#vrindavana

[haribolnamaste]

Krishna and Balaram and the cowherd boys

[krishnaart]

☀ SHRI KRISHNA GOVINDA ☀

[arjuna-vallabha]

Shyaamaa murti dhaaranotsav of Radha Shyamsundar jew of Sripaat Khardaha . Sripad Nityananda Prabhu , the fountainhead of Gaudiya Vaishnavism settled at the village of Khardaha , which today sits right outside th present day city of Calcutta . VeerBhadra Prabhu , the son of Nityananda sculpted three Krishna Vigrahas from one block of black stone . Shyamsundar is one of the three and was personally worshipped by VeerBhadra prabhu along with his Ananta Shalagrama shila , emerald Shiva lingam and Tripurasundari meru Yantra . On the amavasya night of Deepanwita , when Bengal celebrates the puja of Maa Kaali , Shyamsundara also gives his darshan as Shyamaa Maa - the dark goddess .

Text and photo by Halley Goswami

[cinemanlife]

The mysterious Vrindavan 💮

Che grande mistero che è Vrindavan... All'apparenza tanto deturpata dall'inarrestabile sviluppo urbano sull'onda dell'Occidente e, allo stesso tempo, incredibilmente pura nel suo cuore spirituale. Il caos dei risciò e dei molti turisti che affollano le tue viuzze labirintiche, d'un tratto svanisce non appena varcate le soglie dei migliaia di templi che coronano le tue terre sacre.

Dagli archi in pietra fanno capolino canti e balli festosi dei tuoi abitanti che spontaneamente, a ritmo di kartals e mridanga, rendono omaggio ai loro amati Radha e Krishna. Mille colori, poi, circondano le tue radiose divinità, meticolosamente ornate con vesti incantevoli e gioielli preziosi. Gli occhi dei loro devoti si intingono di lacrime al solo sguardo.

Non mi sento pronto per tanta grazia, eppure, il mio cuore mi ha portato qui, nel ventre accogliente di Vrindavan.

19-20/02/2023, Vrindavan, India

[haribol-dasi]

Chaitanya Bhagavata

My dear teacher Jma sent me this link to this nectarian audio book on Gaura Purnima 2022 (Lord Chaitanya's appearance day). Couldn't resist distributing the nectar!

I thought posting it would be a transcendental first post AND a good way to archive it incase the link becomes difficult to find online otherwise...

Jaya Nimai, Jaya Nitai!

[sambhavami]

Krishna: a character adored for over two thousand years, revered as one of the most significant political masterminds of the ancient world with his words forming the philosophical core of the country today. Concurrently, he is the god shrouded in inimitable domesticity- as a friend, a lover, and a child. No other deity in the Hindu pantheon has probably achieved as dear a position in the hearts of people as this flute-wielding cowherd of Gokula.

For generations, he has shined as the muse of countless poetfolk, of unfinished business, of unspoken desires and of repressed lovers' qualms. In Meera's longing for her marble beloved, and in Kothai's dulcet dreams of a celestial wedding, Krishna blossoms not as a warrior, but rather as a confidante of young women- the keeper of all secrets.

Curse, o ye, this wedding of devotion, 

For I was better off unmarried,

Writes the lovestruck Nawab Sadiq Hilm,

I was well enough at my mother's; 

Oh, why did I pine for him?!

Who am I, or what: go ask Rizwan, the gatekeeper

For heaven has been rejected by my forebearers!

He says, in a nostalgic ode to the cowmaids from old tales. To the ones that massage the dust off their feet on Krishna's fevered forehead to soothe his illness, even as the apparent disrespect dooms their afterlives.

Jayadeva notes a more rugged form of Krishna, one that is almost hungry for love. His Radha smiles down upon Radharaman Dutta's kalankini. Of course, she would accept even infamy if it was in relation to her Krishna. However, in time, this epithet has been reclaimed as a celebration of the meteoric, tempestuous love that this unseemly duo had carved out for themselves of the pages of a mostly unwilling history.

Tagore's Krishna is mysterious, eagerly anticipated but rarely seen. Rather, here Radha's pining is crushing and all-encompassing, inherited from Chandidas' virahini. Radha's guttural desire to transform Krishna into herself, subjecting him to the same suffering that she undergoes as a woman in love with a furious ideology more than a man, reverberates eerily against the lighthearted cross-dressing tale of Surdas'.

As often as bards favour the songs extolling the love of the cowherd and the wedded maiden, Krishna's wives are seldom accorded any thought outside of Vasudeva's family tree. Their silence speaks to the stringent rules of a typical patriarchal household. Some of them do speak, and hence Satyabhama becomes conceited and Kalindi wayward. However, the mere few lines that they are mercifully allotted in the text are enough to speak to their resilience. The lines inadvertently hold up a window to the million unspoken words and unexchanged glances. It speaks to the long years, happy and sad. It speaks to the nights of waiting for the beloved to return. It speaks to the quiet lunches in curtained rooms and taste tests in the kitchen.

