On the 5th October, HH Bhakti Vijnana Giri Maharaja, Jagadisvara Dasa, Dhira-lalita Mataji, Rasikananda Dasa Brahmacari and Gaura Gopala Dasa Brahmacari travelled to Puri for the inauguration ceremony of the new Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha and the Vyasa Puja of Srila Bhakti Pramoda Puri Gosvami Maharaja.
Both Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha and Sri Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha have always had a strong relationship ever since the time of Srila Bhakti Pramoda Puri Gosvami's manifest pastimes in this world. Srimad Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayana Maharaja, the present acarya of Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha, has great affection for our Guru Maharaja and was sad that he was unable to personally attend the program in Puri.
The day before the inauguration of the new math, there was a nagara-sankirtana from Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha to Srila Sarasvati Thakura's birthplace on the Grand Road, near to Jagannatha Temple. The procession included over 70 sannyasis and about 700 devotees from various Gaudiya Mathas and missions.
The next morning the Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Madana-mohan, Mahaprabhu, Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra, Sudarsana, Narasinghadeva, Giriraja, Srila Puri Maharaja and Sarasvati Thakura were moved from the old matha to the new temple across the road. The new temple is very big and very beautiful with a large dome, sandstone cladding and a white marble altar for the Deities. After the Deities were placed on the altar, there was a grand abhiseka for Mahaprabhu and Radha-Madana-mohana and many guests joined in as the Holy Names were sung enthusiastically by the devotees.
That evening, the king of Puri, Gajapati Dibya Singh Dev and the raja-purohita (royal priest) arrived at the new temple to offer their respects to the Deities. The Gajapati spoke in Oriyan for about 10 minutes, glorifying the new temple and many sannyasis also spoke.
The next morning was the holy appearance day of Srila Puri Maharaja. First, Srimad Bodhayana Maharaja sat in the new temple and performed the elaborate worship of the Guru-pancaka, Acarya-pancaka, Vyasa-pancaka, Sanakadi-pancaka, Krsna-pancaka, Upasya-pancaka and Panca-tattva. After the puja was over, everyone gathered at the puspa-samadhi of Srila Puri Maharaja to offer puspanjali and arati.
After the guru-puja, select sannyasis were invited on the stage in the pandal to speak. Bodhayana Maharaja requested our Bhakti Vijnana Giri Maharaja to speak first on behalf of our Guru Maharaja and the devotees of Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha. Giri Maharaja first explained how the glories of Srila Puri Maharaja were well known to everyone in Gaudiya Matha, but practically nobody amongst the western contingent of Vaisnavas knew anything about him until the last decade of his manifest lila. Giri Maharaja further explained that Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupada had requested his disciples to take siksa from his dear godbrother, Srila B.R. Sridhara Deva Gosvami and after the disappearance of Srila Sridhara Maharaja, those who were fortunate took the siksa of Srila Puri Maharaja. Maharaja also explained how Srila Puri Maharaja was a perfect gosthyanandi Vaisnava and a perfect bhajananandi Vaisnava and gave some examples to illustrate this. Other sannyasis from diferent misions such as Srimad Bhakti Vichara Visnu Maharaja and Srimad Gopananda Vana Maharaja also glorified Srila Puri Maharaja and finally, at the request of all the devotees, Bodhayana Maharaja spoke in English about his Gurudeva.
Every evening during the three day function, there were bhajanas and hari-katha given by the visiting sannyasis in Bengali and Oriyan.
Apart from attending the temple functions, Giri Maharaja lead our devotees on Sriksetra parikrama. The devotees visited various holy places in Puri such as the Jagannatha Temple, Gambhira, Haridasa Thakura's samadhi, Jagadananda Pandita's bhajana-kutira, Brahmananda Bharati's bhajana-kutira, Chota-haridasa'sbhajana-kutira, Paramananda Puri's well, Siddha-bakula, Sveta-ganga, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya's house, Tota Gopinatha, Sarasvati Thakura's birthplace and his bhajana-kutira at Cataka-parvata. The devotees also visited the famous sun-temple at Konark.
Sri Purusottama-ksetra ki jaya!
Sri Jagannatha-deva ki jaya!
Srila Puri Gosvami ki jaya!
Srila Guru Maharaja ki jaya!
Vaisnava-vrnda ki jaya!
