SASTHA THIRU KALYANAM

MARRIAGE OF THE DIVINE:

            Lord supreme has created this Universe. To generate the activities of the living beings, the Lord has manifested himself as PURUSHA and PRAKRITHI i.e., Ammai and Appan, SHIV-SAKTHI or LAKSHMI-NARAYANA Swaroopa to protect the living beings. He has taken many AVATARS. In some avatars, He was a Brahmachari and in others, He was adorned with His consort, in single form or dual form. Enlightened souls and elite advocated the concept of worshipping the Lord with His Shakti aspect only.

Brahmam is one. He is the Paramatma from whom generated all Jeevatmas. Jeevatmas exits in all living beings, from insects to mankind. Human beings are considered the rarest and highest manifestation gifted with the Sixth Sense. With his sixth sense, the human beings should strive to reach the Lotus feet of the lord that is to merge back in the Paramatma.  

            In this kaliyuga, Bhakti Marga is the easiest way to reach the supreme. In Bhakti Marga, Nama Sankeerthana, singing the glories of the Lord and his Kalyana Gunas, is considered the most pious way, which envelopes performing of the kalyana utsavams of the lord with his consorts, whereby the performer—devotee is bestowed with all prosperities in this mundane world, besides proceeding on a stepping stone to reach the ultimate.

            The supreme has taken many forms for being worshipped by devotees, towards realizing the formless. The devotees make a choice of their own and concentrate on the form he selects and one such form is Tharaka Brahmam, Lord Sri Hariharaputra, with his consorts Poorna and Pushkala the divine marriage of whom forms the subject matter hereunder.

THE LEGENDARY TALES

            LORD SRI DHARMA SASTHA is a divine incarnate, born of Lord Shiva and Vishnu, to slain demoness Mahishi. He is said to have his abode at Kantha Mala, with his two consorts—POORNA and PUSHKALA. We have been conducting wedding ceremony to the Lord, as a form of AYYAPPA worship. It is often questioned by Ayyappa devotees as to how a wedding ceremony can be celebrated to Sabari Mala Ayyappa, who is a Brahmachari. This question arises out of misconception.  To erase this doubt, this article is written, with all available details, to throw light on the different aspects of SASTHA and AYYAPPA. For this, we have to carefully go through the Puranas relating o the lord.

            In various Puranas like SKAANDAM, BRAHMANDA PURANAM, LALITHOPAKYANAM etc, it is said that lord Hariharaputra was born to Shiva and Mohini(Vishnu) after PALAZHI MADANAM, which dates back to KRUTHA YUGA. Skaandam says that Lord Sastha with his two consorts appeared before Indra and Indrani to protect them. (This happened even before the avatar of Lord Muruga). References of Sastha appear in various Puranas and Upa-puranas spreading over the other three Yugas also, including Ramayana and Mahabaratha. In Kaliyuga, Sastha descended on earth as Manikanta. Why?

            The trinity force i.e., Siva-Vishnu-Brahma combined and Dattathreya was born. The trinity-consort force i.e., Durga-Lakshmi-Saraswathi combined and was born a daughter named Leelavathi. Dattatreya and Leelavathi joined in wedlock and they lived happily for a good length of time. 

            As time went on, Dattatreya yearned to go back and merge in trinity. Leelavathi would not let him go. There was an altercation between them, at the end of which Dattatreya cursed Leelavathi  to become a Mahishi(she-buffalo). Leelavathi, in turn, cursed Dattatreya to become a Mahisha (he-buffalo). The two curses took effect. The two, Mahishi and Mahisha, were reveling together for sometime. Dattatreya, again yearning for his merge with divinity, left Mahishi and has a merge. Mahishi started perpetrating atrocities in this world and in the nether worlds. She got a boon from Brahma that she could be killed by a child born of two positives, Hari and Hara that too after the child’s undergoing servitude to a human being for a period of 12 years.

