WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT NAVADVIP DHAM

samsara sinhu tarane hridayam yadi syat

sankirtanamrita rase ramate manascet
premambudhau viharane yadi cittavrittir
mayapurakhya nagare vasatim kurusva
"If you want to cross the ocean of birth and death, if you want to relish the sweet nectar of the holy
name of the Lord, if your heart is eager to swim in the ocean of transcendental love, then go and
reside in the city called Sri Mayapur."
Why is Navadvip Dham special?
The holy dhams of Krsna, Vrndavana, Navadvip and Jagannatha Puri, are all equally spiritually
potent and it is an offense to think that one is better than another. However, the acaryas have
pointed out that while all the holy dhams are non different from each other, still there is one
important factor that makes Navadvip Dham special.
They explained that Navadvip Dham is where Krsna, as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, enacted His
pastime of inaugurating the sankirtana movement and the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra.
Scriptures describe how chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is the only way of achieving love of
Krsna in this age of Kali.
Kalau nasti eva.........................In this age of Kali, there is no other way, there is no other way, there
is no other way, for ........................When Gaura Kishore das Babaji renounced material life, he went
to Vrndavana and resided in Radha Kunda for many years. The Vaisnavas there regarded him to be
an extremely exalted Vaisnava and they were very upset when he was planning to leave Vrndavana
and go to Navadvip Dham. They begged Gaura Kishore das Babaji to please stay telling him
Vrndavana Dham was the holy dham of his worshipable Lord, Sri Krsna. However, Gaura Kishore
das Babaji explained to the assembled Vaisnavas that although Vrndavana Dham was indeed the land
of Nandanandana's eternal pastimes, Navadvip Dham was the land of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's
eternal pastimes and for someone as fallen as himself, he needed the shelter of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu and His eternal dham, Navadvip dham, because there one's offenses are not considered
and therefore it so much easier to receive Krsna prema.
Gaura Kishore das Babaji was a nitya siddha, an eternal associate of Krsna. Therefore we can
understand that his mood of not being qualified is simply his great humility just to show us what our
mood should be, and that Navadvip Dham is the dham to take shelter of in Kali yuga. Navadvip
Dham is the Dham of our Sampradayah
The present day Gaudiya Madhva sampradayah began with Krsna instructing Lord Brahma from
within his heart. Lord Brahma is the original preceptor of our sampradayah and therefore the
original name for the sampradayah was naturally Brahma Sampradayah. When Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu appeared in the Brahma sampradayah, it became the Gaudiya Madhva Sampradayah.
Even Lord Brahma, our original preceptor, took shelter of Navadvip Dham to beg forgiveness for his
offenses to Krsna.Once Lord Brahma was returning to his abode riding on his swan when he saw an
amazing sight. A little cowherd boy had just killed a terrible demon in the form of a snake. The
demon's name was Agha and Lord Brahma knew he was such a terrible demon that even the
demigods were terrified of him. But not only had this small cowherd boy killed the demon with ease,
but to Lord Brahma's amazement, he saw the soul of Agha, a brilliant spiritual spark, merge into the
body of this little cowherd boy.Lord Brahma wondered who this boy could be. Even though he was
well aware of the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, due to Yoga maya, the
transcendental covering potency of the Lord, he could not recognize this little cowherd boy to be his
worshipable Lord, Sri Krsna. Lord Brahma decided to check out who this little cowherd boy
actually was.After killing Agha, this little cowherd boy went to the bank of the Jamuna along with
His cowherd boyfriends with the calves they were looking after. They sat down to eat their lunch
while the calves grazed nearby. Using his mystic powers, Lord Brahma stole all of the calves. When

