Woman Almost Drowns on Parikrama

[Guest guest]

by Vipramukhya Swami

 

CHAKRA (Vrindavan, India) - March 7, 1999: Devotees from around the world

went out this morning to visit Raval, Gokula and Brahmanada Kund, three

important places associated with Krishna's pastimes. A woman devotee almost

drowned in the Yamuna, but was saved.

 

Starting just after morning light, devotees from around the world piled into

buses at the ISKCON Krishna-Balaram Mandir and traveled to Raval, the

appearance place of Srimati Radharani. After an extended kirtan, they took

prasadam there.

 

Raval is a small temple in a remote area, surrounded by farmland. Although

the temple is old, recent donations from ISKCON devotees have allowed

caretakers of the temple to put down a marble floor and paint the temple

room. Srimati Radharani's family took her to Varsana to grow up around the

same time that Krishna moved from Gokula to Nandagrama.

 

After prasadam, the buses gathered the devotees together and headed off to

Gokula. After climbing a small hill, devotees entered the ancient temple.

There are 84 stone pillars in this temple, said to be the oldest structures

in Vraja, dating back to the actual home of Nanda Maharaja in Vrindavan

5,000 years ago.

 

Mahanidhi Maharaja and I told devotees stories about Krishna stealing butter

at this location. We also heard about Krishna killing the Putana witch here

as well.

 

>From Gokula, devotees went to Brahmanda Ghat. Here Balaram and his friends

accused Krishna of eating dirt. When Mother Yasoda asked to look in

Krishna's mouth, she saw the entire universe inside (brahmanda), and

therefore this place, on the bank of the Yamuna river, is called Brahmanda

Ghat.

 

Devotees went swimming here. The ladies went swimming a little upstream.

Although the river was not deep (it was possible to walk across the river in

waist high water), the current was strong. One middle aged western devotee

was swept off her feet by the current and carried down the river. She was

struggling and going under water and panicking.

 

A brahmacari near where I was in the water saw her and grabbed her. The two

of us were the only ones around. I then took his hand, and then other

devotees took my hand, and we formed a chain to pull her safely out of the

water. Though she had taken in some water and was coughing, and though she

was frightened and crying, she was otherwise okay. She returned safely to

the bus and back to Vrindavan with all of the devotees.

 

Scriptures tell us that if someone dies by drowning in the Yamuna in

Vrindavan they will go back to Godhead. However, that is probably a

frightening way to die, and not something ISKCON wishes on visiting devotees

from the West.