The NineIslands

ofNavadwip

Dhama(Madan Mohan Class)

Name --------

Class ---------

The Nine Islandsof

Navadwip Dham

Compiled by:Tapasvini devi dasi

Vishnu das

Hare Krishna Sunday School

This book is dedicated toHis Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,

the founderacharya ofthe Hare Krishna Movement.He brought us the teachings ofLord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,

instilling within our heartsa desire to serve Lord Krishna.

Contents

Navadwip Islands Page No.

1. Antaradwip 3

2. Simantadwip 8

3. Godrumadwip 14

4. Madhyadwip 17

5. Koladwip 18

6. Ritudwip 22

7. Jahnudwip 24

8. Modadrumadwip 29

9. Rudradwip 32

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INDWINSET NAVADVIPWith the exception of a short journey to East Bengal and another to Gaya, LordChaitanya spent the first twenty-four years of His life in Navadvip.

Introduction

Lord Chaitanya is non-different from Lord Sri Krishna. In thesame way, His place ofpastimes, Sri Navadwip Dham, is non-differentfrom Sri Vrindavan Dham. Both are totally transcendental.

Navadwip Dham is in the shape of a lotus flower. It is composedof nine islands separated by different holy rivers. Eight of the islandsform an eight-petaled lotus surrounding the island of Antardwip,which is the center of the lotus. In the center of Antardwip is SriMayapur, the appearance place of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Every year at the time of Lord Chaitanya's Appearance, manydevotees gather from all over the world to visit the holy places inNavadwip Dham. They walk from one island to another over thecourse of one week, visiting the places where the Lord had performedHis pastimes.

In this course, we will learn about the nine islands of Navadwipand construct our own lotus flower representing Navadwip Dham. Wewill learn about many of the holy sites, some with histories datingback millions of years.

SRI NAVADWIP DHAMA

Lord Chaitanya appeared years ago.

He appeared in the land of _

He was an incarnation of------------

Lord Chaitanya's reason for coming tothis world was

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The Nine Islands of Navadwip Dhama

Antaradwi]!(The first island of Navadwip Dham)

Yoga Pitha: The glorious appearance place of Sri Krishna ChaitanyaMahaprabhu is located on the island of Sri Antardwip. Before thetime of the Lord's birth, the area was knows as Nadia. Later, after theLord's birth, this area became known as Navadwip. It is today knownas Mayapura. The appearance place of Lord Chaitanya is known asSri Yoga Pitha.

At the time of LordChaitanya's birth, there was a lunareclipse. Because that is consideredto be an inauspicious time, all thepeople were gathered together,bathing in the Ganges river, andchanting the Holy Names. "Hari!Hari! Hare Krishna! Haribol!"Lord Chaitanya had remained inHis mother's womb for 14 months.Now was the time for Him toappear. It is only right that Heappear when millions were chantingHis name.

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In heaven, the demigods were dancing and playing musical, instruments like the mridanga drum and karatalas. Everyone became

full ofjoy! The Lord had come!

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The newborn child had a complexion like shining gold, and Hisbody was perfectly formed in every way. The wives of the demigodscame to see Him, disguising themselves in human forms. InNavadwip, chanters chanted, dancers danced, and brahmanas recitedthe Vedic hymns.

The Lord's father, Jagannatha Mishra, gave in charity to thebrahmanas, singers, dancers and to the poor. Everyone who came and~aw the child appreciated His wonderful bodily effulgence, looking asif He were lighting up the whole world. And many could understandthat here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the same LordKrishna, in a golden form. He had come to deliver the world from theevils of Kali-yuga.

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JAGAI AND MADRAI GHAT: In the Chaitanya Charitamrita thestory of Jagai and Madhai is told. They were two extremely sinfulbrothers. Madhai was the one who struck Lord Nityananda with a pot.Because of Lord Nityananda's mercy, however, both brothers changedcompletely and became strong devotees. Everyday they woke upearly, bathed in the Ganges and put on clean clothes. They appliedtilak on their bodies and sat down to chant the Holy Names.

Once they saw Lord Nityananda wandering nearby. Madhaialways felt sorry for his earlier actions and now he begged LordNityananda to tell him how he could become free from his terriblesins. The Lord told him to clean this certain bathing pond every day.Madhai agreed to this and every day for the rest of his life he did hisservice at this bathing ghat.

