ISKCON's 15th ANNUAL VRAJA MANDAL PARIKRAMA . Part 1.

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

On the first day of katika devotees began the 15th Annual Vraja Mandal

Parikrama. We will be roaming around the 12 forests of Vraja for one month.

We began on the 1st of November 2001 with an early morning parikrama of

Vrndavan. Later, in the afternoon, the devotees taking part, did their

Sankalpa, they vowed to complete the parikrama.

 

Traditionally, the Vraja dhama parikrama starts with a bath in the Yamuna at

Vishram ghat. So, on the second day we left the Krsna Balarama temple in

Vrndavan and walked 16KM to Mathura. Our party consited of approx. 400

devotees from all over the world. On the way to Mathura we saw the place

where the cowherd boys, being hungry, had approached Krsna and Balaram and

asked them to kill their hunger. 5,000 years ago this place was a forest.

Actually, the forest is still there. Simply, it is no longer visible to our

mundane eyes. Today, we can see through our ears, through the process of

hearing the pastimes of the Lord, with faith. The wives of the Brahmins

have described the beauty of the Lord and Sukadeva Goswami has captured

their vision in the pages of Bhagavatam. So, by hearing the Srimad

Bhagavatam we can see the beauty of the Lord through the eyes of His

devotees.

 

So, the Lord told the hungry cowherd boys to go to some Brahmins who were

performing a yajna nearby, and ask them for some food. The cowherd boys

were hungry because they did not have their lunch boxes that day. It was on

this day also that Krsna had stolen the garments of the gopis, as they took

bath. The gopis took bath early in the morning. In order to do the stealing

of cloth, Krsna had to leave home very early that morning. Therefore,

neither the Lord nor any other member of His team were able to get their

lunch boxes together.

 

The cowherd boys respectfully approached the Brahmins and requested:

"Krsna and Balarama are nearby and They are hungry. Please give some

grains". The Brahmins, however, were lacking in devotion and were more

concerned with the ritualistic details of their Yajna. Although they were

very learned, they did not understand the goal of their endeavors. They

were busy with their "Svahaas". There is an important lesson for us to

learn from this place.

 

Disappointed, the cowherd boys returned to Krsna and Balarama. The Lord was

not surprised, He simply wanted to expose this mentality of the Brahmins.

He told His friends to go to the wives's of those Brahmins and ask them for

food. As we know, the wives were very eager to serve the Lord. They wanted

to see Him so much. As the rivers rush to the ocean, in the same way, the

wives were being drawn towards Krsna. They did not want to just give food

to the boys. No, they wanted to personally go and serve the Lord. The

wives of the Brahmins, although simple women, had achieved this very

elevated consciousness through hearing about the Lord from others. We can

get confidence from this. By hearing we can also become purified and enter

the pastimes of the Lord. That is the goal of this Vraja Mandal parikrama.

We don't want to just walk around Vraja visiting the holy places. We want

to sit in these places and with faith hear about the pastimes He performed

here. The Lord promises in the Bhagavata Gita that, if we understand His

pastimes, we do not have to return to this material world, after death, but

instead, go home to the spiritual world. That is the goal of our lives and

we are doing this parikrama with that goal in mind.

 

Later, we went to Akrura ghat, the place where the Lord allowed Akrura to

see His Four-handed Narayana form. It is also here that Krsna showed the

residents of Vrndavan the spiritual sky.

 

Tomorrow we will be doing parikrama of Mathura town.

 

Hoping this meets you in the best of health

Your servant

Lokanath Swami