this little cowherd boy (Krsna) went to look for the calves, Lord Brahma then stole all of Krsna's
boyfriends and hid them in a mountain cave nearby.
For Lord Brahma, it took just one second to do this but when he turned around to see what was
happening to the little cowherd boy, he found all the calves and cowherd boys were there again.
Lord Brahma then realized that only one person could perform such a wonderful feat Krsna, the
Lord of the entire creation.
Brahma felt so sorry to have committed this offense to his worshipable Lord that he immediately
went to Krsna and begged forgiveness. Although Krsna excused Brahma, Brahma still felt extremely
guilty and went to Navadvip Dham to perform austerities and penances to free himself of this
offense.
The Lord was very pleased with Lord Brahma and appeared to him in order to console him. Lord
Brahma first saw the Lord in his mind, in a unique golden form of beauty surpassing the beauty of
any other form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Lord Brahma opened his eyes, he
saw the Lord standing in front of him and he fainted in ecstasy. The Lord brought Lord Brahma
back to his senses and assured him that He was not at all offended by his actions and to ask for a
boon. Lord Brahma said, "My Lord! Please allow me to be present with You when You appear in
this world in this most beautiful form."
The Lord granted him that boon and told him to ask for another. Lord Brahma said, "My Lord! As
Brahma, as the most exalted personality of this universe, I become so proud and commit offenses at
Your lotus feet. Therefore, please grant me the boon that when I come to participate in your
pastime, I will be born in a very low class family." This boon was also granted and Lord Brahma
appeared in a Muslim family as Thakur Haridas in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes.
The place where Brahma performed his austerities and received the darshan and mercy of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, was Antardvip, the central island of Navadvip Dham.
Lord Indra, the son and disciple of Lord Brahma, also took shelter of Navadvip Dham for the
offenses he committed to Krsna. Lord Indra knew that Lord Brahma had received the darshan and
mercy of Krsna by pleasing Krsna in Navadvip Dham even though he had committed offenses.
In His pastimes in Vrndavana, Lord Krsna persuaded his father, Nanda Maharaja, to perform their
annual puja for Govardhan Hill instead of Lord Indra. This made Lord Indra very angry and he tried
to destroy Vrndavana with torrents of rain. To protect his devotees and give them shelter, Krsna
lifted Govardan Hill for the entire seven days and nights Lord Indra inundated Vrndavana with rain.
In this pastime of lifting Govardhan Hill, Krsna also defeated the pride of Lord Indra and showed
him who actually was the Supreme Controller.
When Lord Indra realized that he had made a great offense to his worshipable Lord, he went to his
father and asked what he should do. Lord Brahma told him to go to Navadvip Dham and perform
austerities to please Lord Krsna. Lord Indra did that and offered prayers and the milk of Surabhi
cow to Lord Krsna. The place where this happened was Godrumdvip, an island of Navadvip Dham.
(what happened then?) Navadvip Dham and our guru paramparah There is an intimate link with our
guru paramparah and Navadvip Dham. Bhaktivinod Thakur worked vigorously throughout his life
to re establish the true teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His sankirtana movement. When
he came to Navadvip Dham to live, he located the site of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's appearance by
researching old maps and the history of the area. Bhaktivinod Thakur was residing in Godrumdvip
at that time and one night he saw a bright effulgence emanating from the land across from his house.
He became more convinced that this was the actual site of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's appearance, but to
be absolutely sure he brought Jagannath Das Babaji to the site.
Jagannatha Das Babaji is the spiritual master of Bhaktivinod Thakur and was regarded as the most
exalted Vaisnava of the time. He was so old that he had to be carried in a basket, yet when he
arrived at the place he jumped out of his basket and started leaping and dancing in joy, crying out
Caitanya Mahaprabhu's names. Since then Jagannath Das Babaji has been worshipped by a prayer
that glorifies him as the one who confirmed the actual site of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's birthplace in
Mayapur, Navadvip Dham.
Before Bhaktivinod Thakur left this planet, he instructed his son, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur,
to develop Navadvip Dham parikrama because it would liberate the whole world. Bhaktisiddhanta
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Sarasvati Thakur organized the first large parikrama of the whole of Navadvip Dham. It was a grand
procession of thousand of devotees being lead by elephants.
Bhaktivinod Thakur prayed to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, (Isn't this written in a song?) "When will
the day be mine when devotees from Russia, America, France and Europe will sing Jai Sacinandana
and dance together in Navadvip?" AC Bhaktividanta Swami Prabhupada, the disciple of
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and founder acarya of ISKCON, has fulfilled the desires of
Bhaktivinod Thakur and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur that the glories of Navadvip Dham be
spread all over the world and that devotees from every country would come to Navadvip Dham to
sing the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Now, the many hundres of ISKCON devotees come
from all over the world to do Gaura mandal parikrama as part of our Gaura purnima festival.
NAVADVIP DHAM A SPIRITUAL SPOT IN THIS MATERIAL NATURE
Sri Gaura mandala is like a hundred petalled lotus with a radius of 21 yojanas (168 miles). In the
centre of that lotus is the eight petalled lotus of Navadvip. These eight petals are the eight islands
that are encircling the central island of Antardvip, the whorl of the lotus.
In Antardvip, everything is arranged by Yoga maya and therefore it is also called Mayapur. In the
centre of Mayapur is Yoga pith, where Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared and eternally resides in
the house of Jagannatha Misra.
Navadvip Dham is not a place in the material nature, it is the topmost region of the spiritual sky. In
the spiritual sky there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets. In the upper region of Vaikuntha is
Ayodhya, the abode of Sri Ramacandra. Higher than Ayodhya is Dvarkara, the abode of Vasudev
Krsna. Even beyond Dvarkara is Golok, where Krsna, as the son of Nanda Maharaja and Mother
Yasoda, enjoys His most loving pastimes with His most intimate associates. In the same region of
this Golok, there is another area where Krsna, as Sri Krsna Caitanya, distributes His love in the
mood of a devotee. That area is called Mayapur. Just as Vrindavan appears on this planet by the will
of the Lord, similarly, Mayapur also appears from the topmost region of the spiritual sky by the will
of the Lord. No one can possibly measure the benefit one derives just by being here in Mayapur
Dham.
In the Vedic scriptures it has been described that the demons get punishment in Vraja for their
offenses. But in Navadvip Dham, inspite of hundreds of offenses, the demons are delivered. In
`Navadvip Dham Mahatmya', Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "One who goes to Navadvip Dham becomes
free from all his offenses. The spiritual benefit one receives by travelling to all the places of
pilgrimage, the same benefit can be obtained just by remembering Navadvip Dham. And one who
just sees the holy dham of Navadvip, receives Krsna prema life after life."
It is also described that for each step one takes in Navadvip Dham, one gets the benefit of millions of
horse sacrifices. By staying in Navadvip Dham for three nights, one gets the same benefit of the yogi
performing mystic yoga in other holy places. Just by taking bath in the Ganges in Navadvip Dham,
one is liberated. And by staying in Navadvip Dham for one night, one gets the same benefit of
residing in seven tirthas for hundreds of years.Here in Navadvip Dham, the land is made of touch
stones, the water is nectar and the trees are desire trees everything here is spiritual. One may ask
why don't we see that. The answer is just as we cannot see the sun when our eyes are covered by a
cloud, similarly as our eyes are covered by maya, the illusory energy of the Lord, we are not able to
see the spiritual Mayapur. Someday, by rendering devotional service to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
and receiving His mercy, we will get spiritual eyes and will be able to see the eternal pastimes of the
Lord in His eternal abode Navadvip Dham.