Giriraj Swami’s 500-Years-Old Conchshell

Giriraj Swami: Well, the beginning of this history is that it used to be the tradition that after Gaura-purnima His Holiness Indradyumna Swami would come and stay here. And then on the first Saturday after Gaura-purnima we would go to Laguna Beach for the regional mahā Gaura-purnima festival. Gaura-purnima was quite soon after Srila Narottama dasa Thakura disappearance day, so I set out a picture of Narottama dasa Thakura on the altar and left it there. When Indradyumna Swami came he told me about a temple of Radha Vraja Mohan in Vrindavan that he had discovered, and he said it was out of the way, most devotees didn’t know about it and it was very poor. He started to go there with his group and he gave donations. 

Now going back five hundred years, the first Gaura-purnima festival was celebrated in Kheturi, in the presence of Jahnava devi, Narottama dasa Thakura, and Srinivasa Acharya. And at that festival they installed six pairs of deities, and one of them was Radha Vraja Mohan, and this set of deities was sent to Vrindavan. And this conch shell was sent with the deities. All right, then how did the conch shell get here? 

So, when Indradyumna Swami came he told me about this temple and how poor they were, and he asked me if I would give a donation, and I said yes and I gave him a pretty good one, that they could keep in the fixed deposit and from the interest they could make new clothes. They weren’t even able to afford to make new clothes for the deities. So that pujari was so indebted to Indradyumna Swami that he gave him this conch shell that was sent by Narottama dasa Thakura with the deities. And as he said, we don’t know, it might have been blown by Narottama dasa Thakura or Srinivasa Acharya or Jahnava Matta, but we do know for sure that it was sent with the deities from Kheturi. 

When I said, “Okay, I will give this donation” he said “Okay, I will give you the conch shell.” And apart from its sacred history—I don’t know if all the conch shells do, but this one distinctly has two pitches, a higher pitch and a lower pitch.

Well yes. Do you want to demonstrate? [Laughter] 

[Blowing of the conch]