Retracing Lord Caitanya’s Steps
Krishna Kshetra Swami

gaura āmāra, ye-saba sthāne, koralo bhramaṇa raṅge
se-saba sthāna, heribo āmi, pranayi-bhakata-saṅge

“All those places where my Lord Gaura-sundara traveled for pastimes I will visit in the company of loving devotees.” – Śaraṇāgati (Svīkara—Acceptance of Activities Favorable to Pure Devotion, song 3, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura)

Each day of our two-week-long yatra I liked to remember this verse. Why do we take all this trouble to travel to such remote places, where, with few exceptions, one would never see people other than locals visiting, what to speak of the likes of ourselves, coming from as far away as Argentina, California, Hong Kong, and Poland? We do so because it is an important means of favorably serving the Lord, and thus, of progressing rapidly in the process of śaraṇāgati—complete surrender to the Lord. Patiently—and sometimes not so patiently—putting up with what sometimes seemed like impenetrably thick layers of māyā-śakti (especially appearing in the form of eardrum-splitting, mundane music, or a hotel elevator that exhorted all, day and night, to “please close the door!”), we could triumph over the material energy by coming to those very places where Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, soon after taking sannyāsa vows and departing from his home, had visited with a few of his companions.

Of many places I shall cherish the memories of (especially during the first part of our yatra, with the devotional guidance and inspirations of Madhavananda Prabhu), one stands out for me in a particular way: At the Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitai temple in Jajpur we were fortunate to meet Śrīpad Vraja Vallabha Prabhu, the elderly pūjārī of Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitai in Jajpur, where Mahāprabhu had sat on a stone platform to rest near the Kapileśvara Mahādeva temple. As we confirmed that Vraja Vallabha Prabhu was indeed the same sādhu (mentioned previously by Madhavananda) who had remained in this place since he was twelve years old (having received a vision of Mahāprabhu, appearing in golden form, commanding him to remain here and attend to the stone upon which Mahāprabhu had sat), he gently smiled, tears immediately flowing from his eyes, and sweetly embraced myself and a few other devotees. We could all share with him the joy he felt at the meeting of devotees from far-away lands; and although we could not speak his language, we all felt that there was no need for words. Seeing him was like meeting one of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s direct associates, and we could immediately sense Mahāprabhu’s presence among us.

Despite time’s apparent force of distance, separating us from when the Lord passed through Jajpur—and through Remunā, the Rādhā-Madanmohan temple in Bhadrak, and so many other places—and despite the distance of our various cultural backgrounds, all these gaps collapsed to reveal to us that Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pastimes are not time-bound, nor indeed are they bound by place. Rather, his pastimes are continuing at every moment and wherever we remember and serve him, and by his grace and by the blessings of the Vaiṣṇavas we may sometimes get a glimpse into them and participate in them. In this way we may feel the Lord calling to us to join him permanently in his eternal “roadshow”.