Sacred Places of
Interest
Introduction
Krishna Balarama Mandir and ISKCON
Kaliya Ghata
Radha Madan Mohan Banke
Bihari Radha Vallabha
Seva Kunja
Imli Tala Radha
Damodara, Jiva and Rupa Goswami's Samadhi's and Bhajan Kutira
Radha Syamasundara Radha
Raman Radha Gokulanada
Kesi Ghata
Radha Gopinatha Gopisvara
Mahadeva Vamsi Vata
Radha Govinda
Nandagram Varsana
Parikrama Map
This
is the sacred place of the rasa dance and also where Lord Krishna offered service to Srimati Radharani by
decorating Her hair with flowers, as well as massaging and painting Her lotus
feet. Radha and Krishna would sometimes spend the night here, dancing with the gopis
and enjoying various transcendental pastimes. One can see the rasa-sthali,
commemorating the rasa dance of Lord
Krishna with the gopis. There is also
a small temple dedicated to Radha and Krishna's pastimes called Rang
Mahal where Lord Krishna decorated Srimati Radharani. Near the entrance to
this garden is a kunda created by Lord Krishna. He pushed His foot into the ground
just to please Lalita devi when she was feeling thirsty and wanted to drink
water.
The transcendental rasa
dance performance of Lord Krishna can never be compared to any mundane dancing
of the conditioned souls. Krishna's performance of the rasa
dance is a completely spiritual affair of pure love, enacted on the spiritual
platform, between the Lord and His greatest devotees, who had all taken the form
of gopis, the beautiful cowherd
damsels of Vrndavana. They were by far the most beautiful damsels in the whole
universe.
Krishna, being the Supreme Lord, is
also the Supreme Enjoyer. Everything in creation is meant for the Lords
pleasure; the gopis of Vrndavana
perfectly understood this and were prepared to do anything and everything for
the satisfaction of Krishna. They did not expect anything in return for their
service; this is bhakti-yoga, complete
surrender in pure unalloyed devotion to the Lord.
In a former life, some of the gopis
had been great rsis and perfect yogis.
Due to their great austerities and perfect meditation, they had attained the
chance to associate with the Supreme Lord in His most intimate loving pastimes
within the forest of Vrndavana. It should be clearly understood that there is
not even the slightest tinge of material lust, or mundane sex indulgence in the
transcendental pastimes of spiritual love between Lord Krishna and the gopis. In their former lives the rsis and yogis were
completely above the mundane sensual plane due to their perfect meditation; in
their next lives they associated directly with the Lord, in their pure spiritual
forms as the beautiful gopis of
Vrndavana. Those who think that these pastimes of the Lord in Vrndavana are
manifestations of mundane lusty activities are certainly possessed of a hellish
mentality.
Timings:
Summer — Mangala 5:30 am; Darsana
7 am-12:30 pm and 3:30 pm-6 pm
Winter — Mangala 6 am; Darsana 7
am-12:30 pm and 4:30 pm-7 pm
top
of page
