Megha Jetley (Women’s Era) Ever since my childhood I have been visiting Krishna Nagri at least once a quarter with my family. This October when we finally confirmed our road trip to Vrindavan, I realized that I hadn’t visited the land of Lord Krishna for nearly two years.
We followed our plan and started from Greater Noida at around seven a.m. Thanks to the Yamuna Expressway, which made our journey short, easy and smooth, we reached Mathura by quarter to ten. Fortunately, we have our ancestor’s math named Chaitanya Gaudiya Math located in the centre of the city, where we usually stay.
As soon as we reached Vrindavan, we parked our car in the math, took our room keys and without wasting any time started walking through the crowded streets filled with brightly lit small shops and reached the Banke Bihari Ji temple.
The image of Bihariji installed in the Shri Banke Bihari Mandir, is the one gifted to Swami Haridas by the couple Shyama-Shyam themselves. Submitting to the desire of devotees, the Lord appeared in person with his divine consort and left back a black charming image before disappering. It is said that the bright, intense light, filled the whole place and blinded everyone with the aura of Lord Krishna.
After visiting the Banke Bihari Ji Temple, we went to the Vrindavan Market. As it was a quite bright and sunny day , we went into a lassi shop to relieve our parched throats . We were served with lassi in a kulhad (a cup made of baked earth ). The soothing flavour reminded me of my childhood days when I used to fight with my siblings here for the cream on the top of the lassi.
After a bit of shopping and visiting some more temples we made our way back to the math. The math officials called us for lunch where we sat down and had tasty curry chawal, chapatis and a mixed vegetable. It is a fact that the temple lunch tastes much better than what we eat in hotels.
After taking some rest we left for the Giri Govardhan. This is the legendary hill that Lord Krishna lifted at once with his small finger of left hand and held it up like an umbrella when Indra, the King of Heaven, decided to punish them by sending terrible rain clouds to flood the land of Vrindavan. Folklore says that the inhabitants of Vrindavan, along with their household possessions and cows, took shelter under Govardhan Hill for seven days.
The parikrama (circumambulation) route is 21km. It is a form of worship to walk around Govardhan Hill and complete the circumambulation. It took us 6 hours of non stop walking without slippers to complete the 21 kms of prakrima. We reached back to our math at around 1:00pm and everyone was so tired that it barely took 2 minutes to fall asleep.
Sunday morning we went to visit the Janam Bhumi of Kord Krishna.The temple is at the place where the Lord is said to have been born thousands of years ago.
This temple has a very high security. No camera or mobile is allowed there inside. This temple has a prison cell. The prison cell, popularly known as ‘Garbha Griha’, is the place where lord Krishna was born. The cruelty of King Kansa is depicted by the stone walled cell. As it was a hot afternoon, even our feet were burning. Also in the temple a tunnel or a gufa is made which depicts the whole journey of Lord Krishna.
We finally made our way to Brijwasi Sweets (The most famous sweets shop there) to buy the famous Mathura Ke Pede. By this time it was evening, and we decided to start back our journey. It was a refreshing weekend which filled my soul with positivity. I believe what everyone says: “ Lord Krishna still lives there and gives us energy that we carry back after each visit.”
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