Radhanath Swami along with a group of 5000, primarily from the
congregation of the Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai, recently gathered in the
holy place of Mayapur,
West Bengal, India from November 13th – 24th for a
pilgrimage. In the inaugural address Radhanath Swami spoke of the importance of
Mayapur and why, of all places in the world, it is the International
Headquarters of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness.
“It is a
mystery for many people – why of everywhere in this world did Srila Prabhupada decided to
make Mayapur the international headquarters of ISKCON. We have a presence on
all the continents and thus he could have chosen a place in America or Europe.
From a rationalistic perspective it doesn’t make sense at all, particularly
when Srila Prabhupada taught his disciples, “Utility is the principle.”
“We had a magnificent building on the
island of Manhattan in NYC. We had beautiful church in LA, a wonderful large
building in Chicago, and another in London, one of the most important
influential cities on the planet. We had a center not only downtown near the
British Museum, but we had a beautiful mansion with an estate – a wonderful
property gifted by George Harrison. We had a large church in Montreal, Canada,
and a wonderful temple in Paris; all these are prime locations globally. Then
why did Prabhupada choose to make his international headquarters a place where
there was no electricity, no plumbing, no telephones, and to get there it took
hours and hours by road from Kolkata.”
“When it
started, all that was here was a straw hut surrounded by endless fields. We had
hostile neighbors and there was no law to protect us from them. So there must
be an important reason that Srila Prabhupada chose this place over so many
prime places in the world. It was because he didn’t see this place with the
material vision. He saw Mayapur as a place where all the people from the world
could connect with the most profound manifestation of love, Lord Krishna’s
grace. This is the place where Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda performed their most beautiful
intimate pastimes.”
“Founder
of contemporary Vaishnava practices – Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur was the one who revealed the
importance of Mayapur to whole world. He did extensive research in scriptures,
approached many saintly people, went though government archives, studied
ancient maps for dating back over 400 years, and located the actual place of
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birth. He brought Jagannath Das Babaji the greatest of the Vaishnavas at that
time and his instructing spiritual master. Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaja was
over 120 years old, and was carried in a basket for his inability to walk due
to old age. Bhakti Vinod Thakur took him to this remote isolated jungle, and
when they came here they saw right in the middle of so many weeds many Tulsi
plants growing all over, an auspicious omen for Vaishnavas. When the basket was
placed on the ground and Bhakti Vinod Thakur asked his guru Maharaja’s realization,
Jagannath Das Babaji jumped in the air; as high that his feet were above every
one’s head. He jumped, danced and cried out “Jai Sachinandana! Jai
Sachinandana!” confirming this place as the birth place of Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu.”
“Thakur Bhakti Vinod had a vision; an
inconceivable vision. He perceived millions of people from all over the world,
of all colors, races, religious backgrounds and castes coming here to Mayapur.
He saw Americans, Africans, Europeans, Australians and Indians, their arms raised
high, and dancing in ecstasy in Sri Mayapur dham while crying out the names of
Lord Gauranga. “
“Today
as Srila Prabhupada and Thakur Bhakti Vinod perceived, all of us are a part of
this great vision and we are actually witnessing this vision becoming a
reality.” – Radhanath Swami
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