Daṇḍabhaṅga is revealed (1996)
Then in the middle of the year 1996, an old sadhu more than 80 years of age, Srila Haridas Sen Babaji Maharaj (who was a ‘naisthika brahmachari’, a family descendant of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s associate namely Srila Sivananda Sen and the head of an old monastery of the Self manifested Deities of his beloved Sri Sri Radha Binodbihari Jiu at Mahanga, Cuttack) approached and revealed to Srila Sachinandan Maharaj about the supreme leela-bhumi of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ‘The Dandabhanga Leelabhumi’, that was located at Chandanpur, Puri beautifully surrounded by two sacred rivers Bhargavi and Dandabhanga. He came to him with this request that he develop the pastime site and bring it to its right prominence.
However, initially after seeing the pitiable physical and social condition of the site he expressed his unwillingness for the services to Srila Haridas Sen Babaji Maharaj.
Babaji Maharaj then conveyed:
Sachinandanji, I have not come here by my own will. By the desire and direction of my Ista Deva Sri Sri Radha Binodbihari Jiu, your Guru and Param-Guru, I have been brought to you. It is the arrangement of Providence. Don’t see the external form of this place. It is an inconceivable and supremely merciful leela-bhumi of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Take up the opportunity for rendering services. Immediately once you have started the services, you will notice the merciful reciprocation of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
At this point of time it reminded him about the prediction of his revered spiritual master Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj, during the instruction to withdraw the University project which was exactly the same and thus created emotions in him and took up the services whole heartedly honouring it as the arrangement of Providence.
After the disappearance of Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj he was half-heartedly continuing his government service. However, after the resumption of services at Dandabhanga Dham he resigned his government service in the year 1998 opting to go for voluntary retirement to fully dedicate all his time serving the Dham. During this time he was also offered O.A.S. (Odisha Administrative Services) deputation from the government of Odisha to join as the Temple Administrator of Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri. This offer was also humbly refused by him to serve the cause of Dandabhanga Dham.
For the overall development of the site in order to facilitate for pilgrimage, taking holy dip at the sacred rivers and provide the opportunity for bhajan and rendering various services residing in the Dham to one and all, he struggled immensely and faced a lot of hardships; but in the arrangement of providence through his tireless persistent loving efforts to bring the merciful leelabhumi of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to its right prominence he inspired many senior devotees who joined him for the transcendental venture.
Many more devotees and local people started to participate and dedicate themselves to the services of Dandabhanga Dham after being influenced by his preaching and pure magnanimous personality. Then for the smooth functioning of services he formed a society and named it as ‘Sri Chaitanya Dandabhanga Leelakunjashrama’ which conducted regular temple activities, mass festivals, preaching programmes, publication of books and various philanthropic activities. Also to facilitate the stay of devotees an Ashram was established at the sacred Dandabhanga Leela Bhumi.
A distinguished tourism officer
As a senior tourism officer in Odisha government, he served in various districts of the state for several years. Starting from Bhubaneswar, he served as the head of the undivided districts of Cuttack, Puri and Dhenkanal; and finally Baripada of the district of Mayurbhanj. During the period when he was serving as the head of both the districts of Cuttack and Dhenkanal he had organized for the massive renovation and development of Sri Dhabaleshwar Temple at Cuttack and the great ancient archaeological Buddhist sites of Lalitgiri and Ratnagiri. Along with such services he would also be assigned various tasks from the government of Odisha and also the central government including hosting of elite delegates from different countries. In which, he would provide presentations and bring them an understanding on the greatness of India’s rich culture and heritage. He would tour them to those various sites that signified India’s archaeological, historical and spiritual greatness. Many students and researchers would take advantage of his profound knowledge on ‘Saura Tattva’ in regards to the ‘Sun Temple of Konark’.
During this period he had hosted and also gained intimate friendly relationships with renowned personalities from across the world, some of whom were the ex-French philosopher Mr. Francis Bournel, the defence chiefs of many countries including India, a few senior judges of the Indian supreme court and some senior cabinet ministers of India and various other countries like, the then USSR, UK and Vietnam.
