|| Vrindavan Yatra ||

Vrindavan ~ A Place where love is First !

This image reveals the significance of this place , A place where Krishna became Sevak of the Devotion or Love ,a Person who is a aim of entire universe , became a slave of the people who carries unmotivational ,unconditional  love for him !!

Yatra to Vrindavan is always blissful ,specially when its been performed during the time of Diwali and Kartik , its hard to bound in to the worlds.

Before Starting to be your guide on this tour ,let me explain the Drop of the ocean in the glorification of the place where you are planning to visit ,

The great saints had described  that " Vrindavan is  not easy to attain" , because Vrindavan is the only place where "Jagannath became Kanha ", " badrinath became Lallla ", and  "Dwarikadhish became chor ", 

there is a difference in all of these names, in their characteristics, so in  their reciprocation , Vraj Devotion is an  epitome of the devotional service , if you have  attain Vrindavan bhakti that means you have attain Krishna , 

Krishna can give Mukti very easily but he is very reluctant to give Bhakti , because   Bhakti  can make him dance as puppet whoever have it !!  ( Aisi preet badhi vrindavan , Gopiyan Naach nachao , Sabse Unchiii Prem Sagai ) , 

                                      But that   same Bhakti can easily attain if the person attain vrindavan ,the question how ? 

Krishna came as Ram , but he never eat Ayodya Mitti , Krishna Came in diffrent form like  Vraha,NArsimh,Vaman..etc, but he never eat a soil of any palces , Vrindavan is the only place where he find a way or the reason to do so  , it could be as baby krishna or cow or calf.. ,because this soil has a touch of the feet of his dearest devotees and lovers like shree radhika ji , just to understand the significance of the Vraj Mitti , please find some of the quote from Shreemad Bahgvatam,

-The great personality like brahma ask the boon to became a Soil in this vrindavan ,so Krishna and his great devotes can keep their feet on his head ,

-The Great personality like Udhhav ask a boon to became a "lata"(leaves ad plants)  in  Kusum Sarovar so the Great Gopies can give their divine touch.

-When someone complimented  the great saint  Kabir Das that your devotion and love is unmatchable  ,   in reply to that , shree KAbir Das ji said " Kabira KAbira Kya karein , Ja yamuna Ke teer , Ek ek Gopi Prem mai ..Beh gaye  Koti KAbir "

Many Great Saint has said " Vrindavan is a State to attain if not possible as a Place to Attain  "so its possible to attain Vraj Bhakti remotely  , Its possible to see Thakurji by the method of  devotion , Its possible that Thakurji Manifested  , But Vraj Dhuli and VRajvasi is very rare to attain , when you going to Vrindavan ,do not think that because of your punya karma you able to goto this place , punya phal se  Bhagvatam , Vriindavan or Vraj dhuli nahi milti,, This fortune has accumulated because you have knowingly or unknowingly serve his devotees , it could be by your Mind , Speech or Karma,  so again please don't cover your self too much during your visit  , try to get dusty as much as possible !! 

 Above Image : Lord Brahma asking a boon to became a Vraj dust , so Krishna ,his friends can keep their feet on his head , 

1.Travelling to Vrindavan :

 The nearest Railways Station is Mathura , where  all Major Trains Stops , and the Nearest Airport is Delhi , From Delhi its takes around 4 hours(depends on Traffic) 

Train: please make sure you have correct information of the trains and required bookings,

Taxi : its always recommend to book a Cab from the hotel where you are staying in Vrindavan,  from airport its hard to find a Cab who can drop you at the Vrindavan,

2. Accommodations at Vrindavan :

  Though there are many Hotels and Dharmashala at Vrindavan ,  MVT guest House , Bhakti Dham , Dehnuka are most preferable ,in Citi there is hotel name The Majesty which is also the decent one,

we have few more recommendation , please find it  below ,

http://www.iskconvrindavan.com/index.php?r=page/view&id=15

Note: if you going during Kartik or Diwali, Please book it well in advance to avoid any last moment chaos

3 . Breakfast , Lunch and Dinner

  

Breakfast & Snacks :

-For the Breakfast , would recommend to eat the Maha which you can buy  inside the  KRishna Balram Temple(Iskcon) where the Fresh and best  Rasgulla , Cake ,etc ( around 2o to 40Rs) is available just after the Shringar Arrati at 7:30 a.m besides Bookstore , around 8:00 to 8:30 a.m you can get fresh Pizza , Samosa, Sandwitch etc at the snack bar ( right in front of Prabhupad Samadhi) ,  

-You can eat  @ Brajwasi as well , it is located  between  Iskcon Vrindavan to Bankebihari mandir road .

