Jagat

So I took a major step today. In my strategic program of concerted efforts to tie myself down to this place called Vrindavan, I went to the Sri Sri Radha Damodar temple and begged the sevayat, Sri Balaram Goswami, for the privilege of giving daily readings from the Bhagavata Tenth Canto or Gopala Champu in front of Srila Rupa Goswami's samadhi. He has shown favor to the idea and we are to finalize tomorrow the times and so on. When a starting day has been fixed, I will invite all of you, my dear readers, to come and join me in a little, inostentatious ceremony there worshiping the Bhagavatam and for you to give me your blessings. Holi has passed and the hot season is coming. The mood usually changes abruptly after Holi. But Vrindavan’s sustained, increasing energy is observable, as clearly as the scientists are able to observe the rise of the global temperature. Here it was a Friday, which explains in part why the streets are as crowded as on any weekend or holiday. Ammac...

I was thinking about Govindaji this morning and remembered that I had never been to the new Govindaji temple. I also wanted to test the "Yoga-Peeth-ness" of the old temple by sitting and meditating there. I had quick results in the affirmative. I played with the color on some of these photos, as the light was a little difficult for an amateur photographer like me. I did not have time to do a good job, so the duller pix are the ones that are "natural." I believe this photo was first published in Growse's District Memoir in 1873, Growse ordered the first renovations. It seems that a lot of the stone from the building was used here and there, and a lot of it was dumped in what is now called "Patthar Pura". According to some sources, a lot of the stone went to help build the mosque in Mathura at the Janma Sthan. The wall that appears on the roof here, according to Growse, was built by Aurangzeb as a mosque with qibla pointing to Mecca. He repor...

Much of the talk about Vrindavan on this site is meant to serve as a partial archive of Vrindavan's changes as it undergoes this period of intense development. Old-timers like myself have a great deal of nostalgia for the old Vrindavan, especially the Parikrama Marg as it was in the past. But we have to recognize the inevitability of the changes that are coming. It is likely that what I say here won't be new to most observers of the Vrindavan scene. I am reminded of Hit Kinkar Sewak Sharanji , whom we call the pioneer of Vrindavan environmentalism, and the attempts he made in the 1980's to promote an environmentally-friendly development in Vrindavan with a strong green belt to act as a bulwark against the encroachment of aggressive modernity. He thought that Vrindavan should be "developed" as a kind of "human sanctuary," in the sense that it should be an oasis from the modern world, in which the local society could pursue the spiritual duties of the h...