Vrindavan, India
Again In Vrindavan
The drive is not long to Vrindavan, just about 2 hours from Noida. Before conducting a theatre arts workshop, I thought that we, as planned, could slip in 2 days for some purification in Vrindavan, land of Krishna.
We made it, just in time for darshan (viewing of the deities) and class by monk Badri Narayan Swami. He was warming up the crowd with his message on Sri Chaitanya for tomorrow would be the birth anniversary. Even more significant, this year marks the 500th anniversary of His walking to this most holy place. In His years of activity as a renunciate He did extensive foot travel throughout the sub-continent of India. He was a real live pilgrim and with a message to share. In the shastras, ancient texts, His coming to the world was prophesied. "He would come as an avatar armed with peaceful weapons, introducing the system of sankirtan, interactive chanting." (From the Bhagavatam)
Standard pilgrims from Delhi and other surrounding areas are well aware of the celebratory Krishna. Not all know of Sri Chaitanya's contribution to the world and how He made Vrindavan a major place of executing bhakti, devotion.
In a quiet moment when I was sitting at a bench at what is called the MVT grounds, a young man from Delhi who works in organizing a call centre asked a question, "What's this all about?"
"Sit down", was my invitation to Vaibhav who came to Vrindavan for the first time to learn about what is the buzz that everyone's talking about when they come to the land of Krishna. Between myself and those traveling with him we spent quite some time bringing him into the power of Krishna, the mantra and Sri Chaitanya.
May the source be with you!
3 KM
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