Overview
Sampādakera Āvedana (A Petition from the Editor) was a short editorial first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Vol.1 in 1881. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura apologises to the readers of Sajjana Toṣaṇī for the three month delay in printing the magazine, and talks about his pilgrimage to Vṛndāvana.
(translated by Swami B.V. Giri)
aśeṣa-kleśa viśleṣi-pareśāveśa sādhinī
jīyād eṣā parā patrī sarva-sajjana-toṣaṇī
(“With the intent to eliminate unlimited miseries, and bestow feelings of separation towards the Supreme, may this transcendental newspaper live long and please [toṣaṇī] all the devotees [sajjana].”)
The Sajjana Toṣaṇī of the months of Śravaṇa, Bhādra and Āśvina has been delayed from publication. That is why we are praying to our honourable subscribers to kindly forgive us. The reason for the delay is that we have not been able to settle down anywhere since we left Naḍāla. In between, I went on pilgrimage for about a month. Here I will tell the readers only the main details of what I have seen while visiting the holy places.
We first visited Prayāga-tīrtha with a steam vehicle from Calcutta. After bathing there, I went to visit Śrī Veṇī Mādhava-deva, and the next day, I left the steam vehicle and went to Mathurā station. I reached Vṛndāvana Dhāma within two hours from Mathurā. At first, our Vraja-vāsī cunningly took us to a small kuñja near Nidhuvana without taking us to the kuñja which we desired to go to. Later, one of our dearest kuñja-vāsīs carefully took us to the nearby kuñja of Vaṁśī-vaṭa. We stayed on one side of that kuñja. From there we went to take darśana of Śrī Śyāma-kuṇḍa, Rādha-kuṇḍa and Giri Govardhana. I discussed many issues during my stay in Śrī Vṛndāvana and I will publish them in the next edition.
Leaving Vraja Dhāma, we returned to our own residence via Lucknow, Faizabad, Ayodhyā and Vārāṇasī. I will gradually publish what I have seen in different places.