The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium
The prediction
According to the Vedic scriptures, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
known as Lord Sri Krishna, periodically descends to the material world
to bless the fallen, conditioned souls with His causeless mercy. During
His last descent, Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita, the renowned
gem of the Vedic scriptures, to His dear friend Arjuna. Therein Krishna
relates the reasons for His descent on earth:
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samstapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O
descendent of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion -- at that
time I descend Myself."
"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to
reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium
after millennium."
The Lord "kills" the demons in two ways: As Sri Krishna, He kills the
demons with weapons such as His sudarshana cakra or His club,
arrows, or other weapons. But in His form as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,
He destroys the demons not by killing their material bodies but their
materialistic mentality.
Lord Caitanya appeared in Mayapur, in 1486. He is the combined form of
Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. He appeared to distribute what no other
incarnation of the Lord has ever distributed freely before -- love of
Godhead. Usually, one has to be already on the platform of perfected
spiritual life before one can associate with the transcendental form of
the Lord. But Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Mahaprabhu means "great master
of all living entities") freely gave love of God to all the conditioned
souls He met, without considering their previous qualifications. His
dancing and chanting spread love of God to every living being in India.
Lord Caitanya had no weapons in the ordinary sense; His associates
were His weapons. They helped Him to distribute love of God everywhere.
The Lord killed no one in this incarnation; He destroyed the demoniac
mentality and replaced it with a loving mentality of devotional
service.
Just as Lord Caitanya is Sri Krishna Himself, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Lord Nityananda is Sri Balarama, Sri Krishna's first
expansion and elder brother. Therefore Lord Nityananda appeared some
years before Lord Caitanya, although in a different family. Lord
Caitanya and Lord Nityananda are also called Gaura and Nitai.
Mayapur is the place of Lord Caitanya's appearance and pastimes and
later of the pastimes of Lord Nityananda and all the other associates
of the two Lords. Mayapur is supremely pure and spiritually wonderful.
The Navadvipa Bhava Taranga by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur
describes it as follows:
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"The Vedas sing of a transcendental place called Brahmapura,
or Sri Mayapur, which is revealed to one whose eyes are free from
illusion. This topmost abode, where the son of Saci performs His
eternal pastimes, is the same as Gokula Mahavana of Vraja. Sri
Gokula, the abode of the gopis and gopas in Vraja,
appears in Navadvipa dhama as the abode of brahmana
families. In the center of Mayapur exists the supremely pure,
eternal residence of the brahmana Jagannatha Misra. Though
eyes affected by material illusion will see only a small house, some
earth, water, and a few articles, if Maya becomes merciful and lifts
her covering, one will see a vast spiritual dwelling. Sri Gauranga
is served here by His eternal mother, father, and countless
servants, all incessantly mad with love. Laksmipriya and Vishnupriya
eternally serve the Lord's lotus feet. The Supreme Lord is seen here
in His wonderful form as the Panca-tattva. Sri Nityananda, Sri
Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa, and innumerable devotees all have their
places in Mayapur. Everywhere are the houses of the Vaishnavas. O
Mayapur, please be merciful to me."
"To the southwest, the Ganges and Yamuna, considering their own good
fortune, twist like a serpent as they flow. They come to serve
Gaura, the jewel of the twice-born. Upon the Ganga's banks are many
ghats, gardens, and temples of deities such as Praudha Maya and
Vriddha Shiva. Throughout Mayapur are scattered countless forests,
temples, courtyards, wide roadways and houses of brahmanas. In the
southeast, isodyana, the garden of the Lord, rests on the bank of
the incessantly flowing Sarasvati River."
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Lord Nityananda took Jiva Goswami, one of the greatest devotees and
philosophers of this age, on a circumambulation (called
parikrama in Sanskrit) of Navadvipa dhama (the area
surrounding Mayapur), the holy abode of Lord Caitanya. During this
parikrama, Lord Nityananda spoke of the glories of the Lord's abode.
When they approached Mayapur, Lord Nityananda, overwhelmed with ecstasy
of love of Krishna, His Lord, spoke the following words to Jiva Goswami
(Navadvipa Dhama Mahatmya, Bhaktivinoda Thakur,
Chapter 5.):
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"When our Lord appears, by His desire the Ganges will swell. The
Ganges water will almost cover Mayapur for a hundred years, and then
the water will recede. For some time, only the place will remain,
devoid of houses. Then again, by the Lord's desire, this place will
become prominent, and people will live in Mayapur as before. All
these ghats on the bank of the Ganges will again be manifest,
and the devotees will build temples of the Lord. One exceedingly
wonderful temple will appear from which Gauranga's eternal service
will be preached everywhere."
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Different acaryas since the time of Lord Caitanya have
described this wonderful temple (adbhuta mandir). Vrindavan das
Thakur, the original author of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya and Lord
Nityananda, tells of the following vision in the Pramana Khanda of the
Navadvipa Mahatmya:
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"In this house [the house of Lord Caitanya in Mayapur] is a
spotless canopy and a temple wonderfully adorned with moonstones.