Whenever he saw anyone with tulasi beads or tilak on, he wouldimmediately go to that person and bow down, begging theirforgiveness. He built steps leading down to the water out of stone andcleaned these every day with his own hands. Thus, this ghat becameknown as Jagai and Madhai Ghat.

SRIVAS ANGAN (THE HOUSE OF SRIVASA THAKUR):Srivasa Thakura is the manifestation of a perfect devotee and is

considered to be the leader of all the devotees of the Lord. LordChaitanya began the Sankirtana movement at Srivasa angan, the houseof Srivasa Thakura.

. Lord Chaitanya used to come to Srivasa's home often to performkirtan with his close followers. One night, while Sri Chaitanya wasdancing with His devotees at the house of Srivasa Thakura, Srivasa'sonly son, who had been suffering from disease, passed away. SrivasaThakura knew about his son's death but didn't want the kirtan to be

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disturbed so he did not allow anyone to cry. He forbade his wife andrelatives to show their broken-heartedness. When the kirtan was over,Lord Chaitanya, who could understand everything, said, "What hashappened? There must have been some calamity in this house."

Srivasa informed the Lord ofhis son's death and the Lord asked,"Why didn't you give me this news sooner?"

Lord Chaitanya immediately went to the place where the boy'sbody was lying dead. Calling the boy's soul back to his body, theLord asked him, "My dear boy, why are you leaving the house ofyour mother and father?"

The dead boy replied, "I lived in this house only as long as mypast karma has allowed. Now that time is over and I am goingsomewhere else, according to Your direction, my Lord. I am Youreternal servant and I must act however You desire. I have no power todo anything that is not Your desire."

All the members of Srivasa Thakura's house heard theseamazing words of the dead son. They received transcendentalknowledge from the boy so they were no longer unhappy. LordChaitanya bade farewell to the boy's soul and all the Vaisnavascheered, "Haribol!" Lord Caitanya then told Srivasa Thakura, "Youhave lost your son, but Nityananda Prabhu and I are your eternal sons.We shall never be able to give up your company." This made SrivasThakur very happy.

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Sri Sad-bhui!,(The six-armed form shown by Lord Chaitanya)

This six-armed form of the Supreme Lord was revealed by LordChaitanya five hundred years ago. He showed this form toNityananda Prabhu at Srivasa Angan. In two ofHis hands He holds abow and arrow, the symbols of Lord Rama. Two hands hold a flute,the symbol of Lord Krishna. And two hands hold a waterpot and adanda, the symbols ofLord Chaitanya. Color the picture, making sureto color the arms the correct color ofthat particular form ofKrishna.

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Sri Simantadwil!(The second island of Navadwip Dham)

Chand Kazi's Samadhi: On the island of Sri Simantadwipa there is astone samadhi (gravesite) of the Muslim ruler Chand Kazi. This placeis located just outside Sri Antaradwipa.

Lord Chaitanya wanted to spread His sankirtan movement allover the world. He ordered the citizens of Navadwipa to chant theHare Krishna mantra and to hold kirtan continuously in each andevery home. When the sankirtan movement thus started, no one inNavadwip could hear any sound other than the words, "Hari, Hari!"and the beating of the mrdanga and the clashing ofhand bells.

Hearing the vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra, the localMohammedans submitted an angry complaint to the Kazi. The Kazimarched to the first home where he heard a kirtan. He smashed thedrum and angrily shouted, "Why, all of a sudden, are you soenthusiastic to follow your religion? Who told you to do this? No oneshould perform sankirtan on the streets of the city. Today I amexcusing the offense but in the future I will punish you! I will haveyou converted to Mohammedans!"

In those days it was thought that if a Hindu was sprinkled withwater by a Mohammedan, then the Hindu would never be a Hinduagain. Sometimes the Mohammedans would force cow's flesh into theHindu's mouths and then the Hindu would become contaminated andfall down from his religion.

After saying this the Kazi went home. The devotees wereshocked that they would not be able to chant Hare Krishna and they

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went sadly to Lord Chaitanya. Lord Chaitanya heard about the Kazi'sthreat but reassured them, "Go perform sankirtan! Today I shall killall of the Mohammedans!"