He was also once desired by the Government of India to host Prince Charles of Britain during his visit to Odisha. Prince Charles became extremely delighted with his extra-ordinary personality and profound knowledge and had personally recommended him to the English embassy. Also locally impressed by his charismatic personality, his colleagues, senior officials, bureaucrats and the ministers of Odisha, would seek his involvement and leadership in various important events. During this time he lead the famous ‘Bali Yatra’ of the then chief minister of Odisha, Mr. Biju Patnaik, a voyage to Bali, Indonesia with around 200 senior government officials and ministers in the year 1992. His role in the government was also helpful in solving various complicated and crucial issues of ISKCON.
Lord Caitanya’s 500th anniversary (1986)
In the year 1986 on the occasion of the ‘500th Anniversary of Lord Chaitanya’s Appearance’, Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj had given the responsibility to him for smooth celebrations of the event in Odisha. Initially, he humbly expressed his doubts, whether he could successfully carry out such a huge responsibility as he was engaged in government service. At that time Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj said to him:
Sachinandan, you don’t consider yourself alone, just become an instrument and accept the services and you will see that by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu everything will become successful.
Taking the words of his Guru in his heart, he then accepted the services and arranged for the huge festivities throughout Odisha. The whole event was a grand success which was actively participated by students, judiciary, government officials, intellectuals from various sections of the society and locals. It also received immense appreciation from foreign devotees, who expressed their jubilation stating that they had never experienced such unique and wonderful celebrations.
Inauguration of the Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Mandir (1991)
As per the desire of H.D.G. Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj he had printed and distributed booklets glorifying the sacred city of Bhubaneswar during the inauguration of ISKCON’s Sri Sri Kṛṣṇa Balaram Mandir at Bhubaneswar on the auspicious day of Sri Nityananda Trayodashi in the year 1991.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s centenary (1996)
In the year 1996, along with some senior devotees of ISKCON, H.D.G. Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj had personally given him the responsibility of ‘Srila Prabhupad’s Centenary Celebration Coordinator’. As a tribute to and pleasure of the great Mahabhagavata Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupadji Maharaj he conceived four principal services from within his heart and dedicated himself with whole hearted immense endeavours for its accomplishment. The four such services were:
-
The grand and famous celebration of the four day long ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa Festival’ at Bhubaneswar which attracted tremendous appreciation and felicitation from various renowned personalities and societies.
-
The initiation of a massive forestation project, ‘Sri Jagannath Bana Prakalpa’, with over 500 acres of land located on the bank of Brutanga river near Dasapalla in the Nayagarh district of Odisha, wherein lakhs of Phasi and Neem trees were planted to fulfil the requirements for making the new Chariots every year for the grand ‘Ratha-Yatra’ festival of Their Supreme Lordships Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra Devi at Sri Jagannath Puri Dham.
-
To protect and renovate old shrines and monuments related with the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In this regard a massive renovation and beautification programme of Sri Alarnath Temple at Brahmagiri, Puri was accomplished. Here, among other services a big bhajan mandap in front of the divine rock having the impressions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a large kitchen for the Deities and a beautiful welcome gate was built glorifying Srila Prabhupada.
-
Then there was another extremely ambitious project that was greatly appreciated and encouraged by Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj. It was about the establishment of an ideal residential Vedic University, named as ‘Sri Jayadev-Bhaktivedanta Vedic University’ on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar which would accommodate upto 5000 students from all over the world. A lot of effort was put into it. A resolution was presented to be passed in the State Legislative Assembly seeking permission and necessary support for the project, 265 acres of land at the outskirts of Bhubaneswar was allotted by the government of Odisha for the project at a very low cost, eminent personalities such as Indo-US sub-commission chairperson Mrs. Mohini Han was approached, Prof. Satish Chandra, the then chairperson of U.G.C. was extremely pleased with the entire project, the courses of studies and the extensive syllabus which had also covered subjects from the age old Vedic knowledge and wisdom.
In the midst of this one day all of a sudden Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj had called him and said:
Sachinandan, The Supreme Lord Gopal out of His causeless mercy has revealed to us, as to what you are trying to do with noble desire and simplicity of heart, would eventually become a centre for power struggle, and the creeper of devotion, which is the true and ultimate goal of this rarely achieved human birth, would be lost….. put an end to this project.
