Vrndavana
A Comprehensive Guide to Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma
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Sri Vrindavana Mahimamrita
Selected Verses By Prabhodananda Sarasvati
In Vrindavan the effulgent ground is fashioned with many very wonderful colorful cintamani jewels. The trees and vines are full of blissful spiritual fruits and flowers. Birds make a great tumult by reciting the hymns of the Sama Veda, and the lakes and streams are filled with transcendental nectar.
May my heart meditate on Vrindavana in this way. Vrindavan is illuminated by numberless moons of spiritual bliss. It is cooled by the sweet nectar of spiritual love, and it is filled with desire trees and many hosts of madly cooing birds. Whose heart will not run to Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, who enjoy eternal transcendental pastimes in that Vrindavan?
In this beginning-less world of repeated birth and death, how many times have you not suffered in hell and how many times have you not relished the pleasure that eclipses the happiness of Brahma, Indra and the other demigods? My friend, in this one body, do not consider happiness or distress but simply worship the supreme transcendental abode, Sri Vrindavan.
A person absorbed in the most wicked sordid deeds, who once bows down to offer respect to a blade of grass in Vrindavana, at once becomes a very pious person. At the end of his body, by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, who has all power to unshackle one from the bond of karma, he certainly attains the otherwise unattainable lotus feet of Lord Krishna.
Glories of Vrindavan
Sri Raghava described the glories of Vrindavana to Srinivasa and Narottama. In the Adi Varaha Purana it is stated: “O Prthivi, this twelfth forest, Vrindavana, is the destroyer of all vices and is protected by Vrinda devi. It is certainly My favorite place. Here I will perform pastimes with My gopas and gopis in the famous beautiful places which are beyond the attainment of the demigods.”
Vrindavana is described in the Skanda Purana, Mathura khanda, as follows: “Vrindavana is completely under Vrinda devi's grace. Sri Hari Himself lives in this splendid, incomprehensible place, which is served by the demigods headed by Brahma and Siva. Extending over a wide area, Vrndavana is decorated with forests of tulasi and the asramas of saints. Vrndavana is as dear to Govinda as Laksmi is to Visnu. Surrounded by His cowherd boys and cows, Madhava sports in Vrindavana with Balarama. O what a beautiful place is Vrindavana where Govardhana mountain along with many other holy places created by Lord Visnu are situated.” Then in the Padma Purana it is stated: “Vrindavana is filled with transcendental bliss. It destroys the greatest sins and miseries. Simply by living there one is awarded liberation.”
Vrindavana is also described in the Srimad Bhagavatam (10.11.28) in the following words: “Between Nandisvara and Mahavana is a place named Vrindavana. This place is very suitable because it is lush with grass, plants, and creepers for the cows and other animals. It has nice gardens and tall mountains and is full of facilities for the happiness of all the gopas and gopis and our animals.”
There is another verse in the Srimad Bhagavatam (10.21.10) in which one gopi says: “O friend, Vrindavana is spreading the glories of the earth, having obtained the treasure of the lotus feet of Krishna, the son of Devaki. The peacocks dance madly when they hear Govinda's flute, and when other creatures see them from the hilltops, they all become stunned.”
Raghava then told his followers a passage from the Gautamiya tantra where Krishna says to Narada: “Every part of this beautiful Vrindavana is My abode. Every creature or demigod who lives in this place will attain Goloka dhama after death. The cowherd girls who live in My abode are yoginis. The five yojanas of Vrindavana forest are like My body and the spinal cord of the body is the Kalindi River, which flows with nectarean water. Deities and other spirits live here in invisible bodies. And I, living within every being, never leave this place. My appearance and disappearance has been enacted in every age. The divine and glorious illumination of this place is beyond worldly vision. The glories of Vrindavana are beyond anyone's calculation. People say Vrndavana covers sixteen krosa, and in the Sastra it is said Vrndavana extends five yojanas. Whoever has darsana of Govinda in Vrindavana never goes to Yamalaya, but attains the destination of pious persons. The temple of Sri Govindadeva is situated in Vrindavana and is surrounded by devotees. A fortunate person can have His darsana.”