-Evening Time you can eat most famous Allu tikki and LAssi @ just outs side of Banke bihari ji Mandir

 Lunch and Dinner :

 -if you need a Swatch , Sundar , Home made type of lunch or dinner  Thali  then please visit  "Dhanuka   Ashram ", Its right behind Iskcon Temple ( on Parikrama Marg) , only the drawback is you need to buy a Coupon in advance to be on safer side , as on the busy Days they are over sold !!

- If you like to eat different Cousin , Please visit Iskcon Govindas ,  Iskcon MVT ( high end , Hygienic  & most recommended for international Items) MVT is just behind the Iskcon Guest house .

Place to Visit

Vrindavan Yatra could perform by two kind of Devotees ,

1.  you are going to vrindavan to practice devotion  or during kartik or Vraj mandal Parikrama.

2.  you  just want to visit some places as you have limited time .

will focus more on option 2. as first category of devotees knows everything for their planning  and there is a book for them to give a details for each place and significance

Though there are many temples and many important places which is hard to cover in one or two days tour , in this article will cover only those temple which need to be cover at least once ! 

for the timing of the temples , please visit  Links   http://www.mathuravrindavan.net/templetimings.htm

A.      Vrindavan : 1 day

B.     Govardhan: 1 Day

C.     Nandgaun & mathura :1 Day

D.    Gokul & Barsana : 1 Day

A.Vrindavan:

 Morning : Start  Yatra From  Krishna Balram Temple ( ISkcon) , have a Darshan and complete your breakfast , just after that you can proceed to Banke bijari ji MAndir ,and from there Visit Gopeshwar Mahadev, Radharamn Mandir and back to lohi bajar if you want to do some shopping , finish the shopping , do your lunch and go back to the hotel and take rest ! ( lohi bazar is closed from 1:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m)

Radha Raman Temple : This is one the most important Mandir in Vrindavan, Thakur ji Shree Radha raman is self manifested from the Shalgram Shila for Shree Gopal Bhatt Goswami, you can find the  small documentary in below link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKgBIm3WxsE#t=1847

Besides Radha raman temple , there is a Samadhi of Gopal Bhatt Goswami ji, for whome Radha raman ji Menifested from Shali gram , Radha raman pragat Sthali as well as Gopal Bhatt Goswami ji's Samadhi is there

Gopal Bhatt Goswami and their samadhi 


Radha raman Pragat Sthali

Gopeshwar Mahadev Temple :Without having darshan of gopeshwar mahadev , you cannot  entr in Vrindavan :) , Most important Temple in Vindavan , specially if you visit this temple during evening time around 7:30pm , because this is the time Gopeshwar became Gopi and you can see him in Gopi Dress ( dress like a Lady) , there is story behind this form of Lord Shiva please find it below .

http://mathuravisit.com/vrindavan/gopesvara-mahadeva-temple.html

Evening : Make sure you start Sharp at 4 p.m ,get a Cycle Riksha and ask him to take you to

 Radha Damodar : When you go to this temple , please do parikrama and in the parikrama you will find the  great  Samadhi’s   ( include Great Saints and Most importantly Rupa Goswami ( if you could not find ,please ask someone ) make sure you visit and get the blessing without forget 

this temple is very important as prabhupad stayed here and the same Rup Goswami ,who was the first disciple of Gaur hari appeared and ask him to preach the message of krishna in west !!

-please check out prabhupad room as well !!

-Govardhan Sheela with a foot print of Krishna and his flute: Rup Goswmi used to do govardhan parikrama every day , when he got old Krishna fell sorry about him and ask him to stop the parikrama but in replied Rup goswami said “ Krishan to do parikrama is my wow and I will do it till I live” so just to make it more convenient for him ,Krishna got a Govadhan shila and place his feet and Flute , and give it to Rup Goswami, that shila darshan you can do it in that temple, some people says the real shila has been shifted to Jaipur which  can be found in Radha Gobinddeb temple

RAdha Shamsunder: another great temple  of the great saint Shaymananad prabhu

Nidhi van : A place where Bankebihari ji appeared, A place where shree Haridas ji samadi is and if you can re-visit Banke bihari ji and RAdha raman it would be great , there are other places in vrindavan but if would  be hectic to complete in one days , so limit your self and focus on what you visit !!

