October marks festivities in India, especially for the Bengali community, it is the month of Durga Puja- the biggest festival of the year. As per belief Goddess Durga comes to her maternal home on earth with her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Karthik & Ganesh for 4 days. The days are named Saptami, Ashtami, Navami & Dashami. Likewise every girl of the family comes to her parents place with her children to celebrate this auspicious festival in the best of her way. We Say “Maa aschen” (The mother has arrived). In Bengal, every girl is addressed as “Ma” like Goddess Durga- a tribute to the power & beauty of a woman, the calmness with which she takes care of the entire family nurturing her children, feeding them yet so powerful that she would never let any evil touch her near & dear ones.
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| Durga Puja |
My mother also being “Gharer Maa” (the girl of the household) also packed her bags taking me to mamarbaari (maternal house) to the steel township of Burnpur (a small town in the district of burdwan, westbengal).
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| Sindoor khela - Durga Puja |
We had arrived on chaturthi (the 4
th day towards the commencement of Durgapuja) & hence this time planned a short trip to the land of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) – in Mayapur (a small village near Nabadwip, in Nadia district of westbengal).
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| Mayapur, Nadia, West Bengal |
The visit to mamarbaari was with a “religious objective” asking Maa Durga to bless us with her supremacy, ward off all sins & evils from our lives make all our wishes come true. We decided to ask Lord Krishna first for it. Barely 200 kms. on road from Asansol (biggest commercial town near to burnpur), we set off for our religious endeavor. The journey took us around 6-7 hours since roads were in bad shape due to incessant rains that had happened just before the Pujas. We stopped occasionally here & there to sip tea in Durgapur, Panagarh & burdwan. All along the trip, it was “visual rejuvenation” seeing the lush green fields with cranes loitering here & there, sometimes the local farmer sitting to catch fishes from the nearby ponds. Much relief to the heat, pollution & tension from the busy city life.
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| Sri Mayapur Campus - nadia, west bengal |
As soon as we reached “SriMayapur Dham” we were directed to the exact temple premises where we parked our car for the night, & made our way to our 4 seated accommodations in “Conch Bhavan” just beside the main temple. The temple has good accommodations namely “Gada Bhavan”, Conch Bhavan, Vamsi Bhawan & Gourango Kutir. Booking has to be done in advance (15 days – 30 days prior). Rooms are available with good facilities based on your requirements. Food is served afternoon & night for which one needs to book coupons in the reception read of Gad Bhawan. The entire area breathed freshness, full of vitality & vigor, all around we could hear “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna”. It was as if timeline had just taken us back to “Mahabharata “where we were in a Rishi Ashram (place where Royal princes were imparted education & fighting skills).
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| Sri Mayapur Dham, nadia, West bengal |
ISKON preaches Krishna consciousness globally & hence you could figure out the entire world there- Americans, Dutch, Swedish, Australians, Africans, Indians, all united In one common devotional element “Hare Krishna’. We took a small nap, then freshened up to be a part of the “Sandhya Arati “ – evening prayer offered to the Lord & Sri Radha. Before the arati started we paid a visit to the “Samadhi Mandir “of Sri Prabhupada” the founder of the ISKON community in India, who had taken the message to the masses, to all over the world. The Samadhi mandir was on a huge sprawling green campus, standing upright talking to the world about the great work that Sri Prabhupada had preached to the world. The temple dome – pristine white in colour with borders of red depicting devotees of “Sri Chaitanya” in various altars.
On the walls of the temple, carved are the stories of “Sri Chaitanya mahaprabhu devotees “work in spreading the Krishna message in far flung areas. Inside you go & the museum bears testimony of Sri Prabhupads’ contribution to the society, his words of wisdom, his preaching’s, his philanthropy to the world.
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| Samadhi Mandir - Sri Prabhupad , Mayapur |
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Wall depictions - Sri Prabhupad's work
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Evening 6:00 P.M “Sandhya Arati” begins. We got mesmerized by the beauty & serenity in the Lords’ eyes flanked by Sri Radha in her miraculous smile. All around was sound of conch shells, “Khanjani”, “Dhol” & the energy of Sri Krishna Devotees dancing & singing around the lord. Everybody had to be a part of this “arati” moving around the entire temple singing the glory of the lord. First the offering was made to Lord Sri Krishna, then to his biggest disciple “Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu”. Incense smelled everywhere & the mahaprasadam tasted awesome with banana cake as one of its main ingredient. The arati lasted for almost 2 hours, post which we went back to our room to look forward for the Morning Arati which was supposed to start at 4:30 A.M.
.jpg "Iskcon, Mayapur, West Bengal") |
| Lord Krishna & Sri Radha - Mayapur |
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| Main Temple entrance - Sri Mayapur, West bengal |
The journey had made us exhausted so far & we needed some hours of sleep. Conch Shells woke us up next morning at 4:00 A.M & all of us settled ourselves in the main temple premise to witness “the biggest ritual of the day”. The premise was dark & the the Lord was curtained as usual. The head priest came forward & blew the conch shell to start off the prayers. Devotees had gathered in full swing & with every offering there was a separate Dance move. Everybody was immersed in the Lord; there was no religious, no caste, no creed, and no color. Children aged 3 years to adults of 80 years, everyone was there. After the offering to the Lord & Sri Radha, the next ritual started to the ““Narasimha’’ (another avatar of The Lord – where he had killed the demon Hiranyakashipu to save Prahlad). That morning you could smell fresh flowers, feel the dew below on the green grass & chant “hare Krishna hare ram” 108 times. It was much different from the horns of buses, cars; Life was very slowing here, much far from the city, yet so peaceful. Post the “Arati” everyone was asked to sit for “Jaap” meditation chanting “hare ram hare Krishna”. We retired back to our room & got ourselves prepared for our onward boat journey to “Nabadwip “– the birthplace of “SriChaitanya mahaprabhu”
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| View from Mayapur Ghat, Nabadwip, West Bengal |
How to reach Mayapur:
By Car – On road, you can go to Mayapur from Kolkata or from Asansol or Burdwan
By Train – From Sealdah station , you can reach krishnanagar via krishnagar local & then take bus/jetty to mayapur
By air – You need to reach Kolkata airport & then board train from Sealdah station as directed above.
