Sree Nityananda Prabhu once told Srila JIva Goswami, “Listen to My words. Sree Navadvipa extends over sixteen krosas. Within the sixteen krosas of Navadvipa, which are non-different from Vrndavana, there are nine islands, which form an eight-petaled lotus floating on the water. In the middle of the eight islands, or petals, lies Antardvipa. And within Antardvipa, lies the very central point, Mayapur. The eternal pastimes of Lord Sree Chaitanya take place within Yogapitha and the circle of Mayapur, the circumference of which measures three and a half miles and the diameter measures just over one mile. Because the Panca-tattva are seated at the Yogapitha, it is the most glorious of all places.
“Very soon, by the desire of the Lord, this will be nearly hidden under the waters of the Ganges. Then later, by the powerful desire of the Lord, the dhama will again be revealed and shine effulgently. The eternal dhama is never really lost but is temporarily covered, and then again it appears to our eyes.
“My worshipable Lord eternally resides at Mayapur, situated on the east bank of the Ganges. Although in the eyes of common people, Sree Visvambhara took sannyasa and left Navadvipa to go elsewhere, actually My Gauranga Dev never gives up Mayapur or Navadvipa. The devotees can perceive His daily lila.
From Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s book, Navadvip Dham Mahatmya.
Out of compassion for the fallen souls, Sri Krisna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descended to this world with His personal associates and divine abode to teach ‘saranagati’ ——- surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and to freely distribute ecstatic love of God, which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain.
Obtaining Love of God
This ‘saranagati’ is the very life of the true devotee of the Supreme Lord.
The Vedic arya-sastras are divided into two sections:”smarta (literature based on smrti) and paramartha (transcendental literature based on sruti). Those who are eligible (adhikari) for the smarta section do not have any natural inclination or taste for the paramartha-sastras.
The thoughts, principles, activities and life goal of every human is constituted according to his respective ruci (inclination) . Generally, smartas accept those scriptures which are in accordance with their respective ruci. Having greater adhikara for smarta-sastra, they do not demonstrate much regard for paramarthika- sastra. Providence is the agent behind the creation of these two divisions. Therefore, undoubtedly the maintainer of the world must have a hidden purpose in having made such an arrangement.
As far as I understand, the purpose is that the jivas sequentially make progress in their level of consciousness by remaining steadfast in their respective adhikara. By deviating from one’s adhikara, one falls down. According to one’s activities, a person attains two types of adhikara:karmadhika ra and bhakti-adhikhara. As long as one maintains his karmadhikara, he derives benefit from the path shown by the smarta section. When he enters bhakti-adhikara, by transgressing the karmadhikara, then he develops a natural ruci (inclination) for the paramarthika, or transcendental, path. Therefore, providence has made these two divisions of sastra: smarta and paramartha.
Adhimasa (extra month), also called mala masa (impure month), is devoid of all auspicious activities
By dividing the whole year in twelve parts, the smarta-sastras have ascertained the auspicious, or religious, activities for these twelve months. All the karma, religious activities which are part of the varnasrama system when allotted to the twelve months, leave the extra month (adhimasa) devoid of any such activity. There is no religious performance in adhimasa. In order to keep lunar months and solar months in tally, one month has to be excluded every 32 months. The name of that month is adhimasa (extra month).* Smartas have discarded this extra month, considering it abominable. They gave it names such as mala masa (impure month), cora masa (thieving month), and so on.
From the perspective of paramartha-sastra, adhimasa is superior and advantageous for Hari-bhajana
On the other hand, the most worshipable paramartha-sastra acclaims adhimasa as the most outstanding month for transcendental activities. Since life in this world is temporary, it is not proper to spend any part of one’s life meaninglessly. It is imperative for the jiva to remain continuously engaged in hari-bhajana at every moment. Thus, the adhimasa, which comes every third year, may also become useful for hari-bhajana. This is indeed the deep meaning of paramartha-sastras. Even though karmis perceive this month to be devoid of all auspicious activities, for the deliverance of all the jivas, paramartha sastra, on the other hand, has ascertained that period as the most conducive for hari-bhajana. Paramartha sastra says, He jiva! During this adhimasa why should you remain lazy in hari-bhajana? Srimad Golokanatha Himself has ascertained that this month is the best of all. It is superior even to the greatly pious months of Karttika, Magha and Vaisakha. In this month, you should perform arcana of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna with special rules, or moods, for bhajana. You will thereby attain all types of perfection.
In Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur’s pastimes we find that He personified the description of a Vaishnav as one who is more gentle than a rose, yet more terrible than the thunderbolt.
Although he was generally kind and sympathetic, He gave no quarter to dishonesty in the name of religion.
When He was in Orissa , in 1871, a member of the Khandait caste and the Atibari sect named Bishikishan who had gained some mystic powers through yoga practices proclaimed himself to be an incarnation of Sri Mahavishnu. He was staying with his acolytes at the edge of the jungle near the town of Bhubaneshwar.
Through his mystic powers, he had been able to cure incurable diseases and these powers had won for him a large following. One day he announced that on the full-moon day he would perform the ras-lila and invited girls of a nearby village to come and join him. The Chaudharis of the Bhringar clan found that he had polluted their womenfolk and went to complain en masse to the district commissioner, Mr. Ravenshaw. The commissioner gave the task of investigating the matter to Thakur Srila Bhakti Vinod, Who went personally into the jungle to meet with Bishikishan. Bishikishan told Him that he was living Mahavishnu and that Sri Jagannath Dev was nothing but a lifeless wooden statue. He tried in various ways to flatter the Thakur and to win Him over. When Srila B. V. Thakur saw that Bishikishan had no intention of stopping his efforts to deceive the people, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur had him arrested and brought back to Puri.
The Thakur proceeded to investigate the background of Bishikishan and visited many villages for that. After accumulating a mass of evidence showing the extent to which this yogi was cheating people, he had him brought to the court. While the case was being heard, the yogi used his mystic powers to cause Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur and His family to be attacked by various illnesses, in an effort to intimidate Him, but without success.
The Thakur was determined to see Bishikishan punished for conspiracy to rebellion and gave him a sentence of one and half years.
In the months that followed, another on in Jaipur proclaimed himself to be the incarnation of Sri Brahma, while someone else in Khorda said that he was manifestation of Sri Balaram. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur quickly thwarted their efforts to cheat the populace.
