Parikrama!

Today after so many days, I had a few hours to myself! JAIHO! So Apurva Nilacala and I decided to make use of the time to go to the various pastime places that are close by to Mayapur Chandradoya Mandir.

First stop was the Yoga Pith. I had never been to the Yoga Pith before and it was just so amazing to be at the actual birthplace of Lord Caitanya. The deities there are also so beautiful. The style of deities here in Navadwipa is gorgeous as most deities are made out of neem and they have such a unique style and mood.

As it was my first time going there, I was trying to really be in a prayerful mood. For the past few weeks HH Mahanidhi Swami has been giving classes on Caitanya Bhagavat and he said something really wonderful about the pastime places that we visit. He said that the reason why devotees go on parikramas and yatras is to actually go and beg the dust in those holy places to give us the eyes to actually see the unmanifest pastimes that are still taking place today. It is that dust that was witness to the pastimes that took place over 500 years ago and therefore it has the potency to give us the vision to see those pastimes today.

So trying to remember that, I was praying to the dust at Srivas Angam (the next place we visited) to please give me the vision to see the ecstatic kirtans that Lord Caitanya is participating in.

After Srivas Angam we went on Govardhan Parikrama! We went to the bhajan kutir of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, Govardhan hill, Radha Kunda and Shyama Kunda. Mayapur dham is non-different from Vrndavana and Bhaktisiddhantha Sarasvati Thakur said that if one circumambulates the smaller Govardhan here in Mayapur 7 times it is as good as doing the full Govardhan Parikrama in Vraja. Jai! So we sang a few verses from the Govardhanastakam and then sang Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna while circumambulating Govardhan about 9 times.

After that we went and took the waters of the topmost of all places in the world: Radha Kunda. It was so wonderful and it was just the time to chant gayatri, so in the scenic and peaceful atmosphere of Radha Kunda we both chanted gayatri. After that, I remembered what HH Niranjana Swami did a few years ago when he was in Radha Kunda. He paid obeisances there for many many minutes just praying and asking Radha Kunda to bless all the devotees. So trying to follow in his footsteps I was praying to Radha Kunda to bless all the devotees that I know.

After that we visited Shyama Kunda and once again took drops of water on our heads. Here I was praying and praying that Shyama Kunda would give me attachment and service to Radha Kunda. That concluded our morning "yatra" and this afternoon we'll be heading over to the Jagannath temple.

A lesson in Service

As I previously mentioned, this week I had the nerve-wracking and incredibly ecstatic opportunity to perform my 16 upacara assessment in front of HG Jananivas Prabhu. For those who don't know, HG Jananivas Prabhu is the head pujari here in Sridham Mayapur and for me he is the ultimate role model in devotion to the deities and in his behavior as an extremely dear devotee of Sri Sri Radha Madhava. Just being in his physical presence is enough to melt stone and so my iron heart is being slowly chipped away. Everyday I learn something new and relevant that I can apply in my dealings as an aspiring devotee.

I was fortunate to learn an extremely valuable lesson this past week. After my assessment, Prabhuji was distributing the mahaprasadam that I had offered during my worship of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. I was one of the last devotees to hold out my hand so that I could receive a piece of fruit from this wonderful devotee when he looked up and saw that it was me and stopped and said, "You got to do the service, that was your reward." But despite saying that I still received a piece of maha from him. :D

But that one small sentence he said...I don't know why but I just kept meditating on it. It affected me so much. "You got to do the service, that was your reward." After meditating and meditating on it I realized that Jananivas Prabhu was saying indirectly that as a pujari there is no need to be "extra hungry for mercy."

See, the pujari has the extremely rare and privileged opportunity to render such intimate service to the Lord and at the same time has very close access to those "maha pieces of mercy" that everyone is extremely greedy to get. But one of the qualities of the pujari is also compassion, not greed. The pujari is a very dear preacher of the Lord in his/her own right. The pujari preaches by making sure the Lord is being served very lovingly, that the Lord is being dressed beautifully so as to attract the visitors who come to the temple and most importantly the pujari is the one who can give the maha prasadam of the Lord.

So it is the duty of the pujari to ensure that everyone else gets the maha prasadam of the Lord (whether it be in the form of maha foodstuffs, garlands, paraphernalia etc...), he/she should not be greedy and think "I have access to all this maha! Wonderful! I can take it all for ME!!!" That attitude is not pleasing to the Lord and it is also reveals a very selfish attitude. AS A PUJARI YOU GOT ALL THE MAHA MERCY ALREADY! You got to serve Krishna personally!!!! Krishna is much more happy if you distribute the mercy as opposed to hording it all up for yourself as a miser. Jananivas Prabhu shows this so beautifully by his example. He NEVER EVER EVER sets aside any maha for himself but is always so happy to distribute it to others.

Of course one may try to argue but even as a pujari "I am so fallen." Yes, that maybe true, but consider this: You maybe fallen but Krishna still allows you to serve him so personally. What about all the others who don't have that opportunity?" Still feel as though you are "the most fallen???"

I feel so fortunate to be the recipient of such a valuable lesson and I pray that I can apply this lesson in all my services.


My Role Model and Teacher -HG Jananivas Prabhu