ISKCON’s 15th Annual Vraja Mandala Parikrama, Part 11

Day 22. Shergarh to Cirghat. Rama ghat. One night Lord Balarama became very blissful after drinking some Varuni beverage. He then asked the Yamuna to come nearer. The Yamuna refused, thinking He was intoxicated. Balarama then became very angry and began to scrape the earth with His plow to bring the river closer to Him. Yamuna devi, being afraid, then came and surrendered to Lord Balarama and admitted her fault.

Khela Tirtha. Krsna and Balarama used to play here with the cowherd boys throughout the day and would forget to eat, so their mothers would come to get Them.

Aksayavat. There is a banyan tree here. While herding the cows, Krsna would play with His gopa friends here on the banks of Yamuna and they would hang their lunch bags on the banyan tree.

Tapovan. This is where, right on the bank of the Yamuna, the gopis performed austerities and worshipped the goddess Katyayani Devi to get Krsna as their husband.

Chirghat. Where Krsna stole the garments of the gopis while they were taking their bath. The gopis prayed to the goddess Katyayani to let them marry Krsna. While Krsna sat in the branches of a kadamba tree, He had each of the gopis come out of the water and stand naked in front of Him. Since a woman cannot be naked in front of anyone but her husband, the unmarried gopis’ desire to have Krsna as their husband was fulfilled.

Day 23. Chirgat to Bhandirvan. The mornings are getting quite cold, so the hot ginger tea served up just before we start walking is very welcome.

Nanda Ghat. While Nanda Maharaja was taking his bath in the Yamuna in the early hours of the morning, he was arrested by Varuna's servants. They brought him before Varuna and accused him of taking his bath in the river at the wrong time. Krsna and Balarama immediately went to rescue Their father. With great respect, Varuna received Krsna and Balarama and begged for pardon for the offenses of his servants. Here, the parikrama devotees crossed the Yamuna by boat. Some devotees chose to swim across.

Bhandiravan. Here, Lord Balarama killed Pralambasaura by striking the demon’s head with His fist.

Venukup. In front of the temple here, there is a well called Venukup. It was created by Krsna pushing His flute into the ground. Krsna created this well because the gopis told Him that He was contaminated by killing Vatsaura and therefore would have to bathe in all the tirthas for purification. Krsna pushed His flute into the ground and all the tirthas and holy rivers came into this well. Krsna then took His bath with the water of this well.

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His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

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