Vrindavan Trip – Day 4

Day 0 can be found here:

Day 4 of our pilgrimage began with the auspicious Mangala Aarthi at 4:30 AM in the Radha Vrindavan Chandra Temple, followed by the congregational chanting. By around 6:30 AM, we reached a spot which is considered to be one of the starting points for the Govardhana parikrama (the circumambulation around Govardhana hill). 

The parikrama marg entwines through bustling main roads, silent village streets, and soft sand pathways.

To the best of my memory, the first place on the path of the Govardhana parikrama marg is a temple on a busy street. According to the legend, Lord Krishna used to collect taxes from Gopis for carrying butter at this location. Here, devotees offer milk to a Shila in this temple. 

The next one we encountered was an expansive and beautiful pond beside a small temple. It is said that Ma Radha ji used to collect flowers in the garden nearby. I clearly remember the smiling and warm face of the lady devotee who narrated the prominence of the temple with us. 

Next, we reached Mansi Ganga on our marg. Once, Nanda Baba and Yashoda Mayya wished to go on pilgrimage and take bath in the holy rivers. Lord Krishna created a pool of water through his mind and invoked all the holy rivers into it so that his parents can avoid the turmoil of travel in their old age. Hence, this Kund is named Mansi Ganga.

There are different modes of doing Parikrama: By hiring an auto-rickshaw and by foot. Another way is to prostrate once on the ground, stand up and move a distance equal to one own’s height and then prostrate and so on around the Govardhan Giri. We thought this could be the toughest mode of doing parikrama. But, we were proved to be wrong on the way. We saw very few devotees carrying a large bag of stones. We came to know that they prostrate 108 times at the same spot, then move ahead a distance equal to their height and again prostrate 108 times and so on. In this way, the devotees do parikrama. The stones are used for counting the 108 prostrations. We were astounded to hear that it takes around 6 months for them to complete the parikrama. At dusk, they rest at their respective houses and at dawn, they again reach the same spot to resume their parikrama. 

Moving forward, we reached a place named Udhav Kund. Adjacent to the Kund, there is a temple with beautiful deities of Radha Rani and Lord Krishna. Alongside, there is Udhav ji as well. 

We ended our parikrama at Radha Kund and Shyama Kund. According to the folklore of Vraj Bhumi, Srimati Radha once teases Lord Krishna that he has committed a sin by killing a bull and hence must take a dip in the holy rivers to avoid penance. To which, Lord Krishna creates a pool of water, invokes all the holy rivers into it and took a dip. This pool is called Shyam Kund.

Then, Lord Krishna teases Maa Radha that although I have killed a demon in disguise of bull, you teased me. For that, you have to pay penance or take a dip in the holy rivers. To that, Maa Radha dig the earth with her bangle and creates a pool. This pool is famously named Radha Kund, which is adjacent to Shyam Kund.

We had a holy bath in both the Kunds. After taking bath, we hired an auto and reached the Krishna Balram temple in Vrindavan by dusk. Though we dozed off during this journey, we danced for more than an hour in the Krishna Balram temple. 

To date, we didn’t know from where we got such energy after walking 22 km, stretched over more than 8 hours.

There are many other places in the Parikrama Marg apart from the above-mentioned. But, these stayed with me. 

Hare Krishna. This is the last one in this series. Thank you everyone for reading the posts and for your beautiful comments.

P.S.: Please forgive me if I have made any mistakes. 

Take care, Keep smiling often. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Pic credits: RVC