Returning home, all the people began to perform sankirtan, butbecause of the order from the Kazi, they were very scared. The Lordsaw their fear and said, "In the evening I shall perform sankirtan ineach and every town. Therefore, you should all decorate the citytonight. Burn torchlights in every lane. I will protect all of you. Letus see what kind of Kazi comes to stop our kirtan."

That evening Lord Chaitanya went out and formed three partiesfor kirtan. In the front party danced Haridasa Thakur and in themiddle party Adwaita Acharya danced. Lord Chaitanya and LordNityananda danced in the rear party. Performing kirtan in this way,they covered every comer of the city, finally ending up at the door ofthe Kazi's palace.

Angrily making roaring sounds, the people under the protectionof Lord Chaitanya became mad. The loud sound of their chantingfrightened the Kazi and he hid in his room. Hearing the angry andprotesting people, the Kazi refused to come out ofhis house.

Lord Chaitanya sent for someone to get the Kazi. At last hecame down with his head bowed down. In a friendly way, the Lordasked him, "Sir, I have come to your house as a guest but you hidyourself in your room. Why?"

The Kazi replied, "You came to my house in an angry mood so Iwent to hide. Now that I see you are peaceful, I am happy to honorYou as my guest."

Then the Lord began to speak to the Kazi very seriously aboutmeat-eating. He said, "You drink cow's milk; therefore the cow isyour mother. The bull plows the field and you produce grains;

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therefore he is your father. Since the cow and the bull are your motherand father, how can you kill them and eat them? How could youcommit such a sin!"

The Kazi tried to argue with Mahaprabhu. He said that theMohammedan scriptures allow meat-eating. But in the end LordChaitanya defeated him and he agreed that the scriptures of the meat­eaters are not correct. Lord Chaitanya was very pleased to hear himsay this and wanted to ask him another question.

"My dear sir, please tell me the truth. Don't try to trick me. Inyour city there is always chanting of the holy name. Music, singingand dancing are always going on. You have the right to stop theseactivities but now you are NOT stopping them. What is the reasonyou changed your mind?"

The Kazi quietly told Him, "After I went to the Hindu's homeand broke the drum and forbade the performance of kirtan, I returnedhome and had a very frightening dream that night. In my dreams Isaw a fierce lion, roaring very loudly. His body was like a humanbeing's body but his face was like a great lion. While I was sleepingthe lion jumped on my chest, laughing ferociously and gnashing histeeth. Putting his sharp nails on my chest, he said in a very gravevoice, 'I shall immediately split open your chest, just the way youbroke the mrdanga drum! You have forbidden the chanting of Myname. Therefore I must destroy you!'

"I was so afraid I closed my eyes, trembling. The lion, seeingmy fear, said, 'I have defeated you just to teach you a lesson. But Iwill be merciful to you. You didn't really create a very bigdisturbance today, so I have excused you and will let you live. But ifyou do such a thing again, I will kill you, your family and all themeat-eaters! '

"Then the lion left but I was still so very fearful. Look! See themarks left by his nails on my heart!"

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The Kazi showed his chest to the Lord. The scratches from theferocious lion were there. The Kazi continued, "I didn't tell anyoneabout this but a little later that day one of my servants came to see me.He reported that when he had tried to stop the chanting, flamessuddenly struck his face! His beard was burned and there wereblisters on his cheeks. Every other servant who tried to stop thechanting had the same report. Being afraid, I told them not to stop thechanting.

"The meat-eaters then came to me complaining that if thechanting is not stopped, the Hindu's religion will spread andeverywhere there will be the chanting of, 'Hari, Hari!' One person toldme that he imitated a chanter, trying to make fun, but now his tonguealso chants, 'Krishna! Krishna!' He can't make his tongue stopchanting. "

The Kazi continued, "I promised them that I would make Youstop this chanting. But within my mind I feel that You are LordNarayana. You are the Supreme God ofthe Hindus."

Lord Chaitanya was happy to hear him speaking so nicely. Hetouched him and spoke as follows, "The chanting of the Holy Nameof Krishna from your mouth has performed a miracle. Now you arefree from all your sins. You have become pure. You chanted thenames of Krishna, Hari and Narayana, and because of that you are themost fortunate person. "

The Lord said, "I want to beg one favor from you. You mustpromise that this sankirtan movement will not be stopped, at least inthe district ofNadia. "

"No one shall stop this sankirtan movement!" promised theKazi. "I will make sure of it."

