The Temple of the Vedic Planetaruim

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 dharmasyaglanir bhavati bharataabhyutthanam adharmasyatadatmanam srjamy aham paritranaya sadhunamvinasaya ca duskrtamdharma-samstapanarthayasambhavami 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:
"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."
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.):
"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."
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:
"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."
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 opulencein 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 pastimesof 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 seesVrindavan 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."
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.

© 1997 BBTI, Inc. Feedback @

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare