Kedaranatha is situated one Kilometer west of Vilonda. On top of the mountain are Sri Kedaranathaji and Sri Parvati-devi. There are Vaisnavas living below the mountain, on the bank of Gauri Kunda.

How to get there: You can go by taxi from Vrindavana, its far away and will take 2 hours to reach.

In my previous article “Sri Kumudavana (Kadaravana)”, it is explained all the holy places came to Vraja Mandal and they never returned, because Vrindavana itself is the greatest of all the holy places within the material universe. All the holy places are present in Sri Vraja Mandal and by visiting Kedaranatha in Vraja Mandal, devotees derive the same spiritual benefit as visiting Kedaranatha in the mountains of Uttarakhand State.

Lord Krishna, through his parents, was conveying the message that one should never leave Vrindavana, because Vrindavana itself is the greatest of all the holy places, and every other holy place in the universe has its original form in Vrindavana.

Situated on the top of a hill is this shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva which contains a Shiva-linga known as Kedaranatha Mahadeva. One must climb up three hundred steps to reach the shrine where one gets a panoramic view of the surrounding country-side. This shrine is situated inside a cave, where one can have darshana of the Shiva-linga of Kedaranatha Mahadeva and his eternal consort Parvati Devi. Nearby below the mountain is a small pond known as Gauri-kunda and a temple dedicated to Lord Rama, Lakshmana and Sita Devi. It is very beautiful place to visit.   

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Sri Kadaravana lies two kilometre west of Nagari and two miles from Sri Talavana. Its ancient name is Sri Kumudavana. The beauty of this forest is enhanced by Sri Kumudani Kunda. This kunda is always beautified by blooming Kumuda-flowers (lilies), that are always surrounded by male and female bumblebees that drink the nectar of these Kumuda-flowers. This kunda is surrounded by trees of various colours. Sri Krsna was always playing here with His friends, hence this place is also known as Sri Kumudavana. A human being who comes here is worshipped in Visnuloka. Here one can see the sitting place of Kapiladeva and Sri Vallabhacarya.

Mentioned in Sri Adi Varaha Purana “O goddess! This Kumudavana is the third forest and is super excellent. Anyone who goes there will be worshipped in My abode!”

How to get there: You can easily go to this place by auto from Vrindavana.

In my below video you can see local Pujari explaining about the importance of this place:

The Sri Kumudani Kunda is also called Ganga Sagar. Lord Krishna himself created this Ganga Sagar. The main Ganga Sagar is in Kolkata (West Bengal). People go to Kolkata to take darshan of Ganga Sagar with lot of efforts. Lord Krishna called all the Char Dham in Vraja Mandal to give darshan to Vasudeva, Devaki, Nanda Baba and Yashoda.

When Vasudeva and Devaki were in prison, Vasudeva prayed, “if we have a son, then we will do Char Dham parikrama”

Lord Krishna was born, killed many demons including Kamsa and freed his parents from the prison. A lot of time passed, Vasudeva and Devaki became very old, could not walk and so at this place, Lord Krishna called all the four Dham to the third forest of Vraja. First forest is Sri Madhuvana, second is Sri Talavana and this Kumudavana is the third forest. Here Kumudani and Kamal (lotus) flowers grow, Kamal or lotus flower blooms during day time due to sunlight, Kumudani flowers blooms during night time due to moon light. Because of this Kumudani flower, this village is called Kumudavana. All local people in this village are Brahmins.

Once Vasudeva was sitting at this place. Lord Krishna asked, “why are you silent, express your desire?”.

Vasudeva said, “I had prayed if I have a son, I will do Char Dham Parikrama”.

Lord Krishna said, “you expressed your desire to visit Char Dham, but they are not in one place, one is on the top of the mountain, one in the forest and we would have to walk in the forest and cross the river, but you are too old walk that far.”

Vasudeva replied, “this is what I am thinking. My youth age is passed and I am old to do Char Dham parikrama. My desire is in my heart only, all my years just passed by.”