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Hearing this, the Lord got up, chanting, "Hari! Hari!" FollowingHim, all the other devotees also got up and chanted the Holy Name.Very jubilantly, the Kazi also went with them.

The Samadhi Tomb of Chand Kazi.

Mayamari: When the battle ofKuruksetra was about to take place,Lord Balarama did not want to be a part of the fighting. Instead, Hewent on a pilgrimage to visit the holy places. He traveled to manyplaces in India. Finally, when He reached the land of Navadwipa, hestopped here for some rest. A group of brahmans came, requestingHim to kill a very viscious demon named Mayasura. Lord Balaramabecame very angry at hearing of the demon's trouble and Heiinmediately rushed to meet the demon with His plow in His hand.

, When Balarama killed the demon, all the local people were greatlyrelieved and glorified the Lord. This place is called Mayamari or theplace where the Mayasura demon was killed.

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Sri Godrumadwi{!(The third island of Navadwip Dham)

Amaghatta: One day the Lord was performing sankirtan with hisdevotees. They chanted and danced for a long time. Finally theybecame very tired and sat down to rest. Seeing how tired they were,the Lord took a mango seed and planted it into the ground. Theminute it was planted, the seed sprouted and began to grow. All thedevotees were very astonished; before their eyes the tree grew to afull size and had many mangoes. Lord Chaitanya reached up andpicked two hundred fruits. He washed them nicely and offered themto Lord Krishna.

These mangoes were red and yellow and they had a very specialquality. They had no seeds inside and no skins outside. The mangoeswere so sweet and filled with so much juice that after eating only oneeach, the devotees were completely satisfied.

Every day for one year Lord Chaitanya went to that place withhis devotees and together they they would have a mango-eatingfestival. The tree provided the mangoes non-stop for twelve months.

Hari Hara Ksetra: Here, at Hari Hara Ksetra, is the temple of HariHara, a deity half-Vishnu and half-Siva. He manifested this form toshow how dear Lord Siva is to Him and how Lord Siva is non­different from Him. The deity is half-white and half-black.

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Narasimha Palli: This place, Narasimha Palli, has been famous foralmost three million years. You are probably familiar with thepastime of Lord Narasimhadeva fighting and killing the demonnamed Hiranyakasipu who was bothering his young devotee, PrahladMaharaj. This happened many many years ago in Satya yuga.

After Lord Narasimhadeva saved Prahlad and killedHiranyakasipu, he came and rested at this place. The river namedMandakini flowed here and Lord Narasimhadeva came and drankfrom her clear, pure waters to refresh himself

Hundreds of demigods, hearing about the Lord's arrival, cameand built a wonderful palace for Lord Narasimhadeva. They also builthundreds of palaces for themselves. From the palaces the demigodsworshiped Lord Narasimhadeva.

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Sri Madhyadwi{!(The fourth island of Navadwip)

NAIMISARANYA: On the island of Madhyadwip, there is a forestarea called Naimisaranya. In the beginning ofKali Yuga, at thisplace, thirty-three thousand sages asembled here to hear the SrimadBhagavatam spoken by Srila Suta Goswami.

HAMSA VAHANA: Hamsa Vahana is closeto Naimisaranya. You will find a lake here. Inthat lake is a deity of Lord Siva riding upo~

Lord Brahma's swan carrier. For the wholeyear, Lord Siva remains under the water in thelake. Once a year he is raised up and worshiped.m his altar. Then, Lord Siva is taken inprocession for two days to different temples inNavadwip. After this, he returns in a processionto his lake for another year.

When the sages came to Naimisaranya at the beginning ofKaliYuga, Lord Siva heard that a narration of Srimad Bhagavatam wouldbe given. He was very eager to hear this. He immediately left hisabode in Mount Kailash and mounted his bull carrier, Nandi, andbegan to travel down to planet Earth. But Nandi was too slow. LordSiva was afraid that the narration might finish before he got there. Sohe abandoned Nandi and mounted Brahma's swan carrier, who wasmuch faster. Lord Siva, hastily flew down to Naimisaranya, alongwith his followers. He arrived on time to sit and listen to SutaGoswami. Because Lord Siva traveled here on Brahma's swan carrier,this place is called "Hamsa", which means swan, and "Vahana", whichmeans earner,

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Sri Koladwi(!(The Fifth Island of Navadwip Dham)

Samadhi of Jagannatha das Babaji: This great acharya in our linelived over 150 years ago. He was regarded as the chief of theVaisnavas.

