The Nature of Vraja
Vrajati gacchati iti vrajaḥ – that which moves around is Vraja.” This is the original understanding of the word vraja. The places where Nanda Bābā dwelt and moved around with his cows, calves, family and associates are called Vraja. “Vrajanti gāvaḥ yasminnati vrajaḥ – the land where the cows, cowherd men, cowherd boys and cowherd girls wander is known as Vraja.” Vraja particularly denotes the land of the Supreme Person Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.
The flirtatious hero of Vraja, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti, the embodiment of the nectar of all primary and secondary spiritual tastes, or rasas. In this Vraja, He performs His eternal pastimes with Śrīmatī Rādhikā, who is the embodiment of mahābhāva (the essence of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency), and His other associates. The most exalted of all nectar-filled pastimes, namely, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-līlā, and His numerous other pastimes, take place here eternally. In this Vraja, every glance and gesture is filled with rasa. Here, the original enjoyer, Śrī Govinda eternally enjoys nectar-filled sports and pastimes with those gopīs who have manifested from His own intrinsic form (svarūpabhūtā gopīs). These pastimes have no beginning and no end. That place where there is nothing but an endless ocean of prema, whose waves of the most elevated, radiant mellow of intimate paramour love (unnatojjvala-praṇaya-rasa) are constantly rising up and swelling over, is Vraja. That place consisting purely of rasa, that is continuously savoured by those expert in relishing loving mellows (rasikas), and those who can taste transcendental mellows (bhavukas), is the land of Vraja.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.44.13) gives a deeply moving description of Vraja:
puṇyā bata vraja-bhuvo yad ayaṁ nṛ-liṅga
gūḍhaḥ purāṇa-puruṣo vana-citra-mālyaḥ
gāḥ pālayan saha-balaḥ kvaṇayaṁś ca veṇuṁ
vikrīḍayāñcati giritra-ramārcitāṅghriḥ
“O sakhī, the actual truth is that the land of Vraja is supremely pure and blessed, because here the Supreme Person is living, disguised as a human being. That same Lord, whose lotus feet are worshipped by the lord of all lords, Mahādeva Śaṅkara, and by Śrī Ramā-devī, wanders about here with His brother Balarāma and His cowherd boy friends. Adorned with a garland of multicoloured flowers, He grazes the cows and plays the flute sweetly. Absorbed in many kinds of pastimes, He wanders here and there with delight. By the touch of His lotus feet, this land of Vraja has become virtuous and successful.”
The Skanda Purāṇa also presents a beautiful definition of the word vraja:
guṇātītaṁ paraṁ brahma vyāpakaṁ vraja ucyate
sadānandaṁ paraṁ jyoti muktānāṁ padavyayam
“Parabrahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, is beyond the three modes – goodness, passion and ignorance – and because He pervades every single particle of the universe, He is called vraja. His place, the embodiment of eternity, knowledge and bliss, is supremely brilliant and indestructible. Residing here are the supreme connoisseurs of ecstatic transcendental mellows, who are liberated from material existence.”
Goloka and Vraja (Gokula)
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 5.17) states:
sarvopari śrī-gokula – vrajaloka-dhāma
śrī-goloka, śvetadvīpa, vṛndāvana nāma
“Śrī Gokula, the topmost abode, has many names – Vraja, Goloka, Śvetadvīpa and Vṛndāvana.”
Thus, these names are all considered synonymous. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, an intimate associate of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, resolves any confusion about Gokula and Goloka in his book Śrī Laghubhāgavatāmṛta: yat tu goloka-nāma syāt tac ca gokula-vaibhavam; tād ātmya-vaibhavatvañ ca tasya tan-mahimonnateḥ. He states here that the glory of Gokula is identical with the glory of Goloka. In fact, Goloka is merely the glory of Gokula. Similarly, Vṛndāvana and Gokula are simply different names for Vraja.
