“During the Christmas break I took a train to Navadvipa with my wife. Arriving there and seeing the land in all four directions the hair on my body stood on end. Upon crossing the Ganga, and I went to Rani Dharmasala and I made arrangements to cook for Sriman Mahaprabhu. Having taken darsana of the Lord with difficultly I honored prasada at around 1 o’clock.
After 45 days [of dieting], I took grains, jackfruit dahl, banana-flour sabji, and soup etc., which were like nectar. Since my very birth I had not eaten such nectarine food. Even Bimal ate everything on his plate, and with great devotion.
We had to go to the house at Krsnanagara before evening and thus, buying some cooking pots and utensils, and quickly crossing [the river], we took the train to Krsnanagara. The next day I went to Baro Gosvami’s house in Santipura, took prasada, and before evening returned home.
At that time I was beginning to become strong. Every Saturday, I went to Navadvipa to search out the places of the lila of the Lord, but I did not find many and I was very unhappy. At the present time the people of Navadvipa only pay heed to their stomach etc. They do not make even a little effort in relation to the places of the lila of the Lord. One night, Kamala and a clerk and I went up on the roof in order to look around.
It was 10 o’clock, and was very dark and cloudy. Across the Ganga, in a northerly direction, I saw a large building flooded with light. I asked Kamala (if he saw it) and he said he had. I asked the clerk and he said, “I did not see anything.” Because of that I was utterly amazed.
In the morning I looked carefully at the place [where I saw the building] from the roof of the Rani Dharmasala, and I observed that there was one Tal tree in that location. When I asked others about this place they said that this distant place was known as Ballaldighi and that the remains of the fort etc. of Laksmana Sena were close by.
That Monday I returned to Krsnanagara and the following Saturday I went back to Ballaldighi. I saw that wonderful phenomenon in that place again at night, and the next day I went to see the area on foot. Upon inquiring of the elderly people of that place, I was informed that this was the birthplace of Sriman Mahaprabhu.
I gradually saw everything (in the area) and ascertained where all the small villages mentioned in the Caitanya-bhagavata and in Narahari Thakura’s Bhakti-ratnakara and Parikrama Paddhati were.
While staying in Krsnanagara I wrote Sri Navadvipa-Dhama Mahatmya and sent it to Calcutta to be printed. I explained all these matters to Dvarik Babu, an engineer from Krsnanagara, and through the strength of his intellect understood everything.
He made a map of the area around Navadvipa for me. That also was printed in a reduced form in Dhama Mahatmya. While I travelled around Navadvipa Dhama and wrote Navadvipa-dhama Mahatmya I saw that there was very little opportunity to do more.”
~ Srila Bhaktivinoda’s letter to Lalita Prasad, written 1896
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