Whenever Srila Jagannatha das Babaji received a donation, hewould put it in an old burlap bag in one comer of his hut. One day heasked one of his servants to take all the donations and buy a big pot ofrasagullas. He offered the rasagullas to the Deities and then told hisdisciples to distribute them all to the cows and the dogs in Navadwip.His disciples couldn't understand and suggested that it would be betterto distribute them to the sannyasis and babajis. But Jagannatha dasBabaji told them that instead of feeding fake sannyasis, whoperformed sinful activities in secret, it would be better to feed thecows and dogs. He took the rasagullas and with his own handsdistributed them to the animals in the holy dham.

He was so old that he could not walk and his body was allstooped over. His eyelids drooped so much that if he wanted to seesomething, his disciples would have to hold his eyelids open withtheir fingers. His disciples would carry him in a basket which theywould hold on their head. In this way he traveled to the holy placesof Godrumadwip and Mayapur. In 1893, when Jagannatha das Babajiwas 142 years old, he went with Bhaktivinoda Thakur to try to findthe real birth place of Lord Chaitanya. When they reached the YogaPitha, he jumped out ofhis basket twelve feet into the air and began todance in ecstacy and perform kirtan.

Two years later, at the age of 144, he left this world. Hissamadhi is located here at Sri Koladwip.

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Champahatti: Four hundred years before Lord Chaitanya appeared, agreat Vaisnava poet, Jayadeva Goswami, and his wife, Padmavati,arrived in Navadwip. They were looking for a peaceful place toperform devotional service and they were astonished at the wonderfulbeauty of this place. The lake's crystal clear waters were decoratedwith pink and white lotus flowers and lilies. Swans and craneswandered about, bathing, drinking, resting and playing. They happilymade this their new home and built a humble cottage under a largetree.

In Champahatti, Jayadeva Goswami began to write a beautifulset of poems called Gita Govinda. We sing part of his Gita Govindaevery day at the temple when we chant the song to LordNarasimhadeva:

keshava dhrita narahari rupa,jayajagadisha harejaya jagadisha hare, jaya jagadisha hare

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Once while he was wntmg about Radha's feelings towardsKrishna, he had an idea that, in the situation he was writing about,Krishna would bow down His head to Radha's lotus feet. After hethought this he wanted to write it down, but he became very afraidthat that thought was offensive. His hand shook and his pen fell. Hewouldn't write it down just in case it was an offense. After all,Krishna is the Supreme Lord! How could He lower His head toRadha's feet? That would be improper! Afraid of his offense of justthinking of such a thing, he stopped his writing and quickly went tothe Ganges to purify himself by bathing.

In the meantime, Sri Krishna, who had been enjoying the versesof Jayadeva's Gila Govinda, took the form of Jayadeva and entered hishouse. He looked just like Jayadeva Goswami. He asked Padmavatito give him his pen and paper and He at once sat down to complete theverse which Jayadeva had feared to finish. He finished it just asJayadeva had imagined, with Krishna bowing His head to Radharani'sfeet.

After finishing the verse, Lord Krishna disappeared. Jayadevareturned a few minutes later from his bath. His hair and clothes werestill wet. Padmavati saw her husband again come in the house butnow his hair was wet! She was confused and asked him how hemanaged to take his bath so quickly. He had left, returned and wrote abit more in his poem, left again to bathe but now he was back only afew minutes later, already having taken his bath?

Jayadeva Goswami didn't know what his wife was talking about.He had been at the river the whole time, just now returning. He wentto look at his papers and saw the verse completed in his ownhandwriting. He realized what had happened, and feeling veryhumble, began weeping. After some time, he wiped his eyes and toldhis wife, flyou are very fortunate for you have just received thedarshan of Lord Krishna, The Lord has come to complete a verse thatI feared to finish."

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After this experience, Jayadeva was totally inspired and finishedhis wonderful poems glorifying the Lord. Lord Chaitanya manifestedHimself to Jayadeva Goswami and his wife at that time. He told themthat in the future he would take birth in Navadwip Dham.