This was a jolted shock he received as it came after loads of encouragement and immense endeavour. At this point of time H.D.G. Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj predicted to him:
… don’t be disheartened Sachinandan, an inconceivable and supremely merciful leela-bhumi of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will come your way to render services…
He at that time thought these statements from his revered spiritual master to be words of consolation to pacify his broken heart. Later, sticking to the instructions of his spiritual master, he surrendered the land to the government and then officially terminated the project.
Later, on 9th of February 1996, His Divine Grace Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj performed his glorious disappearance pastime, while narrating the mystery of the form of Lord Jagannath and divine pastimes of Sri Radha and Krishna. Thus after such sudden physical separation from his beloved spiritual master, he experienced great grief and desolation and at this state he also suffered his first (silent) heart attack.
Continuing his guru’s translations
Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj had received three principal instructions from Srila Prabhupada, to translate his books from English into Odia, to build a temple in Bhubaneswar, and to preach in Odisha and all over the world. For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada, fulfilling his instructions Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj had established the ISKCON centre with Sri Sri Krishna Balaram Temple at Bhubaneswar, extensively preached Krishna Consciousness throughout the world and along with translations of other literary works of Srila Prabhupada, translated Srimad Bhagavatam up to 5th Canto.
Thus after the glorious disappearance of Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj for the pleasure of his Guru and Param Guru, Srila Sachinandan Maharaj aiming to continue his spiritual master’s services, translated Srila Prabhupad’s Srimad Bhagavatam (English version) to Odia and completed the 6th, 7th and 8th Canto. He translated Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj’s English book ‘The Embankment of Separation’ into Odia and published it as ‘Sri Gaura Biraha Leela’. Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj had instructed him to translate his Odia book ‘Jñāna Vijñāna’ into English, for which the translations had been completed by him ready for publication.
Super cyclone relief (1999)
In the year 1999, the state of Odisha was hit by a devastating Super Cyclone, killing thousands of lives and leaving many lakhs of people starving and shelterless. Under his leadership massive relief operations were conducted along the largely affected coastal belt of the state which included distribution of food (Prasad) and clothes to the needy, where he would personally go to serve them. Along with other devotees one such relief program was conducted at Ersama, Paradeep. After seeing such massive heartily relief work at an inaccessible place in Ersama near Paradeep the then Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Pattnaik, who had also come to visit the affected areas gladly embraced him on the site expressing his deep appreciation.
Foundation stone at the Dhām (2000)
On 16th March, 2000, during the auspicious occasion of ‘Nyastadanda Jayanti’, many sanyasis, sadhus, senior vaishnavas and devotees from all over India and abroad had witnessed the great foundation stone laying ceremony for the proposed temple of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra Devi and Sri Sudarshan Jiu at Dandabhanga Dham; where the ‘Shila Nyasa’ was performed by the honourable king of Puri His Excellency Sri Sri Dibyasingh Deb Gajapati Maharaj.
Millennium Saṅkīrtana Padayatrā (2000)
On the 31st December 2000, a grand ‘Sri Jagannath Millennium Saṅkīrtana Padayatra’ from Dandabhanga to Puri was conducted by him along with Srila Bhakti Swarup Damodar Swami Maharaj in the presence of thousands of devotees from all over the world. A huge pandal programme with cultural event and spiritual discourses by eminent personalities was organized at Puri Sea-beach (Gandhi Ghat) in the evening. Among other delegates the wonderful event was also graced by His Excellency Dibya Singh Deb Gajapati Maharaj and sadhus like Sri Chaitanya Charan Das Babaji Maharaj and Srila Haridas Sen Babaji Maharaj. The ecstatic Saṅkīrtana by devotees continued over night welcoming the Sun of new millennium on the dawn of 1st January 2001.
Initiating disciples (2008)
In the year 2008, he started giving initiation to long aspiring devotees in the bonafide Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Guru-śiṣya parampara in the lineage of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj as per the injunctions of Sadhu Guru and Shastra. Also in the same year, ‘Sri Chaitanya Dandabhanga Leelakunjashrama’ was legally registered under the ‘Societies Registration Act’ of the government, with him being its Chairman. He thus remains honoured as it’s perpetual Founder Chairman.