Chander's Memory Lane: A Journey Starts From Destination !

A Journey starts from Destination

This is not a story similar to a movie “ Back to the Future “ , a comedic science fiction of 1985. The title may look odd. Any journey starts from an origin to the destination. But in my case , my spiritual journey started from the destination , MAYAPUR in West Bengal .

Mecca is a holy city for Mulims and Jerusalem is for Christians . Mayapur ( a holy town in India , about 130 KM north of Kolkata in West Bengal) is for ISKCON devotees.

Mayapur is the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

He appeared in the year 1486 and then performed many of his early pastimes here. Mayapur is 130 km north of Calcutta and across the Ganges from the city of Navadvipa. Navadvipa was at that time the capital of Bengal.
Mayapur is one of the most sacred and peaceful areas in all of India. Sri Chaitanya is non different than Lord Sri Krishna. Lord Sri Krishna appeared as a devotee of the Lord in the form of Lord Chaitanya. He showed us all by example how to perform the Yuga Dharma and please the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. At Mayapur Sri Chaitanya displayed His childhood pastimes and one can see through them Sri Krishna's lilas. Mayapur is non different than the holy land of Sri Vrindavan dham.
I got introduced to ISKCON by my daughter before her marriage . She took me once to the ISKCON temple in Burkit Road , T.Nagar , Chennai for a Sunday evening prayer. I met her classmate Ananda Subramanian there , who was also a devotee . The congregational prayer by loudly chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra and dancing attracted me towards Krishna Consciousness. My daughter gave me some books written by the Founder , Srila Prabhupada . Till such time I do not know much about ISKCON activities. After reading the small books on KC , I felt at that time that I missed in the past very much on not knowing KC.
The seriousness towards bhakthi yoga came to me very late . My son , my daughter and my son-in-law are all devotees of Sri Krishna and that inspired me to give a serious thought in Krishna Consciousness.

My son wanted to visit Mayapur and , few years before, I took him there on a short trip , one way by train and return by flight from Kolkata. The first visit was a great experience . Both of us took bath in the Ganges by the side of a ghat near the temple. Overnight stay in the Gada Bhavan guest house was wonderful. We walked in the 108 stones laid for chanting the Maha mantra in front of the temple . I took the guidance from my colleague Mr.Niladri Bhattacharya of Kolkata and without any problem we made the trip a success.

Chandrodaya Mandir ( ISKCON Mayapur)

The highlight of the trip is , my daughter , who was in USA at that time , watched us online through a website of ISKCON,Mayapur and captured us in two snaps in the early hours , 4.30 am , during the arti inside the temple. It was amazing at that time by seeing us praying inside the temple through the webcam fixed there , whereas she was in other side of the globe !The snaps are attached here.

GoShala

My second visit to Mayapur was with my son-in-law during Gaura purnima in last March (2011 ) , when he came from US on personal work. That trip was also a memorable one for me . We had been there by flight from Chennai and then by a cab straight to mayapur. Unfortunately we could not plan for temple guesthouse but stayed just opposite to temple in a tiny hotel room for two nights and on the third night we could get accommodated inside temple.Whole day was spent inside the temple and watched the ceremony of Chaitanya maha prabhu’s birth anniversary ( 525^th ) in the temple complex. This festival is celebrated as Gaura Purnima. About ten thousand people were in floating population and it was amazing that no untoward incident happened by the grace of Krishna. There were dramas , discourses in the tented grounds.

Pushpa Samadhi

I was excited by an incident inside the temple complex , when I was eating prasadam snacks along with my son-in-law. When both of were sitting in the cement chair near the entrance of the temple and next to Sri Garuda deity and about to start eating the Prasad purchased from the counter , a saffron robed priest came to me and with both hands asked for the Prasad . I do not know what to do as I had taken a portion already but not bitten it. Few seconds I am speechless and wondering what to do and is it right to share to a guru like devotee. But my hands automatically gave the complete Prasad leaf bowl to the priest. He immediately left the scene . My son-in-law was also by the side of me . Within minutes the same saffron robed priest came to me suddenly and gave back my Prasad and tapped my shoulder and said “ you have passed the test “ . Still I do not find an answer , what test I have passed . Only one thing I could realize is that when someone asks for food , we should not think twice and give away whatever we have for us without any hesitation . Really I was excited for few moments and that incident will never be erased from my memory !
My son-in-law and myself had a great bath in Ganga , and he swam to a small stretch happily.

Bathing ghat near Ganga

But the under current was strong and he immediately retrieved himself to the shore. The three days stay gave me big change in my thinking and action. I was wearing at that time a gold chain with Krishna dollar around my neck along with Thulsi mala, since my retirement , as the same was purchased from the contribution money my colleagues gave. But to my surprise among the pilgrimages I have not seen any male devotee wearing a gold ornament in their neck. It sparked like a blow on my cheek ( normally in Tamil film , the hero will feel a blow on his cheek by an invisible hand for giving the audience a punch dialog). At that moment I have decided not to wear a gold chain in my neck , and wear only a thulsi mala . When I returned from Mayapur , I gave the gold chain to my wife for alternate use by her.

Ferry crossing in Nabdeep Ghat

There is no TWO without a THREE ! This statement was made by a white dressed guruji to me when I visited for the third time to Mayapur in March 2012. It must be Krishna’s wish I believe. He showed me a colourful book dedicated to Nabdeep covering the entire islands where Sri Chaitanya Maha Prabhu travelled, chanted and danced to the tune of hare Krishna mantra and spread Krishna Consciousness in that region. I bought that from him and talked to him for some time. He enquired about me and family and where from I am coming. When I told him about the service of my son-in-law and daughter for KC , he told me that I am blessed by Krishna. This time also I took a bath in Ganga on the banks and spent half a day inside the temple and took Prasad in Govinda’s restaurant. Bhog arti was great and the deities dress colour combination was too good. Unfortunately , this time no one is allowed to take pictures and we have surrendered our mobiles in the counter.

Crossing Ganga

The temple of Vedic Planetarium is coming in a big way and the entire construction is handled by Gammon , our company’s prestigious customer. The route I took this time was from Sealdah Railway Station to Krishna Nagar city and from there by a share auto to Nabdip ghat and then by ferry crossed the ganges and reached the other shore. A mini bus took me to the gate of Sri Chandrodaya Mandir, Mayapur , the International HQ of ISKCON.

Now I will reason out the title of the blog . For everyone Mayapur is the destination and so to me, to experience KC. So my journey of understanding more on Krishna consciousness , dedicated time to read the books of Srila Prabhupada , Bhagavad Gita again and again and not to miss chanting the maha mantra daily , practice what I talk on KC , starts from the destination – Mayapur .

Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy .