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...

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...