            As the story goes, lord Hariharaputra got wedded to Pushkala Devi first and then won the hands of Poorna subsequently. Father of Pushkala, a Nepalese king, cursed the lord “even after marrying my good-natured daughter, you conducted yourself as a human being. I curse you to become a human being and lead a life of Brahmachari in the mundane world”. The lord replied “Demoness Mahishi has got a boon that she could be killed by a child born of Hari and Hara, after undergoing servitude to a man for a period of 12 years. I am born of Hari and Hara and was wondering how I could serve a man. Now your curse has come in handy for me. Let you be born as a kind of Pandala state and I shall take the birth of a son to you and serve you for 12 years, so as to comply with both your curse and Mahishi’s boon, so that, at the end, I can destroy that evil force.”

            In one of his subsequent births, the Nepalese king was born as a Brahmin by name “Vijayan”. He had no issues. He propitiated lord Sastha as per the advices and directions of huntress Sabhari (of Ramayana fame). When the lord appeared before him, he prayed “you should be my son”. Lord said: “be it so”. In due course Vijayan was born as king Rajashekara of Pandalam.

            The rest of the story the entire world knows. Lord Sastha materialized himself in the shape of a tiny child called “MANIKANTA” on the banks of the holy river Pambha, brought up by the Pandala king, gone to dense forest, slained demo ness Mahishi, brought leopard milk for his step-mother and took to Brahmacharya yoga at the Shabari hills.

            On redemption, Mahishi (now Leelavathy) requested the lord to marry her. Lord replied: “In this avatar as Manikanta, I am a Brahmachari. I shall opt to marry you when no Kanni Ayyappa(one who is trekking Sabari hills for the first time) turns out to the hills. Till such time, you may join in doing penance near my temple as “Maligaipurathu Manja Matha”.

            From the above, we can conclude that only in the avatar of Manikanta to slain Mahishi, Lord Ayyappa was a Brahmachari. But the origin of Ayyappa, Lord Dharma Sastha dwells at Kantha Mala with his two consorts Poorna and Pushkala, even before his Ayyappa avatar. We may refer here the avatars of Lord Maha Vishnu—as Parasurama, he was a Brahmachari; as Rama he was Eka-Pathni Vrathaa. As Krishna, he did Raasa Leela with gopikas. Similarly, one of the facets of Sastha took to Brahmacharyam as Ayyappa. A distinct line should be drawn between Sastha and Manikanta.

            It may be recalled that Ayyappa devotees chant “Poorna-Pushkala Kanthane, Saranam Ayyappa”. We do archanas to him ending with “Poorna-Pushkalamba Sametha Sri Hariharaputhra Swaminae Namaha”. As per Hindu traditions, we worship the lord as “Shiv-Sakthi Swaroopa”. Accordingly, the wedding ceremony is celebrated only to Sri Hariharaputra Swamy and not to Sabari hills Ayyappa Swamy.

            Apart from the story aspect, Sastha Thirukalyanam stands to reasoning from other angle (philosophy) also. Goddess Lakshmi and Durga—the Sakthi aspects of Hari-Hara function as such for Hariharaputra in the names of Poorna and Pushkala respectively. In yoga Marga, the cords “IDA” and “PINGALA” represent Poorna-Pushkala, on two sides of the centre cord of “SUSHUMNA” wherein Sastha dwells.

            The basic concept behind “RADHA KALYANAM” which is widely conducted in India is the merge of JEEVATHMA (Radha) in the PARAMATMA (Krishna). This concept holds good for the “AJYA ABHISHEKAM” performed at Sabari hills, where ghee symbolizes Jeevathma and lord who is receiving it as Paramathma. This is otherwise called the Sabari merge. In Kaliyuga, there are two ways to each the supreme viz., Bhakti Marga and Gnana Marga. While Sabari Yatra means Gnana Marga to attain the lotus feet of Sri Dharma Sastha as “NIRGUNA BRAHMAM”, Nama Sankeerthana and performing Kalyana Utsavam for the lord comes under Bhakti Marga to reach him as “SAGUNA BRAHMAM” in his cosmic form. The two Margas are denoted by Poorna and Pushkala to reach the infinite.

            Worshipping Lord Sastha with his consorts has been in vogue in Tamil Nadu and Kerala from time immemorial. In country-side temples spread over Tamilnadu, Sastha is being called as “AYYANAR” with his two consorts. In Kerala too, Sastha is worshipped with his consorts for eg., Noorani, Thirunilayi, Achankoil etc. In one of the five abodes of Sastha ie., at ARYANKAVU (near Shencottah) Sastha Thiru Kalyanam is being performed by TRAVANCORE DEVASWOM BOARD, with all religious rites on the 10^th night of Dhanur masya (prior to Mandalabhishegam day) every year, for ages past.

