Sri Mayapur Iskcon kolkata is the spiritual world headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. We did 2 day trip to explore for you. A visit to Sri Mayapur was never on our mind while stay in Kolkata.
However when planning our way from Kolkata to Sri Mayapur, we discovered that the best way to get to Sri Mayapur was through booking service provided by ISKCON House (033 64588777, 32488041). We didn’t need to think twice about booking the tickets for 10 heads :).
“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare”
Our first look of Sri Mayapur
Just to make our 2 days trip a great experience, we with our friends and family started at 7 in the morning from our boarding point Capital Electronics, Ultadanga. It is approx. 4 hr journey to the dham and a feast to eyes to see vast open green farms and beautiful villages. The dham is situated in Nadia district, West Bengal.
The bus arrived at the Mayapur main gate entrance and took a right turn. As soon as we got out of our bus and set foot in the Sri Mayapur dham, we could see the beauty of the place. Wow!
Gada guest house flower decorations
The first place we were redirected to is the Gada guest house to get fresh and ready for the Bhoga Arati (Lunch). We then directly rushed to the reception of the guest house to check-in.
Gada house reception entrance
Sri Mayapur Gada house reception
In just a matter of time we got the room keys and coupon for the lunch Rs. 50 each with no idea what gonna happen next. Rooms were clean and simple with copy of Bhagavad Gita to seek the divine. Everyone got ready and we started to roam around to see the place.
Gada guest house rooms
Gada guest house corridor
After roaming for sometime we came to have the lunch and to our surprise we found that a very long queue to get inside the hall. No matter what we all stood in the queue to get inside and very quick shocked to see that it was a sitting arrangement of 1000 people at a time for the lunch.
Shri Mayapur lunch sitting for 1000 people at a time
Hare Krishna 🙂 , after the too hot lunch everyone became sleepy head and went for a nap. And MN got some time to read the Holy Gita. We also took some rest before the Sandhya Arati, the big event for saturday. In the evening we started to explore the place and walked to the main temple. The main attractions inside Sri mayapur are as follows:-
- Sri Sri Radha Madhava temple complex
- Srila Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi Mandir
- Srila Prabhupada’s Bhajan Kutir
- Chaitanya Lila exhibition
- Srila Prabhupada’s personal quarters
- Goshala
Sri Mayapur park decoration near the main temple
And here we are with the group snap for the divine trip with MN.
Our wonderful friends and family group for Sri Mayapur trip
Indeed a very nice click with timer mode on from Ratul’s camera…:). We then headed towards the Srila Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi Mandir, a divine and holy history about Sri Prabhupada. On the way we saw some great piece of rangoli and decoration by devotees. Check them out below:-
Evening (Sandhya) Arati chariot Sri Mayapur
Kids involved in rangoli recoration on campus road Sri Mayapur
You will find a complete city inside the campus as well as Mayapur full of Krishna devotees and whole lot of shops. Now it was time to visit the samadhi mandir. We submitted our mobile , camera again and went inside the mandir. We were overwhelmed by the decoration inside and a wonderful experience.
Srila Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi Mandir Sri Mayapur
Sri Mayapur devotees decorating for Sandhya arati
From the entrance on the left you will find a 24 hour kirtana kutir, known as Srila Prabhupada’s Bhajan Kutir. Srila Prabhupada stayed from 1972 to 1976 while the first main building (the Lotus Building) was built. Here 24 hour bhajan are made by the devotees.
Srila Prabhupada’s Bhajan Kutir Sri Mayapur
Finally the time came to participate in the Sandhya Arati and people started to gather around the Radha Madhava temple complex. We were totally surprised for the amount of devotees gathering. The big attraction was the elephant which carry the lord and circle around the temple. We also took some click before entering the temple.
Sri Sri Radha Madhava temple complex Sri Mayapur
Inside the Sri Sri Radha Madhava temple complex, on the left side is a murti of ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, Srila Prabhupada. And on the right is of divine Sri Sri Radha Madhava, surrounded by their Ashta-sakhis (eight principal gopi friends) — Sri Lalita, Sri Champakalata, Sri Chitra, Sri Tungavidya, Sri Vishaka, Sri Indulekha, Sri Rangadevi and Sri Sudevi, along with Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Giri-Govardhana.
The small Radha Madhava Deities goes out in procession during Ratha-yatra and other festivals like Jhulana-yatra (swing festival) or boat festival. These deities also come out on a chariot every Saturday after Sandhya-arati during winter from the beginning of the Kartika (Damodara) month till Gaura-purnima.
Radha Madhava Deities ride during sandhya arati Sri Mayapur
As the arati started the devotees started to chant the mantra and the small Radha Madhava Deities were boarded on the elephant and all followed the crowd to circle the Srila Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi Mandir. The energy was awesome. And the mantras are so divine. We did players inside the temple and a walk across. This concluded the day one at Sri Mayapur. We then returned back to the guesthouse for dinner. We already have the coupon for dinner Rs. 30 each.
Gada guesthouse Sri Mayapur during night
After dinner we went to bed to get ready for the next day and our visit to Ganga. Will be sharing the details very soon.
Day 2 : Exploring Navadvip Nadia in Ferry
Do share you comments and view on the trip.
Thanks for so good details posted by you,Can you tell that what was the tariff of rooms in Gada Guest house. Also is the rooms are ac or non ac. Please also explain about parsadam.
Hare Krishna. Hi Ashok, nice to have you here. On Arrival you need Passport, Voter ID, Pan card or Driving License as id proof. The Gada guest house we stayed were non ac but simple,clean and well maintained. You can get the most recent details accommodations here . The Prasadam was very delicious and made with pure ingredients. We bought extra for home also.
We ,a group of 28 people visited Mayapur on 08/02/2015. I feel charmed with the management system of ISKON. NAM-SONKIRTON,AARATI,DISTRIBUTION OF BHOGO & DISCIPLINED ATMOSPHERE ARE REMARKABLE .GRATEFUL THANKS TO THE AUTHORITY.
Hi Siddhartha, truly agreed the atmosphere, services and temple is magnificent at Mayapur. Also try to visit Navadvip ghat Ganga (Bhagirathi) and Jalangi rivers meeting point, its also a must see.
why u went to visit nawabdwip in ferryfrom mayapur ?
iskcon have any bus service from mayapur to nawadwaip or not ?
i was planning to travel alone to mayapur by iskcon kolata bus service. i m so disspointed to know that we have to travel by by ouw own from mayapur to nawadwip.its not possibel for to go to ferry alone and visit nwadwip.
Welcome to the blog Riya. We were a large group and want to see the Navadvip ghat Ganga (Bhagirathi) and Jalangi rivers meeting point, also its a nice boat ride to Navadvip from hular ghat. You can catch local bus outside of Mayapur temple, straight to the ferry location bus stand(hular ghat).