Lord Krishna replied, “You do not get afraid or worried, I will call all the Char Dham here in Kumudavana and you can take darshan and do Parikrama. I will not call Char Dham just for one day but for the four months, Shravana, Bhadra, Asvina and Kartika. For four months in Kumudavana, all the four Dham will stay in Vraja Mandal, and Lord Krishna started 84 krosh Vraja Mandal Parikrama.”

Lord Krishna and Srimati Radharani taken bath in this Kunda. Srimati Radharani made garland of Kamal or lotus flowers from this kunda and put it on Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna and gopis made garland of kumudani flowers and put it on Srimati Radharani.

All the Char Dham: Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath settled in Vraja Mandal. Devotees who are unable to visit Kumudavana for the four months, Shravana, Bhadra, Asvina and Kartika can visit Char Dham in Vraja Mandal any time of the year to take darshan. I will explain in my next article.       

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Three kilometre south of Sri Madhuvana is the village of Tadasi. The ancient name of this village is Talavana. South of the village is the Talavana Kunda. On the eastern bank of the kunda is the Baladevaji Mandira. Apart from that one can see many palm-trees here and a Mahadeva Temple amongst others. Here Sri Balarama killed the Dhenuka-demon.

How to get there: You can easily go to this place by auto from Vrindavana. I visited this place while retuning from Koyele Ghata.

Killing of Dhenukasura

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada explains the beautiful pastime:

    Sri Krsna, along with His elder brother Balarama, passed the childhood age known as kaumara and stepped into the age of pauganda, from the sixth year up to the tenth. At that time, all the cowherd men conferred and agreed to give those boys who had passed their fifth year charge of the cows in the pasturing ground. Given charge of the cows, Krsna and Balarama traversed Vrindavana, purifying the land with Their footprints.

     Accompanied by the cowherd boys and Balarama, Krsna brought forward the cows and played on His flute through the forest of Vrindavana, which was full of flowers, vegetables, and pasturing grass. The Vrindavana forest was as sanctified as the clear mind of a devotee and was full of bees, flowers and fruits. There were chirping birds and clear water lakes with waters that could relieve one of all fatigues. Sweet flavored breezes blew always, refreshing the mind and body. Krsna, with His friends and Balarama, entered the forest and, seeing the favorable situation, enjoyed the atmosphere to the fullest extent. Krsna saw all the trees, overloaded with fruits and fresh twigs, coming down to touch the ground as if welcoming Him by touching His lotus feet. He was very pleased by the behavior of the trees, fruits and flowers, and He began to smile realizing their desires.

     Krsna then spoke to His elder brother Balarama as follows: “My dear brother, You are superior to all of us, and Your lotus feet are worshiped by the demigods. Just see how these trees, full with fruits, have bent down to worship Your lotus feet. It appears that they are trying to get out of the darkness of being obliged to accept the form of trees. Actually, the trees born in the land of Vrindavana are not ordinary living entities. Having held the impersonal point of view in their past lives, they are now put into this stationary condition of life, but now they have the opportunity of seeing You in Vrindavana, and they are praying for further advancement in spiritual life through Your personal association. Generally the trees are living entities in the modes of darkness. The impersonalist philosophers are in that darkness, but they eradicate it by taking full advantage of Your presence. I think the drones that are buzzing all around You must have been Your devotees in their past lives. They cannot leave Your company because no one can he a better, more affectionate master than You. You are the supreme and original Personality of Godhead, and the drones are just trying to spread Your glories by chanting every moment. I think some of them must he great sages, devotees of Your Lordship, and they are disguising themselves in the form of drones because they are unable to give up Your company even for a moment. My dear brother, You are the supreme worshipable Godhead. Just see how the peacocks in great ecstasy are dancing before You. The deer, whose behavior is just like the gopis, are welcoming You with the same affection. And the cuckoos who are residing in this forest are receiving You with great joy because they consider that Your appearance is so auspicious in their home. Even though they are trees and animals, these residents of Vrindavana are glorifying You. They are prepared to welcome You to their best capacity, as is the practice of great souls in receiving another great soul at home. As for the land, it is so pious and fortunate that the footprints of Your lotus feet are marking its body.