Srila Prabhupada Quote
"Those who have gone to Vrndavana, they have seen the temple of Radha-Madana-mohana. That was established by Sanatana Gosvami, the first disciple of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sanatana Gosvami established this Madana-mohana temple, and Rupa Gosvami established that Govindaji's temple, and the Jiva Gosvami established Radha-Damodara temple. Gopal Bhatta Gosvami established Radha-Ramana temple. In this way, in Vrndavana there are seven temples authorizedly established by the Gaudiya-sampradaya, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sampradaya. Later on, many big, big kings and zamindars, landlords, they also established many temples, big, big temples. And altogether, there are five thousand temples in a small city like Vrndavana, and thousands of men go to see the Deities in every temple almost every day, and especially during the four months Sravana, Bhadra, Asvina, Karttika: July, in July, August, September, October. So Vrndavana is always crowded by many pilgrims, and anyone who goes there, immediately he feels spiritual consciousness, especially nowadays."
Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Caitanya-caritamrta, 03-04-75, Dallas
In the Skanda Purana, Narada Muni says, “In Vrindavana the temple of Govindadeva is surrounded by devoted worshipers. I prefer to live there. O king, in this world Vrindavana is the Vaikuntha of Govinda. Vrinda and other female devotees of Krishna also remain there. O Mahapala, those great souls who get darsana of Govinda in Vrindavana are the most glorified persons in this world.”
Sri Vrindavana-astaka
Selected Verses by Srila Rupa Gosvami
May Vrindavan, which is fragrant with a gentle breeze that makes the lotuses in the Yamuna rock to and fro, where there are groves of Kadamba trees, and wehre there are many gopis, their hearts blosoming with happiness by hearing the music of Lord Mukunda's flute, be my shelter.
May Vrindavana, where Lord Brahma and other Jagad-gurus desire to be born even as a blade of grass, and which, even though it is a forest, is many thousands of times more opulent, beautiful, charming, and sweet than the spiritual cities of Vaikuntha, be my shelter.
May Vrindavan, where the fragrance of the eternally blossoming flower vines fills the goddess of fortune with wonder, and where the blumblebees in the trees filled with very sweet honey are poets who bow down and recite eloquent prayers, be my shelter.
May Vrindavan, which is decorated with blades of grass that bear the charming, gracefully marked footprints and playful toenail prints of the youthful divine couple of Vraja, who are glorious as a monsoon cloud and lightning, be my shelter.
Vraja-Riti-Cintamani
Selected Verses by Visvanatha Cakravarti
Let me glorify Vrajabhumi, the place where Sri Krishna enjoyes transcendental pastimes. Simply by drinking with their ears the nectarian description of Brajabhumi, the liberated souls abandon the bliss of impersonal brahman and yearn to attain the land of Vraja.
With a pure heart, let me worship Vrajabhumi, which is the from of sweetness of meditaiton on Sri Krishna, which is eternal, transcendental, blissful, peerless, and which, although it cannot be understood by ordinary people, is easily understood by its residents.
Some portion of transcendental Vrindavan becomes visible in this world at the time of Lord Krishna's manifest pastimes. Conditioned souls think Vrindavan is material, although actually it is spiritual and beyond their ability to understand or describe it.
The peerless and supremely sweet land of Vrindavan is the blissful abode where the Supreme Personality of Godhead enjoys pastimes. It is the incarnation of the Lord's form and is non-different from Him.
Mathura Mahatmya
Selected verses of Srila Rupa Gosvami
If a person who has not seen Vrindavan has a keen desire to see Vrindavan, he will be reborn in Vrindavan no matter where he dies.
If a man decides in his mind, "I will go to Vrindavan and stay there,"--simply by having such thoughts he will be freed from the wheel of samsara.
All the sins accumulated through many births can be destroyed in a second by staying in Vrindavana.
Sins committeted in Vrindavan can be washed off in Vrindavana only. By staying in Vrindavana one can rise above dharma, artha, karma and moksa. All these steps leading to salvation are easily attainable in Vrindavana.
Those who stay in Vrindavana for three nights, to them Lord Krishna gives happiness not even obtainable for those who are liberated.
Those who with devotion for Lord Krishna make a parikrama of Vrindavana--are freed from all sins and death--go straight to Vishnuloka.
Even women, mlecchas, sudras, animals, birds, deer or anyone else dying in Vrindavana--goes to Vishnuloka.
Candalas, yavanas, women, and murderers who die in Vrindavana--will not take birth again.
Dumb unconscious beings, the blind, killers, and those not practing any tapasya or nyamas, who die in Vrindavana at any time--go to Vishnuloka.
Any man--dying in a sewer, a broken house, a cemetery, in the air, on a stage, in a bed, in a manion or anywhere in Vrindavana--will attain liberation.
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