wandering

Recently, I have been spending time wandering around the nine islands of Navadwipa on a bicycle. Sometimes I am able to convince friends or family to go and other times I go alone. While I haven’t the spiritual vision to see the full blown glory of the dhama I can at least theoretically understand the nature of this place by hearing from scriptures and other sadhus. On our adventures we encounter a variety of interesting landscapes, old temples and quaint villages. The villages are always filled with friendly and curious onlookers who often greet us with the standard “hare Krishna” or my favorite “Nitai Gaura Hari Bol!” Often times we will say Hare Krishna to the villagers only to find later that we were in a Muslim village. Even though they live life as Muslims they still excitedly reply “Hare Krishna!” The relations between these two faiths are very friendly throughout Nadia. After leaving villages we often encounter acres and acres of rice fields with raised dirt paths between them for passing. Sometimes right in the middle of nowhere we will come across a temple related Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. One such place was the shrine indicating where the great Vaishnava Kholaveca Shridhara used to live. This is one of my favorite places to visit. The stories relating the relationship between Nimai and Sridhara are such sweet descriptions of transcendental relationships.

Other times we wander around the area and do not come across any obvious holy places. I would often remind myself that the simple fact that we are in Navadwipa Dhama is in itself spiritually uplifting. Just a few days ago a came across a verse confirming this conviction by Prabhodananda Saraswati:

Sakala-vibhava-saram sarva-dharmaika-saram sakal-bhajana-saram sakala-siddhayaika-saram sakala-mahima-saram vastu khan de navakhye sakal-madhurimambho-rasi-saram viharah

To wander through the nine islands of Sri Navadwipa-dhama is the essence of all opulences, the essence of all religious principles, the essence of all bhajana, the essence of all perfections, the essence of all glories and the essence of all kinds of oceans of sweetness