MATHURA There is no rebirth for those who have seen the face of Lord Kesava in Mathura. The janmasthaan is now a small room with narrow winding stairs leading to it. It houses a baby cot,baby clothes, and the moorti of bal gopal. The temple including the Mosque, built by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, on the Janmasthaan is brick red in colour. The Janmabhoomi temple built after India's independence is beautiful and spacious. Krishna Lila is painted on the ceilings, a veritable rival to the Sistine Chapel.

MADHUVANA The entire dhama is an expansion of Lord Balarama. All of Krishna's paraphernalia, His land, temple, etc., are provided by Lord Balarama. The village deity is Balarama, which is extraordinarily beautiful. His right hand is raised. He is pitch black.
There is a nice temple here of Narayana and Dhruva Maharaja. There is also a cave nearby in which the demon Lavanasura lived. This cave is now cemented-up because local village children have died. after wandering into it. There is also a deity here of Shatrugna, dating back to the Treta Yuga.

TALAVANA Here in Talavana there is a unique deity of Balarama with His consort Srimati Revati. There are no words to describe the beauty of these deities. It was here in Talavana that Balaram killed the ass-like demon Dhenukasura. From Talavana, one goes to Kumudvan.Kumudavana means "waterlilies" and during Krishna's time, beautiful waterlilies grew here. There is also a Kund which is mentioned in the Varaha Purana. If one bathes here, he acquires all the knowledge of the Vedic literatures. Lord Kapila performed great austerities here during the Treta Yuga.

SANTANU KUND The town of Santanu Kund in Vrindavana has to be one of the most austere places on the face of the planet.There is no green grass in Santanu Kund, and this town is particularly poverty-stricken. The Kund itself is in the centre of the village and is really not very big. Santanu Kund is the place where King Santanu performed austerity to get Bhismadeva as his child. It seems as if his great austerity left its mark on the place. There is a beautiful black Krishna, standing alone with his flute. At His feet is a collection of shiny black marble Salagram Silas. The temple pujari says that to this day, many childless couples come to the deity to pray, for children.

BAHULA VANA On the way to Bahulavan is a town called Ketavi where the witch, Putana, was born. Once Yamaraja appeared in the shape of a tiger before the cow Bahula. He was about to pounce and eat her when Bahula pleaded, "Please, let me go and feed my calf before you grip me in your jaws of death." Yamaraj asked, "If I let you go, how will I know that you will return ?" Bahula answered, "You have my word that I shall return." After feeding her calf. the honest Bahula returned and presented herself before the waiting tiger. Yamaraja was so impressed by her honesty that both he and Sri Krishna simultaneously appeared before her in their original forms. Bahula then got the benediction of becoming Krishna's wife. There is a small temple here in Bahulavana with deities of Yamaraja, Krishna, and Bahula carved in the wall. These temples are not grand palaces, but mostly neglected run-down places. Nevertheless one can see that at one time they must have been very nice buildings. The kund here is deep and clean.

RADHA KUND Once Sri Krishna killed a demon named Aristasura who was in the form of a bull. After killing this demon, Sri Krishna was told by Srimati Radharani that He had to go to all the places of pilgrimage and take bath to purify Himself from the sinful activity of killing a bull. Sri Krishna, not wanting to leave Vrindavan, dug a hole with the heel of His foot and ordered all the holy tirthas and rivers to enter into it. This kund is called Shyam Kunda. Krishna then rebuked Srimati Radharani by saying "You have criticized Me. What are you going to do to atone for this great sin?" Srimati Radharani immediately started to dig Her own kunda adjacent to Shyam Kunda, using her broken bangles. Even though She dug, no water came. She and Her Sakhis made a long line from Kusum Sarovara to the spot adjacent to Syama Kunda. With their milk pails, all the Gopis began to fill the kund that Srimati Radharani had dug. As they were passing the buckets from one to another they began to perspire. All the holy rivers took pity on them as they worked so hard. After asking permission from Lord Sri Krishna, they all entered into Radha's Kunda. This is how Radha Kunda appeared.