            By and beyond reasoning school of thought, it is considered fit and proper to sing the glory of Hariharaputra with this two consorts, by performing “SASTHA THIRU KALYANAM” in all houses, Bhajan Mandalis, community Centres, Samoohams and temples to reach the sublimity of bliss.

           

MAHA AVATAR—BABAJI

According to yoga, there are 4 yugas via kritha, thretha, dwapara and kali. Kritha yuga has 17, 38,000 years, thretha yuga has 12, 96,000 years, dwapara yuga 94, 00,000 years and kaliyuga has 4, 33,000 years. In kaliyuga, in this great country of India, many great people have taken birth to lead the mankind in the way of spirituality and nobility. Among those great people one who needs a special mention is BABAJI. Even now he is believed to reside in Himalayas. 

HIS BIRTH--It is said that he was born in Parangipettai, near Chidambaram, Tamilnadu. Even today in this place we can see a temple built for BABAJI by Yogi Ramayya.  He was born to Smt. Gnanambikai and Shri. Swethanathaiyer, a priest in the nearest Murugan temple, which still exists in Parangipettai. He was born in the year AD 203 on 30^th of November. He was named Nagarajan by his parents. By the virtue of his birth and his father being a priest he had the knowledge of mantras and Upanishads even in childhood.

In the 5^th century BC, Lord Buddha announced before his last breathe that his preaching would fade away in another 500 years, and 800 years after that there would be born a person whose name would be connected with “naga” and that he would come and re-establish his principles again.

Every now and then God creates certain persons to preach to the people about atma and its behavior, how to attain mukthi and the way to the well-being of the society. Those who wish to know about the atma and have a knowledge about it should definitely know about this MAHA AVATAR—BABAJI. 

Siddhars are said to be experts in medicine, yoga, chemistry, plants and physiology. Through Yoga and their knowledge of medicine, siddhars conquered the nature. Their findings about the atoms and universe are still a leading light to many scientists. Their preaching enlightens the society. Maha avatar—BABAJI is said to be a great guru.     

                         

HIS CHILDHOOD—When he was 7 years old, during a festival in the nearby temple he was kidnapped by someone and was left in Varanasi. It is said that he was sold to some rich man as a servant. But the rich man was very fond of him and left him free.  Monks there saw his bright and innocent face and accepted him as the part of their group. To learn the Yoga marga or the Yogic way he was advised to go the Podigai hills to meet Sage Agasthya. From there he went to Kadhirgamam when he was 11 years old. He learnt the Panchanga kriya from the Sage Bogar who is a Siddar like Agasthya. Sage Bogar seeing his immense interest and capability taught him many kriyas and sadhanas in Yoga.  Due to all his sadhanas and intense practice, he could get a darshan of Lord Muruga. Sage Agasthya advised him to go to Badrinath. He stayed here for about 18 months and attained the stage of “Swaroopa Samadhi”.

HIS PRESENCE—The hills of Badrinath are still blessed by the presence of BABAJI. This master has retained his physical form for may be some millenniums. The deathless BABAJI is truly an avatar. In the Hindu scriptures, avatar signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh like Rama, Krishna and Buddha.

In 1942, BABAJI wanted to introduce a new method in kriya Yoga. He made use of two souls Shri Ramayya and Shri Neelakantan to do this mission.

SHRI RAMAYYA—He is from a wealthy family of Shri Annamalai Chettiar. When he went to USA for higher  studies he was affected by TB and was covered with plastic body as a treatment. In 1970, Shridi Baba appeared before Ramayya and showed him shri BABAJI. When TB became intolerable to Shri Ramayya, he wanted to put an end to his life. That time he heard a divine voice asking him not to end his life. It said “Give your life to me”. Ramayya was taken aback and decided to follow Shri BABAJI. In 1955, BABAJI taught kriya yoga to Shri Ramayya and thereafter he came to be called as Yogi Ramayya.

