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Five thousand years ago, when two of the greatest armies in the world were at a ruthless war, the supreme personality of godhead, Lord Krishna, openly made a vow that he would never pick up a weapon during this battle. But when Bhishma Pitamah was mercilessly slaughtering thousands of soldiers and was about to kill his dearest friend and devotee, Arjuna, just to save him, the lord of all lords, Sri Krishna, in front of all these mighty and esteemed warriors broke his vow and picked up a chariot wheel and charged like a fierce lion towards Bhishma. As a meteor travels thousands of miles to earth, likewise this wheel is said to have been thrown miles away and landed up in a remote town of West Bengal, and was thus given the unique name Ekachakra; Eka means one and Chakra means wheel. Symbolic or factual, the essence of this episode and location is spiritual. At this sacred place the incarnation of Lord Balarama, Nityananda Prabhu, appeared as the closest associate in the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Living in Mayapur for more than a month, I visited all the nine islands of Nadia and most of the holy places except for this one and now was the time to embark on an exciting venture to this magnificent place. Accompanying me on this journey were my two friends Srihari, Krishna and their families. Krishna is an active person but usually pretty quiet and to himself. Srihari, a bit contrasting, is extremely talkative, jolly and frank. Well, these two have been my best friends for nearly seven years, and we’ve had many adventures together, and now one again! <\/p>\n
While we were getting ready for the trip, we heard a soft and hollow knock on our apartment door. My friends and I ran towards the bulky wooden door in excitement, anxious for who would be at the doorstep, our tour guide for the day or just the milkman. The door swung open, revealing our visitor, it was our guide a loving, and benevolent, dark-complexioned local devotee named Bhajanandhi Prabhu, the person who would be touring us to and around Ekachakra. He had booked us a twelve-seater car for our travel to Ekachakra, but it was not the thing we expected. The car was white but was covered in rust and grime. The windshield of this car had several cracks, the seats inside were torn exposing the yellowish foam under the thin black seat cover and there was minimal legroom. Being accustomed to the luxury of living in Melbourne I knew it would be a hard time for me to travel in this car, but knowing the reward I would receive after this five-hour austere drive, I jumped in and took the backseats with my friends. <\/p>\n
It was six in the morning when we left, and the air was refreshing and filled with the excitement of the day. As we were driving, my mind was enraptured by the surrounding village scenery. Local village children were swimming in the crystal-clear lake, having a whale of a time. They seemed as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The children were diving into the waters and playing water fights. As we drove on, I spotted a lush rice paddy field, where farmers were harvesting their crops with their sickles. The atmosphere of this remote village was peaceful, lively and pleasant. <\/p>\n
On the way to Ekachakra, as we inched closer to breakfast time, it was about 08:00 AM, our car was slowing down, and we were in a town called Katwa. I noticed a big arch, beautifully painted, with two beaming pillars on both sides. Then suddenly our car came to an abrupt stop. I inquired if we had reached Ekachakra, and our guide chuckled and said this is Sri Gauranga Bari. I wondered what this enchanting place was all about. As we entered the majestic gates of the temple, Bhajanadhi Prabhu said that this place was where Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took his sannyasa. There was a beautiful deity of Lord Chaitanya raising his lotus-like palm and blessing all the souls with his special mercy. The deity was made from wood and had a golden complexion. He was decorated with beautiful ornaments and clothing, and his face was glistening with a bright smile on his bimba fruit-coloured lips. Here we sat on the white marble floor and our guide, Bhajanandhi Prabhu, retold the pastime of Sri Chaitanya’s sannyasa diksha by Keshava Bharati Maharaj. After hearing the story and visiting the temple we resumed our travel towards Ekachakra. <\/p>\n
Embarking on our journey in the car we had hired, it was an adventure that tested both our endurance and resilience. The car, with its worn frame and squeaky wheels, rattled and jolted mercilessly along the rough road, making every bone in my body ache. The uneven terrain provided a constant challenge as we bumped and swayed, forcing us to tightly grip the sides to avoid being thrown off balance. Dust filled the air, coating our clothes and parching our throats, while the intense heat of the sun beat down relentlessly. Yet, amidst the discomfort, there was a certain charm to the experience. The rhythmic creaking of the automobile and the slow pace allowed us to truly absorb the surrounding landscape, witnessing the beauty of untouched nature and catching glimpses of scenery around. It was an arduous journey, but one that etched unforgettable memories of resilience and the raw allure of an old-fashioned road trip.<\/p>\n
After enduring a three-hour journey without any breaks, we finally arrived at the birthplace of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Inside there were decorated ponds with bright hot-pink lotus flowers circling a sparkling fountain. Around us, there were majestic architectural structures of the temple, carved with beautiful sacred designs. After exploring the area, we reached the entrance where the deity of Sri Nityananda Prabhu resided. Two majestic and bold carved marble lions were crouched by pillars of the entrance, like the personal guards of the Lord. As I entered, my eyes shifted to the direction of the alter of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Sri Advaita Acharya, and was immediately enchanted by their enthralling beauty. They were dressed in bright red and yellow dresses, glistening ornaments and colourful garlands. Their faces had a cool shine like the moon and were a reservoir of pleasure to one’s eyes. After taking the darshan of these deities, we continued walking into a small hut to take Prasada outside with some of the visitors and inhabitants of this area. The lunch consisted of a jackfruit subji, banana subji, yoghurt, dal, and spiced rice. This was followed by rice kheer, and mishti dahi, a Bengali sweet dish. While I was enjoying this meal my taste buds weren’t able to comprehend how amazing this tasted, and my mind was on cloud nine. <\/p>\n
Our last but not least destination was the ISKCON temple of Ekachakra. We entered the arched gateway, which was guarded by two wonderfully carved Vishnu Duta statues, Jay and Vijay, the guardians of Vaikuntha Loka. We climbed up the stairs leading into a hallway, and to where the deities resided. As I entered the temple I was captivated by my surroundings. On the ceiling were domes on which pictures, depicting the pastimes of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, and on the walls, there were artistic paintings related to stories from the Chaitanya Caritamrta, and other scriptures. We first paid our obeisances to the magnificent deity of Prabhupada, then went forward to take the darshan of Gaura Nitai and Sri Vrindavan Mohan. All the deities were wearing dark navy blue dresses decorated with white coloured sequins, and their silver jewellery was glistening in the chandelier light. Gaura Nitai’s glossy hair reached past their shoulders and their cheeks were pink like a blossoming rose. Their raised arms were decorated with bangles and bracelets. Necklaces and garlands adorned their chests, and their fish-shaped earrings embellished their faces. Gaura Nitai’s mercy and affection could be felt by us when taking their beautiful darshan, and this was worth all the austerities we had performed to get this far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Five thousand years ago, when two of the greatest armies in the world were at a ruthless war, the supreme personality of godhead, Lord Krishna, openly made a vow that he would never pick up a weapon during this battle. But when Bhishma Pitamah was mercilessly slaughtering thousands of soldiers and was about to kill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110111,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110110\/revisions\/110111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}