Each of Krishna's eight wives has their own life, and their own equation with Krishna. Each of their distinct personalities, coupled with their unique introductions to the prince has the potential to bring a distinct flavour to the story of Krishna, the statesman. The understanding that Krishna's heart belonged first to Vrindavana and then to his ambition, must have weighed somewhat on their hearts and yet, the choice to patch up the battle-hardened cowherd, after every blow, sans complaint, and send him out into the world as the architect of history, must have demanded restraint.

The distinct turn of events that brings each of the chief eight queens to Krishna's is quite interesting. Rukmini, the first, demonstrates heart, even if it is born out of desperation. Seizing control of her life, she sends a message, relying solely on rumours of his compassion. Her gamble yields returns manifold as Krishna not only rescues her from an unwanted marriage, but instates her as his chief consort, elevating her, alongside himself, to a divine status. Far from the impulsiveness of her youth, Pandhari's Rakhumai, astute beside her beloved, proudly bears a conch-shell, calling for harmony and community. In life as well, Rukmini brings to Krishna much needed stability, and oversees the blossoming of the city of Dwarika as well as Krishna's growing household.

Jambavati and Satyabhama are given in marriage to the prince by their respective fathers and do not seem to have much of a voice at the time. Jambavati fulfills an ancient destiny, a forgotten promise, then going on to mother the child that ultimately brings about the demise of the Yadava clan. Satyabhama, though often maligned with unfair accusations, is self-reliant. Making no attempt to hide herself from the eye of society, takes her rightful place beside Krishna, not on a throne, but by his side in battlefields. Kalindi however, is an extremely interesting character in Krishna's story. Enmeshed between mortal and divine, she exists as neither. Chancing upon the prince, she unabashedly declares her intentions to be married, and yet she is uncharacteristically silent after her marriage. Lakshmana and Mitravinda, are both won in conquest. They might have been able to sympathize with Rukmini, given their kin had turned against them, on account of their choice of a life partner. Bhadra, on the other hand, has no fancy contests to boast of, or an adventurous rescue. She marries Krishna at the behest of her brother, the only highlight being the arduous journey she undertakes from Kekaya to Dwarika.

After their marriages, these women practically disappear from the narrative until their last moments. We can assume that they were all presumably content with a life outside the spotlight. One can only hope to be privy to their lives after marriage, to know their dreams, nightmares and daily chores. They enter Krishna's life at crucial junctions, and I choose to believe they each had a unique effect on Krishna's worldview, bringing with them a fresh outlook into the mostly stagnant golden city.

[mitraavarunaa]

i never see this discussed, but i do really wonder about what rohini (balarama's mother, not chandra's wife) must have thought of vrindavan!krishna versus dwaraka!krishna. what would she say, what did she see? is it a sharp dissonance; or is he the same - does a man change so much between being smeared in stolen butter and being adorned with silk and gold and power? is it not just what all parents see when their children grow up? is it really so different, was he really so different to her?

i know at least balarama thought krishna was that different (see episode syamantak + episode duryodhan's death) from who he knew and that's...understandable, he was a child too, a child who played with another, then they both grew up. but how did it look from an adult's perspective?

because if rohini too thought that krishna really was that different... you understand, right, that rohini was krishna's only other remaining link to his childhood? could she ever love adult krishna the way she did little krishna, if she thought the same? adult krishna must have faded in colour to the mother in her with that godlike distance and impersonal cheer, then.

did anyone ever see that child krishna had buried deep under the muck of aryavarti politics since he left vrindavana behind?

how do modern writers ever censure krishna for never having visited vrindavana like balarama did? what could he have done, if they saw the child in him buried and silent and nigh dead? that would rob him of his childhood in full

[blessed1neha]

What happened to Radha after Krishna left Vrindavan?

Wise devotees know that neither Krishna ever leaves Vrindavana nor Srimati Radharani ever separates from Krishna (vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvacin naiva gacchati- Adi Yamala Tantra).

Can musk be ever separated from its fragrance? Can moon be ever separated from its moonlight? Can fire be ever separated from its burning property? It is certainly impossible. But apparently, it seems as if they have separated in Their manifest pastimes (prakata lila). The inconceivable pastimes of Sri Radha and Lord Krishna certainly cannot be understood by human intellect.

So, taking shelter of Their manifest pastimes, let me describe what has happened to Srimati Radharani after Krishna apparently left Vrindavana. Following are the divine ecstasies of Sri Radha, who is the primeval potency (para shakti) of Lord Krishna.

Please see what condition has befallen Her.