Yogi Ramayya collected all the palm leaf inscriptions about all the 18 siddhars and printed it as a book in 1968. That book contains details about BABAJI along with his gurus Sage Agasthya and Bogar. Yogi Ramayya and his wife travelled to various countries like Srilanka, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and USA to preach kriya yoga. His head office “INTERNATIONAL BABAJI YOGA SANGAM” is in Kanadukattan, Tamilnadu, India. 

HIS GLORY—The idea of BABAJI’S avatar is to make the world understand the cooperation among the human beings all over the nations with universal love and affection. In front of the cave at Badrinath there is a “havan” where all will be chanting “om kriya babaji namah om”.  His idea is all should learn meditation and through this we can get to the divine personality. Lakhs and lakhs of people are blessed by BABAJI who is in omnipresent in this universe. 

BABAJI’S mission has been to assist prophets in carrying out their special dispensations. He thus qualifies for the scriptural classification of MAHA AVATAR. He has stated that he gave Yoga initiation to Shankara, ancient founder of the swami order and to Kabir, the famous medieval saint. His chief nineteenth century disciple was, as we know Lahiri Mahasaya, revivalist of the lost kriya art.

“We can have the darshan of the siddhars and attain their blessings only through strong devotion and belief. Even today there are so many people who have seen them through their devotion”.

For the sake of interest let me also add that film star Rajnikanth is an ardent devotee of BABAJI and he visits the caves in Himalayas whenever he is free.

For more information you can contact: BABAJI YOGA SANGAM, Chennai, Tamilnadu.

Ph: 044-24844531/24643630/09994197935.

SHRI ASHTAVINAYAK DARSHAN

Vakrathundamahakaya suryakoti samaprabha

Nirvignam kurumedeva sarvakaryeshu sarvadha

Any Hindu religious function is commenced with an invocation of lord Ganesha.  He is also called Ganapathi, vignahartha and so many names like these.  ‘Gana’ means people, ‘pathi’ means leader. So Ganapathi means leader of people. Vignahartha is as the name suggests “a remover of obstacles”.

Significance of this appearance--The huge body and capacious belly of lord Ganesha is said to represent the cosmos or universe and the trunk of his elephant head which is normally shown turn towards the left symbolize “OM” which is the sign of Brahmam or the universal soul. His elephant denotes superior intelligence and snake around his waist represents cosmic energy. The noose is to remind that all worldly attachments are a noose and hook often seen in his hand is to lead us to the path of righteousness. The broken tusk of the lord is the symbol of knowledge and with this tusk he wrote down the great epic MAHABHARATHA as dictated by Sage Vyasa who stipulated Ganesha that he should never pen down the slokas without understanding the meaning. The modak or the sweet in his hand denotes the sweetness in one’s inner self. The awkward and corpulent physical form of lord Ganesha teaches us that beauty of the outward form has no connection with inner beauty or spiritual perfection. The mouse symbolizes the equal importance of the biggest and the smallest creatures in the eyes of the supreme God. His fan-like ears convey that he is all ears to our petition.

What is bhakthi? It starts as fear, followed by obedience. When we obey we feel the grace of god which in turn surprises us and then this happiness becomes bhakthi. This bhakthi is necessary because everyone prays to keep themselves safe, healthy, wealthy so that he can prosper in life. This is the start of bhakthi. God’s best creation is man who is the most nearest to attain the state of salvation compared to other creations of God. Man who has all the comforts in this world needs to do bhakthi to attain moksha or salvation because this birth of human we have achieved after taking so many births as other creatures. This is the ultimate birth. In this birth if we fail to reach the ultimate HIM who is very near to us, this whole birth of ours becomes a waste.

Though we worship and do puja everyday, in our Hindu mythology, there are specific kshetrams for specific deities. Like we have ASHTAVINAYAK for Lord Ganesha, 12 JYOTHIRLINGAS for Lord Shiva, 108 DIVYA DESAMS for Lord Vishnu and 52 SHAKTHI PEETAMS for Devi.

We are now going to have a darshan of ASHTAVINAYAK.