GOVARDHAN The first stop out of Radha Kund is Kusum Sarovara. This is the best swimming spot in Vrindavana and has the most wonderful architecture. Kusum means flower, and here the Gopis would pick flowers for Krishna Here also is a temple of the great devotee Uddhava, who takes birth as grass, hoping that the gopis will give him the dust of their feet when they search for flowers for Sri Krishna. Uddhava was a great scholar of the Yadu dynasty. He concluded that the gopis' love for Krishna was the deepest, because even though they tried desperately to banish Krishna from their minds, all they could do was always remember Krishna and never forget Him. This deity of Uddhava is 4700 years old and was established by Krishna's grandson. The countryside around Govardhana hill, with its monkeys, peacocks and cowherds, perfectly fit the descriptions of the Krishna lore.

GOVERDHANA Once Nanda and Yasoda, hearing of the glories of the Ganga river, had an intense desire to bath there. Krishna was willing to take them there in spite of the great distance. All the cowherds however did not want to leave Vrindavana. They, wishfully said, "I wish Mother Ganga would come here." To fulfill the desires of his devotees, Krishna "entered into meditation, and from His mind sprung the Kund known as Manasa Ganga. 'Mana' means mind and 'Ganga' means Ganga river. This kund is the traditional starting and ending place for those who circumambulate Govardhana hilI, 'one starts by bathing, and ends by bathing. This kund is a million-fold more potent than the Ganga river, because by bathing in the Ganga one gets liberation, but by bathing here, one gets Krishna prema.

KAMAVAN It is a 21 kilometer walk to Kamavan. There are roads around Deeg. There was a king named Bimala who had 26000 daughters who all wanted the same husband. When these sisters all got Krishna as their husband they shed tears of great joy. These tears formed Bimal Kund. The Pandavas lived in Kamavan during their exile. There is a house here with eighty four ancient pillars, beautifully carved. This house was built for the Pandavas by the architect Vishwakarma under the order of Krishna. It is here also at Bimal Kund that Durvasa muni along with his sixty thousand disciples bathed. Bhimasen killed the demon who ate a person everyday Bakasur. In Kamavan the famous conversation between yaksha and yudhishthir took place. Vyomasura, the demon could fly in the sky. When the cowherd boys were playing hide and seek, the demon stole the cowherd boys and hid them in a cave in kamvan. The battle between Krishna and Vyomasura lasted 27 days. During this fight Krishna's helmet and necklace fell off and there are indentation s of these holy relics in the rocks. During the fight Krishna fell from the sky and landed on his foot and hands. The rocks are imbedded with these marks.The battle became so riotous that the earth began to wobble. Balaram had to still the earth. His footprints are still there. After Krishna killed the demon, the cowherds boy told Him. Krishna because this demon was the son of a Brahman, you have committed a grievous sin by killing him. To relieve yourself of this sin you now must perform a great sacrifice. To please his friends Krishna performed asacrifice and distributed Prasad. Krishna sat down at a place called Bhajan thali with all his friends. Even though he had many friends, each thought that Krishna was eating with him alone.
The bhajan thali is imprinted in the rocks. Up on the mountains is a place called 'charan pahaadi' and here another footprint of Krishna is enshrined. There is a temple dedicated to Vrindadevi at Kamavana. When the Muslims invaded Vrindavana, they began a systematic program of destroying any deity they came upon. For this reason, all the original deities established by the Goswamis were taken away from Vrindavana and now reside in the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan. On their way out of Vrindavana the devotees stopped at Kamavana. Vrindadevi is a self-manifested deity and was discovered by Rupa Goswami on the bank of Brahma Kund. She is an exquisitely beautiful red deity with huge black lotus eyes. The history of Vrindadevi is that when the time came to move her out of Kamavana, they could not move her. No matter what they did, the deity would not budge. Because Jaipur is out of the 84 square mile area that comprises Vrindavana, Vrindadevi refused to move. She would not leave Vrindavana. She has been worshipped here in Kamavana ever since then. The Siva Linga here is called Kamesvara. Here the third of the five presiding deities of Vrindavana is worshipped, Kamesvara means one who fulfills desires. It is said that with just a little worship of this Linga, one gets all his devotional desires fulfilled,
Heading towards Barsana, one enters into a "hidden valley" that is nestled between two hills, about four kiIometers outside of the town. Cuckoos are -cooing, green grass is growing, peacocks dance on the lawn, ancient trees stand in gnarled twisted poses. Here Radharani and Krishna used to swing with each other. In far off distant hills one can see Barsana and Nandagram rising like medieval cities on mountain tops. There are eight villages surrounding Barsana, in each one of these villages one of the eight principal Sakhis grew up. One of these villages is Muchagal, which means "Village on the heights". It is here that Lalita-Sakhi grew up. An ancient stairway leads to Lalita's mandir. In the temple alongwith Radha Krishna stands an absolutely stunning little Lalita. It is Lalita's duty to pacify Srimati Radharani when she is feeling the separation from Krishna. There is a small kund called Pila Kothi Kund. It is here that Srimati Radharani used to wash her hands. Because of her touch, the Kund turned a golden yellow colour. The word 'Pila' means Yellow. To this day, the kund still is golden-yellow.

