Vrindavan Trip – Day 2

Please find the Day 1 here

We have reached Radha Vrindavan Chandrodaya temple by 4:15 AM to attend the Mangala Aarthi. After the aarthi, we chanted Hare Krishna Maha Mantram using our Maalas placed in our chanting bags. We attended sringar aarthi and Guru puja at 7:15 AM. We danced joyfully along with the devotees to the beautiful bhajans during the aarti ceremony. After the aarti, the Bhagavatam class happened followed by the question and the answer session. One of the questions which I still remember is: “What is the significance of the place we are sitting at?” Prabhuji replied as follows:

“When Lord Krishna was in Gokul, he was continuously being attacked by many demons namely Putana, Trinavarta (whirlwind demon), Shakatasur (the demon who entered the cart) etc. The father of Lord Krishna, Nanda Maharaj worried about the safety of his child decided to relocate. On a fine day, Nanda Maharaj and all the villagers who are willing to relocate started their journey on their bullock carts. At this location, the Radha Vrindavan Chandrodaya temple, they temporarily halted by placing the bullock carts in a semi-circle fashion to provide protection from the wild animals. Hence, this place is named Shakatikara, where “Shakat” means cart/bullock cart and “kara” means circle/semi-circle. Over a period of time, the name has been transformed to Chhatikara. There are other versions as well to the significance of this place.”  

“Then, Nanda Maharaj continued and reached the present day Nandagaon. During the same time Vrishabhanu, the father of Radha rani relocated to the present day Barsana.”

 We took an autorikshaw from Vrindavan to Barsana. We have to walk a little and climb the stairs to reach the Sri Radha Rani temple, the main attraction of Barsana. You can find a large number of lassi shops on either side of the way to the Sri Radha Rani temple. We had the tasty lassi in earthen glasses after our darshan of Radha Rani and Lord Krishna. 

Then, we visited Nandagaon, where on either side of Lord Krishna and Lord Balram, one can also witness Nanda Baba and Yashoda Mayya. In the folklore stories of Vrajbhumi, it was said that Lord Krishna spent his boyhood days in Nandagaon.

In the evening we visited Ter Kadamba temple which is close to Nandagaon. It is the place where Sri Rupa Goswami, one of the six principle disciples of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, stayed. According to some devotees, one day Sri Rupa Goswami wished to eat Kheer. However, he was old and he didn’t have all the ingredients to prepare it at that time. On the same day, a little girl came to Sri Rupa Goswami and gave him kheer. She says that she hails from a nearby village and she wished to offer some food to the old devotees. When Sri Rupa Goswami tastes the kheer, he feels ecstatic and by the time he opens his eyes the little girl wont be present. After some time, Santana Goswami arrives and when he tastes the kheer offered by Sri Rupa Goswami he also feels ecstatic. He tells Sri Rupa Goswami that this is prepared by none other than Sri Radha Rani. 

If there are any mistakes please forgive me. Thanks for reading. Keep smiling and take care. 

Pic credits: RVC