Why this eight temples? Among the numerous abodes of lord Ganesha, eight places in Maharashtra, India are considered to be more holy and effective in fulfilling the desires of his devotees because these eight abodes of Ganesha are very ancient and Swayambhu i.e. self-emanated.  This is to say, that no human created these murtis, they were found completely formed by nature. In these eight shrines, the form of each murti of Ganesha and his trunk are distinct from one another. Pilgrimages to these 8 important Ganapathi shrines ensure everlasting bliss.

MORESHWAR: The first to visit among these temples is Moreshwar. This temple is situated at a distance of 55km from Pune, next to the river Karha in the village Moregaon. 

The murti of Lord Ganesh riding a peacock, in the form of Mayureshwara is believed to have slain the demon Sindhu at his place. The idol, with its trunk turned to the left, has a cobra poised over it protecting it. In this place Ganesha has two wives in the form of Siddhi and Buddhi.

There is a Nandi sitting in front of this temple entrance, which is unique because Nandi is normally in front of only Shiva temples.

In the eight corners of this temple there are eight statutes of Ganapathi called ekadanta, Mahodara, Gajanana, Lambodar, Vikata, Vignaraja, Dhumravarna, Vakrathunda.

In the temple complex there are tarati trees called “kalpaka vruksha”. Devotees are seen meditating under these trees to attain their desired goals.

Temple remains open for darshan from 5am to 10 pm.

SIDDATEK: From Moreshwar we proceed to Siddatek. This place is located off Pune-Sholapur highway, about 48 km from the town of Srigonda in Ahmadnagar district. Situated on the banks of the river Bhima, on the Pune-Solapur railway, 18 km from Daund railway station.

The idol is swayambhu, three feet tall, facing north with his trunk turned right. The belly of the idol is not big, but Riddhi and Siddhi are sitting on one lap of the lord. Pradakshina of the lord is said to be very fruitful. One has to walk 5km to complete one pradakshina as the idol is attached to the hill itself.

The temple was consecrated by lord Vishnu himself when he got his siddhi here.

BALLALESWAR:  This temple is situated 125 km from Mumbai in the village of Pali on the banks of river Amba.

The lord is found sitting on the stone throne, facing east and his trunk turning to left. The shining diamonds are embedded in the eyes and navel. Among Ashtavinayaks, Pali’s Ballaleshwar is the only Vinayak who is known by his devotee’s name Ballal and who is dressed up as Brahmin.

The shape of the temple is in the form of the letter “Shri” (Sanskrit) and faces east. The temple’s inner sanctum is 15 feet tall and outer one is 12 feet tall. The temple is constructed in such a way that during Dakshinayan at sunrise, the sun rays falls exactly on the Vinayaka.

It is the experience of many devotees that Ballaleshwara fulfills all their desires and demands.

VARADAVINAYAK: The temple is located three km off the Pune-Mumbai highway near Khopoli.

The handsome prince Rukmangad refused sage Vachaknavi’s wife illicit call and was cursed to suffer from leprosy. Mukunda was satisfied by Indra who deceived her as Rukmangad and she bore a child named Grutsamad. When Grutsamad came to know the real story of her mother, he cursed her to become the tree of Bori, and she in turn cursed him to bore a demon son Tripurasur. Grutsamad after getting cursed went to the forest of Pushpak and worshipped Ganesha. He founded the temple and called this Ganesha Varada Vinayak. Grutsamad is famous for the mantra Ganananan Tva.

Two stone idols of Riddi and Siddi is seen in the sanctum. Two Ganesh idols are situated in the two corners. Idol in the left corner is smeared in vermillion and the idol in the right is made of white marble. The idol facing east is in the sitting position with the trunk turned left.

During Maghi-Chaturthi, if a coconut is received as prasadam and eaten, the couple will be blessed with child. Hence there is a heavy rush during Maghi Chaturthi.

CHINTAMANI: The temple is located off Pune-Solapur highway in the village of Theur.

The one who is in search of happiness, whose mind is wavering and who is in the midst of all calamities should go Theur and worship Shree Chintamani and get rid of all worries and calamities. Ganesha is believed to have got back the precious Chintamani jewel from Guna for sage Kapila. However, after bringing it back sage put it in the Vinayak’s neck. Thus, the name Chintamani Vinayak.