BARSANA Once there was a dancing contest in which Srimati Radharani was the judge. The contest was between Krishna and a peacock. Both Krishna and this peacock danced before Srimati Radharani to the best of their abilities. Then Srimati Radharani passed judgement by boldly declaring the peacock the better of the two dancers. Krishna protested to this judgement, and after and a second contest was staged. This time, however, Krishna thought that if Srimati Radharani liked the dancing of a simple peacock better than his dancing, He would turn himself into a splendid peacock. Krishna danced in earnest. Radharani again passed judgement. This time she declared Krishna's first performance superior, but that the real peacock was again the winner. It is here at Mayur Kutir that this humourous pastime took place. Four hills that make up Barsana. These hills are actually incarnations of Lord Brahma himself. Lord Brahma wanted to do some personal service for RadhaKrishna, so he incarnated himself as these hills. There are four huge peaks that make up Varsana, each one of these peaks is a head of Lord Brahma. On each "head" stands a temple. Mayur Kutir is one of the temples. In the small temple of Mayur Kutir there are painted pictures of Krishna dancing as a peacock. It is a splendid painting done by a blind saint who used to live here. Srimati Radharani appeared before this blind devotee and commissioned the painting. The devotee said. "How can I paint this picture, I am blind" . But Srimati Radbarani assured the devotee that if he tried, then everything would be accomplished. In this way, the painting was completed. The peak next to Mayur Kutir is called Kushal Behari. It was built by the king of Rajasthan (Jaipur) at the turn of the century. It is a magnificent temple filled with thousands of droning bees which hang in huge hives from the courtyard roofing. The original Radha-Krishna deities of Barsana resided in a small temple called Larlies Mandir that was occupying the opposite hill from Kushal Behari. The king built this huge temple Kushal Bihari so the deities would move here and thus be under his control. The local people, however, did not want to let the deities reside at Kushal Behari because they were afraid that the king was going to steal away the deities to Jaipur where most of the original deities of Vrindavana now reside. Feeling threatened the local people built Larlies Mandir into an even more magnificent temple in order to keep the deities in place. Larlies Mandir is a really opulent temple. Srimati Radharani's temple in Barsana, is beautiful with colourful murals on tbe walls and ceilings, depicting the pastime of Radba and Krishna. In Barsana anyone can see that Radha is the best devotee of Krishna. She loves him with an unfathomable love that embraces Krishna and controls Him. If one gets the mercy of Srimati Radharani, then Krishna will immediately be kind upon that soul. lf your life has been so miserable and so wretched that you have never felt any bhakti for Srimati Radharani, you can know that Barsana is the perfect place to start There is a spot called Sakara Gulley. The word Sakara means narrow (derived from the sanskrit 'sankeerna') Gulley means lane. Sakara Gulley is a narrow ravine between two hills. This is the spot where Krishna would stop the Gopis to steal their yogurt. He would stand in the middle of the ravine and would demand from the Gopis, "Either you give me some Yogurt or I will break all your pots." The Gopis who would not comply with Krishna's outrageous demands got their pots broken.

