Babaji-vesa Conferred upon Sripada Trigunatita Brahmacari Prabhu

Sripada Trigunatita Brahmacari Prabhu, the manager of Sri Devananda Gaudiya Matha, went to the town of Sidhavadi in the Barddhaman district, to arrange for the construction of brahmacari quarters, etc. in the Siddhavati Gaudiya Matha. After Sri Gaura-janmotsava 1951, Srila Guru Maharaja went there himself, and on 11 May, the auspicious opening day of the newly built matha, Srila Guru Maharaja gave babaji-vesa to Sripada Brahmacariji.

Sripada Trigunatita Brahmacari was a learned and respected member of the famous Mukharaji family (Sir Asutosa Mukharaji) from the village of Jirata-Balagadha in the district of Hoogly. His previous name was Sri Trigunanatha Mukhopadhyaya and after accepting babaji-vesa he became known as Srimad Trigunatita dasa Babaji Maharaja. A brahmacari since boyhood, he was one of the foremost of jagad-guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati ’s initiated, single-pointed servants. All the service that he faithfully performed to Srila Prabhupada and his Sri Gaudiya Matha Mission was outstanding. It is most worthwhile to sincerely emulate his renunciation, detachment and service attitude. When the ekanistha guru-sevaka Sripada Ananga-mohana Brahmacari was sick, Sri Trigunatita affectionately nursed him in a way that is exemplary for all Vaisnavas, and that is also extremely rare in the world of the Vaisnavas. It has already been mentioned how he donated Sri Gauranga Press, including all its equipment, to the Samiti.

Preaching suddha-bhakti

While Sri Guru Maharaja was staying at Sri Siddhavati Gaudiya Matha, he vigorously preached bhakti for three days in Panjaniya-grama on the special request of Sriyuta Bhagavat dasa Adhikari, a resident of the village. After that, Srila Gurudeva preached sri sanatana vaisnava-dharma extensively in Kakadvipa, Kalaracaka, Sarbediya, Ekatara, Daimond Harbour, Candana-nagara, Mathurapur, Kamsinagara and other places in the district of Chaubisa Paragana.

That same year, during the month of Kartika, Srila Gurudeva performed the eighty-four kosa Vraja-mandala parikrama and urja-vrata for the second time with two hundred sannyasis, brahmacaris and grhastha-bhaktas. The pilgrims left from Howrah station, and after having darsana of Gaya, Kasi, Prayaga and other holy places, they arrived in Mathura-dhama. In Gaya they had darsana of Sri Gadadhara-pada-padma (the lotus feet of Sri Gadadhara), Phalgu-tirtha, Bodhagaya and the Sri Gaudiya Matha. In Kasi they went to Sri Sanatana siksa-sthali, Sri Visvanatha Mandira, Veni-madhava, Annapurna, Dasasvamedha-ghata and Manikarnika-ghata. Then in Prayaga they visited Sri Rupa Gaudiya Matha, Triveni-sangama, Sri Bindu-madhava, Sri Rupa siksa-sthali, Dasasvamedha-ghata and other places.
In Mathura, the parikrama party stayed at the large Helanaganjavali Dharmasala for a few days. During that time they had darsana of the famous Visrama-ghata, Dvarikadhisa, Gatasrama-tila, Dhruva-tila, Pippalesvara Mahadeva, Rangesvara Mahadeva, Bhutesvara Mahadeva, Gokarnesvara Mahadeva, Sveta-varaha, Krsna-varaha, Sapta-rsi-tila, Dirgha-visnu, Sri Padmanabha, Krsna-janmabhumi (Krsna’s birthplace), Kamsa-karagara (Kamsa’s prison house) and other places.

After that, following in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada, they started Vraja-mandala parikrama, visiting the twelve forests and the places in these forests where Krsna performed His pastimes. They had darsana of the forests on the western bank of the Yamuna, namely, (1) Vrndavana, (2) Madhuvana, (3) Talavana, (4) Kumudavana, (5) Bahulavana, (6) Kamyavana and (7) Khadiravana; and the forests on the eastern bank: (8) Bhadravana, (9) Bhandiravana, (10) Belvana, (11) Lohavana and (12) Mahavana.

At Sri Govardhana, a huge annakuta ceremony was performed, and the pilgrims separately circumambulated Sri Giriraja, Sri Radha-kunda, Sri Syama-kunda, Vrndavana, Nandagrama and Varsana. The Samiti arranged prasada and accommodation for all the pilgrims so that their minds would be free to concentrate on hearing classes on the glories of the dhama and on bhakti. At the end of the parikrama and vrata, the pilgrims returned to their respective homes with tears in their eyes.

[CC-by-ND GVP]