Sri Radha says as follows

moribo moribo sakhi niścoy moribo

kānu heno gunanidhi kāre diyā yābo

I will die, I will die, O sakhi, I will surely die. How it is now possible for me to attain Krsna, who is an ocean of all the qualities?

tomrā joteko sakhī theke majhu sange

maraṇa kāle kṛṣṇa nāma likho mora ange

All you sakhis, that are staying with Me, please write Krsna's name on My body as I die.

lalitā prāṇera sakhi mantra dio kāne

morā deha pore yeno kṛṣṇa nāma śune

Lalita, My life companion! Please utter the mantra in My ear, so that I hear Krsna's name when my body burns on the pyre.

nā porāio mora anga nā bhāsāio jole

morile tuliye rekho tamālera ḍāle

No, No, please don't burn My body, and don't throw it in a river. When I die, then keep it around the branch of a Tamala tree.

sei se tamāla taru kṛṣṇa-varṇa hoy

acetana tanu mora tāhe yeno roy

This Tamala tree has the complexion of Krsna. Let my unconscious body dwell on it.

kabahu se piyā yadi āse vṛndāvane

parāṇa pāyabo hām piyā daraśane

If My beloved ever returns to Vrndavana, I will get My life back by seeing Him.

puna yadi cāńda mukha daraśa nā pābo

viraha anale māho tanu teyāgibo

If I never see His moonlike face back again, I will give up My body in the fire of separation.

kohite kohite dhanī murachita bhelo

dhāi viśakhā tāre kole kori nilo

When Radha spoke thus, She fainted and Visakha came running to take Her on her lap.

thara thara kāmpe anga khīn bohe śvās

nāsāgrete tula dhari dekhaye niśvās

Her body trembled strongly and only a very thin breath came from Her mouth. The sakhis kept a cotton swab in front of Her nose to see if She was still breathing.

śravane vadana dei kohe kṛṣṇa nā;ma

cetana pāiyā kohe kāhā ghana-śyāma

They uttered Krsna's name in Her ears and, regaining consciousness, She said: 'Where is Ghanasyama?'

sanmukhe tamāla heri kore nirīkhan

unmādinī hoye yāy dite ālingan

When She sees a Tamala tree ahead of Her, She stares at it and embraces it like mad.

aichana dhanīra daśā kori nirīkhan

govinda dās bhelo sajala nayan

Seeing such a condition of Radha, Govinda dasa simply stares with tear-filled eyes.

Reference: Book Name: Padavali

[ramayantika]

Gopika vallabham

Beloved of the Gopikas

The radiant moon like faces of the maidens of Vraja light up as soon as their lotus like eyes spot the charming son of Yashoda who wears the ever fragrant Vaijayanti mala.

When your flute melodiously announced,

The arrival of spring,

Locking myself within my home,

I offered my soul at your feet,

Shedding tears of joy, unknown to anyone.

Krishna, You Know Me Not.

~Sugatha Kumari

Centuries have passed, the Dwapara Yuga too came to an end yet the land of Gopikas and their beloved Krishna seems to be stuck in time. In the lanes of Vrindavana, at night, you might just hear the anklets, you might hear them sing to their Manmohan and you might just see him dancing with the lovely maidens of Vraja.

But don't expect to come back home sane after you watch their divine dance.

I say this for I too turned mad in love with that boy from Vrindavana.

[iskconchd]

@spdailyquotes Everyone is being controlled by God, but a devotee is so exalted that Krishna says, "I wish to be controlled by you." This is Krishna's position. Vrindavana, March 16, 1974 सबकुछ भगवान् द्वारा नियंत्रित हैं, किन्तु भक्त इतना महान् होता है कि श्रीकृष्ण कहते हैं, मैं तुम्हारे द्वारा नियंत्रित होना चाहता हूँ। यह है श्रीकृष्ण की स्थिति। वृन्दावन, 16 मार्च 1974 #krishna #iskconphotos #motivation #success #love #vaishnav #india #creativity #inspiration #life #spdailyquotes #devotion

[haribolnamaste]

Dear sweet Krishna

[krishnaart]

☀ TULASI MAHARANI ☀

[devotoharekrisna]

Aniversário do Desaparecimento de Jagannatha Das Babaji

Em 19/03/2024 comemora-se o aniversário do desaparecimento de Jagannatha Das Babaji.Ele realizava bhajana em Vrindavana. Ele sentiu que em Vrindavana todas as reações das atividades pecaminosas aumentavam mil vezes, e então decidiu ir para Sri Mayapur Dhama, porque em Navadwipa pode-se obter benefícios mil vezes mais e não há reações. Temos muita sorte por ele ter resgatado o local de nascimento…

[arjuna-vallabha]

Syamasundara (Radha  Syamasundara) as Krishna-kali, Vrindavana, UP

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna Jaya Vrindavana ~ Agnideva Dasa