Today our yatra visited Surabhi Kunj at Sri Godruma-Dwipa.
Videos:
Videos:
Katha from today:
Prayers by Bhakti Vinod Thakur:
So Bhakti Vinod Thakur was thinking, in this totally materialistic condition of life what can I do. He did his best. In the mood of Sri Advaita Acharya he began to pray. He prayed for a ray of Vishnu to appear in this world, to establish the true teachings of Sri Gauranga mahaprabhu. Because you see Advaita Acharya understood that it was the time for Krishna to appear himself so he called for Krishna directly. But Bhakti Vinod Thakur did not want to interfere with Krishna’s schedule as he gives in shastras. He did not ask for Krishna to appear. “Krishna, I know you do not appear again in this age of kali Yuga until the Kalki avatar, so I will not ask that of you”. But he asked for someone as good as Krishna himself, His empowered representative, His empowered devotee, the ray of Vishnu, to come to give light to this world of darkness. So he prayed and he prayed and of course Krishna cannot refuse the sweet and pure prayer of his surrendered devotee, especially when that prayer is in the mood of preaching in the compassionate spirit of bhakti Vinod Thakur.
Discovery of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birth place:
There were so many great babajis, who were maintaining highest standards. But they were basically keeping to themselves and they were not coming out and fighting against and reliving that discrepancy in name of teaching of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So later, it is described that one time his father was to give a lecture on what is Brahmin and what is a Vaishnava but he was feeling ill. Thakur Vimal Prasad, he went to give this lecture instead and because it was filled with cast Brahmins, what he did was first began to glorify the cast of Brahmins and the qualities of Brahmins, attributes of Brahmins, importance of following and surrendering to Brahmins. So all the Brahmins their hearts were melting like anything, they were thinking ahh he is great scholar, we have never heard any one glorifying our cast like him. So they really their hearts, their minds, their ears everything was surrendering to the beautiful discourse of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta. So pleasing to them and every one and he turned whole thing around and explained that Brahmin is not by birth; yes we have exalted the prominence and importance of Brahmins but even if a person is born in a family of dog eaters he is better than Brahmin if he is chanting the holy name and you can initiate any one in a Brahmin order whatever their birth is if they simply have quality of a vaishnava. So in this way they became very much defeated. And people were coming and standing in line to touch his lotus feet. He also wrote his commentary on Surya. Siddhant and he was great astrologer as well and for this he was awarded the name Saraswati, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati on another occasion, his father was very much anxious to shift to Navadvipa Dham to live there. So Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur moved to Navadvipa Dham and along with his father Bhakti Vinod Thakur moved to a place called Godrum Dvipa, which is near Surabhi kunj and there Bhakti Vinod Thakur was giving discourses each day. Shortly after arriving at Godrum Dvipa, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur discovered the actual birth place of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Surabhi Kunja
The place where Surabhi and Indra were performing Gaura Bhajana is known as Surabhi Kunja. Presently there is a Gaudiya Matha temple at Surabhi Kunja and the deities are worshiped in a small house. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura stayed at this place for a few years. This temple is located on the bank of the Jalangi River.
The Headquarters of Nityananda Prabhu
Bhaktivinoda Thakura lived here for many years before moving into his house further down the road at Sivananda Sukhada Kunja. It is interesting to note that this place is where Lord Nityananda established the headquarters for his Nama Hatta preaching in Bengal here. Then, four hundred years after Nityananda Prabhu, Thakura Bhaktivinoda, who took initiation in the line of Jahnava Devi. Lord Nityananda's eternal consort led a revival of Nama Hatta preaching throughout Bengal and other parts of India from this same area.
This place is non-different from Surabhivana in Vrindavana. It fulfills the desires of devotees and one who builds a cottage and worships here, will easily become absorbed in Caitanya Mahaprabhu's lotus feet.
Presiding Deities: Sri Sri Radha Krishna is being worshiped here.
Points of Interest:
1. Banyan tree: Mother Surabhi performed austerities and lived under a huge banyan tree here. This tree is now unmanifest but a Tulasi plant (growing on the left side of the courtyard) identifies the area where it used to be.
2. Cow: There is also a very nice friendly cow in the courtyard which is not surprising for the place of Mother Surabhi, who is a desire cow from the heavenly planets.
Some pictures from today:
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