NANDAGRAM To reach Nandagram from Barsana, one walks through the stretch of land called Gosh. This is where Krishna used to herd his cows, and to this day the residents of Nandagram still bring their cows here. Fifty years ago there were innumerable Kadamba trees in this region. Now there are only shrubs. Krishna and the Gopis used to dance Rasa dance in this area. One night the dance became so intense, the exchange of love so deep, that both Krishna and the Gopis began to melt. They melted and mingled together and became the kund known as Prema Sarovara. From Prema Sarovara, one walks to Saket which is midpoint between Barsana and Nandagrama.Saket is the place where Radha and Krishna first met. It is here that the midnight or night time pastimes between Krishna and the Gopis took place. There is a temple here of Yoga-Maya as she is the one who arranges the meeting between Krishan and Radha. Nearby is a spot called Uddhava Kyari. This is the place where Uddhava met the Gopis when he was sent by Krishna to pacify them. Nandagram is the place where Krishna lived from the age of eight to the age of sixteen. It is on a large hill and king Nanda Maharaj personally built his house on this hilI to protect Krishna from the demons sent by King Kamsa. There is a the kund known as pavana Sarovara. This is the kund where mother Yasoda used to bathe Lord Krishna. It is a very fine kund. There is also a well here from which Srimati Radharani use to draw her water when cooking for Krishna.

The ceiling on the main temple depicts the baal and sakha lilas Krishna. Unlike Barsana where all the murals depict Madhurya Rasa. This main temple is a Krishna-Balarama Temple. There are two black marble deities of Krishna and Balarama. They are both in three-fold bending forms holding flutes. On their left and right are two tall deities of Yasoda and Nanda-next to mother Yasoda is a deity of Srimati Radharani and next to Nanda there are two very attractive smaller deities of Krishna's friends, Sudama and Madhu Mangala. In the side alter in the Nandagram temple there is a Linga of Siva which is known as Nandeswara. This Linga of Siva resides eternally in Nandagr,am performing Bhajan to Sri Krishna. This is the fourth of the five presiding Siva Lingas that our padayatra party has come upon. These Siva Lingas protect the holy dhama of Vrindavana from any disturbing elements. Lord Siva does not allow the non-devotee to enter Vrindavana. There is a temple dedicated to Narsinghdeva and prahlad.

SHERGARH Shergarh is the city where Lord Balrama performed his rasa dance. There is a small temple here with an exquisite white marble Balaramaji.

VRINDAVANA Walking towards Vrindavana, one comes across the spot where Lord Brahma stole the calves from the cowherd boys. In a small village called Math where there is a small Dauji temple. Douji means 'older brother' and this temple is dedicated to Balarama. There is a small forest area just outside of Vrindavana where it is believed that Srimati Laxmi Devi is still undergoing austerities to become a Gopi. Srimati Laxmi Devi wanted to enter into the Rasa dance, but because her rasa was so much in the mood of awe and reverence, she was denied entrance. Here in this forest she is said to be undergoing austerities so she can perhaps someday enter. One crosses the river Yamuna at Kesi ghaat. This is where Krishna killed the demon Kesi. The ghats are old yet clean. They were built by Hindu kings from Rajasthan during Akbar's time. In fact Akbar had permitted four temples to be built in Vrindavana. Ironically, his grandson Aurangzeb was instrumental in destroying them amongst other older temples. Near Kesi ghaat is the chir ghat where Krishna sitting atop the kadamba trees hid the clothes of the gopis bathing in the Yamuna. Bansivatt is the actual location of the Maharaas. When the gopis worshipped Devi Katyayani to get Krishna, she promised that the wishes would be fulfilled when Krishna plays the flute from Bansivatt. Govind dev temple is on a small hillock. During the mughals rules, the Brahmins would go to the hillock for kirtan. They discovered a small statue of the Devi. Akbar's Hindu commander, Raja Maan Singh worshipped the Devi before one of his conquests. When he succeeded, he got this temple built. The temple was seven storeyed and intricately carved on all sides. Two generations later, when Aurangzeb saw the light from the temple while travelling to Agra, it was destroyed. However, after four storeys were destroyed, many lions from somewhere and sat on the stairs of the temple and the Aurangzeb's men beat a hasty retreat. Legend has it that the lions went to the small temple of Hanuman nearby and that they were actually Hanuman who had taken this form. The Hanuman temple has been rechristened Singhpaur (Lion on the stair) Hanuman Mandir. Nidhivan is a small forested area where Swami Haridas resided. He founded the school of music called Dhruvpad (dhrupad). He was the Guru of Tansen, the singer in Akbar's court. The image that he worshipped is now enshrined in the Bankey Bihari temple. Radha Raman Temple is another ancient temple in this region. It is believed that there was a saintly old man who worshipped two shilas (stones) as Radha and Krishna. One day a rich Hindu distributed clothes for dieties in Vrindavana and gave a pair to this old pujari too. The pujari was grieved that his idols, which were only round stones, could not wear the clothes. The rich donor asked the pujari to keep the clothes nevertheless. The next day the pujari was surprised to see that his shilas kept in the box had transformed to idols of Radha and Krishna.

