Vraja Mandala Parikrama Article

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Sri Dhama Vraja Mandala Parikrama -- A Neophyte's Realizations

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By Aja Govinda das

 

 

I am completely unqualified to glorify Sri Dhama Vrndavana, the

transcendental abode of the Lord. I have only experienced the Parikrama

once, whereas so many of you devotees have experienced the Parikrama many

more times than me. Therefore, I pray to my Guru Maharaja H.H Hanumatpresaka

Swami, all the Vaisnavas, and especially H.H. Lokanath Swami who has

inspired me to describe my experience of Vraja Mandala Parikrama.

 

How can I explain the glories of Vraja Mandala Parikrama? It is a

transcendental expedition, a month-long journey not just through different

villages and towns of Mathura District but also a journey on the path of

clearing the garbage of anarthas filled in our hearts. How is it that the

Parikrama clears our garbage of anarthas? Certainly seeing, staying, and

touching the Dhama purifies us, but I also experienced practically how

Srimati Radharani, the Queen of Vrndavana, personally forces devotees to

pull out their deep-rooted weeds of material enjoyment.

 

I was walking one day after breakfast prasadam, and my rascal mind was

complaining about the simple food and the long walk in the hot sun. As I was

thinking like this foolishly, immediately a stick with a 1 inch long thorn

stuck to my slippers. The thorn pierced through my slippers and into my

foot. Then and there it occurred to me how foolish I was to meditate on my

own sense gratification. Mercifully, Radharani had reminded me with the

thorn that this Vraja Mandala Parikrama was not for my own sense enjoyment

but for the performance of austerities to please the Lord.

 

Prabhodananda Sarasvati teaches us in his Sri Vrndavana-Mahimamrta that Sri

Caitanya Mahaprabhu is distributing love of Godhead freely to anyone and

everyone without consideration of qualifications, but we are so foolish that

instead of aspiring for that love of Godhead, we are engaged in sense

gratification. That thorn was actually Radharani's merciful reminder to me

that I have not come to Vraja to enjoy but to perform austerities for the

satisfaction of the Lord.

 

After my completing B-Tech in Electrical Engineering, my mother strongly

wished that our whole family perform the Vraja Mandala Parikrama during the

most auspicious month of Kartika, Sri Damodara's own month. Any austerities

performed in Kartika have a result thousand times over, and what to speak of

while living in Vrndavana -- the results are inconceivable. But my mother

warned me beforehand, "If you simply desire material gain or profit as the

result of your Parikrama, then you will cheat yourself and miss the topmost

gain, love of Godhead or Krsna-prema. If you do not meditate on the name,

form, qualities, and pastimes of the Lord while on the Parikrama, then your

experience will be that of a crow's bathing in holy reservoirs." My mother's

words rang in my ears when the thorn pierced my foot. As is stated in the

Srimad-bhagavatam,

 

yasyatma buddhi kunape tridhatuke

sadhikalatradisu bhaumejyadi

yat tirtha buddhir salilena karhicit

janesu abhijnesu sa eva gokhara

 

Translation: Those persons who consider themselves to be this body made of

three elements (mucus, bile, and air), who are too attached to wife,

children, home, etc., and who visit the holy places only to bathe in the

holy waters like crows without listening to or associating with the saints

that purify the holy places, are considered to be just like unintelligent

cows and asses.

 

Whenever H.H. Lokanath Swami would come and lecture, Maharaja would always

emphasize on how rare an opportunity it was to come to the exact 'lila

sthalis' of the Lord's eternal pastimes. He would ask us to take advantage

of such a rare opportunity and meditate on the pastimes of the Lord and

cultivate a mood of separation from Vrndavana. As we pray to Srimati Tulasi

Devi:

mora ei abhilasa, vilasa kunje diyo vasa

nayana heribo sada, yugala rupa rasi

"O Tulasi Devi, my desire is that you grant me a residence in the pleasure

groves of Sri Vrndavana Dhama. Thus within my vision I will always behold

the beautiful pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna."

 

Also I learned from the thorn-piercing incident that you cannot escape

purification in the land of Srimati Radharani. I was thinking that with

slippers I would remain aloof from thorns, but Sri Dhama Vraja-bhumi has

long iron-hard thorns that pierce through your slippers or shoes into your

foot. I experienced on the Vraja Mandala Parikrama, that if your thoughts

are impure, either Srimati Radharani will send you out of Vraja, or if you

are sincere, She will clear your anarthas with thorns, stones or diseases.

 

During Sri Vraja Mandala Parikrama, we all realized how less you need to

live and how a simple life is much more free of anxieties and bondages.

Today all over the world, people are losing their traditions and running

after the culture of the West, a culture of consumerism -- "Buy this and you

will be happy or buy that and you will be happy." Television advertisements

simply increase people's artificial desires. People loose all peace

hankering to buy one item and after being frustrated with that item, they

seek satisfaction with other items. Lord Krsna states in the Bhagavad-gita:

 

brahma-bhuta prasannatma

na socati na kanksati

samah sarvesu bhutesu

mad bhaktim labhate param

 

Translation: The liberated soul situated in Brahman is completely satiated,

and as such he neither laments nor desires, and he is equal to all living

entities. Such a liberated soul attains to the platform of pure devotional

service unto Me.

