Narottama Dasa Thakura Vaishnava Extraordinaire Advaita Acharya
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krishnafarm.com 6 The Conch www.conch.org.au “Lord Sri Krishna and Arjuna blew their celestial conches to rally and enthuse the devotees.” Newsletter New Govardhana Community February 2017 February Dedicated to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Bhaktisiddhanta SarasvatiNarottama Thakura Dasa Govindas DisappearanceThakura Day – Restaurant ‘VaikunthaVaishnava Man’ Extraordinaire Success Story Advaita Acharya Appearance Day Devotee Profile Special + BRC in Kolkata + Departures Pancatattva – Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Advaita Acharya Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Appears Gadadhara Pandita and Srivasa. By Kisori devi dasi Sri Advaita Acharya appeared in 1434 in Nabagram, Bengal to Sri Kubera Sri Advaita Acharya was the first Pandita and Srimati Nabha devi. He among the associates of Lord disappeared in the year 1559, at the Chaitanya and He appeared on age of 125 years. earth some 50 years before Lord Chaitanya’s own advent. Advaita Sri Advaita Acharya studied the Facebook.com Photo: Acharya is recognised as a combined Vedas and other scriptures under ISKCON Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace incarnation of Maha Vishnu and the scholar Santacharya in Phullavati A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Sadashiva, Lord Shiva in Goloka village near Shantipura, where He was dhama. awarded the title ‘Acharya’. Srila Prabhupada Uvaca In His latter years Advaita Acharya Before the appearance of This is a very nice song sung by became increasingly saddened by Mahaprabhu, all the devotees in Narottama dasa Thakura. Nitai- the pursuit of materialistic goals that the Navadvipa area used to gather pada-kamala means the lotus He believed led to a dysfunctional, at the house of Advaita Acharya, feet of Lord Nityananda. It is just unhappy society. He concluded that where Krsna katha, Krishna nama and a shelter where you will get the the only solution was to offer prayers, Krishna worship would abound. soothing moonlight not only of one, but of millions of moons. begging His Supreme Lord Krishna to Sri Advaita Acharya was a spiritual Just we have to imagine what come as an avatar and attract people guru and had many followers. By the is the aggregate total value of back to the joy of the spiritual life. momentum of His spiritual fervour, the soothing shine of millions Advaita Acharya prayed for several His loud cries pierced the coverings of moons. Koti-candra-susitala, months, crying out and worshipping of the material universe and echoing je chayay jagata juray. Jagat, Him in the form of shaligram-shila through the transcendental Vaikuntha this material world, which is with sacred Tulasi leaves and Ganges lokas, reached the ears of Sri Krishna progressing towards hell, and there water. At the end of 13 months in Goloka. during an eclipse of the full moon, is always a blazing fire, everyone His prayers were answered when Hearing this urgent cry saturated is struggling hard, nobody finds Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. with devotion, Sri Krishna advented peace. Therefore, if the world Himself as Sri Krishna Chaitanya in wants to have real peace, then In the Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Mayapur, Bengal as the son of Sri it should take shelter under the Krsnadasa Kaviraja quotes from Jagannatha Mishra and Saci Devi. lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, Svarup Damodara’s diary to describe which is supposed to be cooling the position of Advaita Acharya: jaya jaya advaita isvara avatara krsna avatari kaila jagat-nistara like the shining moon, millions “Maha Vishnu is the master of the in number. Juray means relief. If universe, which He creates through “All glories to Advaita Prabhu, you actually want relief from the His power of Maya. Advaita Acharya the incarnation of the Supreme struggle of existence and if you is the incarnation of this form of the Personality of Godhead. He induced actually want to extinguish the fire Supreme Lord. He is known as Advaita Krishna to descend and thus delivered of material pangs, then Narottama because He is none other than the entire world.” dasa Thakura advises, “Please take Hari, as Acharya because He is the The place on the banks of the Ganga shelter of Lord Nityananda. What preceptor of devotion. I take shelter where Sri Advaita Ahcarya worshiped will be the result of accepting the of the Supreme Lord Advaita Acharya the shaligram-shila and called out shelter of the lotus feet of Lord who is the incarnation of a devotee.” to the Lord to descend to the world Nityananda? He says “Unless you is known today as ‘Babla’. A temple take shelter under the shade of Sri Advaita Acharya was a disciple of the lotus feet of Nityananda, “it