Jagat

Govinda Kund at Anyaur, Govardhan. vṛndā-kānana kānanasya paramā śobhā parātaḥ parā- nanda tvad-guṇa-vṛndam eva madhuraṁ yenāniśaṁ gīyate | hā vṛndāvana koṭi-jīvanam api tvatto'titucchaṁ yadi jñātaṁ tarhi kim asti yat tṛṇakavac chakyeta nopekṣitum|| Vrindavan! You possess all the highest, most transcendent beauties of a woodland, and so you are supremely blissful! Ah Vrindavan! If someone should constantly sing sweetly of your virtues, and know that in comparison to you, even millions of lifetimes are extremely insignificant, then what is there in this world that he could not disregard, even as one disregards a blade of grass? This verse is repeated at 3.22. See also VMA 2.25 :  Vrindavan's divine sylvan virtues What a fortune to live in the Holy Dham! Here again Prabodhananda Saraswatipada talks about the sylvan virtues. Though Prabodhananda specifically talks about Vrindavan, his Vrindavan should really be taken to mean the whole of Braj . ...

svacchaṁ svacchandam evāsty atimadhura-rasa-nirjharād ambu pātuṁ bhoktuṁ svādūni kāmaṁ sakala-taru-tale śīrṇa-parṇāni santi | kāmaṁ niḥśīta-vātaṁ vimala-giri-guhādy asti nirbhāti vastuṁ śrī-vṛndāraṇyam etat tad api yadi jihāsāmi hā hā hato’smi || The waters flowing from the springs are pure and very sweet tasting and one can drink them to one’s heart’s content; one can eat all one desires of the delicious dry leaves that fall from each and every tree. One can take up residence in the spotless caves of the mountains where cool winds freely blow. Vrindavan is like this, so should I ever wish to leave it, Alas alas! I would be ruined. (1.16) Commentary It is hard not to read this last verse without being provoked into deep reflection about the changing times. It is clear that Prabodhananda is an extremely renounced sadhu. Again and again he expresses a pleasure in the life of renunciation and austerity. Living in caves? Dry leaves? Not so appealing to us today. Bu...

Crowds in the narrow alleyways trying to get darshan of Bihariji. Part I of this three part series. [Introduction, Places of Pilgrimage: Tirtha, Kshetra and Dham, Vaishnava criticisms of tīrtha-yātrā, Braj/Vrindavan is a dhāma] Part II of this three part series. [How a Gaudiya Vaishnava performs pilgrimage to the Dham, The eternal glory of residence in the Dham] Part III : Sattva-guṇa and Nirguṇa, Globalization and the Dham, Can a culture truly be translated? Sattva-guṇa and Nirguṇa At this point it is necessary to say a word or two about faith in the Dham and the Vaishnava dogma that the Dham is beyond the qualities of nature ( nirguṇa , rather than saguṇa , or under the control of the material qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas ). [ Bhakti Sandarbha  (152-159) ] According to the Gītā and Sāṅkhya philosophy, everything in this world is just the interplay of these three qualities. How can something like Vrindavan, which is clearly being influenced by the mat...

Part I of this three part series. [Introduction, Places of Pilgrimage: Tirtha, Kshetra and Dham, Vaishnava criticisms of tīrtha-yātrā, Braj/Vrindavan is a dhāma] Part II of this three part series. [How a Gaudiya Vaishnava performs pilgrimage to the Dham, The eternal glory of residence in the Dham] Part III : Sattva-guṇa and Nirguṇa, Globalization and the Dham, Can a culture truly be translated? How a Gaudiya Vaishnava performs pilgrimage to the Dham As a consequence of this designating of numerous sites as related to famous or obscure events in the life of Krishna, the most important pilgrimage activity for visitors to Vrindavan is the parikrama around Braj, called Chaurasi Kos Braj Parikrama . Rupa Goswami and other Vaishnava saints like Narayan Bhatta established hundreds of such places in the Braj area as reminders of Krishna’s activities. During the parikrama, devotees visit these places and perform various rituals there, principally hearing the stories related to that pl...

Katie Jo Walter with Sewak and his wife. Photo from around 2008. (VT). rudad api pitṛ-mātṛ-bandhu-putrādikam apahāya niśamya nārhad-uktīḥ | hṛdi parama-kaṭhoratāṁ dadhāno drutam avalokaya kṛṣṇa-keli-kuñjam||1.82|| Ignoring your father, mother, children and other kin, even though they are crying; not hearing their words of praise, hardening your heart to all of them, quickly look to the groves where Krishna enjoyed his dalliances. Commentary I recently met with Sewak Sharan after reading Joshua Nash’s series of articles on the Vrindavan Environmental Concept (VEC) and Vrindavan as a “Human Sanctuary.” These are fertile concepts. The idea of  human sanctuary  came back to me after visiting Radha Bawri; When speaking with Sewakji, and told him that I planned to restart commenting on Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta , he said that it is this book more than any other that inspired his thinking on the environment and its connection to Vrindavan. The human sanctuary is ...

  niṣkiñcanān kṛṣṇa-rase nimagnān mahā-nirīhān jana-saṅga-bhītān | vṛndāvanasthān vasanāśanādyair yaḥ sevate’sau vaśayet tad-īśau || One who serves those who live in Vrindavan       who are without possessions,       who are immersed in Krishna rasa,       who are desireless       and fearful of the company of materialists,              giving them food, clothing and other gifts, brings the Master and Mistress of the Dham              under his control.  Commentary In the previous verse , Prabodhananda spoke of serving any resident of the Dham and facilitating residence for anyone at any level of spiritual achievement or even sincerity. Here, the Vaishnava resident of the Dham who is a s ā dhaka is given particular importance. In the previous verse it was simply stated that one would attain rati or bhāva for Krishna, the/lover...

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...