    “It is quite natural for these Vrindavana inhabitants to thus receive a great personality like You. The herbs, creepers and plants are also so fortunate to touch Your lotus feet. And by Your touching the twigs with Your hands, these small plants are also made glorious. As for the hills and the rivers, they too are now glorious because You are glancing at them. Above all, the damsels of Vraja, the gopis, attracted by Your beauty, are the most glorious, because You embrace them with Your strong arms.”

    In this way, both Lord Krsna and Balarama began to enjoy the residents of Vrindavana to their full satisfaction, along with the calves and cows on the bank of the Yamuna. In some places both Krsna and Balarama were accompanied by Their friends. The boys were singing, imitating the humming sound of the drones and accompanying Krsna and Balarama, who were garlanded with forest flowers. While walking, the boys sometimes imitated the quacking sound of the swans in the lakes, or when they saw the peacocks dancing, they imitated them before Krsna. Krsna also moved His neck, imitating the dancing and making His friends laugh.

     The cows taken care of by Krsna had different names, and Krsna would call them with love. After hearing Krsna calling, the cows would immediately respond by mooing, and the boys would enjoy this exchange to their hearts’ content. They would all imitate the sound vibrations made by the different kinds of birds, especially the cakoras, peacocks, cuckoo and bharadvajas. Sometimes, when they would see the weaker animals fleeing out of fear of the sounds of tigers and lions, the boys, along with Krsna and Balarama, would imitate the animals and run away with them. When they felt some fatigue, they would sit down, and Balarama would put His head on the lap of one of the boys just to take rest, and Krsna would immediately come and begin massaging the legs of Balarama. And sometimes He would take a palm fan and fan the body of Balarama, causing a pleasing breeze to relieve Him of His fatigue. Other boys would sometimes dance or sing while Balarama took rest, and sometimes they would wrestle amongst themselves or jump. When the boys were thus engaged, Krsna would immediately join them, and catching their hands, He would enjoy their company and laugh and praise their activities. When Krsna would feel tired and fatigued, He would sometimes take shelter of the root of a big tree, or the lap of a cowherd boy, and lie down. When He would lie down with a boy or a root as His pillow, some of the boys would come and massage His legs, and some would fan His body with a fan made from leaves. Some of the more talented boys would sing in very sweet voices to please Him. Thus very soon His fatigue would go away. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, whose legs are tended by the goddess of fortune, shared Himself with the cowherd boys as one of them, expanding His internal potency to appear exactly like a village boy. But despite His appearing just like a village boy, there were occasions when He proved Himself to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes men pose themselves as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cheat innocent people, but they can only cheat; they cannot exhibit the potency of God.

      While Krsna was thus engaged in exhibiting His internal potency along with the supermost fortunate friends, there occurred another chance for Him to exhibit the superhuman powers of Godhead. His most intimate friends Sridama, Subala and Stokakrsna began to address Krsna and Balarama with great love and affection thus: “Dear Balarama, You are very powerful; Your arms are very strong. Dear Krsna, You are very expert in killing all kinds of disturbing demons. Will You kindly note that just near this place there is a big forest of the name Talavana. This forest is full of palm trees, and all the trees are filled with fruits. Some are falling down, and some of them are very ripe even in the trees. It is a very nice place, but because of a great demon, Dhenukasura, it is very difficult to go there. No one can reach the trees to collect the fruits. Dear Krsna and Balarama, this demon is present there in the form of an ass, and he is surrounded by similar demon friends who assume the same shape. All of them are very strong, so it is very difficult to approach this place. Dear brothers, You are the only persons who can kill such demons. Other than You, no one can go there for fear of being killed. Not even animals go there, and no birds are sleeping there; they have all left. One can only appreciate the sweet aroma that is coming from that place. It appears that up until now, no one has tasted the sweet fruits there, either on the tree or on the ground. Dear Krsna, to tell You frankly, we are very attracted by this sweet aroma. Dear Balarama, let us all go there and enjoy these fruits. The aroma of the fruits is now spread everywhere. Don’t You smell it from here?”

