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Glories
of Vrindavana Dhama
CC Madhya lila 16.280-281
Sri Radha Kunda
Sri Radharamanji Appearance place
TEXT 280
tumi
yahan-yahan raha, tahan 'vrndavana'
tahan
yamuna, ganga, sarva-tirtha-gana
SYNONYMS
tumi--You; yahan-yahan--wherever;
raha--stay; tahan vrndavana--that place is Vrndavana; tahan--there;
yamuna--the River Yamuna; ganga--the River Ganga;
sarva-tirtha-gana--all other holy places of pilgrimage.
TRANSLATION
Gadadhara Pandita said, "Wherever You
stay is Vrndavana, as well as the River Yamuna, the River Ganges and
all other places of pilgrimage.
TEXT
281
tabu vrndavana yaha' loka sikhaite
seita karibe, tomara yei laya citte
SYNONYMS
tabu--still; vrndavana yaha'--You go
to Vrndavana; loka sikhaite--to teach the people in general;
seita--that; karibe--You will do; tomara--of You; yei--what;
laya--takes; citte--in the mind.
TRANSLATION
"Although wherever You stay is Vrndavana, You still go to Vrndavana
just to instruct people. Otherwise, You do whatever You think best."
PURPORT
It
was not essential for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to go to Vrndavana, for
wherever He stayed was immediately converted to Vrndavana. Indeed,
there was also the River Ganges, the River Yamuna and all other places
of pilgrimage. This was also expressed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
Himself when He danced in the Ratha-yatra. At that time He said that
His very mind was Vrndavana (mora-mana--vrndavana). Because His mind
was Vrndavana, all the pastimes of Radha and Krsna were taking place
within Himself. Nonetheless, just to teach people, He visited
bhauma-vrndavana, Vrndavana-dhama in this material world. In this way
the Lord instructed everyone to visit Vrndavana-dhama, which is a very
holy place. Materialists consider Vrndavana-dhama an unclean city
because there are many monkeys and dogs there, and along the bank of
the Yamuna there is refuse. Some time ago, a materialistic man asked
me, "Why are you living in Vrndavana? Why have you selected such a
dirty place to live after retiring?" Such a person cannot understand
that Vrndavana-dhama is always a representation of the original
Vrndavana-dhama. Consequently Vrndavana-dhama is as worshipable as Lord
Krsna. Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam: according
to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's philosophy, Lord Sri Krsna and His abode,
Vrndavana, are equally worshipable. Sometimes materialistic people who
have no spiritual understanding go to Vrndavana as tourists. One who
goes to Vrndavana with such materialistic vision cannot derive any
spiritual benefit. Such a person is not convinced that Krsna and
Vrndavana are identical. Since they are identical, Vrndavana is as
worshipable as Lord Krsna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's vision
(mora-mana-vrndavana) is different from the vision of an ordinary
materialistic person. At the Ratha-yatra festival, Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, absorbed in the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani, dragged Lord
Krsna back to Vrndavana-dhama. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke of this in
the verses beginning ahus ca te (Madhya 13.136).
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.84.13)
it is stated:
yasyatma-buddhih kunape tridhatuke
svadhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janesv abhijnesu sa eva gokharah
"A human being who identifies this body made of
three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of the body
to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of birth as worshipable, and
who goes to the place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than
meet men of transcendental knowledge there, is to be considered like an
ass or a cow."
Srila Prabhupada's Room
At Radha Damodara
Sri Radharaman Temple,
Vrindavana
Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally renovated Vrndavana-dhama and advised
His chief disciples, Rupa and Sanatana, to develop it and open it to
attract the spiritual vision of the general populace. At present there
are about five thousand temples in Vrndavana, and still our society,
the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is constructing a
huge, magnificent temple for the worship of Lord Balarama, Radha-Krsna
and Guru-Gauranga. Since there is no prominent Krsna-Balarama temple in
Vrndavana, we are attempting to construct one so that people will be
attracted to Krsna-Balarama, or Nitai-Gauracandra. Vrajendra-nandana
yei, saci suta haila sei. Narottama dasa Thakura says that Balarama and
the son of Maharaja Nanda have advented Themselves as Gaura-Nitai. To
propagate this fundamental principle, we are establishing a
Krsna-Balarama temple to broadcast to the world that worship of
Gaura-Nitai is the same as worship of Krsna-Balarama.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sitting place at Radha Kunda
Srila Prabhupada's first room in Vrindavana
Although
it is very difficult to enter into the Radha-Krsna pastimes, most of
the devotees of Vrndavana are attracted to the Radha-Krsna lila.
However, since Nitai-Gauracandra are direct incarnations of Balarama
and Krsna, we can be directly in touch with Lord Balarama and Lord
Krsna through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Those who
are highly elevated in Krsna consciousness can enter into the pastimes
of Radha-Krsna through the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is
said: sri-krsna-caitanya radha-krsna nahe anya. Sri Krsna Caitanya
Mahaprabhu is a combination of Radha and Krsna.
Sometimes
materialists, forgetting the pastimes of Radha-Krsna and
Krsna-Balarama, go to Vrndavana, accept the land's spiritual facilities
and engage in material activity. This is against the teachings of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The prakrta-sahajiyas proclaim themselves
vraja-vasi or dhama-vasi, but they are mainly engaged in sense
gratification. Thus they become more and more implicated in the
materialistic way of life. Those who are pure devotees in Krsna
consciousness condemn their activities. The eternal vraja-vasis like
Svarupa Damodara did not even come to Vrndavana-dhama. Sri Pundarika
Vidyanidhi, Sri Haridasa Thakura, Srivasa Pandita, Sivananda Sena, Sri
Ramananda Raya, Sri Sikhi Mahiti, Sri Madhavidevi and Sri Gadadhara
Pandita Gosvami never visited Vrndavana-dhama. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura points out that we have no authorized documents
stating that these exalted personalities visited Vrndavana.
Nonetheless, we find many nondevotees, Mayavadi sannyasis,
prakrta-sahajiyas, fruitive workers, mental speculators and many others
with material motives going to Vrndavana to live. Many of these people
go there to solve their economic problems by becoming beggars. Although
anyone living in Vrndavana somehow or other is benefited, the real
Vrndavana is appreciated only by a pure devotee. As stated in the
Brahma-samhita: premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. When one has
purified eyes, he can see that Sri Vrndavana and the original Goloka
Vrndavana planet in the spiritual sky are identical.
Srila
Narottama dasa Thakura, Srinivasa Acarya, Sri Jagannatha dasa Babaji
Maharaja, Sri Bhagavan dasa Babaji Maharaja, Srila Gaurakisora dasa
Babaji Maharaja and later Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura of Calcutta always
engaged in nama-bhajana and certainly did not live anywhere but
Vrndavana. Presently, the members of the Hare Krsna movement throughout
the world live in materially opulent cities, such as London, New York,
Los Angeles, Paris, Moscow, Zurich and Stockholm. However, we are
satisfied with following in the footsteps of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
and other acaryas. Because we live in the temples of Radha-Krsna and
continuously hold hari-nama-sankirtana--the chanting of Hare Krsna--we
consequently live in Vrndavana and nowhere else. We are also following
in the footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by attempting to construct
a temple in Vrndavana for our disciples throughout the world to visit.
Manasi Ganga at Govardhana Hill
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