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Sri RitudwiJ!(The sixth island of Navadwip Dham)

Once Lord Nityananda, along with His associates, entered thewonderful forests of Ritudwip and was astounded by the beautifulatmosphere. As Lord Nityananda witnessed the beauty, His mindbecame absorbed in the mood of Lord Balarama. Lord Nityananda isthe same as Lord Balarama so sometimes He would forget Himselfand act as Lord Balarama acted when He was with Krishna.

Nityananda called, "Quickly bring me my hom! My cowherdfriends are far ahead of Me. Krishna is fast asleep and won't get up. Ican't herd these cows alone."

The devotees with Him tried to pacify Him. They remindedHim who and where He was. They said, "Oh, Nityananda Prabhu,Your brother, Lord Chaitanya, has gone and taken sannyasa, leavingus here alone." Lord Nityananda became so sad at hearing this thatHe lost consciousness.

The devotees became very worried when Lord Nityananda didn'tregain consciousness after a few hours. Only when they began todiscuss the pastimes ofLord Chaitanya did He finally awaken. Risingto His feet, he told the devotees, "On this island of Ritudwip, arehidden Radha Kunda and Syama Kunda. All the forests ofVmdavanare here. Whoever lives here will surely attain love ofGod."

VIDYANAGAR: This place is extremely glorious. It is the original~ource of the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Smritis. It is the maincenter of education, learning and teaching in the universe.

At Vidyanagar:Lord Brahma teaches sages and demigods.

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The sage, Valmiki, composed the Ramayana here and taught itto his disciples.

Dhanvantari received the knowledge of Ayur Veda.

Kapila received sandhya philosophy.

Buddha received nyaya philosophy.

Sri Vyasadeva received Vedanta, the Puranas, the Mahabharatand the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Narada Muni received the Pancaratra.

In Vidyanagara, all these famous sages manifested theirphilosophies. Here also they taught their disciples whodistributed what they had learned around the world.

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Sri Jahnudwil!(The seventh island of Navadwip Dham)

The following is a very amazing story about something that happenedat Jahnudwip. This story also explains how the island got its name.Pay close attention as you read.

Long, long ago there lived a king named Sagara. He was a greatdevotee and he was very kind and merciful. His spiritual master hadinstructed him to perform many horse sacrifices. At that time, thiswas a way to purify oneself in order to go back to Godhead.

Lord Indra is very famous for having performed 100 horsesacrifices. He heard of King Sagara's plans and became very envious.After all, by performing all the horse sacrifices, he had won his post asthe king of heaven. He was afraid that Sagara would try to take hisposition. So Indra came down from the sky and stole King Sagara'shorse, just as he was about to make a sacrifice.

King Sagara had 60,000 sons who became very angry when theysaw what Indra had done. They immediately began to chase LordIndra and searched for him all over the earth, digging up big portionsof land. They came to the place where Lord Kapiladeva, theincarnation of Lord Vishnu, had His ashram. As they came near Himthey saw their father's sacrificial horse tied up nearby. With greatanger they began to shout, "Here is the man who has stolen the horse!He is staying here pretending to meditate with His eyes half-closed."As they surrounded the Lord, fire blazed from their bodies and theyimmediately burned to ashes. They had committed the offense ofdisrespecting a great person.

After many days King Sagara began to worry because his sonshad not yet returned. He became so anxious that he sent his grandson,Amsuman, to search for his sons and the lost horse.

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Following the same course as his 60,000 uncles, Amsuman soonarrived at the ashram of Lord Kapiladeva. He was horrified to seeashes everywhere--the remains of his uncles. He then noticed hisgrandfather's sacrificial horse and his horror turned to confusion.

Entering Lord Kapila's ashram, Amsuman offered his obeisancesat the Lord's feet and began to offer prayers. The Lord was pleasedwith his devotion and blessed him, saying, "My dear Amsuman, hereis the horse your grandfather is looking for. Please take it. As for youruncles, they can only be purified by the water from the Ganges.

Amsuman returned to Sagara's kingdom. After many years,King Sagara decided to give up the kingdom to prepare himself fordeath by becoming spiritually realized. He gave charge of thekingdom to Amsuman and retired to the forest.

