Vrndavana / Mathura

There are twelve forests in the area of Vrndavana, and Madhuvana is one of them. Pilgrims from all parts of India assemble together and visit all twelve of these forests. There are five forests on the eastern bank of the Yamuna: Bhadravana, Bilvavana, Lauhavana, Bhandiravana and Mahavana. On the western side of the bank there are seven: Madhuvana, Talavana, Kumudavana, Bahulavana, Kamyavana, Khadiravana and Vrndavana. In those twelve forests there are different ghats, or bathing places. They are listed as follows: (1) Avimukta, (2) Adhirudha, (3) Guhyatirtha, (4) Prayagatirtha, (5) Kanakhala, (6) Tindukatirtha, (7) Suryatirtha, (8) Vatasvami, (9) Dhruvaghata (Dhruvaghata, where there are many nice fruit and flower trees, is famous because Dhruva Maharaja meditated and underwent severe penances and austerities there in an elevated spot), (10) Rsitirtha, (11) Moksatirtha, (12) Budhatirtha, (13) Gokarna, (14) Krsnagaṅga, (15) Vaikuntha, (16) Asikunda, (17) Catuhsamudrika-kupa, (18) Akruratirtha (when Krsna and Balarama were going to Mathura in the chariot driven by Akrura, all of them took baths in this ghat), (19) Yajnigviprasthana, (20) Kubja-kupa, (21) Raṅgasthala, (22) Manchasthala, (23) Maṅllayuddhasthana, and (24) Dasasvamedha. (More...)

Holy places like Vrndavana, Hardwar, Prayaga and Jagannatha Puri are especially meant for the execution of devotional service. Vrndavana specifically is the most exalted and preferred holy place for Vaisnava devotees of Lord Krsna who are aspiring to return back to Godhead, the Vaikuntha planets. There are many devotees in Vrndavana who regularly bathe in the Yamuna, and this cleanses all the contamination of the material world. By constantly chanting and hearing the holy names and pastimes of the Supreme Lord, one certainly becomes purified and becomes a fit candidate for liberation. However, if one purposefully falls victim to sense gratification, he has to be punished, at least for one lifetime, like Bharata Maharaja. (More...)

The description of Vrndavana forest as given herewith was spoken by Krsna five thousand years ago, and the same condition prevailed during the time of the Vaisnava acaryas three or four hundred years ago. Kujat-kokila-hamsa-sarasa-ganakirne mayurakule . Vrndavana forest is always filled with the chirping and cooing of birds like cuckoos (kokila), ducks (hamsa) and cranes (sarasa), and it is also full of peacocks (mayurakule). The same sounds and atmosphere still prevail in the area where our Krsna-Balarama temple is situated. Everyone who visits this temple is pleased to hear the chirping of the birds as described here (kujat-kokila-hamsa-sarasa). (More...)

It was not essential for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to go to Vrndavana, for wherever He stayed was immediately converted to Vrndavana. Indeed, there was also the River Ganges, the River Yamuna and all other places of pilgrimage. This was also expressed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself when He danced in the Ratha-yatra. At that time He said that His very mind was Vrndavana (mora-mana-vrndavana). Because His mind was Vrndavana, all the pastimes of Radha and Krsna were taking place within Himself. Nonetheless, just to teach people, He visited bhauma-vrndavana, Vrndavana-dhama in this material world. In this way the Lord instructed everyone to visit Vrndavana-dhama, which is a very holy place. Materialists consider Vrndavana-dhama an unclean city because there are many monkeys and dogs there, and along the bank of the Yamuna there is refuse. Some time ago, a materialistic man asked me, "Why are you living in Vrndavana? Why have you selected such a dirty place to live after retiring?" Such a person cannot understand that Vrndavana-dhama is always a representation of the original Vrndavana-dhama. Consequently Vrndavana-dhama is as worshipable as Lord Krsna. Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam: according to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's philosophy, Lord Sri Krsna and His abode, Vrndavana, are equally worshipable. Sometimes materialistic people who have no spiritual understanding go to Vrndavana as tourists. One who goes to Vrndavana with such materialistic vision cannot derive any spiritual benefit. Such a person is not convinced that Krsna and Vrndavana are identical. Since they are identical, Vrndavana is as worshipable as Lord Krsna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's vision (mora-mana-vrndavana) is different from the vision of an ordinary materialistic person. At the Ratha-yatra festival, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, absorbed in the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani, dragged Lord Krsna back to Vrndavana-dhama. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke of this in the verses beginning ahus ca te (Madhya 13.136). (More...)

So we, of course, we are not so advanced, but we have got many examples of advanced devotees. Still there are in India; you will find in Vrndavana and other places. Actually, they have no means-simply depending. They take their bath in the Yamuna and sit down and chant Hare Krsna. There are still such devotees. But everything is going on. So that is santa, completely depending on God. That is the highest stage of devotional life. Vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah [Bg 7.19]. There are many stories and many incidences. And that's a fact, that, as it is said by Bhagavan, (More...)