 When  Balarama and Krsna were thus petitioned by Their smiling, intimate friends, They were inclined to please them, and They began to proceed towards the forest, surrounded by all Their friends. Immediately upon entering the Talavana, Balarama began to yank the trees with His arms, exhibiting the strength of an elephant. Because of this jerking, all the ripe fruits fell down on the ground. Upon hearing the sound of the falling fruits, the demon Dhenukasura, who was living there in the form of an ass, began to approach with great force, shaking the whole field so that all the trees began to move as if there were an earthquake. The demon appeared first before Balarama and began to kick His chest with his hind legs. At first, Balarama did not say anything, but the demon with great anger began to kick Him again more vehemently. This time Balarama immediately caught hold of the legs of the ass with one hand and, wheeling him around, threw him into the treetops. While he was being wheeled around by Balarama, the demon lost his life. Balarama threw the demon into the biggest palm tree about, and the demon’s body was so heavy that the palm tree fell upon other trees, and several fell down. It appeared as if a great hurricane had passed through the forest, and all the trees were falling down, one after another. This exhibition of extraordinary strength is not astonishing because Balarama is the Personality of Godhead known as Ananta Sesanaga, who is holding all the planets on the hoods of His millions of heads. The whole cosmic manifestation is maintained by Him exactly as two threads hold the weaving of a cloth.

    After the demon was thrown into the trees, all the friends and associates of Dhenukasura immediately assembled and attacked Balarama and Krsna with great force. They were determined to retaliate and avenge the death of their friend. But Krsna and Balarama began to catch each of the asses by the hind legs and, exactly in the same way, wheel them around. Thus They killed all of them by throwing them into the palm trees. Because of the dead bodies of the asses, there was a panoramic scene. It appeared as if clouds of various colors were assembled in the trees. Hearing of this great incident, the demigods from the higher planets began to shower flowers on Krsna and Balarama and began to beat their drums and offer devotional prayers.

    A  few days after the killing of Dhenukasura, people began to come into the Talavana forest to collect the fruits, and animals began to return without fear to feed on the nice grasses grown there. Just by chanting or hearing these transcendental activities and pastimes of the brothers Krsna and Balarama, one can amass pious activities.

The Previous Life of Dhenukasura

     In a cave on the Gandhamadana  Mountain the sage Durvasa was meditating. Bali, the son of Virocana, had a son named Sahasika, who disturbed the sage’s meditation by sporting there with thousands of women. The sage cursed him, saying: “O ass-like fool! Go to earth and become an ass there!” Hearing the curse, Sahasika fell at the feet of the sage and begged for redemption. Being pleased with these prayers the sage said: “In the Dvapara-age Sri Krsna and Balarama will descend. Then you will be redeemed!”

     This pastime took place when Sri Krsna was six years old, in the month of Bhadra (August-September). Previously Sri Krsna granted the boon to Sri Prahlada that – “The members of your dynasty will not be killed by Me!” Hence Sri Krsna had Dhenukasura killed by Sri Balarama.

(For complete details watch my below video. To follow me on Social Media Click Here –   Twitter   Facebook )

   One kilometre from Alipura is the village of Koraka, and next to that is the village of Ramapura. The ancient name of Koraka is Koyele Grama, this is the place on Janmashtami night, where Vasudev took Baby Krishna in a basket to Gokul via Sri Yamuna. Sri Yamuna with the desire to touch the Lotus feet of Lord Krishna, started to rise high and high. Vasudeva became afraid and started shouting “Koye-le Koye-le”, which means “someone should come and take my child from my hand”. Lord Krishna noticed the anxiety of his father and so put His feet down. Sri Yamuna touched Lord Krishna’s Lotus feet and became silent.

How to get there: You can go by Auto from Vrindavana, its far away and will take 1 hour to reach.

The Birth of Lord Krsna

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada explains the beautiful pastime:  

At the auspicious time for the appearance of the Lord, the entire universe was surcharged with all the qualities of goodness, beauty and peace. The constellation Rohini appeared, as did stars like Asvini. The sun, the moon and the other stars and planets were very peaceful. All directions appeared extremely pleasing, and the beautiful stars twinkled in the cloudless sky. Decorated with towns, villages, mines and pasturing grounds, the earth seemed all-auspicious. The rivers flowed with clear water, and the lakes and vast reservoirs, full of lilies and lotuses, were extraordinarily beautiful. In the trees and green plants, full of flowers and leaves, pleasing to the eyes, birds like cuckoos and swarms of bees began chanting with sweet voices for the sake of the demigods. A pure breeze began to blow, pleasing the sense of touch and bearing the aroma of flowers, and when the brahmanas engaging in ritualistic ceremonies ignited their fires according to Vedic principles, the fires burned steadily, undisturbed by the breeze. Thus when the birthless Lord Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was about to appear, the saints and brahmanas, who had always been disturbed by demons like Kamsa and his men, felt peace within the core of their hearts, and kettledrums simultaneously vibrated from the upper planetary system.