Note : if you going on Kartik Purninma , Please visit those temple between 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m ,amazing experience , and Most importantly join Mahaprabhu procession which happened once in a year and that is only on Kartik Purnima

B.Govardhan :

Govardhan is most important place for the devotees and Devotion , you can do the govardhan parikrama by walk or hiring a bicycle or in a CAR( Please don't honk :)) , would request you to do this parikrama with any of the known person who has done this before and could explain  the significance of all the major  place ,else you will miss tons of items , Most importantly , where you start the parikrama that is the place you have to end your prakrama and you start by the dandvat and you end by the  dandvat!

the Major places you have to visit in Govardhan Parikrama

- Kusum Sarovar

- Manasi Ganga

- Puchari ka Lauta(also known as Lauta baba  , if you dont stop by then your yatra is not finish)

- Govardhan Mukh

-RAdha kund and Shyam Kund (Most important Part in Entire Vraj Mandal),

  please visit sanatan goswami samadhi which is at the bank of radha kund (without forget)

Radh Kund 

Kusum Sarovar

Manasi Ganga

C. Nand Gau & Mathura :

Mathura has three major place ,1. Dwarika Dish temple 2.Vishram Ghat , 3. Janmabhumi

 if you want to eat something  , then please Visit "Shakar" its a Methai shop right by the main gate , there is also Brajwasi Outlet and its a good place to eat,

 you can get any local guide to explain some details , please fix the Rate before you hire then to avoid chaos later

 D. Gokul & Barsana :

 both will be done in one day , you can get any local guide to explain some details , please fix the Rate before you hire then to avoid chaos later

 Links for  Vrindavan  : these are some information of Vrindavan Devotion , if you have time you can view or Read the story behind them ,it will give some more information ,  will keep adding this section 

1.  Six Goswami ji: The Six Goswamis uncover many purportedly ancient and sacred areas of land in     Vrindavan , Under the Guidance of Shree Chaintanya mahaprabhu they uncover the Vrindavan and the Top most method of Devotion , they are the one whose teaching and method of devotion is been followed all over the world , Little explanation as below 

 http://www.dharmakshetra.com/articles2/six%20goswamis%20of%20vrindavan.htm

2. History and Story about Radha Raman Temple and their Kitchen :A deity which is been self manifested for Gopal Bhatt Goswami , one of the Six Goswami

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKgBIm3WxsE#t=1847

3.Pandit Jasraj  : Biharat Rang Lal Girdhar Ke : 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H8nrTbuXdkM
  

Please chant as many times as possible during your visit

|| Ekadashi Vrat ||

Meaning:

Ekadashi in Sanskrit means eleven. ‘Eka’ means “one” and ‘dasi’  means “ten”. we have 10 senses , which includes 5 gyan indriya and 5 karma indriya and the 11th one is Mind , this way we have eleven senses ,Ekadasi has given a highest  importance in  comparison of   other fasting ,  because other fasting is been observe by controlling any one of  eleven senses but in  ekadashi  , we need to control all of the eleven senses including Mind and focusing them to worshiping Lord Narayan , so as per the scripture the benefit and importance of fasting on ekadashi is unmatchable .

Scriptural Background :

During the era of Sat Yuga  , Murdhanav, the son of Nadijang, was a demon of immense strength. Through undertaking penance Murdhanav pleased Bhramaji such that he was granted a very much desired blessing from Bhramaji that prevented other Devs from being able to destroy him .  Devs were unable to withstand the battles and seek the shelter of Lord Narayan.

The Lord also demonstrated His divine leela, sports, and showed that He too was unable to endure the strength and power of the demons. After the battle, as if He had become totally exhausted, Lord Narayan went to the forest of BadriKashram and entered the cave called Sheevati . Murdhanav had followed the Lord, and entered the cave. At this  by lord's own  wish, from His 'eleven sense' a fast and fierce light emerged. From this lustre, a woman with divine weapons was born. At this time the demon Murdhanav became immensely attracted to the beautiful woman and said   "Oh you of outstanding beauty, I'm also unparalleled in looks age and power. I wish to marry you!" The Devi in reply to this said, "I have a vow. He who defeats me in a fight becomes my husband. To have me, you need to conquer me in a duel . The angry Devi killed Mudhanav by decapitating him with a sword.

