The Land of Gauranga

It was my first time on a plane. My parents decided to travel from Tripura to my maternal uncles' places in West Bengal after six or seven years of no meeting between the families. It was the summer vacation in the schools for my siblings and me. We stayed in West Bengal for a month. I never saw my paternal grand parents in my lifetime. They passed away before my birth. My paternal grandfather was a small preacher. He had some followers for whom he would read the Gita verses and perform sankirtans. He earned a very humble income and was a devoted family man. My grandfather's house was in Brahmanbaria, which is very near to the place where Sachi Devi was born. Naturally, his sankirtans were devoted to Gauranga, the son of Sachi Devi.

My eldest uncle on the paternal side learned Ayurveda medicine and practiced it to earn a living. Later he started practicing Homeopathy. My next uncle followed his father. He became a humble preacher as well. He lived in a very clean mud house. Many villagers would come to him, he would read the Gita to them and perform Sankirtans. He also had some land where he would grow crops. None of my uncles had any riches, they just got by. All of them were literate, they could read and write Bengali, English, and some Sanskrit.

On my maternal side, two uncles were doing business. They had a good business by selling Allopathic medicines. My other uncle was in a government job.

As we are staying in maternal uncles' houses, my father wrote a letter to some of his father's followers who resettled in West Bengal's Nadia district. After two weeks, they wrote back to my father and invited our family to their place. We accepted the invitation and took a couple of trains to reach Nabadwip station. Those trains were normal passenger trains. Then we took a narrow gauge train. That train had a very slow speed like people on a walk.

After the train stopped, we took a bullock cart and arrived at our destination. We did not ride a bullock cart before. So, it was fun. It was a real bullock cart and was the only medium for transportation at that time.

We stayed at my paternal grandfather’s followers' houses. It was a vegetarian feast each day and sankirtans in the evening. People will read the Chaitanya Charitamrita and the Gita. There was electricity. But there were blackouts, and candles would be used to illuminate the gathering. By profession, they weave saris and dhotis and sell them to the wholesalers. They praised our paternal grandfather. Men and women gifted us some of such textiles. Some families gave us the pumpkins they grew to take to our relatives.

One of the families took us to nearby Mayapur. There was a small Gauranga-Nityananda temple there. Nityananda was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's friend and disciple. Their era was the 15th Century. The thing that attracted me most is kids my age were coming to the temples, but they were from America, England, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and Australia. I did not know all these countries at that time, but I was delighted to see the other kids.

That was the only time I visited Mayapur. I do not think we visited the birthplace of Gauranga nearby. Still it was pretty cool. The son of a village housewife, who once lived close from my paternal grandfather's residence, reins the heart of so many people! Later in life, when I studied at Howrah in West Bengal, I wanted to go to Mayapur. But I studied in a fully residential college where going far out of the premises was not encouraged. The big gates are all locked after 10 pm. We went a few times to Calcutta (Kolkata), but that was it.

After college, I moved to different cities in India for work. Then I came to the USA on a job. I forgot all about Mayapur or Chaitanya. I became an intrepid adventurer, sports person, and a computer geek. There was no spirituality whatsoever. Last two years, there has been an economic recession in the USA. Some of my friends, including my Brazilian friends, advised me that instead of fretting about it, try some spiritual things. How I got hooked to Mayapur, I do not know, but nowadays I only listen to Vaishnav songs. Yes, I was very much into American rock, pop, and country genres. But I only listen to Vaishnav songs now.

I was thinking about all this stuff while I was hiking up the hills. It is fall and it is windy now. Some green is starting to appear because of the light rain. It is also chilly. A deer is out looking for food.

Only two cows are out. They are munching on brown grass! I need to descend and get some food as well. Companies are taking away Halloween decorations and putting Thanksgiving decorations. Prepared food prices increased overnight in that transition. I asked the server to verify if it was really the case. The person said, "Yes". Perhaps, it is time to cook by ourselves. Many vegetarian meals can be prepared easily at home even without having to cook. We can also eat fruits. Actually, there will be some herbs on this trail after rain starts. Some people collect them. Is it to eat or prepare herbal medicines?

Credits:

1. Gauranga's birth: Source Gaudiya vaishnav paintings.
2. Railcar: https://www.irfca.org/gallery/Suburban/Railbus/06_Railcar_Reversed_at_Nabadwip_Ghat_002.jpg.html?
3. Present day Mayapur: MayapurTV.