 

Modern city life is only filled with hankering and lamentation. On the other

hand, the life of the village is much simpler and stress-free, and this life

we experienced for one whole month in the land of Sri Dhama Vraja-Bhumi.

Originally, going into the fields with biting mosquitoes and disturbing

flies and bathing in the early cold mornings seemed too difficult. But over

time I realized how this Parikrama was training me just like a soldier in

the movement of Srila Prabhupada. As my Guru Maharaja, H.H. Hanumatpresaka

Swami, told me, "The devotee who has completed the Vraja Mandala Parikrama

can bear the most uncomfortable situation and perform any austerities to

spread the movement of Lord Caitanya all over the world."

 

Sometimes we felt that the austerities of the Parikrama were too difficult,

but we soon realized the immense gain we achieved from this experience.

Bathing in the freezing cold mornings and walking during the hot sunny

afternoons made all us Parikrama bhaktas strong, just like the metallurgical

process of annealing (heating) and cooling hardens and strengthens a metal.

I also realized again and again that I was only able to continue on the

Parikrama due to the mercy of Srimati Radharani, not due to my limited and

failing bodily strength. My Guruji told me that one strong Russian Mataji

had come to a prior Parikrama and was confident and proud of her strength,

but the second day a thorn cut her foot and she limped the whole day.

 

In the Parikrama we need to humbly take shelter of the lotus feet of Sri

Radha and all our problems will be solved. I personally was sick with a sore

throat and fever during the whole first week of the Parikrama. I could not

even imagine how I could survive a midnight bath in Radha-kunda on the holy

night of Bahulastami. But my father forced me to take a dip, and by the

mercy of Radharani, my sore throat and fever was completely cured the next

morning, and after that I never suffered any fever or sore throat throughout

the rest of the Parikrama. Such is the potency of Srimati Radharani. Only

with Her permission can we enter and stay in Vraja-bhumi. We cannot enter

Vrndavana simply with a bus, car or train ride.

 

City people may be proud of their computers, cars, and extravaganza. But

they miss out on the simple and blissful life of Vrndavana. The refreshing

waters of the Yamuna that I swam across from bank to bank with a group of

devotees, the shining sand of Ramana-reti where devotees jumped, danced, and

rolled in during an ecstatic kirtan, the sound of many mrdanga drums

echoing in the temples of Vraja, the kathas of H.H. Lokanath Swami, H.H.

Radha Raman Swami and H.H. Hanumatpresaka Swami at the exact spots where the

Lord performed His pastimes, the bajra and missi rotis filled with the love

of Brijvasi mothers can only be obtained and experienced in this holy land

of Vraja. The Vraja Mandala Parikrama opened my eyes and revealed to me how

much more there is to Vraja-bhumi then what I had experienced in prior

visits to Vrndavana. I wish to share with you a poem.

 

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

 

Hereby I share my experience of Vraja Mandala Parikrama.

We journeyed through that holy land replete with Tulasi's aroma.

Traveling through the transcendental Cintamani Dhama of Sri Vrndavana, we

enjoyed a whole month of participating in Krsna's pastimes and fun.

 

Daily we visited the Lord's lila-sthalis and Gosvamis' bhajan-kutirs, where

the Lord performed intimate pastimes with His dearest devotees. While

drinking the nectar of harinam-sankirtan and krsna-katha with our ears, an

opportunity rare even for yogis who meditate for thousands of years.

 

Due to our heart's contamination we are plunged over and over into material

grief and mourn.

Sometimes while on Parikrama our feet would be pierced by many-a-thorn,

which were hidden under soft sand like our heart's deep-rooted anarthas and

unwanted desires.

To clear away these thorn-like anarthas, the Vraja Mandala Parikrama

inspires.

 

Sages of the past performed austerities amidst fire during heat and

underwater during cold to meet

the Lord of their hearts. Similarly, we strode through the hot sun overhead

and hot sand burning our feet.

It is just like the iron rod becomes firelike when put into the fire. For

becoming pure like Krsna, the Vraja Mandala Parikrama offers the

purification we require.

 

An important lesson I have learned from the Vraja Mandala Parikrama: How

less you need to live and how simplicity is the way to stay away from Maya's

illusory dance and drama.

At last I offer prostrated obeisances to he who revealed Vrndavana to us

all, Srila Prabhupada, our Founder-acarya.

By his mercy we may obtain the shelter of the Gosvamis, the gopis, and Sri

Sri Radha Krsna.

 

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

 

I pray for forgiveness as I am inadequate to describe the transcendental

abode of the Lord. It was only due to the loving protection and guidance of

my parents (Sri Hari Prabhu and Shyamasakhi Mataji) that I was able to

complete the Parikrama. I thank H.H. Lokanath Swami, H.H. Radha Ramana

Swami, H.H. Hanumatpresaka Swami, Bhadra Prabhu, and all other management

devotees who are carrying on the mission of the six Gosvamis by visiting and

maintaining (through fundraising and donations) the many temples and pastime

places of the Lord in Sri Dhama Vraja-bhumi. May the six Gosvamis shower us

with a drop from the ocean of the mellows of Vrndavana in which they

constantly swim so we may also hanker to touch the dust (renu), bow to the

cows (dhenu), and listen to the flute (venu) of Vrajendra-nandana

Vrndavana-bihari Syamasundara.

 

Your servant,

Aja Govinda das