Crisis in Mayapur - development plan for Mayapur

We hope that all the devotees worldwide will oppose such action:
http://www.vina.cc/stories/DHAM/2004/7/cri...in.mayapur.html

You can move samadhis around, not? They moved the samadhi of Gaura Kishor Das Babaji, and I believe BP Keshava Maharaja went so far as to argue in court that it is legitimate to move tombs in the Hindu-tradition, even if in the Christian tradition it would be considered desecreation.

Similarly, many deities have been moved from one temple to another in the past, and it has not been considered objectionable.

The main issue seems to be:


The following conclusion is therefore presented:


While one may argue over the necessity of building the bridge, I cannot find justification for such a strong condemnation. Of course having to move your facilities around is uncomfortable and may be costly as well, but to go so far as to consider such a construction a great offence to Mahaprabhu is in my opinion ludicrous. Whatever doesn't suit you is a great offence to Mahaprabhu, this is often the principle as we theologize such issues in our favor.

What about the residents of the dhama, do they need the bridge? It would be prudent to study the infrastructure of the area and the growing needs of the growing population before passing any judgement in this regard.

Sounds bloody stupid to me. The reason is probably that the minor maths are being treated cavalierly in order to facilitate comings and goings to Iskcon. The large number and variety of temples is the most attractive feature of Mayapur. jivo jivasya jivanam.

One would assume that they would offer to relocate the small temples etc. not?

Is ISKCON that popular among the local populace that a bridge is required to Navadvip? I mean, the roads that bring in all the Western folks don't come through Navadvip town or around, they come in from the other direction.

At any rate, someone would do well to supply more facts on the matter. I find these all-out condemnations and calls for international support without giving the full picture distasteful.

I dont believe either that the present government of West Bengal which is working on a development plan for Mayapur, that includes erecting a bridge between Mayapura and Navadwip and widening the roads is so foolish to destroy the original mood in Sri Dhama Mayapura and even cause suffering to different mathas. Rather it should be expected that the development plan will also increase the social welfare benefit for the Dhama's residents.
Obviously it also has something to do with Ambarisha prabhu's project , what others may not really appreciate.



Read also:

"....It is a pity that the Marxist Government of West Bengal follows double standards. While it pampers mushrooming madarsas on Indo-Bangla border, at the same time, it finds Saraswati Vandana in cultural functions obnoxious and shoots down Ford's plan on religious grounds. The world comes to India to savour its spiritual heritage. Spiritual tourism, properly tapped, can be a significant source of resources...."

Whenever any religion succeeds, it must have economic value. Thousands of similar sects will be struggling for power, but only those who meet the real economic problem will have it.

- Swami Vivekanand
(Lecture on Gita-I, San Francisco, May 26, 1900)


Mayapur: More than 5 Millions visitors every year!

The streets in Nadia are really bad, so action is required and in place. Most roads are single-lane-wide, which means they need to double them. Many plots directly at the Ganga belong to Iskcon.

I wonder where they would want to make the bridge. One thing to always keep in mind is that road projects in India are often connected to defence requirements. Nabadwip Dham is close to Bangladesh. One would have to see what the over-all plan is. Maybe larger roads need to be secured for fast troop-movements up-north in times of crisis. Bridges are vital for military strategies.

Who does not feel the shame about what would have been created around the already existing Iskcon zoo? A person proposing such a project for Sri Nabadwip Dham is simply a fool. The government of WB is really a tool in the hands of Nitai's mercy at work, to protect the Dham from such disaster.

In Puri that project is well placed. It is already a tourist town.

The usual spot for a bridge is not to Nabadwip, but across the Jalangi to Swaroop Ganj, a bit further up the road to Krishnagar above Bhaktivinoda Thakur's house. The road behind the Mayapur temple and Goshalla (which was only planned when I was there) leads to the proposed bridge site. I am sure this is what they are talking about.

I doubt they would build another bridge across the Ganges.

Well that makes sense. I could not visionalize a bridge at the other end of Nabadwip over to Mayapur, that would be a huge endless bridge, in an area that is getting flooded a lot. Even in Calcutta they took awfully long to make a second bridge besides the Howrah one.

And they also have the double-lane street already Nabadwip Dham-Gauranga Setu- Krishnagar, if they continue with a road parallel to the Ganga.

Here is some info connected to the above, but there is no bridge involved here.
In other words the Maths are not the victims, but the perpetrators:



http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?...sess=1&id=48905

So, if I can analyze:

Iskcon complained to the High Court that there were all these illegal stalls along the road.

The High Court Justice sent someone to look into it, and found that not only were the stalls illegal, but half the buildings on the road, including temples, etc., were also illegal.

The solution will be: everyone pays bribes and no one does anything.

Looks to me like a tempest in a teapot. This is a fancy way of telling Iskcon to shut up.

Wow.

This seems to have been the background initial problem



http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.p...68605&usrsess=1

That caught my attention, too. Spectacular possibilities.

