the least one that we visited was the 'Porama Mondir'- Bidagdha Janani, this entire temple is built inside a huge Banyan tree, whose aerial prop roots fall upon the temple and cover with its branches entirely from all the sides.
The inner portion of the temple is very dark and one has to bend/ bow down while walking inside the temple, and it is considered to be an auspicious blessing on taking at least 3 rounds inside this temple.

Our Nabadwip Yatra came to an end within a day, it would hardly take 2 hours for the complete trip to this island (Naba=nine, Dwip= island). It is a small town on the banks of holy river Ganga, and there are innumerable temples belonging to the devotion of Lord Vishnu and the founders of Vishnu Bhakts (Bhakts= devotee). People from all over the world, especially the Vaishnavites religion visit this sacred place to pay their homage at least once in a year. The most important time to visit this place are in the months of February and March because of the Birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu celebrated as Gaura-Purnima, and also its the crowdiest period of the year.

Mayapur ISCKON Temple

Just before the sun was about to set, we returned to Mayapur via boat by crossing the holy river. We did not want to miss the famous evening Aarti of Shri Krishna (Sandhya Aarti) at 06:30 PM.
We had quite sufficient time to go around in the beautiful and vast flower garden at the back lawns of the main Temple.
There are many small eateries been installed for the quick snacks before entering the main temple. This sacred place organizes different cultural and mythological festivals throughout the year, however, December and January are the best months to visit with the prior booking of the hotel to this place. Millions of people visit this place during the Ratha-Yatras and Holi, numerous offerings are been made to the Lord.

When we went, there was a 'Gita Mela' organized at the back lawns of the main temple (Gita= songs, Mela= Fair).
Beautiful Rangolis have been made with flowers at many places within the premise.

There were different displays of idols depicting the stories of Shri Bhagavadgita (Hindu's sacred book).

Temple of one of the Saints Ruler

The priests and other Bhakts are doing the Parikrama on the elephants during the time of Sandhya Aarti.

These elephant chariots were decorated with different varieties of colorful flags, festoons, banner etc, and they go around the whole temple premises to spread the holy Sandhya Aarti. Before entering the main temple, we need to keep in mind, not to carry our cell phones or cameras inside. There is a big section for storing our belongings just outside the temple with a long queue submitting their cell phones along with owners name and also the complete family's footwear in a gunny bag. They pile up the things properly and securely in different sections. After depositing our belongings, we washed our hands and legs and then began queuing up in the line to enter the main temple. Crowds gathered raising both their hands at all the ends of the temple hall, and it was a blissful moment.

After offering our Sandhya Aarti to the almighty, we visited the 'Pushpa Samadhi Mandir', the sacred tomb of Srila Prabhupada, who is the founder of the ISKCON or the Hare Krishna movement. Its a beautiful building with a flower-shaped construction to pay tribute to the sacred soul.

Since this had been our first and unplanned visit, we hadn't researched much about this place, and also the magnificent structure is in the construction mode at this moment, we decided to pay our visit once again in the coming year after the completion to one of the world's biggest temple that is in the making. There is still much more to explore in my own beautiful state.

Author: Paromita Pramanick

Reference: Few information from the linked websites.

Other Travel Stories on this blog-->> My 12 Days in Jammu and Kashmir , My first visit to the North-East
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