So the Krsna consciousness movement means variety of service to the Supreme. The example is just like the varieties of different parts of the body: the head is there, the hand is there, the brain is there, the leg is there. The head cannot work like the leg, neither the leg can work like the brain. The hand cannot work like the belly, or belly cannot work like the hand. Varieties. Similarly, there are varieties of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we serve Krsna with our varieties, sva karmana tam abhyarcya [Bg 18.46], then it is everything peaceful. That is Krsna consciousness movement. We do not want to stop the varieties. Varieties must be there. We are not nirvesesa-vadi, impersonalist. No. We are completely personalist. Krsna is person, Radharani is person, the devotees are person, the demigods are person, the cats person, the dogs person, the cows person, the calfs person. But what is the meaning of Vrndavana? Vrndavana means everyone-the father-mother of Krsna, Nanda Maharaja, Yasodamayi; the gopis, the girlfriends of Krsna, Radharani and others; and the cowherd boys; and the cows, the calfs, the trees, the flowers, the fruits, the water. Everyone is for serving Krsna. This is Vrndavana. Vrndavana means there is variety, and varieties of service, but everything for Krsna. That is Vrndavana. (More...)

In your letter to me of May 4, 1976 from Vrindaban you said: concerning the Taparia house, "Dhananjaya and his wife and other grhasthas will live on that land (house). . . . Three or four brahmacarinis who are working on the mukhuts can also live there.'' You suggested like this, so if some women can live there, why not all? Somehow or other, the guesthouse must be freed from all encumbrances. It will be absolutely used by guests. I have received reliable reports that on account of the devotees staying there, guests were sometimes refused places because all the rooms were taken up by the devotees there. Also, the fact that the mukat business takes up 8-10 rooms is very bad. The guest house cannot be occupied by anything. It is already spoiled, and they must move. Why there are so many women in Vrindaban? Vrindaban is meant for retirement, elderly persons in Krishna Consciousness can devote all their time to devotional service. Such men are wanted to live in Vrindaban, not women and children. That is a fact, the holy dhamas are meant for the sannyasis and brahmacaris especially. If necessary, the management must be done by sannyasis and brahmacaris, not grhasthas. (More...)

According to ordinary experience, Vrndavana appears to be just like an ordinary village, but in the eyes of a highly elevated devotee, it is as good as the original Vrndavana.

This Krsna-katha will also be very much appealing to the most materialistic persons because Krsna's pastimes with the gopis (cowherd girls) are exactly like the loving affairs between young girls and boys within this material world. Actually, the sex feeling found in human society is not unnatural because this same sex feeling is there in the original Personality of Godhead. The pleasure potency is called Srimati Radharani. The attraction of loving affairs on the basis of sex feeling is the original feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we, the conditioned souls, being part and parcel of the Supreme, have such feelings also, but they are experienced within a perverted, minute condition. Therefore, when those who are after sex life in this material world hear about Krsna's pastimes with the gopis, they will relish transcendental pleasure, although it appears to be materialistic. The advantage will be that they will gradually be elevated to the spiritual platform. In the Bhagavatam it is stated that if one hears the pastimes of Lord Krsna with the gopis from authorities with submission, then he will be promoted to the platform of transcendental loving service to the Lord, and the material disease of lust within his heart will be completely vanquished. In other words, it will counteract the material sex life. (More...)

Actually, if someone goes to Vrndavana, he will immediately feel separation from Krsna, who performed such nice activities when He was present there.

In the book Padyavali by Rupa Gosvami there is the following statement about Vrndavana: "In this place the son of Maharaj Nanda used to live with His father, who was king of all cowherd men. In this place Lord Krsna broke the cart in which the Sakatasura demon was concealed. At this place Damodara, who can cut the knot of our material existence, was tied up by His mother Yasoda." (More...)

A pure devotee of Lord Krsna resides in the district of Mathura or Vrndavana and visits all the places where Krsna's pastimes were performed. At these sacred places Krsna displayed His childhood activities with the cowherd boys and Mother Yasoda. The system of circumambulating all these places is still current among devotees of Lord Krsna, and those coming to Mathura and Vrndavana always feel transcendental pleasure. Actually, if someone goes to Vrndavana, he will immediately feel separation from Krsna, who performed such nice activities when He was present there. (More...)

Such attraction for remembering Krsna's activities is known as attachment for Krsna. There are impersonalist philosophers and mystics, however, who by a show of devotional service want ultimately to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord. They sometimes try to imitate a pure devotee's sentiment for visiting the holy places where Krsna had His pastimes, but they simply have a view for salvation, and so their activities cannot be considered attachment. (More...)

