Vrindavan Yatra through vani of HG Shyamsundar Prabhuji

Vrindavan can't be seen unless we get divine eyes and we can't go into Vrindavan dhaam till we aren't invited by a pure devotee. Greatest pure devotee we have seen is Srila Prabhupada. He actually came out of Vrindavan to come out to all of us so he can bring all of us back to Godhead. He is the one who opened the doors of Vrindavan for all of us. He gave us the eyes, the knowledge so we can understand what is Vrindavan and be able to enter Vrindavan dhaam.

Our parikrama of Vrindavan begins with the mercy of Srila Prabhupada which gives us oppurtunity to get a glimpse of Sri Vrindavan dhaam. Vrindavan on this planet earth is non-different from the Goloka Vrindavan. We can't appreciate this fact and power and potency unless and until we receive the understanding from Srila Prabhupada. So we should begin our yatra by offering our obeisances to Prabhupada's mercy. First place we go to is Srila Prabhupada's samadhi. He is there to shower his mercy to give us strength and power to continue our devotional service at Krsna Balaram temple.

5 days in Vrindavan town. Vraj mandal is the 12 forests of Vrindavan or mathura mandal and Vrindavan is one of the 12 forests. We first take his permission and blessings before starting our parikrama. Then we take blessings of Gaura Nitai, Krsna Balaram and Radha Shyamsundar. Ramana Reti is the place where ISKCON temple is there. Radha Rani in this temple is so beautiful. Prabhupada said, Srimati Radharani this Radha looks exactly the same in Goloka Vrindavan. Shyamsundar form of Krsna never leaves Vrindavan he is always there. Srimati Radharani is the queen of Vrindavan. It is the causeless mercy of Srimati Radharani. Hence they say Radhe Radhe because only by her mercy can we begin our parikrama.

6 Gosvami temples in Vrindavan. Symbol of Vrindavan is the Madan Mohan temple. Mahaprabhu asked gosvamis to excavate all the places of Krsna.

Madan Mohan - by Srila Sanatana Gosvami - He is the Sambandha deity.We establish and understand our sambandha with Krsna. The process by which we can engage in dev service.

Abhideya - Radha Govinda temple was by Srila Rupa Gosvami.

Prayogana is the goal - Radha Gopinath

Radha Raman temple deities of Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami. This is the suvambhu deity. This is the shaligrama shila. He prayed that he can't worship the form and the next day the shaligram shila became Krsna.

Radha Damodar - Srila Rupa Gosvami's samadhi is present. Daily he would take darshan and pray for his mercy to spread the movement everywhere. All these temples are in Vrindavan dhaam.

Start the parikrama by visiting all these temples.

Keshi ghat, Yamuna, Imli taal - Krsna revealed to Radha as Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

Parikrama started by Barsana. 5500 Devotees participated. Min criteria is 16 rounds and follow principles for at least 6 months. All devotees very sincerely begging the acaryas and dhaam the mercy. Every morning in busses to all different places - pasttime place of Radha Rani. Barsana is characterised by 4 hills. Brahmaji understanding the special significance of RadhaRani wanted to take the dust of her lotus feet on his head and hence he made his 4 heads the 4 hills of Barsana. Brahma is the most powerful personality in the creation and his mood is that he wants to take the dust of all the devotees of the Radharni on my head. He wanted to become of the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord.

Mahaprabhu taught this mood. Become the nth servant of the Lord. Barsana has Sriji temple. There the deities are names as Ladhali laal. One of the most beautiful places. Other 3 hills - Explained that during Krsna's pastimes, Radharani would go into maunlila (not talk) and Krsna would do different things to make her happy. Maunmandhir is where these pasttimes took place.

Sweetest Kirtan was at Maunmandir - very beautiful place.

Moor kutir is the place where Radha and Krsna danced as peacock and peahen. Vaisnava saint who was blind was so absorbed in praying to them that Once Radharani approached him so he could draw the lila and Radharani gave him the vision to see this lila with divine eyes.

2nd day - Holy place of Bahula van - Bhahula cow pasttime.
Prem sarovar - tear of separation from Radharani filled the sarovar
Chaumukha - Brahmaji surrendered to Krsna.
GarudaGovinda - Krsna to show Gauruda that he is Supreme, he went on his shoulder.

