Vrindavana yatra photos 1 + Thanks for Navadvipa yatra photos

Respected Swamiji and all Vaisnavas,

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Jaya Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jaya Visnupada Swami Gaurangpada!

All glories to the guru parampara!

All glories to the Vaisnavas!

 

      I have seen the 800 or so photos (!!!) on the Navadvipa yatra and all I can do is to offer my dandavats from here to that topmost abode, non-different from our Lordships Nityananda Gauranga themselves. It was so wonderful to see Mayapura, Santipura, Ekachakra and all other places. Even if I personally went there I wouldn't be able to remember seeing all that the next day -- so bad our memory has become. I have never before seen such extensive documentation of a yatra to the holy dhama.  But I just need a little information about what all happened in the yatra. I will be unlimitedly grateful if I may get a small description of it.

      I am in the process of editing the Vrindavana yatra photos so that they can be viewed on the web-site. In most of the places cameras were not allowed. And in many cases we simply did not use the camera or bring it with us. Despite that, please accept these as my humble offerings.  The photos are not many, but we managed to document some of the important places. Unfortunately our stay was cut short and what we could see was all what could be managed in 2 days. There are many many more things to see even with external eyes in the dhama. If one day I am fortunate to go to the Dhama and visit all the holy places known there I will in the future try to make a more extensive coverage. Please excuse all my limitations.

No mundane camera though can see the unmanifest Dhama that is seen only with spiritual eyes. That is revealed only by the mercy of the Lord and his devotees. Haribol!

Please correct my statements as I am completely incapable of choosing the right words to say what our acaryas have said and I may have made many mistakes.

Here are the first in a series of photos :

IN GOKULA

The Yamuna river from Gokula :

The temple of Yogamaya devi

 

This is the house of Nanda Maharaja, where Lord Krishna enacted his childhood pastimes and where Nityananda Prabhu cried an endless stream of tears. This is a shot of the deities in the hall -- Nanda Maharaja, Mother Yasoda and Krishna

Another shot of the Yamuna -- over there is my mother, grandfather and my father at the river. I took the shot.

The locals say that this is a Balarama deity

Paurnamasi is worshipped here -- note the writing in Hindi. Please tell me who is her husband

Here is Mathura at Krishna Janma Stan -- his birthplace. Aurangzeb has built a mosque right next to it. That is actually the prison! We went inside and saw the very place where he had appeared. All devotees take the dust of that place on their heads. Unfortunately no cameras allowed inside though!

 

A temple vimana in Vrindavana. I do not know which temple. Most of the travelling was done by cycle rickshaw. It is amazing to see that everyone there just chants Radhe Radhe Radhe....day in and out. Instead of telling people to move they just chant Radhe Radhe....!

 

Over here! This is a shot of a tree in Madhuvana! The trees in the vana are peculiar as to the external eye they are all exactly 4-5 ft high bonsais. One cannot differentiate stem from root or branch. The soil seen in the picture is entirely gopi chandana!! It is very soft and smooth and has all the properties --- including smell, colour, texture --  of only gopi chandana!  The locals say that the Rasa Lila goes on every night in all the vanas. They told us that all the monkeys leave by 9 in the night and if any creature (or person) stays back, it is found dead in the morning, or mad which then dies in a few days!!! By hearing the Lord's flute! Those who are very fortunate can indeed hear the Lord's flute vibration in the night. Many miraculous and spine chilling stories are spoken by the Local people. Not only that -- the samadhi of Haridasa Swami is also in the vana and there is a temple at the spot where Radharani stole Krishna's flute to taste the nectar it was tasting.

A sore point over in the above photo is that some tourists have no sense and dump all their garbage or bottles in the vana itself. This has to be avoided at all cost. Photo blurred due to almost zero light condition. It was almost pitch black

More to come in subsequent posts. Thank you very much for having given the opportunity to share precious images.

Aspiring to be your servant

Srinath

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