Now Amsuman had a great responsibility. How was he to bringthe Ganges down to this planet? At that time, the Ganges River wasonly in the spiritual world. He decided that ifhe performed penancesand austerities he might be able to attract Mother Gange's attention.He performed many severe austerities but he was not able to attractMother Ganga's mercy. In the course oftime, he died.

Amsuman's son, Dilipa, followed in his father's footsteps, alsotrying to bring the Ganges down but he was not successful either.After some time, he also died.

Dilipa had a son named Bhagiratha. Bhagiratha was a greatdevotee who possessed all good qualities. He performed very severeausterities to bring the Ganges down to this world. Without eating oreven sleeping, he meditated intently on attracting her attention.

One day, as the king was performing his vows, Mother Gangesappeared before him in the form of a demigoddess. She said, "I amvery pleased with you and am ready to give you any benediction you

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desire." King Bhagiratha bowed before her and explained what hadhappened to his relatives and what Kapiladeva had said.

Mother Ganges replied, "When I fall from the sky to the earth,my waters will surely be very forceful. Who can sustain that force? Ifno one sustains my waters, then I shall pierce the earth's surface andgo down to the hellish planets. People will bathe in me because mywaters purify them and they leave their sinful reactions in me afterbathing. More and more sins will come. How can I become free fromall the sinful reactions left in my water?"

Bhagiratha reassured her, "There will be many saintly personswho will bathe in your waters. They are so glorious and pure that theywill counteract the sinful reactions." Bhagiratha also explained thatLord Siva, who is almost as good as Krishna, was strong enough tosustain the forceful Ganges water on his head.

After King Bhagiratha pleased Lord Siva with severe austerities,Lord Siva agreed to sustain the Ganges water on his head. He washappy to do this because he knew that the Ganges water had emanatedfrom the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu.

Passing through the heavenly planets, Mother Ganges wascarried through the demigod's planets on billions of celestial airplanes.As she gushed down Mount Meru, Lord Siva sustained her forcefulcurrent upon his head. Finally Mother Ganges reached the surface ofthe earth and many sages, heavenly beings and humans gathered toglorify her and touch her sparkling waters for purification.

Having reached the earth she began to flow very swiftly.Sometimes she narrowed to force her way through a gorge and thenwidened, covering a plain. Sometimes she rushed over a cliff in awonderful waterfall, tossing her foamy waters high.

Seeing her incredible force, Bhagiratha jumped aboard hispowerful chariot and drove before her, digging a path for her to follow.

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He was afraid that Mother Ganges would flood the entire earth!Traveling swiftly, they crossed many countries. From the Himalayasthe king guided the Ganges to the southern side of India.

Near Kapila's ashram, in this island of Jahnudwip, a great muninamed Jahnu had his ashram. One day while sitting in meditation, heheard an incredible roaring sound. He opened his eyes and saw KingBhagiratha coming towards him on his chariot with the Ganges riverright behind him! They were traveling at such a high speed that JahnuMuni thought the river would flood the whole planet. As the Gangesapproached, Jahnu Muni opened this mouth and swallowed her up inone gulp.

All of a sudden Bhagiratha couldn't hear the deafening roar ofthe Ganges behind him anymore. Looking over his shoulder, he sawthat she was no longer in sight. He was overwhelmed with anxiety."How will my ancestors be purified? What has happened?" He wasvery disturbed and turned back. When he arrived at Jahnu Muni'sashram, he saw the Muni sitting there and could immediatelyunderstand what had happened.

With great devotion, Bhagiratha began to worship Jahnu Muni,offering beautiful prayers. Jahnu Muni was pleased with the king andstuck out his foot towards Bhagiratha. Suddenly gushing out from histoe came the Ganges River.

Bhagiratha quickly mounted his chariot and led Mother Gangesto the south where his ancestor's ashes had lain for so many years. Asthey were sprinkled by the Ganges water, the sons of Sagara becamefreed from the effect of their offense to Lord Kapila. They were nowable to enter the heavenly planets.

Because Mother Ganges appeared from the foot of Jahnu Muni,she is also known as Jahnavi devi, the daughter of Jahnu Muni.