3rd day -
Javat - Jatila and Kutila : Radharani's in laws place. Amorous pasttimes took place here and this is Parakiya pasttimes took place here.
Pasttime - One day Radha escaped the inlaws home and went to meet Krsna. When they met, Jatila (sister in law) and Kutila (mother in law) found out. They ran to the forest to catch Radharani red handed. Krsna got the news from one of his gopa friends. Radharani become very nervous, but Krsna said don't worry. As soon as Jatila and Kutila came Krsna transformed himself as Saturi devi (Durga) and Radharani was worshipping. She said by praying to her I'm praying for the long life of my husband. Then she tells Krsna that you are the only true friend of the conditioned soul. Krsna is only the true friends at Javat. Many many pasttimes took place here.

4th day - Nandagaon - Krsna performed his lila from age of 4 to 11. Madanter he would call all his cows from there. Nanda bhavan is where Krsna was raised by Yashoda mata and Nandamaharaj.
Pavan sarovar also went. Radharani would also take water for Krsna's cooking. Krsna and Balaram also took bath here.

5th day - went to all temples of Vrindavan. Krsna janmabhoomi.

Govardhan hill after 5 days. Suryakunda, gulal kunda. 2nd day was Srila Prabhupada's disapperance day, Govardhan parikrama, Annakoot - While taking parikram we can visit all the places around Govardhan.

All devotees should someday visit the yatra and get a glimpse of Spiritual world. Dhaam is very special, it's spiritual world and most painful part. Purpose of Yatra is to take this spiritual strength and share it to everyone around. 

Bhagavad Gita 13.33-35 By HG Shyamsundar Prabhuji

Bg 13.33:
The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with anything, although it is all-pervading. Similarly, the soul situated in Brahman vision does not mix with the body, though situated in that body.

BG 13.34:O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.

BG 13.35:Those who see with eyes of knowledge the difference between the body and the knower of the body, and can also understand the process of liberation from bondage in material nature, attain to the supreme goal.

3 things present in this material world - living entity, material elements and supersoul (Krsna). The goal is to come to this particular understanding and realization that the spirit soul is separate from the body. The supersoul is present everywhere as this form and even though in the material world doesn't get covered by the material coverings.

Meaningful thing in this world is to become KC. The soul is on it's journey. We should serve all the spirit souls remember Krsna so they can make their journey successfully. So when the body dies, we don't lament or rejoice as we then understand soul is eternal, we continue. Don't get attached to the material world, don't become a servant of the material world, become a servant of Krsna. The nature of this material world is temporary. We don't give it too much attention. We don't get too enamored. There are 2 things real in the world - death and Krsna is non different from Holy Name. What has any value is the Hare Krsna mantra! So please chant without offenses and this is real - everything is temporary. Everything else is not priority than the Hare Krsna mantra. We should be very careful as everything else will become sources of pain and obstacles.

An intelligent person doesn't participate in the pleasures of this material world. These pleasures of the material world are source of suffering.

We should hence willingly give ourselves fully to Krsna. Wholeheartedly we should surrender ourselves to the Holy Name and Krsna's service. We are so fortunate that we have received this sublime knowledge We should take advantage of utilizing this knowledge and make our life successful.

We need to become sincere in our chanting so we are prepared for time of death. What is the difference between a sincere student and not sincere. A sincere student is always studying so when he sits for exam he is able to crack that. The student works hard, takes whatever help is required because he wants to be successful. He takes extra coaching and classes might sometimes start early in the morning and the student wakes up to attend the class because the student is serious. When we become serious about the most important exam of our life then we will take advantage of all these resources to utilize and move forward. We will plan and be conscious that we have very less time to get prepared for our life. We need to hence become very serious regarding our life's final exam and prepare very cautiously by chanting the Holy Name very seriously and utilizing every moment of this life so we can remember we are spirit soul and have an eternal relationship with Krsna as His servant.

Krsna gives us a million dollars in front of us everyday and we are wasting our time collecting small pennies and lose the million dollars. Hence make the Holy Name the first priority in our daily life. Hare Krsna!