The idol is facing east with the trunk turned towards left. There are carbuncle and diamonds in the eyes of Vinayak. The lake behind the temple is called Kadambatheertha also called Chintamani Sarovar.

GIRIJATMAJ (LEYNATRI): This is the only place among Ashtavinayak which is situated on mountain in the vicinity of Buddhist caves. It is situated 12 km from Narayangaon, about 94 km from Pune on the Pune-Nashik highway.

There are 307 steps leading to main temple dedicated to Girijatmaj Ganapathi. There are also arrangements for Dholi, for those cannot climb. As monkeys are roaming about, one has to be very careful with handbags and spectacles.

Out of 18 Buddhist caves on mountain, Girijatmaj temple is the 8^th cave. The entire temple is carved out of a single stone and is facing south.

Bhadrapada and Magh Chaturthi are celebrated on a grand scale.

Though the caves on Leynadri are under the control of Archeological Dept of India, administration of Ganesh temple is looked after by temple trust.

VIGNAHAR: The temple is situated on the banks of river Kukadi, in the village of Ozhar 182 km from Mumbai via Thane, Bapsai, Saralgaon.

He gives happiness to devotees who abodes at Ozhar. This is the only temple with golden dome and pinnacle among the Ashtavinayak kshetras.

At the entrance there are two deepmalas i.e. stone pillar for oil lamps and two huge Dwarapalakas.  The idol of Vigneshwar faces east and trunk turned towards left. The idol is smeared in vermillion mixed with oil and two emeralds studded eyes and a diamond in his forehead and in the navel. On the two sides are brass idols of Riddhi and Siddhi.

In addition to the Bhadrapad and Magh Chaturthis, there is another festival of 5 days from Karthik Purnima to Charturthi.

MAHAGANAPATHI: The temple is situated 50km from Pune on the Pune-Ahamadnagar highway in the village of Ranjangaon.

Mahaganapathi means powerful Ganapathi. He has eight, ten or twelve hands.  Lord Shiva got victory over Tripurasur on worshipping Mahaganapathi.

The idol is facing east, seated in a cross-legged position with a broad forehead, with its trunk pointing to the left. The temple is facing east has huge and beautiful entrance gates; idols of two door keepers namely Jaya and Vijaya are present near the gate.

It is constructed in such a way that the rays of the sun fall directly on the idol during the southward movement of the sun.

It is said that, the original idol of Mahaganapathi is hidden in a basement. It is also said that it has 10 trunks, 20 hands. This Ganesha is called Mahotkata.

As we have ended the tour of Ashtavinayak, I feel I should add one more Vinayak consecrated by Chinmaya Seva Trust, Maharashtra. This Chinmaya Ganesh is 84 ft tall and is situated on the Toap-Sambhapur, Kolhapur and is worth visiting.

If Mahaganapathi is worshipped regularly, marriages of desired people can be fixed easily;. If Mahaganapathi is propiated properly, conflicts between husband and wife comes to end, those desirous to have children will be blessed. The one who desires to have knowledge will get knowledge, the one who wishes to have wealth will acquire wealth and one who wishes to attain Moksha will definitely attain Moksha.

SHREE GANESHAYA NAMAHA!!!

SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM IN VRINDAVAN

The Bhagavatha purana also known as Srimad Bhagavatham, or Bhagavatha is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti (devotion) to the incarnations of lord Vishnu, particularly Krishna. This text which totally sings the praise of the lord was given directly to Rishi Narada by the lord himself. Then sage Narada imparted this to Lord Brahma, who in turn gave this to Rishi Vedavyasa. Finally his son Rishi Sukhar who learned this from his father narrated this whole Bhagavatham to king Parikshit, who was to die in seven days by a curse. The king heard this Bhagavatham for seven days and attained moksha. This philosophy contains 335 chapters with 18,000 verses.

Vrindavan—this charming place situated about 100km from New Delhi is noted for its numerous temples old and new, big and small. This dusty little town is synonymous with the innocent laughter and playfulness of Shri Krishna. In this land where Krishna was born and spent his youth, there are numerous places with the enchantment of Krishna and his mischief. This place on the banks of the river Yamuna is also called Brajbhoomi. Lord Krishna is easily the most popular person here. He is the evergreen hero of Hinduism—the lover of Radha—the cowherd prince—the reincarnation of lord Vishnu.