The temple has four doorways with eight doors, effulgent with inlaid
jewels. There are nine domes topped by a jeweled kalash on
the golden roof. The temple is decorated throughout with diamonds,
moonstones, strings of pearls, and other jewels produced from pure
devotion and shining with a golden effulgence."
"Within the temple are six corners with syllables of the
mantra engraved in gold and jewels. In the center of this
yantra is the turtle-shaped yoga-pith, standing like
the stamen in the center of a lotus flower. On top of this, beneath
an umbrella, shines a lotus like simhasana with petals as
pure white as camphor. The sides and bottom of the simhasana
are made of rubies, the legs are sapphires, and the back, which
glitters with huge pearls and exquisite gems, is made of
vaidurya gems. It is furnished with soft pillows covered with
the finest cloth, and a cloth-covered cushion filled with soft
cotton. The simhasana is decorated with an eight-cornered
figure on which the eight syllables of the Gaura mantra are
inscribed for meditation on the Supreme Lord."
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Further revelations about the great temple are to be found in the 12th
Chapter of the Bhakti-ratnakara by Narahari Cakravarti. He
describes the dreamlike vision of Srinivasa Acarya:
Visions of transcendental opulence
in Lord Caitanya's divine residence in Navadvipa dhama
"Srila Srinivasa Acarya, being very anxious due to separation of the
Lord, once more fell asleep. He began dreaming again and saw a
vision of another very beautiful portion of Lord Gauranga's
residence. There Lord Visvambhara's transcendental form appeared
beautifully situated on an opulent, jeweled simhasana throne.
[Visvambhara is another name of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.] From all
sides there were many attendants and servants, who were waiting upon
the Lord with utmost attention and expertise. Lord Brahma, Lord
Shiva, King Indra and countless other devas [demigods] were
glorifying the Lord, offering prayers and prostrated obeisances to
the Lord's lotus feet. Witnessing this manifestation of Lord
Caitanya Mahaprabhu's inconceivable opulence and glory, Srila
Srinivasa Acarya became filled with transcendental ecstasy, and the
hairs on his body stood on end."
Pastimes from the spiritual world of Vaikuntha
"In another area of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's residence, Srila
Srinivasa Acarya was able to see the transcendental pastimes of
Vaikuntha, the opulent Kingdom of Godhead in the spiritual world.
Observing these pastimes he became so filled with transcendental joy
that he was no longer able to control his body, since it was
manifesting so many symptoms of spiritual ecstasy."
Srila Srinivasa Acarya sees the transcendental pastimes
of Ayodhya, Dvaraka, and Mathura in Lord Gauranga's residence.
"Srila Srinivasa Acarya also saw the transcendental abode of Lord
Ramacandra and the pastimes of Ayodhya Vilasa in another section of
Lord Gauranga's residence. Seeing this, his transcendental happiness
was spontaneously increasing, and he was inspired to think
devotionally about the Lord's glories."
"Then, Srinivasa Acarya went to another area of Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu's residence, where he saw the transcendental pastimes of
Lord Krishna in Dvaraka dhama. This made him so filled with
spiritual happiness that he became totally overwhelmed with ecstasy,
and his heart was filled with love of Krishna."
"Srila Srinivasa Acarya went to yet another area of Lord Gauranga's
residence, and there he saw the transcendental pastimes of Lord
Krishna in Mathura dhama. There he was feeling humorous
emotions, and he naturally began to smile in bliss."
Srila Srinivasa Acarya sees
Vrindavan dhama pastimes in Lord Gauranga's residence
"Srila Srinivasa Acarya went further in the home of Lord Gauranga and
came to the place of Lord Krishna's Vraja pastimes. There he saw how
the cowherd girls (gopikas) were engaged in serving the lotus
feet of Lord Krishna, and he saw himself amongst the gopis as
one of them."
"Then he saw the beautiful rasa-lila dance and experienced
incomparable transcendental ecstasy. His mind was totally absorbed
in profound Krishna consciousness as he remembered many pastimes of
the Lord."
"Moving onward through the area of Vrindavan pastimes, Srila
Srinivasa Acarya saw the exquisite confidential pastimes of Sri Sri
Radha-Krishna in the forest groves known as Nikunja Vilasa. With
this revelation, Srila Srinivasa Acarya suddenly awoke from his sleep
and visions. He looked and saw that the sun was rising and morning
had begun."
"It took considerable time for Srila Srinivasa Acarya to control his
spiritual emotions, being still filled with the wonder and ecstasy
of what he had just witnessed. He considered all this as the
unlimited, causeless mercy and kindness of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu
upon himself and could not help but meditate again and again on
everything that he had seen."
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From these descriptions, we can understand that something unearthly
wonderful and completely spiritual already exists in Mayapur
dhama. Devotees who are pure in heart and mind and only desire
to serve Lord Caitanya in pure, loving devotion can see the
transcendental abode of the Lord as it is already manifested on this
earthly plane.
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