Banko To Muzaffarnagar

Shukratal: Where Sukadeva Goswami Explained the Srimad Bhagavatam

Post by happyIndia | Delhi | Feb 12, 2009

First of all, the village and the road to get to it are so small that they do not show up on most maps, so it is not easy to find unless you know how to get to it. But it is about an hour east of the city of Muzaffarnagar. There you can get a bus from the local bus stand that will take you there. One goes about every hour. Or hire a car to drive you. It rides over a bumpy and narrow road where traffic can come to a halt in the three small villages that you go through along the way. The first village along the road is Morna, which is a part of the legend of Pariksit that we will describe shortly. Then after some time there is a fork in the road and an arch over the way on the left that leads to Shukratal. A short drive later you enter the town itself. The bus will take you to the local bus stand or drop off point. But as you enter the town, the first place you reach is Shukteerth and the Bhagavata Peeth Shukdev Ashrama. If you stop here, you walk or drive up the hill to the ashrama's parking area and see the 5100 year old Akshay Vriksha tree. This is the exact place where Sukadeva Goswami spoke the Srimad-Bhagavatam to Maharaja Pariksit. The ashrama is built around the tree.