Remembrances and Glories of Śri Goalpara-dham

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Śri Tapasvī Maharaj took us to Goalpara for the first time. Later on many occasions, I visited Goalpara like during the Kartik celebrations there, during construction time, and also during inauguration time.

Once Gurudev asked me to deliver kathā in Goalpara and I was inspired to remember the instance of Mahāprabhu visiting the appearance place of his Guru, Śri Īśvara Puripāda in Kumārahaṭṭa and his pastime of taking soil of the place, touching it to His forehead and tying it in his upper cloth. Following him, many devotees took soil from the place and how it turned into a pond and called Caitanya Doba. Mahāprabhu taught us by this pastime that the birthplace of Guru is worshipable for us. Hearing this, Gurudev was pleased. 

Goalpara is our Gurudev's appearance place. In the North-east portion of India on the continent of Asia (Bhāratavarṣa in Jambūdvīpa) is the holy place Prāgjyotiṣapura as so named in the scriptures. It is an ancient holy city mentioned in Mahābhārata. Near to this place is Goalpara, our Gurudev's appearance place. Here, Lord's yogamāyā-śakti, Kāmākhyādevī resides, whose grace attracts the living entities towards Lord and His service. It is one of the twenty-one śakti-pīṭhas and its mention is there in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta of Śrila Sanātana Gosvāmī. 

Nearby there is the famous Vasiṣṭha Aśrama. Vasiṣṭha is the guru of Lord Śri Rāmacandra and this place is pervaded by guru-tattva. The great holy Brahmaputra river flows through the middle of this holy place, Prāgjyotiṣapura.  Goalpara is a small beautiful village on the banks of this Brahmaputra river.  Our Parama Pūjyapādapāda Bhakti Bāndhava Janārdana Mahārāja said on Śri Rāmanavamī (on the Vyāsapūjā of our Gurudev in Chandigarh) that Goalpara is not an ordinary place and also that it resemblances with the appearance place of Paramgurudev. The appearance place of Paramgurudev is Kanchanpara and our Gurudev's appearance place is Goalpara— there is some connection between the two.  He would also say it is the town of Krishna's sakhas, gwalas, and gopals. 

Goalpara has such natural scenic beauty— situated on the bank of the great Brahmaputra, surrounded by small and big hills, and scattered with many small and big water ponds.  I remember having read Gurudev's words that Goalpara is a very clean place. This place is decorated with banana, areca nut, and coconut plants here and there, and among the hills is one by name Huluganja and at the base of this hill was Guru Maharaj's parental pūrva-āśrama home. I heard this from Gurujī's mouth; not only heard, I saw this place with my own eyes in the company of Gurudev.  

This place is also glorious for it is blessed by the holy footprints of Śrila Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, the founder-ācārya of Śri Gauḍīya Math.  His disciple Nityananda Prabhu established a preaching center by the name Prapanna Aśrama on the Huluganja Hill as per Prabhupāda's wish. Due to the passage of time and some inconveniences, the aśrama is unmanifest now, but by Gurudev's mercy, we had the darśan of the place with him.  

Krishna Keshav Prabhu (Prabhupāda's disciple and Param Gurudev's god-brother) suggested Paramgurudev begin preaching activities from the auspicious direction which is northeast (eshan) and respecting his words, Paramgurudev began prachar in Tezpur, Goalpara, etc. All the wishes, desires of a pure devotee are fulfilled by the Lord. One person, Sharath Candra Nath from Malmalar (a place nearby) requested Paramgurudev to accept his donation of a house with one acre land in service of prachar.  

On Śri Tapasvī Maharaj's insistence, eight god-brothers including myself got ready to go to Goalpara. We boarded the train from Delhi early morning when it was still dark. At that time the weather was cold and there was no power. In this situation, a pickpocket stole our godbrother's wallet. The wallet contained some four hundred rupees, but more importantly our tickets both ways on the journey. We felt worried for a while as we could not get down from the train since it had already started going. When the train was picking up speed, the pickpocket threw the tickets into our compartment through the window and we saw it as Gurudev's mercy. Thus we could travel in a relaxed mood.  

When we reached Goalpara maṭh, Gurudev was very pleased and showered his kind affection and care on us.  He would come often to our room to enquire whether we had slept well and had taken food. We stayed there for a few days. One fine evening Gurudev came out of his room at around 4 o'clock and asked us, "Are you all ready?" Ready for what, we did not know.  

Then he said, "Let's go!" and we simply followed him. Gurujī was wearing khaḍāūṃ (wooden sandals) and conversing with us, showering affection along the way. His walking came to halt at his school in Vardhman. Then he took us through a thin lane and passed through the residence of a householder and reached Tirtheshwar Mahadev temple and sat there near a small stream (rivulet).

—Śri Krishnananda Das (Kuldeep Prabhu)

Transcript of Gurukathā on Gokul India, 22.4.2020 

Spoken in Hindi, translated to English by Rasavihari Das






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