The Kinnaras and Gandharvas began to sing auspicious songs, the Siddhas and Caranas offered auspicious prayers, and the Vidyadharis, along with the Apsaras, began to dance in jubilation.

The demigods and great saintly persons showered flowers in a joyous mood, and clouds gathered in the sky and very mildly thundered, making sounds like those of the ocean’s waves. Then the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu, who is situated in the core of everyone’s heart, appeared from the heart of Devaki in the dense darkness of night, like the full moon rising on the eastern horizon, because Devaki was of the same category as Sri Krsna.

Vasudeva then saw the newborn child, who had very wonderful lotuslike eyes and who bore in His four hands the four weapons sankha, cakra, gada and padma. On His chest was the mark of Srivatsa and on His neck the brilliant Kaustubha gem. Dressed in yellow, His body blackish like a dense cloud, His scattered hair fully grown, and His helmet and earrings sparkling uncommonly with the valuable gem Vaidurya, the child, decorated with a brilliant belt, armlets, bangles and other ornaments, appeared very wonderful.

When Vasudeva saw his extraordinary son, his eyes were struck with wonder. In transcendental jubilation, he mentally collected ten thousand cows and distributed them among the brahmanas as a transcendental festival.

O Maharaja Pariksit, descendant of King Bharata, Vasudeva could understand that this child was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana. Having concluded this without a doubt, he became fearless. Bowing down with folded hands and concentrating his attention, he began to offer prayers to the child, who illuminated His birthplace by His natural influence.

Vasudeva said: My Lord, You are the Supreme Person, beyond material existence, and You are the Supersoul. Your form can be perceived by transcendental knowledge, by which You can be understood as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I now understand Your position perfectly.

My Lord, You are the same person who in the beginning created this material world by His personal external energy. After the creation of this world of three gunas [sattva, rajas and tamas], You appear to have entered it, although in fact You have not.

The mahat-tattva, the total material energy, is undivided, but because of the material modes of nature, it appears to separate into earth, water, fire, air and ether. Because of the living energy [jiva-bhuta], these separated energies combine to make the cosmic manifestation visible, but in fact, before the creation of the cosmos, the total energy is already present. Therefore, the total material energy never actually enters the creation. Similarly, although You are perceived by our senses because of Your presence, You cannot be perceived by the senses, nor experienced by the mind or words [avan-manasa-gocara]. With our senses we can perceive some things, but not everything; for example, we can use our eyes to see, but not to taste. Consequently, You are beyond perception by the senses. Although in touch with the modes of material nature, You are unaffected by them. You are the prime factor in everything, the all-pervading, undivided Supersoul. For You, therefore, there is no external or internal. You never entered the womb of Devaki; rather, You existed there already.

One who considers his visible body, which is a product of the three modes of nature, to be independent of the soul is unaware of the basis of existence, and therefore he is a rascal. Those who are learned have rejected his conclusion because one can understand through full discussion that with no basis in soul, the visible body and senses would be insubstantial. Nonetheless, although his conclusion has been rejected, a foolish person considers it a reality.

O my Lord, learned Vedic scholars conclude that the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the entire cosmic manifestation are performed by You, who are free from endeavor, unaffected by the modes of material nature, and changeless in Your spiritual situation. There are no contradictions in You, who are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrahman. Because the three modes of material nature – sattva, rajas and tamas – are under Your control, everything takes place automatically.

My Lord, Your form is transcendental to the three material modes, yet for the maintenance of the three worlds, You assume the white color of Vishnu in goodness; for creation, which is surrounded by the quality of passion, You appear reddish; and at the end, when there is a need for annihilation, which is surrounded by ignorance, You appear blackish.

