{"id":5411,"date":"2019-01-13T16:04:23","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T10:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=5411"},"modified":"2019-01-13T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T10:34:31","slug":"sri-ksetra-parikrama-concludes-three-day-puri-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/sri-ksetra-parikrama-concludes-three-day-puri-event\/","title":{"rendered":"SRI KSETRA PARIKRAMA CONCLUDES THREE-DAY PURI EVENT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jaybhadra devi dasi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISKCON Mayapur has been organizing the Sri Ksetra Parikrama\nfor the past thirteen years but it has been performed since the time of\nVidyapati, one of Lord Jagannatha\u2019s most intimate worshippers who served under\nKing Indradyumna. It is always held at Puri-dhama on the days prescribed in the\nscriptures and observed by previous generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parikrama\nwas blessed with the association of many senior devotees, including Indradyumna\nMaharaja disciple Bhakti Rasayan Sagar Maharaja from Russia, Prabodhananda\nSarawati Maharaja, Bhakti Ashraya Vaishnava Maharaja, Bangladesh\u2019s only\nsannyasi Bhakti Priya Gadadhar Maharaja, Bhakti Purusottama Maharaja, Gauranga\nGoswami Maharaja, Radha Govind Maharaja disciple Radharaman Maharaja (who leads\nthe Vraja mandala Parikrama), Jayapataka Maharaja disciples Gauranitai dasa and Bhakti Nityananda\nMaharaja, and Sri Ksetra Parikrama chairman Sridama Govind dasa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In attendance were five groups of devotees \u2013 Oriya,\nBengali, Tamil, Hindi and International (English), all of whom arrived at Puri on November 25. That evening\nthere was a parikrama inauguration ceremony at the beach, including Mahasagar\narati, with kripa of Mahasagar. It was the greatest fortune to be here because\nof all the dhamas, Puri is the topmost. In Kali yuga the importance of Puri is paramount\nand all our sins are burned away when we enter Sri Ksetra. Puri is the Lord\u2019s holiday resort. He does a lot of\nmanagement in Vaikuntha, so He comes here just to relax. No tapasya here in\nPuri. We visited all the tirthas in Puri on November 26 and 27 and on the final\nday we did the Puri Parikrama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAY ONE \u2013 NOVEMEBER 26 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 6am to 9 am the devotees gathered at the Gopinath\nHotel and from there went for darsana of Gambhira, Siddha Bakul, Sveta Ganga\nand Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya\u2019s house. Puri\nis of the utmost importance for our sampradaya. Here Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent\nhis last eighteen years and displayed His pastimes. At the back of the sea, He\nperformed bathing of Haridas Thakur and declared that whoever takes bath here will\nbe vanquished of all sins, because the water has touched the feet of Haridas\nThakur. It is here where Bhaktivinoda Thakura prayed for a son to carry on\npreaching and Bhakti Siddhanta was born, and to the best disciple of Bhakti\nSiddhanta, Srila Prabhupada, Lord Jagannatha was very dear. At the age of five Srila\nPrabhupada performed Ratha yatra. In ISKCON\u2019s early days in San Francisco,\nMalati mataji found a small deity of Jagannatha without knowing what it was and\nbrought it to Srila Prabhupada, who then payed full dandavat to the deity and\nsaid, \u201cJagannatha has come to San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAY TWO – NOVEMBER 27<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had darsana of Tota Gopinath, Chatak Mountain,\nKapil Mochan Mahadev, Parmananda-puri\u2019s well, Markandeya Sarovar and the Jagannatha\nVallabha garden. After breakfast we went to the Nrsingha temple, Gundica temple\nand Indradyumna Sarovar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indradyumna Maharaja took darsana of Nilachala\nHill and established his kingdom on the side of Gundica temple. Later he came\nto the place where Neela Madhav was being worshipped with Naradaji, but instead\nof Neela Madhav he found Lord Nrsingha and asked Narada Muni how Lord Nrsingha\ncame here. Narada Muni said, \u201cHe is self-manifested so that no obstacle comes\nin your 1000 asvamedha yajna.\u201d This Lord Nrsingha is called yajna Nrsingha and\nis installed near the Gundica temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indradyumna Maharaja used to give cows in donation\nto Brahmanas. Indradyumna Sarovar was made by the hooves of many cows and\nwas filled with sankalpa jala and cow urine. It is said that Indradyumna Sarovar\nis the same as Ganga. The process of taking darsana of Jagannatha at the Gundica\ntemple is that one should first take bath in Indradyumna Sarovar and then go\nfor darsana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Gundica marjan all the devotees with Caitanya\nMahaprabhu went to Indradyumna Sarovar, where Caitanya Mahaprabhu told\nAdvaitacarya to become Anantasesa and Mahaprabhu slept on Anantasesa. There is\nalso a temple of Gundica and Indradyumna Maharaja at Indradyumna Sarovar.\nJagannathaji does jala krida at Narendra Sarovar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gundica temple is the birthplace of Jagannatha,\nBaladeva, and Subhadra and then They shifted to the Jagannatha temple. The Lord\nordered Indradyumna Maharaja, \u201cI will go once a year to my birthplace, Gundica\ntemple.\u201d Gundica is Vrindavan where the Lord is served simply and the Jagannatha\ntemple is Dwaraka where the Lord is served with all opulence. That time\nBadadanda, that great road, was filled with sand and gardens on both sides.\nThat time during Ratha yatra it seemed as the Lord was walking on the sand\nof the Yamuna. Taking darsana of Gundica one day is equal to ten years of\ndarsana of Jagannatha, as it is Vrindavana. One who once takes darsana of Gundica, goes back to\nGodhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAY THREE \u2013 NOVEMBER 28 \u2013 PURI PARIKRAMA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seeing the sites of Sri Caitanya\u2019s pastimes,\nthe pilgrims participated in the 19km Puri Dhama Parikrama, circumambulating\nthe entire sacred town of Puri. All the groups started from the beach at 6am\nsimultaneously, in total about 5000 devotees. On the walk we had darsana\nof Bedi Hanuman and Sonar Gauranga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedi Hanuman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small seaside temple is dedicated to Lord Hanuman and is known as Daria Mahavir temple. In the local language daria means sea and Mahavir is another name of Lord Hanuman. The temple has an interesting story behind the name Bedi Hanuman. It is believed that Daria Mahavir protects Sankha Ksetra Puri against the fury of the sea. It is Daria Mahavir’s duty to see that the sea does not pass the periphery of Puri. But when the Jagannatha temple was built, Varuna, the God of the Sea, was able to come to the temple to pay his respects. In the meantime, sea water entered the city, causing considerable damage to the temple. The devotees prayed to Lord Jagannatha, who asked Hanuman to explain how the sea entered the city in his presence. Hanuman said that he was not present, having left for Ayodhya. On hearing about Hanuman’s unscheduled visit to Ayodhya, Lord Jagannatha tied Hanuman’s hands and feet with the rope (bedi) and asked him to be vigilant on the seashore day and night. Since then, because his hands and feet were tied, he has been known as Bedi Hanuman. There is a popular belief that from then the sea has never entered the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n