Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Many of my friends are travelers who are associated with different travel groups and one of them even coordinates tours across India, mostly Kashmir.

Early March, one of them suggested Habibpur to visit ISKCON. It is roughly five hours (to and fro) trip covering over 160 kms in a day. I am always game for one day tours.

Just that I did not want to spend five hours just for one spot - Habibpur ISKCON was inaugurated in 2010. I had been to ISKCON in  Mayapur and in Bangalore.

Early last month, a couple of my friends in Bangalore connected with me as they were interested to launch saree collection with Bengal cotton and soft hand loom. As I had a boutique for over five and half years in Bangalore, they wanted me work on their first collection.

Now that brings Habibpur to focus again, because just the next station is Phulia, two stations away is Santipur. These places are sort of Mecca for Bengal cotton Sarees as the weavers practically sell the finished product from their homes (More on this in a separate blog)

I was not able to join my friend who suggested Habibpur. Her group will be there tomorrow and they had plans to book a room, freshen up, look around, relish the fifteen items Thaali (INR 150) - make it a whole day affair. 

Prasad coupons have to be collected in advance. I understand, there is an alternative to have the simpler version of Prasad with five or six items for INR 60/-

Shantipur local trains start from Sealdah, very early in the morning - the first one being at 4.35 AM. Every one and a half hours you have one of these locals for this station - just in case you miss one. We boarded the train that leaves Sealdah at 7.35 AM.

The idea was to cover Habibpur and then go shopping for Sarees in Shantipur. I had already spoken to two vendors and shared the collection that I wanted on Watsapp.

Train tickets (INR 20) is cheap if you consider the distance you cover.

The Habibpur story begins..

From Habibpur station, a Toto, also called Tuktuki took us to ISKCON for INR 10/- I did not explore the bus option.

The Entrance. There is another entrance close to the food counter

It is no where like Mayapur ISKCON - It does not have the separate queues for depositing shoes, bags and mobiles which was irritating the first time I went to Mayapur. In fact the inquiry stand was deserted - probably that is because we were there pretty early.

A counter to guide the tourists/ devotees

It is not so grand however has a calming effect on you, as you enter the premises.

Calm Atmosphere - Plenty of place to sit

I constantly kept comparing with other ISKCON centres and was practically relieved that you can just roam around with your belongings instead of spending considerable time in queues either for depositing and taking your stuff back.

We did not see any crowd here - Pretty thoughtful to have medical clinic within the premises

We first saw the place around before getting into the temple.

I did not click this to show the queue for Prasad
but to show the line of basil plants in the front yard 

There is a garden, a lodge, a lake with option to take a boat ride, a shop inside the temple to buy memento and a cow shed too

The Office Signboard

Inside the temple, we asked the authorities if we could click a photograph. They allowed. The only prohibition was not to click any humans with the idols. Makes perfect sense.

Outside the temple

We received charanamritam and prasad (Papaya) in the temple. We went in the early hours, so it wasn't crowded at all

Inside the temple
a) ISKCON Habibpur Main Altar
b) Sri Jagannatha Baladeva Subhadra - In the middle
c) Sri Sri Radha Madhav - Right
d) Sri Sri Gaur Nitai

Just wish we could hear some Kirtan - After all it was spring and holi just passed a couple of days back.

Hare Krisna Hare Krisna Krisna Krisna Hare Hare; Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare
I am guessing - these will be up on those walls soon.

I enjoyed the place, however I doubt if I will want to stay there - 
Here is where you can stay if you want to. You can check the website or talk to them in advance for price and booking.

Accommodation

If I did stay it will be to see how the place looks with lights. Must be wonderful with some chanting of Hare Rama Hare Krishna in the background.

Do you see the swan boat in the lake?

You will have better company if you paid attention around - they are beautiful. Here they are, in their own world.

Are they beautiful?

It is good idea to visit this place now before the strict procedures followed in other ISKCON centers catches up here. 

As we were leaving the premises we saw a devotee get into a van with a musical instrument - probably for a chanting tour. 

That, for me, is the essence of Gaurdham

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