O my Lord, proprietor of all creation, You have now appeared in my house, desiring to protect this world. I am sure that You will kill all the armies that are moving all over the world under the leadership of politicians who are dressed as ksatriya rulers but who are factually demons. They must be killed by You for the protection of the innocent public.

O my Lord, Lord of the demigods, after hearing the prophecy that You would take birth in our home and kill him, this uncivilized Kamsa killed so many of Your elder brothers. As soon as he hears from his lieutenants that You have appeared, he will immediately come with weapons to kill You.

Sukadeva Gosvami continued: Thereafter, having seen that her child had all the symptoms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Devaki, who was very much afraid of Kamsa and unusually astonished, began to offer prayers to the Lord.

Sri Devaki said: My dear Lord, there are different Vedas, some of which describe You as unperceivable through words and the mind. Yet You are the origin of the entire cosmic manifestation. You are Brahman, the greatest of everything, full of effulgence like the sun. You have no material cause, You are free from change and deviation, and You have no material desires. Thus the Vedas say that You are the substance. Therefore, my Lord, You are directly the origin of all Vedic statements, and by understanding You, one gradually understands everything. You are different from the light of Brahman and Paramatma, yet You are not different from them. Everything emanates from You. Indeed, You are the cause of all causes, Lord Vishnu, the light of all transcendental knowledge.

After millions of years, at the time of cosmic annihilation, when everything, manifested and unmanifested, is annihilated by the force of time, the five gross elements enter into the subtle conception, and the manifested categories enter into the unmanifested substance. At that time, You alone remain, and You are known as Ananta Sesa-naga.

O inaugurator of the material energy, this wonderful creation works under the control of powerful time, which is divided into seconds, minutes, hours and years. This element of time, which extends for many millions of years, is but another form of Lord Vishnu. For Your pastimes, You act as the controller of time, but You are the reservoir of all good fortune. Let me offer my full surrender unto Your Lordship.

No one in this material world has become free from the four principles birth, death, old age and disease, even by fleeing to various planets. But now that You have appeared, My Lord, death is fleeing in fear of You, and the living entities, having obtained shelter at Your lotus feet by Your mercy, are sleeping in full mental peace.

My Lord, because You dispell all the fear of Your devotees, I request You to save us and give us protection from the terrible fear of Kamsa. Your form as Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is appreciated by yogis in meditation. Please make this form invisible to those who see with material eyes.

O Madhusudana, because of Your appearance, I am becoming more and more anxious in fear of Kamsa. Therefore, please arrange for that sinful Kamsa to be unable to understand that You have taken birth from my womb.

O my Lord, You are the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Your transcendental four-armed form, holding conchshell, disc, club and lotus, is unnatural for this world. Please withdraw this form [and become just like a natural human child so that I may try to hide You somewhere].

At the time of devastation, the entire cosmos, containing all created moving and nonmoving entities, enters Your transcendental body and is held there without difficulty. But now this transcendental form has taken birth from my womb. People will not be able to believe this, and I shall become an object of ridicule.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead replied: My dear mother, best of the chaste, in your previous birth, in the Svayambhuva millennium, you were known as Prsni, and Vasudeva, who was the most pious Prajapati, was named Sutapa. When both of you were ordered by Lord Brahma to create progeny, you first underwent severe austerities by controlling your senses.

My dear father and mother, you endured rain, wind, strong sun, scorching heat and severe cold, suffering all sorts of inconvenience according to different seasons. By practicing pranayama to control the air within the body through yoga, and by eating only air and dry leaves fallen from the trees, you cleansed from your minds all dirty things. In this way, desiring a benediction from Me, you worshiped Me with peaceful minds.

Thus you spent twelve thousand celestial years performing difficult activities of tapasya in consciousness of Me [Krsna consciousness].

O sinless mother Devaki, after the expiry of twelve thousand celestial years, in which you constantly contemplated Me within the core of your heart with great faith, devotion and austerity, I was very much satisfied with you. Since I am the best of all bestowers of benediction, I appeared in this same form as Krsna to ask you to take from Me the benediction you desired. You then expressed your desire to have a son exactly like Me.

