By Kavicandra Swami
Some might question as to why we would just like to wander around the forests of Vrndavan during parikrama, well it is in our line, following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates.
TRANSLATION
“The Lord’s ecstatic love increased a thousand times when He visited Mathura, but it increased a hundred thousand times when He wandered in the forests of Vrndavana.
When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was elsewhere, the very name of Vrndavana was sufficient to increase His ecstatic love. Now, when He was actually traveling in the Vrndavana forest, His mind was absorbed in great ecstatic love day and night. He ate and bathed simply out of habit.
Thus I have written a description of the ecstatic love Lord Caitanya manifested in one of the places He visited while walking through the twelve forests of Vrndavana. To describe what He experienced everywhere would be impossible”
CAITANYA CARITAMRTA MADHYA 17.227-230
Similarly, I cannot really describe the experience.
After a very nice GBC meeting in Italy I finally made it to Vrndavana to join the VRAJA MANDALA PARIKRAMA. The first morning we were delayed by a car accident on the way to Govardhana parikrama. I was not hurt but HH Lokanatha Swami was injured and I went with him to the the hospital. He was bandaged and sent home and I was able to join the parikrama party at Govinda Kund, where Srila Madhavendra Puri found the Gopala deity.
“Circumambulating the hill, Madhavendra Puri went to Govinda-kunda and took his bath. He then sat beneath a tree to take his evening rest. While he was sitting beneath a tree, an unknown cowherd boy came with a pot of milk, placed it before Madhavendra Puri and, smiling, addressed him as follows.
“O Madhavendra Puri, please drink the milk I have brought. Why don’t you beg some food to eat? What kind of meditation are you undergoing?” When he saw the beauty of that boy, Madhavendra Puri became very satisfied. Hearing His sweet words, he forgot all hunger and thirst.
Madhavendra Puri said, “Who are You? Where do You reside? And how did You know that I was fasting?”
The boy replied, “Sir, I am a cowherd boy, and I reside in this village. In My village, no one fasts. In this village a person can beg food from others and thus eat. Some people drink only milk, but if a person does not ask anyone for food, I supply him all his eatables. The women who come here to take water saw you, and they supplied Me with this milk and sent Me to you.”
The boy continued, “I must go very soon to milk the cows, but I shall return and take back this milk pot from you.”
Saying this, the boy left the place. Indeed, He suddenly could be seen no more, and Madhavendra Puri’s heart was filled with wonder. After drinking the milk, Madhavendra Puri washed the pot and put it aside. He looked toward the path, but the boy never returned. Madhavendra Puri could not sleep. He sat and chanted the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, and at the end of the night he dozed a little, and his external activities stopped.
In a dream Madhavendra Puri saw the very same boy. The boy came before him and, holding his hand, took him to a bush in the jungle. The boy showed Madhavendra Puri the bush and said, “I reside in this bush and because of this I suffer very much from severe cold, rain showers, winds and scorching heat. “Please bring the people of the village and get them to take Me out of
this bush. Then have them situate Me nicely on top of the hill.Madhya 4.38
“Please construct a temple on top of that hill,” the boy continued, “and install Me in that temple. After this, wash Me with large quantities of cold water so that My body may be cleansed.
“For many days I have been observing you, and I have been wondering, ‘When will Madhavendra Puri come here to serve Me?’
“I have accepted your service due to your ecstatic love for Me. Thus I shall appear, and by My audience all fallen souls will be delivered.
“My name is Gopala. I am the lifter of Govardhana Hill. I was installed by Vajra, and here I am the authority.
“When the Muslims attacked, the priest who was serving Me hid Me in this bush in the jungle. Then he ran away out of fear of the attack.
“Since the priest went away, I have been staying in this bush. It is very good that you have come here. Now just remove Me with care.”
After saying this, the boy disappeared. Then Madhavendra Puri woke up and began to consider his dream.CAITANYA CARITAMRTA MADHYA 4.23-45
Due the heat we did not stop very much but just walked and chanted. The next day we walked to Deeg. That morning we were joined by HH Bhakti Caitanya Maharaja, who is filming the parikrama to make a first class DVD presentation for the benefit of the world. He is also very learned regarding the pastime places and pastimes so everyone is very happy to have him there.
We are missing the association of HH Lokantah Swami but his representatives, HH Radha Ramana Swami and HG Bhadra Prabhu are doing a wonderful job of managing everything. That is no small task since there are over 500 devotees who need arrangements for food and shelter every day. They have done this for 20 years and are extremely competent.
From Deeg we went to Badrinatha, (Adi Badri) and stayed two nights. Here there are the Deities of NARA NARAYANA RSI (Arjuna and Krsna). When the cowherd men wanted to travel to the Himalayas to worship Narayan, Krsna took them there and showed them the original Badrinatha.
From there the party went to Kedaranatha, where there a is self manifested SIVA LINGA. From there we walked to Kamyavana, which is hard to describe. In the course of this story, I have given a description of Lord Gopala’s mercy. After seeing the Gopala Deity, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Sri Kamyavana.
PURPORT
Kamyavana is mentioned in the Adi-varaha Purana:
Lord Siva said, “The best of all forests is the fourth of these, named Kamyaka. O goddess Devi, any person who goes there is eligible to enjoy the glories of my abode.”
In the Bhakti-ratnakara (Fifth Wave) it is also said:
“In this Kamyavana, KRSNA performed enchanting pastimes. Here you will be able to take darsana of many ponds and other transcendental spots. I cannot even describe in writing all the sacred tirthas found at Kamyavana.” Madhya 18.56