Shri Radha is the supreme reservoir of prema for lord Krishna. The prema between Radha and Krishna is so pure that no material desire can contaminate this. We should not think that the love between radha and Krishna is on the same platform of so called love that exists in this material world. This is the love of superlative degree. Their prema is transcendental and beyond contamination. This whole Brajbhoomi is fragrant with this supreme love. There are numerous Samadhi in this area of Mathura-Vrindavan which clearly indicates that many saints were residing here and glorified this holy place.

Radha madan mohan temple: Built in 1523, this famous temple was built by Shri Sanathana Goswami and is the first temple to be built in Vrindavan which was then a forest. The original deity of Madan Mohan was taken to Rajasthan during the attack of Vrindavan by the soldiers of Aurangazeb. It is on the bank of river Yamuna.

The Bankebihari temple:  About 5000 years ago Shri Haridoss swami came to Vrindavan and performed his bhajan. He heard a divine voice “I am buried under the ground. Dig me and start serving me”. He found the deity of Bankebihari with extraordinary jewels and built a temple. The curtain of the sanctum sanctorum is closed every now and then to prevent people from falling in love with the beauty of Krishna.

Radha Damodhara temple: Shrila Prabuphada swami is the foremost preacher of Krishnaism to the western world. He came to live in this temple in 1959 after taking sanyas. This temple of ISKCON offers a wide range of services to residents and visitors. The marble building built with the overseas fund glows in its beauty with the carvings of Krishna leela along with Balrama and Radha. The deity is Krishna himself who has taken a form made of a material substance like marble just to make it convenient for us to worship him.

Kaliya Nardanam: This was a forest situated north of Gokarna vana on the banks of River Yamuna.  There is an old kadamba tree. Shri Krishna jumped on the kalingan’s neck to defeat him. The old tree is since known as “kali kadamba”. There is the dried trunk of the tree and the pond.

Radha Ramana Mandira: Shri Radha Ramana who manifested himself from saligrama sila can be seen in this temple. The sign of the saligramam shila exists at the back of the radha ramanaji. Love and devotion will be generated in the hearts of those who see him.

Mathura: This city of Mathura in UP is the nucleus of Brajbhoomi, is located 140 km from Delhi on the way to Agra. This can be divided into two parts—the eastern part in transjamuna tracts with places like Gokulam, Mahavan, Baldeo, Mat and Bajna and the western part covering the Mathura region that encompasses Vrindavan, Govardhan, Kusum Sarovar, Barsana and Nandgaon. The land of Braj starts from Kotban about 95 km from Delhi and ends at Runakuta, which is known for its association with the poet Surdas, an ardent devotee of Krishna. Researchers say that Shri Krishna was born on Friday the 27th July 3112 BC in the prison as the 8^th child of Vasudeva and Devaki on krishnapaksha Ashtami, Rohini star at 11.40 pm.

25 thirtas (ghats): There are 25 holy ghats (bathing places) in Mathura. Vishram ghat is in the middle with 12 each on the north and south of it.

Govardhan: It is said to have been raised by lord Krishna on his finger and was put in condition to save the people from the incessant rain which fell constantly for 7 days to destroy the people of Braj. The Mansi Ganga which is an artificial lake, was constructed my Mansingh of Jaipur. The dense shady trees, the hill ranges, the tranquil flow of Mansi Ganga all unite together and make a charming view for the visitor.

Govardhan parikrama: This is very famous act done by almost all the devotees who come to Braj. Actually this is to be done with bare foot walking around the Govardan for about 22 km. But nowadays people travel by auto rickshaws and car. But even today the old system of walking barefoot or doing the parikrama by prostrating oneself throughout the distance is done by some devotees-- both male and female. 

Radha kund: It is about 5 km north of Govardan. It is said that Shri Krishna bathed here for self-purification. We sprinkle holy water on us.

Kusuma sarovar: It is a very big lake and is one of the best swimming spot in braj. Legends say that gopis would pick flowers from here for Krishna. It is a peaceful place where one can relax.