Being husband and wife but always sonless, you were attracted by sexual desires, for by the influence of devamaya, transcendental love, you wanted to have Me as your son. Therefore you never desired to be liberated from this material world.

After you received that benediction and I disappeared, you engaged yourselves in sex to have a son like Me, and I fulfilled your desire.

Since I found no one else as highly elevated as you in simplicity and other qualities of good character, I appeared in this world as Prsnigarbha, or one who is celebrated as having taken birth from Prsni.

In the next millennium, I again appeared from the two of you, who appeared as My mother, Aditi, and My father, Kasyapa. I was known as Upendra, and because of being a dwarf, I was also known as Vamana.

O supremely chaste mother, I, the same personality, have now appeared of you both as your son for the third time. Take My words as the truth. 

I have shown you this form of Vishnu just to remind you of My previous births. Otherwise, if I appeared like an ordinary human child, you would not believe that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu, has indeed appeared.

Both of you, husband and wife, constantly think of Me as your son, but always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By thus thinking of Me constantly with love and affection, you will achieve the highest perfection: returning home, back to Godhead.

Sukadeva Gosvami said: After thus instructing His father and mother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, remained silent. In their presence, by His internal energy, He then transformed Himself into a small human child. (In other words, He transformed Himself into His original form: Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam.]

Thereafter, exactly when Vasudeva, being inspired by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was about to take the newborn child from the delivery room, Yogamaya, the Lord’s spiritual energy, took birth as the daughter of the wife of Maharaja Nanda.

By the influence of Yogamaya, all the doorkeepers fell fast asleep, their senses unable to work, and the other inhabitants of the house also fell deeply asleep. When the sun rises, the darkness automatically disappears; similarly, when Vasudeva appeared, the closed doors, which were strongly pinned with iron and locked with iron chains, opened automatically. Since the clouds in the sky were mildly thundering and showering, Ananta-naga, an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, followed Vasudeva, beginning from the door, with hoods expanded to protect Vasudeva and the transcendental child.

Because of constant rain sent by the demigod lndra, the River Yamuna was filled with deep water, foaming about with fiercely whirling waves. But as the great Indian Ocean had formerly given way to Lord Ramachandra by allowing Him to construct a bridge, the River Yamuna gave way to Vasudeva and allowed him to cross.

When Vasudeva reached the house of Nanda Maharaja, he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep. Thus he placed his own son on the bed of Yasoda, picked up her daughter, an expansion of Yogamaya, and then returned to his residence, the prison house of Kamsa.

Vasudeva placed the female child on the bed of Devaki, bound his legs with the iron shackles, and thus remained there as before.

Exhausted by the labor of childbirth, Yasoda was overwhelmed with sleep and unable to understand what kind of child had been born to her.

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     Seragada is situated two kilometre west of Sri Rama Ghata and three kilometre north of Astauli. In the village are temples of Sri Dauji, Sri Radha-Krsna, Sri Mahadeva and Sri Hanuman. Here Sri Krsna and Balarama are playing different games with Their friends. Here one can see Sri Balarama Kunda.

     How to get there: You can easily go to this place by Auto from Vrindavana.  

    Mentioned in Sri Bhakti Ratnakara : “Behold this Khelana Vana – here the two brothers Krsna-Balarama played with Their friends. They did not have to endeavour for food, because Their mothers had carefully arranged for that. This Khelana Vana, or play forest, is called Sri Khela Tirtha.”

    Khelana Vana is situated on the bank of Sri Yamuna, next to Seragada. Here Sri Krsna and His chums sometimes danced like peacocks, sometimes played with rods, sometimes mounted each other’s shoulders and so on, hence it is called Khelana Vana.  

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    The village of Uhava is situated two and a half kilometres from Sri Bihara Vana and two kilometres west of Dhimari. In the village, on the bank of the Yamuna, is Sri Khecadauji. It was here that Sri Balaramaji pulled (khece) at the Yamuna, making her course crooked, hence the village is named Uve and the temple is named Sri Khecadauji. Behind the village, on the bank of the Yamuna, is Sri Rama Ghata. Next to the Ghata and the temple is an Asvattha-tree. This tree is known as a friend of Sri Balarama.

