Category Archives: Ritudvipa

Vidyanagara

tatah sankirtananande
sri-vidyanagaram harih
dadarsa parshadaih sardham
veda-sthanam anuttamam 

“Then, absorbed in the bliss of sankirtana, Lord Gaurahari and His associates saw Vidyanagara, the home of the Vedas and the best place to learn them.” (Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, Pramana-khanda 4.45) 

The glories of Vidyanagara

 (from Navadvipa-bhava-taranga) : “This Vidyanagara is the abode of the four Vedas and the sixty-four arts and sciences. Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, undoubtedly resides here. At this place, Brahma, Siva, and the rishis revealed all the various types of knowledge to the material world. Knowing that the Lord would perform His educational pastimes here, Brihaspati left his residence in Svarga (heaven), and in his appearance as Vasudeva Sarvabhauma, he taught many types of knowledge according to the various prescribed processes at Vidyanagara. Whoever lives at Vidyanagara and sings the glories of Gauranga becomes a fortunate teacher and will never know grief. Whoever takes to the worship of Gauranga and receives the darsana of His transcendental form will be freed from all ignorance.” 

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura meditates: “Will I ever see Gaurasundara as He goes to Vidyanagara, being attracted to acquiring knowledge? The Lord defended His devotee here and chastised Devananda Pandita with strong words for committing an offense to Srivasa Thakura. Even Ananta Sesha does not fully understand the pastimes of my Lord. When He becomes absorbed in these activities, what is His real intention? Why does He give up chanting to chastise the students who criticized Him? What type of happiness does He derive from defeating His teachers? But whatever the Lord does is a cause of bliss. The Lord is independent, and I am simply His servant. My very limited intelligence has no power to judge Him. All the inhabitants of Navadvipa who act as the Lord’s teachers, nourish His eternal pastimes and are worthy of my respect. All of you please be merciful to this miserable pauper; give me the qualification for nama-sankirtana. I make this petition to the tirtha of Vidyanagara: May the ignorance which hides Gauranga’s identity never cover my mind. May my mind transcend this maya.” (Navadvipa-bhava-taranga)

Radha kunda

Radha Kunda

Lord Nityananda manifested the glories of Radha-kunda in Ritudvipa by pointing out the exact location, the description of which has been given above. For a long time the exact location of this spot was not known. Subsequently the acaryas of the Gaudiya-sampradaya have identified a certain place as Radha-kunda and on that basis the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust has acquired the land where Radhakunda and Syama-kunda are located. This place is situated on the path from Campahatti to Vidyanagara, on the right in the middle of a field. At present there is no proper path to reach this place but the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust has a plan to develop this holy area.

Lord Nityananda identifies Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda in Ritudvipa

(from Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, Parikrama-khanda)

Lord Nityananda, along with some other devotees, spent the night at the house of Dvija Vaninatha in Campahatti. Early the next morning the devotees woke up chanting the holy name of Gaura-Nitaicandra. Lord Nityananda and His companions very happily resumed their journey leaving Campahatti behind. Vaninatha decided to accompany Lord Nityananda. He thought to himself, “When will I again be blessed with such an opportunity to perform parikrama along with Lord Nityananda and finish the parikrama at the house of Mahaprabhu in Mayapur?” Thus all the devotees were enjoying the beauty of Ratupura, relishing the sight of this most enchanting place. Lord Nityananda said, “Now we have reached Ritudvipa. This place is very attractive, all the trees here bow down respectfully. There is a soothing breeze blowing and all around so many flowers are blossoming. The humming sound of bumble-bees and the sweet smell of the flowers enchant the minds of the passers-by.”

Lord Nitai

While saying this Lord Nityananda became entranced and called out, “Bring My sringa (horn) immediately! All the calves have gone far away from here. Kanai is still sleeping in the house. He is so childish that He has not come here yet. Where are Subala and Sridama? I, Balarama, am alone here. I cannot go alone to fetch the cows.” The most powerful Lord Nityananda shouted, “Kanai! Kanai!” and started leaping in the air. By seeing Lord Nityananda in this mood, the devotees immediately approached Him and said, “O, Lord Nityananda! Your brother is Gauracandra. Now He is not here. Gaurahari has taken sannyasa and gone to Nilacala, leaving us beggars behind.” When Lord Nityananda heard that Gaurahari was not there, He felt great distress and started crying and rolling on the ground, feeling separation from His Gaura. Lord Nityananda addressed Gauranga as Kanai, “O, My brother Kanai! For what reason have You taken sannyasa and left us behind here to go to Nilacala? I will not maintain this life anymore. I will jump into the water of the River Yamuna!” Having spoken these words, Lord Nityananda fainted. The devotees started harinama- sankirtana realizing that Lord Nityananda had developed mahabhava. Four dandas (one danda equals twentyfour minutes) of the day had passed, but Lord Nityananda had not come back to His external senses. Then the devotees started to chant gaura-gita (songs about Gaura). When Lord Nityananda heard the name of Gauranga He immediately got up and said, “This place is Radhakunda. Here Lord Gaurahari along with His devotees would perform namasankirtana every afternoon. Just see the beauty of Syama-kunda, attracting the minds of the whole universe. Just see the kunjas of the different sakhis. Here Gauracandra would come with his sankirtana party and please everyone by distributing love of Godhead. 

O My brothers, there is no place equal to this in the three worlds. This is the best spot for devotees to perform bhajana.

Whoever resides here will get love of Godhead and his heart will be pacified.” That day all the devotees along with Lord Nityananda stayed there chanting the holy name of Gauranga, immersed in love. The next day they proceeded to Vidyanagara. 

Why is this island called Ritudvipa?

From Campahatti village Isana Thakura came to Ratupura village. He said, “Just see this most beautiful village known as Ritudvipa. Before this was a big village, but now only a village by name. Before many devotees of Sri Krishna were living here. Lord Gauranga had many wonderful pastimes here in this most attractive Ratupura. Now I will tell you why this place is called Ritudvipa. Ritu means season. All the six seasons, the rainy season, autumn, hemanta (early winter), winter, spring and summer seasons live here in their personal forms and speak to each other with very sweet words. One says, ‘Sri Krishnacandra will appear in Nadia.’ Another says, ‘The Lord will manifest His wonderful pastimes and increase our happiness with every moment.’ Another season asks, ‘When will that Vrajendra-nandana appear as Gaurahari to multiply our bliss?’ Yet another replies, ‘Narada Muni has announced everywhere that Lord Gaurahari will appear during the first part of Kali-yuga.’ One of them asks, ‘Tell us, what is the time of His incarnation?’ Another one replies, ‘Vasanta-ritu (the spring season) is the most fortunate.’ Vasanta season is very happy to hear this and begins to praise her good fortune. All the seasons (ritus) along with ritu-raja Vasanta (vasanta season, the king of all seasons) started to meditate constantly on the advent of the Lord. All the seasons worshiped the Lord here to fulfil their desires. Therefore this place was previously known as Ritudvipa. Whoever visits this holy place will become free from all kinds of suffering and will take birth in Nadia to witness the pastimes of the Lord.”