Visiting
A Comprehensive Guide to Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma
Lord Sri Krishna incarnates in various forms in this world from time to time and also sends His pure representatives as spiritual teachers to liberate the living entities from this place of repeated birth and death. Lord Krishna also arranges holy places (tirthas) to be placed all over the universe. These tirthas are capable of purifying those who visit, from the reactions to all types of sinful activities. Vrindavana, known to devotees as Vraja dhama, is the most potent holy place which is situated on this earth planet. Although this holy dhama appears to be part of this material world, it is actually totally transcendental and never comes in contact with the material nature; just as a lotus flower never comes in contact with the water. It was here, in Vraja dhama that Lord Sri Krishna manifested His transcendental activities, over five thousand years ago. To this day, thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come and visit the many holy places where the Lord displayed His eternal lilas (pastimes).
Vrindavana encompasses an area stretching from Hodal to Agra, reaching about 100 km across. It is full of many beautiful and important holy places, which have been established by various Vaishnava acharyas (saints). The forest of Vrindavana is considered to be superior; yet Govardhana Hill is topmost; and Radha-Kunda and Syama-Kunda are the tear-filled eyes of Govardhana, where Srimate Radharani and Lord Krishna enjoy eternal pastimes. Govardhana manifested from the heart of Lord Sri Krishna by the desire of Srimate radharani. He is non-different from Radha Krishna and His mood is that of acting as Their servant. Not only is He serving Radha-Krishna, but also all the residents of Vraja dhama. He is considered to be the ultimate shelter of all living entities. To approach Lord Krishna is not so easy as approaching His devotee.
Sri Vraja-Vrindavana is the eternal abode of Lord Krishna and thus it has none of the defects of this material world.
"I worship that transcendental seat, known as Svetadvipa, where as loving consorts, the Lakshmis in their unalloyed spiritual essence, practice the amorous service of the Supreme Lord Krishna as their only lover. Where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree; where the soil is the purpose gem, all water is nectar, every word is a song, every gait is a dance. The flute is the favorite attendant, effulgence is full of transcendental bliss and the supreme spiritual entities are all enjoyable and tasty, where numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk. Where there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future, and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a mmoment. That realm is known as Goloka, only to a very few self realized souls in this world." (Sri Brahma-Samhita, verse 56)
By the desire of Lord Krishna, that transcendental realm descends to this mundane sphere, but as a lotus never touches the water, so Vraja dhama never becomes affected by the qualities of this world. Although it is eternally existing, at some untraceable point, Vraja manifested in this mundane realm, and it is not destroyed when the universal destruction takes place.
Still, Vraja appears to manifest and unmanifest again and again. Lord Krishna is eternally wandering throughout the forests of Vraja, enjoying His transcendental pastimes, for the sake of the conditioned souls, who are unable to see His eternal activities and abode. Thus, He appears to take birth and disappear again in the same way Vraja also appears to manifest and unmanifest along with all of the transcendental places which reside in Vraja dhama, Vrindavana.
These sacred tirthas of Mathura, Nandagram, Varsana, Govardhana, Radha-Kunda,Syama-Kunda;as well as all of the villages, kundas, hills and forests all possess transcendental qualities. Just as Lord Krishna possesses transcendental qualities, so do His eternal associates, abode, paraphernalia--in fact, everyone in Vraja, what ever form they may manifest in; be it a hill, pond, etc., all have a personality, and they are never affected by the qualities of material nature.
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