by Nitai dāsa

Sridhama Mayapura is the home of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this abode, apparently located in the district of Nadia, West Bengal, the Supreme Personality of Godhead wonderfully appeared almost five hundred years ago. He appeared in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the most merciful incarnation of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna. Generally the Supreme Personality of Godhead is invisible to the eyes of ordinary people, who are lacking in spiritual knowledge. Lord Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (7.25), naham prakasah sarvasya yoga-maya-samavrtah: "I am not manifest before all people, for I am covered by My yoga-maya, or spiritual energy." In Mayapura, however, He drew back the curtain of His maya and revealed Himself, with His associates and His wonderful activities, before the eyes of all. For this reason, Sri Mayapura is a dear place for those sincerely trying to follow the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And that place is dear to Him also.

One might ask, since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the owner and controller of everything, why should He choose one spot as particularly dear? The answer is that He is like a rich man, who may control a thousand acres of land but still be the most fond of the two or three acres where his house is located and his family lives. In this way, although Krsna, the Supreme Lord, is the proprietor of all the planets within this universe and all the spiritual planets beyond, certain places are especially dear to Him. Within this universe, He has chosen certain places for performing His transcendental pastimes. Such places, like Kuruksetra, Jagannatha Puri, Vrndavana and Sridhama Mayapura, have thus become famous because of the Lord's activities.

The chief doctrine taught by the Vedas-and strongly underlined by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu-is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the one non-dual Absolute Truth, and anything connected with Him is the same non-dual Truth. The Lord and His name, the Lord and His fame, the Lord and His qualities, activities and paraphernalia are all one and the same. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is never tinged by material qualities, and so anything associated with Him is also spiritual. The abodes in which the Supreme Lord has carried out His activities are therefore spiritual and pure. And although they appear within the material world, in fact they are transcendental, beyond the material creation.

Since these abodes are absolute, one cannot distinguish between them to assign more importance to one than to another. Nevertheless, because Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has appeared in this Age of Kali, the Age of Quarrel, specifically to give the religious principles for this age-and, indeed, to give love of Godhead as it has never been given before-His abode, Mayapura, is considered the highest of all the abodes of the Supreme Lord. Although all the abodes, being absolute, are one and the same, still there are distinctions among them. That is the inconceivable nature of spiritual truth, which exists beyond the feeble minds of ordinary men. The truth about the Supreme Lord and His names, qualities, pastimes, paraphernalia and abode can be understood only by realization. And those devotees who have realized the highest level of perfect love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, have concluded that Mayapura is the highest abode.