This year’s Krsna’s Village Of Peace at Polish Woodstock [ Pol’ And ‘Rock ] was successful beyond our wildest imagination. Literally tens of thousands of people got a first hand experience of Krsna consciousness through daily Ratha Yatras, prasadam and the chanting of the holy names. It was an historic few days in the history of our ISKCON movement.
On the second leg of our Char Dham parikrama we visited the holy site of Gangotri. Gangotri is situated not far from where Mother Ganges flows out of the Himalayan mountains. In the town of Gangotri is a beautiful temple where Mother Ganges is worshipped and people can be seen bathing in her sacred waters in the many ghats along the river. In this video we see scenes of Mother Ganges in both Haridwar and Gangotri as we hear of her descent from the spiritual world into the material creation.
Our Vrindavan parikrama group spent the first day of Kartika at Akrura Ghat, the border line between Vrindavan and Mathura. There we discussed in depth the pastime of Akrura taking Krsna and Balaram to Mathura in his chariot and how the Vrajavasis did their best to keep Them in Vrindavan. Hearing of the gopis sentiments of impending separation touched the hearts of us all.
This video is the first in a series of four entitled, “Char Dham Parikrama”. In this segment, “Yamunotri”, we visit close to the source of the holy Yamuna river. With our eyes we see her sacred waters and with our ears we hear how she descended from the spiritual world. A special feature is beautiful footage the Himalayan mountains.
Today we visited Yavat, a small village where Srimati Radhani lived. After offering our pranams, we took one of our favourite walks through the fields to reach Tera Kadambha. This is where Krsna kept his cows and where Srila Rupa Goswami performed his bhajan and wrote Upadeshamrita. Through Krsna Katha and Kirtan we can experience some of the sweetness of these magical places.
The Madan Mohan Temple, established by Sanatan Goswami, was the first temple to be erected in Vrindavan on the order of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago. Near the temple is the sacred samadhi of Sanatan Goswami. Our parikrama party of 375 devotees enjoyed many hours discussing the glories of Lord Caitanya and His associates. We also relished chanting the holy names as we viewed the sacred waters of the Yamuna river a short distance away.
During our Kartik Parikrama we have visited Biharvan, a very special Vrindavan forest. Biharvan means ‘the forest of enjoyment.’ It is one of the places of Radha and Krsna’s most charming and loving pastimes. There is also a large gosala of cows who are protected, served and loved by the local cowherd men. It was a unique experience because the forest has been preserved much like it was hundreds of years ago.
Varsana, where Srimati Radharani displayed Her childhood pastimes, is a favorite place for all Vrajavasis. We began our parikrama at Vilas-ghar, one of the 4 hills where the Divine Couple have Their lilas. We then proceeded to beautiful Krsna-kund, for kirtan and katha, and then walked the sacred path to the famous Sriji temple. At every step we prayed to Srimati Radharani for Her mercy.