For once they would have to unite all the different GMs at one place to get a "mass" together.

Looks realy like a crisis in Mayapur!

Indians and little kids have the same strategy. "I'll hold my breath till I die". So melodramatic.

There was a case in Sri Rangam where they had a land dispute between the Sri Rangam (Vaisnava) temple and the Tiruvanakoil (Siva) temple and the Jeer Swami of the Sri Rangam temple threatened to jump from the top of a Gopuram (temple tower). I am not sure whether he did it or not. I will have to check the history books next time I am there. Anyway the problem was that the deity of Ranganatha goes in procession to the Kaveri river and at that time the land over which He travelled was claimed by the Saivite temple.

What was the solution.

Well they needed a neutral party. So they got a guy who was a Madhva. Neither a Sri Vaisnava nor a Saivite. And they took him to the river and asked him to run back to the temple (Sri Rangam). Everywhere he ran they made the border between the two suburbs. Visnu's suburb on one side and Siva's on the other. Case closed.

There have been other very interesting solutions to strange cases. I have actually been a part of one recently concerning the renovation of the deity in Sri Rangam. Every 60 years or so the whole temple gets a renovation and the deity (which is actually made of stucco) does too. After many years the deity of Ranganatha gets a thick layer of ayurvedic oils etc solidified over His body. When the renovation is done the shilpis do their best to restore the deity exactly the way He was. In case you do not know there is a mark signiying Laksmi on the right side of the chest of each Visnu deity. This is called Srivatsa. It sometimes appears as an inverted triangle (for obvious reasons) while other times it appears as a small figure of seated Laksmi. Apparently it was impossible for the shilpis to see which it had been previously so they wanted to just put a triangle symbolizing Laksmi. Well in a place and too a community who rely on Mother Laksmi to intercede on behalf of them for God to save them, Laksmi is very, very important (Just like Radha is to Gaudiyas). So you can imagine the sentiment when this became common knowledge.

Not knowing what had been there before and not being educted enough in the Agamas to know that it makes no difference, people began to lobby for the iconagrapically more elaborate representation of Laksmi rather than the triangle symbol. Since neither would be visible to the naked eye once layers of protective oil were applied, it seemed to me to be a moot point.

However I met an old man who had been present when the last renovation had been done and who swore that the Srivatsa was not the triangle type. And there were some old black and white photos obtained from the Hindu newspaper archives in Madras which also seemed to back up his claim. I was the only person in Sri Rangam at that time who had a laptop that could display the image and take it to show the Tamil Nadu Religious Endowments Minister who was called to come there because of the crisis. After meeting with him (although I think that he was not actually convinced) he ordered the pujaris to all sign a statement to the effect that they agreed that the marking should be as the majority wanted it. So whether it was ever like that before or not it is so now.

Another famous court case occurred during the British Raj when there was a dispute about what kind of Vaisnava tilaka the temple elephant should wear. There are basically two different types of tilaka used by Sri Vaisnavas. Vadakalais (catholics) wear a U shaped tilaka and Tengalais wear a Y shaped one. Which one should the elephant wear? (In fact this problem is usually descided in favor of the majority at any particular temple) Anyway this case went to the Supreme Court of India where the then British judge ordered that as a compromise three lined Siva tilaka should be put. Of course this was not adopted and the cases were dropped.

However still today there is a court order by the Tengalais prohibiting the deity of Vedanta Desika (the saint who is the head of the Vadakalais) from attending any festivals with the main deity of Lord Ranganatha. All other saints deities are allowed. The reason is that all other saints have their hands in anjali mudra (prayer like pose) whereas the deity of Vedanta Desika is showing jnana mudra with right hand. One should not come before God and show a mudra as if one were blessing or teaching was the claim of the Tengalais. Therefore for the past so many hundreds of years that deity has been restircted from attending certain festivals where the Lord is present.

India in general seems to be full of this sort of thing even more than the west. Some of the reasons are that the justice system is so clogged and so slow that these types of frivolous law suits can go on forever.

If only I had been there as a fly on the ceiling to see their faces when the judge pronounced the verdict. I can imagine the British had good laughs over the issue!

Absolutely fascinating, Keshava.

You know actually Indians can be really cunning politicians. There are lots of stories about how cases were decided or whatever.

You will like this story Jagat. It's about how the same words can have different meanings.

There was a story that Srila Prabhupada told about Motilal Nehru (grandfather of Indira). He was a lawyer acting on behalf of a big dacoit murderer. It was apparently a famous case. Anyway apparently everyone was afraid to speak out the verdict out loud because of fear of retribution against them so the written verdict was published. Well before publishing the verdict it has to be show to the two opposing lawyers. So the verdict as written was:

"Hang him, never let him go."

Well Nehru when he saw that he knew he had lost, so when he saw the verdict paper he changed it slightly by changing the position of the comma to:

"Hang him never, let him go."