Srila Madhavendra Puri and forms has been built in memory of Advaita Acarya’s pastimes there. will be very difficult to approach one of the main figures among the Radha-Krishna.” This Krishna “Seeing the condition of consciousness movement is for the world, He began to approaching Radha-Krishna, to think seriously of how be associated with the Supreme all these people could Lord in His sublime pleasure be delivered from the dance. That is the aim of Krishna clutches of maya. consciousness. So Narottama dasa Thakura’s advice is “If you actually Srila Advaita Acharya want to enter into the dancing Prabhu thought, “If party of Radha-Krishna, then you Krishna Himself appears must take shelter of the lotus feet in order to distribute the cult of devotional service, of Nityananda.” then only will liberation be (Purport to Nitai-pada-kamala by possible for all people.” Narottama dasa Thakura) Image: http://korg.cdn.krishna.org Image: CC Adi-lila 13.69 2 The large koi fish, Matsya, had lived The Iconic in six inches of slime for 15 years, Temple Pond together with a 12-inch goldfish. Few devotees knew they were there. By Mandakini devi dasi “Relocation proved to be difficult, due New Govardhana’s famous fishpond to the green water, lack of visibility has recently been beautifully and masses of entangled water reconstructed by Venugopal dasa. lilies,” says Venu. “It was only when From a neglected, run-down structure a handsome reward of two free curd originally built in the 1980s, Venu has burgers from the goshalla shop was Gore Trevor Photo: created a tranquil space for guests offered that the job was done quick and residents. smart by young Nitai. The new pond is a peaceful haven for guests and residents of New Govardhana. “Visitors always seem to make a bee- “Upon hearing about the reward, he line for the fishpond, and I had often was in the slime like a hungry ‘gator. “After completion, I brought Matsya, felt embarrassed by its unhealthy Within five minutes, Matsya was in along with a couple of small goldfish condition,” says Venu. the bag and off to my place.” back to the new pond. A week later, I “I noticed that if I looked really The pond took months to complete, noticed tiny fishes everywhere. Now hard, I could make out through the with Ajita dasa on the excavators there are 80 or so juveniles of all murky water the forms of two large and Dhyanatma in the tip truck colours darting around and enjoying fish swimming around. I decided to transporting earth and boulders life in Krishna’s pond,” Venu says. relocate them to a couple of ponds I for the landscaping. Finer finishing have at home, and with the help of touches are still going on. the internet, learn the best way to Everyone is humbly requested to care for them. The pond holds 70,000 litres of water respect the sanctity of the area, complete with a natural gravel bog making sure that all the children are “There was some prior discussion filtration system, with the water well supervised by an adult at all that we should perhaps convert recirculating through the filter every the pond into a rose garden, but a times. water feature seemed to be the most 90 minutes. This is a natural cleaning appealing”. system. In Focus: to interrupt him she left. When she from London, I am definitely not a returned later she realised that the city person. Remote and peaceful Bhaktine Clare person she thought was meditating communities are more my thing.” was actually the murti of Srila When asked what her future plans By Govardhana Seva dasa Prabhupada! are, she says, “At the moment I have Clare Meehan was born in Harrow, The devotees there were very kind no plans. I’m going with the flow and London where she spent the early and friendly and gave Clare her first seeing where Krishna takes me.” years of her childhood. The family bead bag and from then she started then moved to Watford, about five chanting. minutes from Bhaktivedanta Manor, which unfortunately she never In May she had a skateboard accident visited. and had to return home, but was able to return again in August where She went to the Sacred Heart she went to New Govardhana as a High School in London, which was volunteer at Krishna Village, intending originally an ex-Roman Catholic to stay only a week. On 22 October, Nunnery. After that Clare moved on Clare moved into the brahmacharini to a college that was also a rowing ashrama. academy. When she was 16 she fell off her bicycle breaking her wrist and When asked about New Govardhana dislocating her shoulder and had to and her affinity with cattle, Clare abandon the chance to enter the replied, “My dad was born on a cattle Olympics at Rio. farm in Ireland and worked on it until he moved to England. His brothers Flying to Brisbane in February 2016, were still running the farm and I the first place she stayed was Surfers would see and work with the cows Paradise.