Protect our sacred Vrindavana from environmental disaster.
H.H. Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Maharaj and H.H. Indradyumna Swami visited the VT office on Friday.
The two swamis every year bring to Vrindavan hundreds of devotees from the central Asian states, Russia, Poland and many other places around the world. They bring their followers for darshan of Braj’s Thakurjis, and to do Chaurasi Kos Parikrama.
Both swamis have had personal residences near the Parikrama Marg for several decades, and spend considerable time in the Dham every year. They have, like many of us, grown deeply concerned about the changes seen in Vrindavan over the last decade, and feel that some of the things most related to “the Vrindavan experience” are being sadly lost.
They thus feel the need to get more involved in doing something to counteract the negative developments.
A few months ago, Shailjakant Mishra, the Vice President of the Braj Tirth Vikash Parishad, for the first time met officially with leaders of the international devotional community. Many of these devotees have been here for decades, and despite coming from different, in their own words, “branches of the Gaudiya tree,” they are willing to unite as one strong front to produce solutions for the current problems of Vrindavan.
Many things were discussed at the meeting with Mr. Mishra that have not yet been acted upon. But the principal takeaway message for me was that the Government is willing to listen to the voice of the international Vaishnava community.
Mr. Mishra recognized that Vaishnavas hailing from foreign countries have adopted Vrindavan as their spiritual home, that they have aspired to Braja-vasa like all Gaudiya Vaishnavas, and indeed they are an important segment in the Vrindavan community. Having contributed to its current development, the foreigners can now help to plan Vrindavan’s future in a very practical way, yet according to Braj’s eternal culture.
The two Swamis believe it is necessary to preserve the original meaning of Vrindavan, which is a strictly spiritual place. The visitors they bring here come in expectation of the Vrindavan of the Srimad Bhagavatam, of the Krishna Book of Bhaktivedanta Swami.
During the meeting with Mr. Mishra I felt it was time that we should now unabashedly state what our vision of Vrindavan is because we are stakeholders in a very significant sense.
The Government would be very wise to recognize that the presence of influential foreign devotees, who command the respect and devotion of thousands of disciples and who bring them to Vrindavan, is an asset for the state. If the Government wants to bring in tourism, the worshipers of Braj as per the Bhagavata are precisely the best kind of tourist we could possibly have.
These “tourists” return again and again, to buy clothes at Gangotri and books at Rasa Bihari Lal and Sons. They stay for extended periods of time, to follow retreats, to go on 84-kos parikrama.
For the long-term, these are the best kinds of foreign tourists that we could hope for.
Govinda Maharaj said, “We have seen the way that the Europeans protect their heritage cities. They do not allow traffic in the old town. They do not allow environmental disasters to destroy the distinctive aesthetics of the locality. They do everything they can to enhance visitors’ experience of the place. Here, it is impossible for us to not be embarrassed at the garbage, the noise, the visual pollution that all make it difficult to stay here. The Parikrama has become almost impossible because of traffic on the Parikrama Marg. There are many issues that we feel need to be worked on and we would like to help.”
Prem Prayojan Das, another international Vaishnava preacher who also brings 50-100 people from various countries on 84-kos parikrama twice a year, also expressed his anxiety about the developments in the Dham. “The sacred power of the Dham is unbroken,” he said. “It cannot be affected by any human activities. But it is our duty to reveal the Dham to those who seek the highest perfection of spiritual life, prema. We should not allow this jewel to be covered by the ignorant activities of those who do not know its value.”
The two sannyasis have already created a popular website about Vrindavan, Vrindavan Experience. The site is principally known for the amazing professional photography and for the film Reconnection, by Govinda Maharaj’s disciple Maksim Varfolomeev. Indradyumna Swami is himself a master photographer and has been keeping a daily blog for many years called the Traveling Monk, in which he chronicles extensively his visits to Vrindavan and his personal experiences with the Dham and the Dhamvasis.
Jagannath Poddar, director of Friends of Vrindavan, a founding member of the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance, and the managing editor of Vrindavan Today pointed out that the BVHA has been using the courts as a last line of defense to prevent bureaucrats who think of short term economic development goals from creating long term damage.
“What Vrindavan Today aims to achieve,” he said, “is to create a vision for Vrindavan that enhances its prestige as a spiritual place of pilgrimage. We have to have a vision that is resilient in the long term, that attempts to recreate an atmosphere that enhances the visitor’s devotional experience. So we are combining activism with an attempt to create a vision of Vrindavan that will stand the test of time, even in these rapidly changing times.”
Govinda Maharaj also emphasized the need for cooperation. “When ISKCON was under attack in Kazakhstan,” he said, “we learned that networking with like-minded souls was a necessity. In this attack on Vraja we need to network with kindred spirits as well.”
Nabhinandan Das:Saturday 17 March: We were visiting the glorious ISKCON Ahmedabad temple today and it so happened that 120 year 4 children from a local school (Anand Niketan school) also visited the temple, with their teachers at the same time.
By Mayapur Sasi dasa
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Gaudham, is a well known Vaishnav temple of Lord Krishna and Radharani in the form of Radha Shyamsundar, and a spiritual-cultural campus in Ahmedabad, India.
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