LOHAVANA While walking from Vrindavana to the forest of Lohavana, one can see the Shiva Linga known as Gopeswara. All the devatas and their wives came to see this divine Rasa-Lila dance. But Lord Shiva wanted to enter into the arena of the Rasa Dance. When he tried to do so Vrindadevi herself stopped him. Vrindadevi explained to Lord Siva that though he was the greatest of all Vaishnavas, he was in the wrong mood to enter into the Rasa arena, In the Rasa dance, Lord Krishna is the only male and all the other participants are in the rasa of female. Hearing this, Lord Shiva went to the kund called Mana Sarovara and immersed himself in the water there. When he came out, he had the form of a beautiful Gopi. He entered the Rasa arena and Lord Krishna immediately began to shower exclusive attention upon him, so much so that Srimati Radharani became jealous. Lord Krishna told Srimati Radharani to look at the necklace that this new. Gopi was wearing. When she did, she saw that the new Gopi had a snake necklace. When Lord Krishna informed Srimati Radharani that this new Gopi was none other than His great devotee, Lord Siva, Srimati Radharani was pacified. It is in Lohavana that Krishna defeated Jarasandha 18 times. There is a temple here dedicated to Radha-Gopinatha, with two small and attractive Radha-Krishna deities. Here also is the cave where the demon Lohasura lived. Krishna killed this demon. The opening to the cave was quite small, almost like a tunnel, but inside it is quite spacious.

MAHAVANA On the way to Mahavana one can see the famous Panch Mukhi Hanuman temple. Then there is a famous spot called Brahmanda Ghat. This Ghat is on the bank of the Yamuna river and it was here that Krishna put dust in his mouth. When forced by mother Yasoda to open his mouth, he revealed to her the entire cosmic manifestation. The Radha Raman temple is close by. There are three things that are left in Vrindavana from Krishna's time. One is the river Yamuna, the second is Govardhana Hill and the third is the dust. These are the three things that we can see with our material eyes that were here in Krishna's time. The other things we can only hear about, they are not manifested before us. The next stop is Gokula. Krishna lived here until he was 7 years old. Here all the childhood pastimes of Krishna took place; the pastime of Lord Damodar, the killing of Putana and Trnavatra, the stealing of butter, etc.' The house of Nanda-Maharaja was built 5,500 years ago by architect Visvakarma. The atmosphere here is very potent.

RAVAL-MATHURA Raval is the birthplace of Radha. Once king Vrishabhanu went to bathe in the river Yamuna. There he saw a most wonderful sight. Out in the middle of the river he saw a golden lotus flower that shone like a million suns. In the middle of this lotus flower was baby Srimati Radharani Lord Brahma then appeared before King Vrishabhanu. Lord Brahma told King Vrsabhanu that in his previous life he and his wife, had performed great austerities to get the consort of Lord Vishnu as their daughter. This golden baby was that daughter. King Vrishabhanu took the child home, but found the child to be blind. Narada Muni then appeared before the king and told him that despite the child's blindness he should go ahead and perform all the auspicious ceremonies, King Vrishabhanu performed all the ceremonies and invited all the local people to come. One of the persons to come was Nanda Maharaja, along with his new son, baby Krishna. When baby Krishna crawled before Srimati Radharani, She could smell the wonderful aroma of this body. At that moment She opened Her eyes. The first person She saw was Her eternal consort, Lord Sri Krishna. Radha is also called Bhaktidei, the giver of pure Bhakti. In Mathura one walks through the crowded streets to reach Vishram Ghat. This is the place where Krishna rested after killing Kansa.

The parikrama has been completed. It ends where it began -- in Mathura.