 Lord Narayan granted a name Ekadashi to this divine  energy as she appeared from the 11 senses of the lord himself .  Lord Narayan became very pleased with Ekadashi and said, 'Oh destroyer of sins, by your birth today in all three worlds there is great happiness, so ask for a wish from me.' Seeing the Lord extremely delighted, Ekadashi said to the Lord, "If you are truly pleased with me, then I pray for all humans whom observe my vow, that all their wishes, in this world and the world above this one, are fulfilled. And he who fasts on my special day will become free of all sins and will attain   Moksha (ultimate salvation), and throughout their life in this world, will remain happy. Those who because of illness are unable to fast, observe the vow by doing Farahar, will also achieve the above. And oh my Lord, in all three worlds, all four yugas, all twelve months of the years may my vows will be spread". 

 this prayer, pleased the Lord and He replied, "Devi, I shall grant you this very precious wish. From this day forward (from Magsar [month] shudh ekadashi) he who with my worship obeys your vow, shall also have their wishes fulfilled. If the observer of the vow is seeking salvation, then he shall achieve this. If he is seeking pleasures on this world and above this world, also achieve. 

Method of Fasting : Ekadashi fasting is unmatchable but very easy to execute ,

1.       For many people Fasting on ekadashi is like a Changing Diet :) , but that's not the way of fasting , Fasting for Ekadashi starts from the Sunrise on the day of Ekadashi till the Sunrise on the next day (Dwadashi), as we mention this is the day you restrict your senses from the gratification , try to control them by detachment of martial object and engage them completely in practicing the devotional service , as it mention in shreemad bhagvatam , we can pick any one of nine devotional service (as per our liking ) and try to worship lord vishnu . try to hear  , chant his name and fame as much as you can , there are many different ways you can engage all of your senses on today's day .

2.       Many devotee observe the fasting as Nirjala (without Water) , if you cannot observe  Nirjala that's completely fine , you can do it as we mention in step 3, but try to observe Bhima Ekadashi or Pandav Ekadashi as Nirajala , this will comes once in a  year , According to the Markandeya Purana and the Vishnu Purana, the day of Ekadashi is itself a form of Vishnu. The vrata observed on this day is said to wash away all sin. One who completes the vrata of Nirjala Ekadashi is mentioned to gain the favour of Vishnu, who grants him happiness, prosperity and forgiveness for sins. The devotee is described to receive the merit gained by the observance of all 24 ekadshis in the year.

3.      one must strictly avoid eating Grains and Rice  on Ekadashi. you can Eat once in a Day ,   we have mention some of the recipe web link for delicious cooking but again its not about changing the diet , its more about focusing on worshiping lord hari by controlling your 11 senses .

http://www.recipe.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F10_-_Ekadasi

http://food.krishna.com/category/recipe-categories/ekadasi

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/ekadasi_recipes_cookbook.htm

||Jagannath Yatra ||

 ||Jagannath  Yatra ||

Try to spare 3 days for this yatra , you can go by flight  ( land at bhuvneshwar airport) and from airport its around 2 hours time to reach puri or by train , directly to puri station .

Accommodation : 

 Do your accommodation at BAPS Swaminarayan Guest house

Address : Chakratirtha Road Jagannath Puri 752002 ,Orissa India

Phone : 9090399610 , if you going by flight , the temple guest house manager will arrange your pick up

Jagannth Temple :

Contact ramkumarpanda

RamKumar Panda in Puri. Cell No. 9437028088 for temple tour , try to attain shayan arrati at temple , this is the best time to have closest darshan of lord , and you can get a special prashad after the arrati , that is only allowed to the people who present at that time !

Prashad : every evening try to eat as much as you can at the Jagannath Temple only ! if you want you can eat at swaminarayan temple as well , they have very good breakfast lunch and dinner

after you visit jagannath temple , please go to Iskcon Puri and request any of brahmachari to guide you to the different places , so he can explain the importance of those places in details

Gundicha Temple :

Tota gopinath Temple : very  important place , try to visit during shayan arrati , pujari will show you the feet where lord chaitanya entered ,

Sidha bakula & Haridas ji Smadhi : 

Place of mahaprabhu paduka and kamandal , ( iskcon devotee will help you to visit  ) :

 sakshi Gopal: do not forget to visit this temple .

|| "Shradh" Paksh ||

Question : As we all know from tomorrow onwards shradh paksha is going to start..we all pray for our dear ones who are not with us..we do believe in as our family is following these rituals since years..but still dont know what is the real way to do..what if we cant give food to cow..! What if we cant put food on the terrace..really..are these the ways to do shradh..? Or there are other ways as well....please share may be many of us dont know about it. Please mention the importance of shradh too and why?