How to get there: You can easily go to this place by Auto from Vrindavana.  

      H.H Rajasekhara Dasa Brahmachari explains about this place: “This is the celebrated place near the banks of the Yamuna where Lord Balarama performed rasa-lila pastimes with His cowherd girlfriends. In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says that Balarama came all the way from Dwaraka to spend time with the residents of Vrindavana, who were continuing to feel acute separation from both Krishna and He. On His arrival, Balarama met everyone including mother Yashoda, Nanda Maharaja, the gopis, and the cowherd boys, with whom He spent many long hours and was able to somewhat pacify them with soothing words of encouragement. Balarama also met many new gopis who were lamenting that they were far too young at the time to take part in Krishna and Balarama’s pastimes. During the period of His two months stay, He would enter the forests in the evenings with all His former girlfriends including many new gopis and satisfy their desires to enjoy conjugal love. On the occasion of the full-moon night, Balarama came to Rama Ghata with all these beautiful gopis and after they drank varuni nectar, a type of honey liquor, they engaged in ecstatic rasa-lila pastimes.”

      “After many long hours of rasa-dancing, Balarama was feeling a little fatigued and desired to relax in the cooling waters of the Yamuna. Feeling too intoxicated to walk to the river, Balarama called Yamuna Devi to bring her soothing waters to where He was resting, so that He might refresh Himself within the river. Thinking that Balarama was simply too intoxicated with varuni liquor to know what He was saying, Yamuna Devi mistakenly ignored His request. Realizing that Yamuna had ignored His order and refused to come there, Balarama become suddenly very angry and His eyes turned a fierce red color, picking up His personal weapon, the celebrated plough; He immediately began to drag the Yamuna towards the arena of the rasa-dance. Realizing her great mistake, Yamuna Devi immediately came before Balarama, and throwing herself at His lotus feet, begged for forgiveness. Balarama’s anger was thus pacified by Yamuna’s prayers and He entered the river to relax in its cooling water with His many girlfriends. There is a temple here dedicated to Balarama’s pastimes known as Khencha-dauji Mandira. This word ‘kencha’ means to ‘to drag’ or ‘to pull’ and refers to Krishna’s elder brother Dauji or Balarama, having dragged the Yamuna with His plough at this place.

    Lord Nityananda also visited Rama Ghata during His pilgrimage to Vrindavana and stayed here for a few days absorbed in the mood of a cowherd boy.

Sri NivaranaGhata (Dhimari)

After visiting Sri Rama Ghata, I decided to visit Dhimari village as well, which is around 2    kilometres from Sri Rama Ghata. This is on the bank of the Yamuna. Next to this village, on the bank of the Yamuna, is Sri Nivarana Ghata.

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   Sri Bihara vana is situated four kilometres east of Seragada and around 2 kilometres from Sri Aksaya Vata. This forest is beautified by various flowers, vines and bushes. Once Sri Krishna sat here on the bank of Sri Krsnakunda playing His flute at the base of a Kadamba-tree, when Srimati Radharani came here with Her girlfriends. At this place Sri Radha-Krsna became absorbed in pastimes such as Bihara (lovemaking), hence it is called Bihara Vana even now. In this forest is a Sri Banke Bihari Mandira and a Bihara Kunda. Even now Sri Krsna performs His pastimes of tending the cows here, hence one can see innumerable cows here.

How to get there: You can easily go to this place by Auto from Vrindavana.  

    In the below video you can see local Brajavasi telling about this place. There are 12 forests in Vraja Mandal, and this Bihara vana is one of the forest. In 84 krosh Vraja Mandal yatra there are 360 kunds and this kund is called Jal bihar kund. Once a “Dhohara cow” used to live in this forest. Lord Krishna and Balarama use to drink the milk of that cow. Lord Krishna would also play his flute at this place and all the cows will come running to him. There are now 800 cows in the family coming down from Dhohara cow and the local villagers have around 290 calves. The milk from these cows is never spoiled.

    To maintain the Goshala every day it cost Rs. 40,000. If visitors would like to contribute towards the maintenance of the Goshala, they are most welcome and they will give you a receipt of your contribution.

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