Barsana: Situated 21km away from Govardan, this is the birth place of radha. It is a famous pilgrimage spot in vraj. It was originally called “Brahmasaran”.

Lakshmi Nagara: It is situated 4km east of Mathura. There are temples here for Shiva, hanuman and Dauji.

Mahavana: Situated 8.5km from Mathura on the banks of river Yamuna, Krishna performed many pastimes here. It is said that one who goes to this place, would be worshipped in Indralokam.

Brahmanda ghata: It is situated one km south of Mahavana. Mother Yasoda was told that Krishna had eaten clay, and when Yasoda asked him to show his mouth. When Krishna said “ha” Yasoda saw within his mouth seven heavens, hell, sun and moon etc. This clay is given as Prasad in the temple here.

Rangji mandir: It was constructed in 1851 following south-indian architectural pattern. The Dwaja stampa is 50ft tall and gold-plated. The pujas are done by strict vaishnavaites from Tamilnadu.

Shri Krishna Premi Ashram: In Vrindavan there is a Radha Krishna temple constructed by Shri Krishna premi who is fondly called “Shri Anna” in Tamilnadu.

Nidhivan: It is a sacred place where Krishna and Radha along with other gopis did Rasleela. It is said that lord Krishna associated himself with more than 10,000 gopis and made his presence feel to each and every gopi. Even today it is a fact that from sunset to sunrise, the windows of all the houses facing Nidhivan is kept closed so that Krishna can conduct his Rasleela in peace.

Shri Meerabhai temple: Inside this temple is the deity of Giridhara gopal. Every afternoon and evening the songs of Meera and other saints are sung here.

Shri Radha Shyam Sundar mandir: The ornamentation of this deity is very beautiful. On the Akshaya tritiya day, the deity is adorned with sandalwood paste.

Shri Pagal Baba mandir: There is a wonderful radha Krishna temple where an unbroken ‘harinama maha yagna’ is taking place.

Shri Andhera ghat: It is said that here Krishna and gopis in turn shut each others eyes and play hide and seek.

There is a platform in Vrindavan on which is believed that saint Jayadeva sat and wrote his Ashtapathi which is sung even today. There is a room here which is said that saint Jayadeva brought back life into the dead body of this wife after singing Ashtapathi.

There is an ashram for widows and there are about 5000 such ladies in white attire. They assemble here and sing the glory of Radha and Krishna. All such ladies get rice, dhal, clothes and money for that day at the end of bhajan.

There is a society called “food for life” which arranges food for all those who visit Vrindavan.

There are about 4000 temples to visit in Vrindavan. Apart from this there are many Goshalas and resting houses, which provide all the visitors with good food and rest. There is one goshala which needs to be mentioned. Actually they pick up old and abandoned cows which get hurt in road accidents or down with disease. In this way they save these cows from being mercilessly taken to slaughter houses. This goshala is known as “care for cows”. There are about 320 cows which are taken care of by a charitable trust.

Bhaktha Seva Samaj of Cochin took us to this holy tour of Vrindavan and its surroundings with utmost comfort, good food and accommodation. A Bhagavatha Saptaham was conducted under the auspices of Swami Sanmayananda Saraswathi of Narayanalayam, Palghat. A wonderful discourse was given by the Swamiji which made us drench in the ocean of bhakthi. Swamiji accompanied us to all these above mentioned temples and briefed us about the importance of them in Malayalam, so that everybody could understand. On the last day of sapthaham a procession was taken from the “Shri Krishna Pravah Ashram”(malayali ashram) where we stayed to the river Yamuna about 5km away. The laddu gopal was immersed in Yamuna after a brief puja and we also had a holy dip with the lord. The total journey was very pleasant and comfortable.

Pilgrimage to such places washes off all our sins accumulated elsewhere over many births and makes us prosper in life and makes our lives peaceful as constant mental surrender to God is true devotion. Whoever has just once in a lifetime smelled the flowers of Sri Vrindavan, touched its breeze or seen its form will attain His abode for sure.

Hope now you would have made up your mind to go to Mathura-Vrindavan the abode of radha and Krishna!!!

Radhe Krishna!            Radhe Krishna!!            Radhe Krishna!!!