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BHISMA TILA: Bhisma was born from Mother Ganga. His fatheris King Santanu. Bhisma lived with his mother in the heavenlyplanets until he had completed his studies. At that time he came downto Navadwip to see his grandfather, Jahnu Muni. Bhisma built asimple hut close to Jahnu Muni's ashram. He would hear SrimadBhagavatam each day from Jahnu Muni here at Bhisma Tila.

Jahnu Muni also revealed that in the beginning of Kali-yuga, theLord would appear in a golden form. He explained that this form ofGauranga would spread the holy name of Krishna and love of Krishna.

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Sri Modadrumadwi)!(The eighth island of Navadwip)

In Treta yuga. Lord Rama, Sita, and Laksman came here duringtheir exile. They remained in this beautiful forest for several months.At that time there was a very huge banyan tree whose branches spreadfar and wide. Under its cooling shade they built a small cottage ofbamboo, mud and other things from the jungle. Inside their cottagethey kept a large altar with a fresh fire constantly burning on it. Thewalls were decorated with the Lord's bow and His quivers of sharparrows which flamed like the sun.

One day Lord Rama sat thinking about the beauty of theNavadwip forest. He was smiling to Himself and Sita noticed. Sheasked him why he was laughing.

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He informed her, "Dear Sita, in the future, in Kali-yuga, I willappear here in Navadwip with a golden complexion. I will give thegift of transcendental love of God and will tell the glories of the holyname of Krishna. After this, I will take sannyasa and will travel toPuri. My mother and wife, Vishnupriya, will be heartbroken and willcry when I leave. You, Sita, will be Vishnupriya. After I leave, youwill worship a Deity of me and will spread my glories. But do notreveal this to anyone for now. When Kali-yuga arrives, this hugebanyan tree that our cottage is under will disappear, but it will remainhere in an unmanifested form."

In this way Lord Rama informed Sita Devi of His futureappearance as Lord Chaitanya in Navadwip. After spending sometime there in the forest of Modadruma they returned to Dandakaranyato complete their 14 years ofexile.

SRI SARANGADEVA: There was once a devotee during LordChaitanya's time named Saranga Thakur. Lord Chaitanya was verypleased with Sarangadeva's devotion and asked him to make somedisciples. He wanted Sarangadeva to become a guru and instructothers. Sarangadeva was very humble and didn't want to do this. Hefelt that he wasn't qualified and also that it would be hard to find aperson qualified to be a good disciple. Lord Chaitanya laughed andtold him that whoever Sarangadeva accepted as a disciple wouldbecome qualified.

Sarangadeva understood Lord Chaitanya's wish and told him thatthe next day he would initiate the first person he saw. Early the nextmorning, he went to the Ganges to bathe. As he was about to step intothe water, he saw a boy's dead body float past. Remembering hispromise to the Lord, he brought the dead boy's body to the shore andchanted the initiating mantras into his ear.

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As soon as the dead boy heard the mantra he came back to life.He offered his obeisances to the feet of Sarangadeva and told him,"Yesterday I was undergoing a ceremony to accept initiation but ablack snake came and bit me. I can't remember anything after that."

The boy's family came to know of their son's recovery and cameto take him home. The boy, Murari, refused to go and he wanted onlyto stay with Sarangadeva, his guru. This he did, and served the lotusfeet ofhis guru as long as he lived.

There is a tree that was present at that time that is still here today.

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Sri Rudradwi{!(The ninth island of Navadwip dham)

Mount Kailash is the heavenly abode of Lord Siva. His abode is areflection of Rudradwip in Navadwip. In Rudradwip, Rudra, alongwith his eleven expansions, constantly chant the holy names of LordGauranga. They each have five faces, three eyes and ten arms. Withtheir ten arms raised, they dance like madmen ecstatically chanting,"Nitai Gauranga, 0 Gaurahari!"

NIRDAYA: In Rudradwip there is a place named Nirdaya, whichmeans merciless. When Lord Chaitanya left His home in Mayapura totake sannyas, He left behind His devoted wife and loving mother. Allof His devoted followers were sleeping except Mother Sacidevi. Shebegged and pleaded with Him to stay but He had a more importantmission of delivering the fallen souls in the world. From His homein Antardwip, the Lord travelled to the west and crossed the Gangesriver to this village. Because He seemed so merciless in leavingbehind all His devoted friends and family members, He was accusedofbeing "nirdaya". For that reason the this village is called Nirdaya.

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