Timeline of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami's Life - 2011-2020
2011 March 14 - Secretary Diary. 20110314 Navadvīpa Maṇḍala Parikramā (Day 7) . Śrī Navadvīpa Dhāma
Today is the last day of the Parikrama. All the four parikrama parties scheduled to meet each other at the junction near Yogapitha around 10am. The road from Iskcon Mayapur to Srivas Angan was filled with devotees and rickshaws. Many non parikrama devotees started going towards Yogapitha by walk,cycle and rickshaws to witness the climax of the parikrama. When we passed by this junction which is like 200 metres before Srivas Angan we noticed many devotees were already standing on the roof of houses, trees and boundary walls around the junction waiting to take video and photo of the confluence of all the parties. When Guru Maharaja joined the Hindi Group in Srivas Angan at 9am His Holiness His Holiness Bhakti Purusottama Swami was addressing the devotees. He was saying that the confluence of these four parikrama parties are like the confluence of four holy rivers. (caturveni Sangam) Ten minutes later Guru Maharaja started addressing the devotees and while he was describing the significance of Srivas Angan for the Hindi Party, we were told that all the other three parties are around the corner.
After a short address GM took darshan of the presiding deities at Srivas Angan and then we made our way to the main gate to get into his car to witness the confluence. When we reached the main gate we found Guru Maharaja's car was not there. Somehow Sudama Prabhu who is Guru Maharaja's driver was not able to be traced. We then decided to join the hindi stream and wheeled Guru Maharaja down all the way from Srivas Angan to the junction near Yoga Pitha. We had about 20 devotees made a ring around Guru Maharaja by holding our hands and moved along with him by having him in the middle of the ring. As we were cruising along the hindi stream we noticed the confluence were already taking place about 100 metres infront of us. The wave of devotees became much stronger as we were approaching the confluence and our 20 men ring started to go out of shape not able to with hold the strong current hitting us from all directions. Finally the 20 men ring was broken and from 20 men we became 4 men ring. The blissful parikrama devotees who were dancing so joyfully were received with sandal wood paste applied on their forehead and marigold garlands.
Upon meeting they hugged each others and with their hands joined together they danced by calling out Jaya Sacinandana! Jaya Sacinandana! it was completely ecstatic. Hundreds and hundreds of flags were seen dancing on the air according to the devotees movements. The devotees were already dancing in ecstasy of meeting each other and they became even more ecstatic after seeing seeing Guru Maharaja in the middle of them with both his hands on the air and moving gracefully to the left and right. Nobody expected him to be there in middle of the confluence. Though it was ecstatic but we were worried about Guru Maharaja. We quickly wheeled him into Yogapitha for darshan while waiting for the devotees who confluenced at the junction to meet again at the nearby field for maha kirtan and breakfast prasadam. While Guru Maharaja was having his darshan at yoga pitha His Holiness Gopal Krsna Maharaj came towards Guru Maharaja and hughed him by chanting Jai Sacinandana! Hari Bol!!!!!!! After darshan we went to the field to meet all the devotees and there we spotted Guru Maharaja's car.
Guru Maharaja requested him to be seated in the car and give darshan to all the devotees. As soon as the devotees noticed that mercy is flowing out from the car in the form of prasadam devotees ran towards our car. Some devotees got the crowd to form a queue to receive the sweet prasadam.He sat in the car for almost 2 hours and was distributing maha prasadam for 979 devotees. Hmmm, you all must be wondering how come we know how many devotees received the prasadam, right? Yes we had one devotee just to do the counting. Actually Guru Maharaja told him to count to keep track of how many hare krsna mantras he is chanting during the prasadam distribution. For each person he was chanting one mantra. At 12.30 noon we left the field and joined His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Maharaj Vyasa Puja festival at Panca Tattva extension hall.
After lunch and one hour rest, we took Guru Maharaja to his darshan room to do some exercise. Around 6.30pm His Holiness Bhakti Vikas maharaj made a sudden appearance in front of Guru Maharaja. Both maharajas hugged and paid respect to each others. Bhakti Vikas Maharaj told Guru Maharaja that it has been almost two years since the last he met with gm. Guru Maharaja welcomed him to Sridham Mayapur and in return BVS expressed his happiness to be here in mayapur. This evening Guru Maharaja was invited to His Holiness Bhakti Vallabha Tirtha Maharaj(BVTM) 50th Sanyas Anniversary in his Math. It was a very big program which was broadcasted live on national TV channels. GURU MAHARAJA invited BVS to follow him for the program if possible. BVS asked Guru Maharaja what time he would return. Guru Maharaja said he is planning to stay there for maximum one hour and would be back by 9pm. BVS replied,"Yes sounds good, because I generally sleep by 9pm." There were about 100 sanyasis from different Gaudiya Maths invited for this function. GM and Bhakti Vikas Maharaj Maharaj were made to seat on the main stage next to HH Bhakti Vallabha Tirtha Maharaj. GM was the only sanyasi who was requested to speak right after the HH Bhakti Vallabha Tirtha Maharaj. BVTM is about 87 years and he took sanyas at the age of 37. It was about 9.45pm when we left the program. While we were driving back to ISKCON Mayapur which is just 5 mins drive away, BVKS told GM that in 9 years you will be celebrating your 50th sanyas anniversay too We should do it grandly. GM took sanyas at the age of 21 in the year of 1970. After reaching ISKCON Campus GM asked forgiveness from BVKS for the late program.