Between Nandesvara and Mahavana is a place named Vrndavana. This place is very suitable because it is lush with grass, plants and creepers for the cows

Between Nandesvara and Mahavana is a place named Vrndavana. This place is very suitable because it is lush with grass, plants and creepers for the cows and other animals. It has nice gardens and tall mountains and is full of facilities for the happiness of all the gopas and gopis and our animals. (More...)

Oh, I have not as yet visited the wonderful places where the pastimes of the Lord were performed. But simply by hearing the name of Mathura I have become overwhelmed with joy!

One devotee has exclaimed, "Oh, I have not as yet visited the wonderful places where the pastimes of the Lord were performed. But simply by hearing the name of Mathura I have become overwhelmed with joy!" (More...)

The places in the eighty-four-square-mile district of Mathura are so beautifully situated on the banks of the River Yamuna that anyone who goes there will never want to return to this material world.

Again, he has described Mathura-mandala: "I remember the Lord standing by the banks of the Yamuna River, so beautiful amidst the kadamba trees, where many birds are chirping in the gardens. And these impressions are always giving me transcendental realization of beauty and bliss." This feeling about Mathura-mandala and Vrndavana by Rupa Gosvami can actually be felt even by nondevotees. The places in the eighty-four-square-mile district of Mathura are so beautifully situated on the banks of the River Yamuna that anyone who goes there will never want to return to this material world. These statements by Rupa Gosvami are factually realized descriptions of Mathura and Vrndavana. All these qualities prove that Mathura and Vrndavana are situated transcendentally. Otherwise, there is no possibility of invoking our transcendental sentiments in these places. Such transcendental feelings are aroused immediately and without fail after one arrives in Mathura or Vrndavana. (More...)

This attainment of transcendental loving devotional service to the Lord is the goal of life, and it can be achieved very easily for one who lives in Mathura-mandala even for a few seconds.

In the Padma Purana there is a statement about the importance of living at holy places like Mathura or Dvaraka. It is stated there: "To travel to different places of pilgrimage means to attain emancipation from material bondage. This emancipation, however, is not the highest perfectional stage. After attaining this liberated stage, one has to become engaged in devotional service to the Lord. After attainment of the brahma-bhuta [liberation] stage one can further advance to engagement in devotional service. So this attainment of transcendental loving devotional service to the Lord is the goal of life, and it can be achieved very easily for one who lives in Mathura-mandala even for a few seconds." (More...)

It is further said: "Who is that person who will not agree to worship the land of Mathura? Mathura can deliver all the desires and ambitions of the fruitive workers and of the salvationists, who desire to become one with the supreme Brahman. Certainly Mathura will deliver the desires of the devotees, who simply aspire to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord." In the Vedic literature it is also stated: "How wonderful it is that simply by residing in Mathura even for one day, one can achieve a transcendental loving attitude toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead! This land of Mathura must be more glorious than Vaikuntha-dhama, the kingdom of God!" (More...)

Rupa Gosvami has stated that the five kinds of devotional activities-namely, residing in Mathura, worshiping the Deity of the Lord, reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam, serving a devotee, and chanting the Hare Krsna mantra-are so potent that a small attachment for any one of these five items can arouse devotional ecstasy even in a neophyte. (More...)

What is the meaning of Vrndavana?

What is Vrndavana?

What is Vrndavana? The devotees of Vrndavana, they are all individuals. The gopis are individual, the cowherd boys are individual, the calves are individual, the cows are individual. Everyone is individual. But the purpose is how to love Krsna. That is oneness. There is no disagreement in that purpose. The gopis are trying to satisfy Krsna, the cowherd boys are satisfying..., trying to satisfy Krsna, Mother Yasoda is trying to satisfy Krsna, Nanda Maharaja is trying to satisfy Krsna. The whole center is how to satisfy Krsna. That oneness is required. Not that I become one with Krsna. That is not possible. Therefore sastra says, aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah anadrta-yusmad-aṅghrayah [SB 10.2.32]: when they do not agree to serve Krsna, then they come back in this material world; again they begin to serve the society, to serve the country, to serve the daridra-narayana, to serve this, that, that, that, that. So aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah: even they go to the Brahman effulgence, because they do not agree to serve Krsna, anadrta-yusmad-aṅghrayah, they again come back to serve the society, friendship and daridra-narayana, so on, so on, so on. So this is the Bhagavata's instruction: one should not begin..., become a guru, or to cheat the disciple, showing him wrong path. That is not good. That is instructed by Rsabhadeva. (More...)

When will that glorious day in my life come when it will be possible for me to go to the bank of the Yamuna and see Lord Sri Krsna playing there as a cowherd boy?

Another devotee in ecstatic reverential affection once said, "When will that glorious day in my life come when it will be possible for me to go to the bank of the Yamuna and see Lord Sri Krsna playing there as cowherd boy?" (More...)