Dear devotees,
Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Srimati Radharani, I had an opportunity to visit Sri Dham Vrindavana during the September of this year. Although my visit was very brief, I somehow managed to get into the deeper forests of Vraja for darshana. This time, I spent most of my time only in Vrindavana, chanting and having Darshan of the Deities there. I remember once, a devotee saying to me that one should always pray to the Deities of Sri Dham Vrindavana since They are all the Deities who have been worshipped by Gosvamis and pure devotees. They have enacted many pastimes with Their devotees. They are so merciful and powerful. Therefore we should always pray to Them to give us krishna-bhakti and as well as devotion to serve the mission of Srila Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master.

Although I have take many pictures on my last visits to the holy land, I have not shared many pictures with devotees. But this time I thought I would share my images with the devotees since they also could be benefitted by having Darshan of the land of Vrindavana.

Always before entering the Vraja Dham we should always try to remember the importance of Vraja. Then our respect to this holy land and our stay here will be more spiritually fruitful. Srila Prabhupada says as follows about this transcendental land:

In Brahma-samhita the transcendental land of Vrndavana is described as being always spiritual. That spiritual land is populated by goddesses of fortune, who are known as gopis. These are all beloved of Krsna, and Krsna is the only lover of all those gopis. The trees of that land are kalpa-vrksa, wish fulfilling trees, and one can have anything he wants from them. The land is made of touchstone and the water of nectar. In that land all speech is song, and all walking is dancing, and one's constant companion is the flute. Everything is self-luminous, just like the sun in this material world. The human form of life is meant for understanding this transcendental land of Vrndavana, and one who is fortunate should cultivate knowledge of Vrndavana and its residents.
(TLC 31: The Supreme Perfection)

Srila Rupa Gosvami further advises, tisthan vraje: one should live in Vrndavana or any part of Vrajabhumi. Vrajabhumi, or the land of Vrndavana, is supposed to be eighty-four krosas in area. One krosa equals two square miles. When one makes Vrndavana his residence, he should take shelter of an advanced devotee there. In this way one should always think of Krsna and His pastimes.
(NoI: verse 8)

My dear Uddhava, Vrndavana is the land of rivers, forests and cows. Here the vibration of the flute was heard, and Krsna, along with His elder brother, Sri Balarama, enjoyed the atmosphere in our company. Thus the environment of Vrndavana constantly reminds us of Krsna and Balarama. On the land of Vrndavana are the impressions of His footprints, the residence of the goddess of fortune, and because of such signs we cannot forget Krsna.
(KB 47: Delivery of the Message of Krsna to the Gopis)

When He comes into this universe, He, He is seen in that tract of land which is called Vrndavana. Therefore that tract of land is so sacred. Lord Caitanya describes by His mission, aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad dhama vrndavanam. Aradhya, the Supreme Lord, Krsna, is worshipable Deity, and His dhama, and His headquarters -- and His dhama means headquarters-Vrndavana. Therefore Vrndavana is so important.
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967)

This time, my shooting of Vrindavana was only the shooting of Deity images. As I would have Darshan of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar and Sri Sri Radha Ramana, my hand would immediately go to fetch my camera. Amazingly beautiful Deities. So beautiful I am out of words to describe Their beauty. The only thing I could do is to pray to Them and nothing else.

After visiting the temples, my agenda would be to have Darshan of Sri Sri Banke Bihariji and have prasadam in the Banke Bihari market since that is my favourite place for having Lassi and other types. Perhaps this is the best place in whole of Vrindavana where you could get the best lassi, hot alu-tikki, golgappe, chole, etc..

I have uploaded the photos of Deities in the link:

Samadhi of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. It is here that the other shaligrama shilas worshipped by him are still being worshipped here. Sri Sri Radha Ramana manifested Himself on the desire his dearmost devotee, Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami who wanted to decorate the Deities. This Samadhi is just near Radha Ramana Temple. Generally devotees miss out this very important and spiritually potent place. Spending time in Japa here and reading the books of Srila Prabhupada is the best way of utilization of the environment of Sri Vrindavana Dham.

This is the place where Sri Sri Radha Ramana manifested Himself out of the damodara-shila who was being worshipped by Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami.

Srimati Yamunadevi in Her full glorious form, flowing through the heart of Sri Vrindavana. It is on the banks of this transcendental river that Krishna performed many pastimes. Even the waters of Yamuna are purified since Krishna played in these waters and His lotus feet constantly touched them. It is first time in 30-40 yrs that Yamuna is so full. As soon as I saw her, my mind was so eased with peace and calmness. I felt like staying there for the whole day just observing her flowing waters. All glories to the Yamuna River.

After 2 days this cow structure at Keshi-ghat was submerged into Yamuna due to her rising water.

Srila Prabhupada says that in Vrindavana, the centre of all the activities is Krishna. And now also you can see that. The residents of Vrindavana wake very early in the morning, visit the temples during mangala-arati time and retire for the day before 10 pm. All the shops and offices are closed by 8 pm maximum 9-9:30 pm. This devotee, everyday comes to Yamuna and worships Her by performing her abhisheka and lighting a lampa and performing the arati. How pious they are..

An ancient dhol at Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Mandir.

These rings only signified one thing to me that if the senses are under our control, and if we utilize the guidance by bona-fide spiritual master just like Srila Prabhupada himself, we can easily serve Krishna.

A beautiful dome structure behind Old Radha Govinda Mandir. There is a new Radha Govinda Mandir which is behind the old Radha Govinda Mandir. The old Radha Govinda Mandir houses Sri Giridhari, Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga, Sri Jagannatha and the small Deities of Sri Sri Radha Govinda which are small, made of brass and are kept in front of Giridhari. Many a times we miss to have Darshan of These Deities. I was not at all fortunate to have Darshan of Deities at the new temple. The Yoga-maya temple in the old temple complex also houses a stone slab which carries the imprints of Sri Krishna’s lotus feet.

Y/s
Aishwarya Kumar
To follow next week.