Ananda Sambada

Iskcon Jantaribol

The Story of the Temple at Jantaribol as told by Sri Pradosh prabhu

Sri Sri Goura Nityananda Paramarthika Sevashrama is a spiritual oasis founded by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Gurudeva in the early eighties, around 1984. It is situated nearby a rural Odishan village near Jantaribol, Kamakhya Nagar, district Dhenkanal. This area in the mid-Odishan region is surrounded by beautiful scenic sal trees and forested hilltops.

The story begins like this; almost six decades ago one wandering saint called Krpa Sindhu, from the Alekh Mahima sect (worshippers of impersonal Brahman), came to the village of Jantaribol and approached one tribal family for accepting bhikya, to eat some cooked food. The sadhu told them, 'I will go take bath, and will return after some time, when your cooking would be ready.' That sadhu left. After some time the tribal family finished their cooking and waited for that sadhu to come back for eating. They waited for hours, but the sadhu did not return. The tribal couple sent their child to find the sadhu, and so the child went with his other friends and searched around. They came to the village pond, where people take bath, but they did not find him there. Then they started to search the forest groves, and the hilltop. They eventually found the sadhu sitting in meditation next to the crematorium ground, where the villagers would burn their dead. The kids shouted, “O baba, please come back. Don’t sit in that untouchable place,” hearing the noise, that Alekh baba broke his meditation and came back to the family to accept bhikhya from them. The tribal house-holder became greatly worried because it had become quite late. They asked that baba, 'where have you been, what are you doing there?' In his reply the baba said, ,actually after my bath I went to such a place to perform my noon prayer, and when I sat down at that spot, I felt some supernatural atmosphere.' Then that baba revealed his forecast to the tribal family, that, in the future, a Mahapurusa would come to this place and make this place bright. At that time in Odisha state, such type of Alekh mahima sadhus could predict many things. They could read the future by the power of their sadhana.

Quite a long time later, when Srila Gurudeva came and established that Ashram by cleaning that place, local people made a hut by cutting the branches of a tree and Srila Gurudeva spent his first night.

One older man from that village came to Srila Gurudeva and fell flat on the ground in front of Gurudeva. With tears in his eyes, he related this story to him, and in a loud voice he announced that, 'now we could see how the prediction of this place came true'.

In 1986 Srila Gurudeva went with a few western devotees to this remote place and gave initiation to his disciples for the first time there with grand festivity. After some time, the local devotees constructed a small building, where the deities of Sri Sri Gour Nityananda, with Patitapabana Jangannath, were established with a grand ceremony on Rama Navami 1999 by H. H. Bhakti Swarup Damodar Swami and The Gajapati King of Puri, His Royal Highness, Maharaja Dibyasingha Dev. They both highly praised the sanctity of the place.

And after some time, Murali Krishna Maharaja visited the place and highly developed the facilities there by spending half a million dollars to complete the magnificent Temple room, a double story guest house, Brahmacari Ashram, water supply and boundary wall, etc. as a service to Srila Gurudeva. One of the older devotees Bhanu Prabhu who passed this world a few years before, recalled how Srila Gurudeva was happy there, and that he likes the place so much and had said that “when I will become old man, I will come and do bhajan here.” Many local people near and far to this place took shelter of Srila Gurudeva’s lotus feet. Now His Holiness Haladhar Swami Maharaja is there enlivening the devotees with spiritual strength by speaking wonderful discourses.

Our beloved Srila Gurudeva, Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja, gave initiation to his first disciples at Jantaribol, on the sacred occasion of Rama Navamai, 31st March, 1985. He continued to give initiations at the temple for the next couple of years. Thirty seven years later, on Rama Navamai, 21st April, 2021, his disciple Sripad Caitanya candra Maharaja gave initiation to 20 devotees at the Temple.