Answer: Very nice question , Many of us do not understand the meaning and importance of shradh and knowingly became a victim of "Pitru Dosh" ,The importance and execution of shradh is been explained in Garud Puran(majory recite during the time when someone die. )

Reason: Many of our forefather who was not  liberated and destined to live in Pitrulok because of  the reasons ,such as  attachment to ancestors, attachment to Material Objects ,Karmic reactions etc, In this zone the soul serves out its karmic correction sentences. Pitrus are not able to get relief from the sensory demands and conditions of the body ( mainly Hunger , thrust ,pain , fatigue) because their material body is destroyed and they are not able to satisfy any of these sensual demands ,the deep routed attachment and suffering became a cause of their sufferings ,

  In search of relief, they are attracted to living entities on the earth planet that are their descendants from previous and current lifetimes and are karmic debtors to them. The ancestors are fed once a day (once in 24 hours) according to their time zone. This is equivalent to every 12 months on the earth plane. This once-a-year period is recognized as the 'Shradh' period.

      During these period we cook the best food (generally the most favourite items of the departed souls )and offer it to the Cows or Crows , its says that these animals and birds became the channel to communicate  with those departed souls.

 Pros and Cons : its very essential to perform shradh as it says in Geeta chapter 1.41

                        " Due to the non performance of rituals like pinda shraddha and offering water to deceased ancestors etc. the ancestors of such people (who do not perform Shraddha) have to reside in the Hell region. " 

 

 take a example of Jail  ,if we are in jail and suffer with the kind of hunger, thrust ,the family living outside of jail arrange our food stuff so we could finish our tenure peacefully , in returns we will be thankful to them  and give a tons of blessing , same way by executing this ritual we , being a responsible family member execute a service of providing arrangements of our loved once who left from this planets , pitra benedictions  plays a  very important role of being happy materially  , who don't do that , became a victim of pitra dosha and effect by material calamities ( List of calamities is mention in Astrology ) .

What are the Best way to Execute this Shradh  ?: as you mention if we are living out side of india then how could we find cow or crow to eat those food stuff ?

Ans : there are many people who is been effected by Ghost or Vitness the Ghost or spirit in their house , sometimes those are forefathers or sometime someone was not happy during their  departure from this planet and seen many times in daily life !!! The solution for those issue is "Narayan Bali Shradh" , this is the Top Most Shradh available on this planet to deliver  the suffering souls  in  the Ghost body ,   when we check in details , those narayan bali shradh is basically making  laddu  of atta, ghee , gud etc and offers them to lord narayan and later offer it to your forefathers

so in short its a prashad of narayan being offered to your forefather and by eating those prashad they get delivered !!!

So this process was easily approachable in Bhakti Yoga , by bhakti yoga we can do this narayanbali shradh every day :) , how ? you prepared the best items which your forefathers likes , offer it with love and devotion to Lord Narayan ( krishna , Ram) and later in your mind pray your forefather to accept it , is that hard ? i am sure we all can do it very easily and deliver  our forefather , and why only during shradh time , do this every day , wouldn't they be happy and putt on weight :) ,

Bhakti Yog is very effective though very simple , gives a highest benefit though very easy to execute , if you want to do it more professionally , then offer feast in nearest Krishna temple( any temple who keep voshnu /krishna in center and cook the items with topmost protocol ) then they will offered it to Krishna and then to  the devotes or bhakt , its much higher then looking for Cows or Crows ,

on the same incident it reminds me the story of Ramanuja charya , when he was a student , his teacher was a very famous karma kandi and was famous in dealing with ghost and rakshas , once upon a time , the king;s daughter was  possessed  by a BrahmaRakshas , so they called the Teacher of Ramanuja , he tries many times but girls situation wasn't change     , then the brahma rakshas speak ," O Yadavprakash ( Teacher of Ramanuj) you was a  lizard in your last birth , was leaving in a well , who was situated near a temple of Narayan ,people passing by ,through their remnant of prashad and by eating  you became human in this life , you do not have  power to tackle   me , and O king if you want to save your girl then please call the student of this yadavprakash whose name is ramanuja and ask him to place his feet on this girl ! immediately king call shree ramanuja and he place his feet on that girl and brahma rakshas delivered , so that's a power of prashad  and devotee, a soul living in a low body got delivered ( lizard to Braman, and Brahma rakshas liberated)  , same way the forefather living in pitra lok will delivered by executing this process by you :),

        and if you are smart enough you do not want to go in these pitra loka as you never know what kind of grandson and great grandson you will get !! so eat every time The  Lord  Narayan's prashad  while you are in this body and make your life successful , so after we die we don't need to depends on anyone ,

the same process in the western country is known as Halloween , if we read the history of these festival you will understand that its the same process of shradh what  we execute in india , its a different story that how and why its been degraded and adopt a face of festival of Ghost !!