The second verse of Brahma-saṁhitā describes this Gokula-dhāma:
sahasra-patra-kamalaṁ gokulākhyaṁ mahat-padam
tat karṇikāra-tad-dhāma tad-anantāṁśa-sambhavam
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has explained the meaning of this verse as follows: “Mahā-Vaikuṇṭha, or Paravyoma-dhāma, is eternally situated beyond the Virajā River. This holy abode is the embodiment of three divine opulences: being imperishable, free from sorrow and free from all types of fear. The extremely sweet Gokula, otherwise known as Goloka, which is full of unlimited transcendental opulence, is situated beyond that Paravyomadhāma. Sometimes Goloka is also called Gokula, but Goloka is actually the opulence or manifestation of Gokula, the abode of all sweet pastimes. This holy abode, radiant as Goloka or Gokula, appears in the form of Gokula below Vaikuṇṭha on the Earth planet.”
In Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta (2.5.168), the quintessence of all
scriptures, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī writes:
yathā krīḍati tadbhūmau goloke ’pi tathaiva saḥ
adha ūrdhvatayā bhedo ’nayoḥ kalpyeta kevalam
“Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Gokula, which is situated on the material plane, are the same as those in Goloka. The only difference between Goloka and Gokula is that Goloka is situated in the highest region and Gokula manifests on the Earth planet.”
In Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has accepted Goloka as the manifestation of Vṛndāvana.
Vraja: the eternal abode of parakīyā-bhāva, the mood of unwedded amorous love
In Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 4.47) Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī states:
parakīyā-bhāve ati rasera ullāsa
vraja binā ihāra anyatra nāhi vāsa
Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura comments in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya on this verse: “Many people think that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is performing His pastimes eternally in Goloka and appears in Vraja for a short time just to perform His pastimes in parakīyā-bhāva, the mood of unwedded amorous love. This, however, is not the opinion of our Gauḍīya gosvāmīs, who accept also the pastimes in Vraja as eternal. Vraja is the name of the absolute inner chamber of the transcendental and eternal Goloka-dhāma. The same pastimes Śrī Kṛṣṇa performs in Vṛndāvana on Earth, including those of parakīyā-rasa, transpire eternally in the supremely situated, eternal Vraja-dhāma.”
Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī states in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 3.10):
aṣṭāviṁśa catur-yuge dvāparera śeṣe
vrajera sahita haya kṛṣṇera prakāśe
Here the words vrajera sahita, “along with Vraja”, clarify that also existing in transcendental Goloka-dhāma is one inconceivably sweet abode named Vraja. Śrī Kṛṣṇa appeared on Earth along with this very abode, with the help of His inconceivable potency. Parakīyā-rasa is permanently present only in this eternal Vraja, which lies within the inner chambers of Goloka. This is because the supreme mellow, parakīyā-rasa, is present there with qualities unlimitedly superior to those found anywhere else in Goloka.
Even in the Vraja manifest on this Earth planet, living entities have been able to directly witness the variegated nature of the unmanifest Vraja in the transcendental realm. Besides prakaṭa-prakāśa (the manifest appearance) and aprakaṭa-prakāśa (the unmanifest appearance) the only remaining mystery is that on Earth there is also a dṛśyamāna-prakāśa, which is the vision ordinary people have of Vṛndāvana and other holy abodes when the pastimes are no longer manifest there.
Vraja: the land of enchanting beauty and sweetness
Brahma-saṁhitā (5.56) describes Vṛndāvana-dhāma, or Goloka, in this way:
śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣaḥ kalpa-taravo
drumā bhūmiś cintāmaṇi-gaṇa-mayī toyam amṛtam
kathā gānaṁ nāṭyaṁ gamanam api vaṁśī priya-sakhī
cid-ānandaṁ jyotiḥ param api tad āsvādyam api ca
sa yatra kṣīrābdhiḥ sravati surabhībhyaś ca su-mahān
nimeṣārdhākhyo vā vrajati na hi yatrāpi samayaḥ
bhaje śvetadvīpaṁ tam aham iha golokam iti yaṁ
vidantas te santaḥ kṣiti-virala-cārāḥ katipaye
“I worship that supreme abode of Śvetadvīpa, where the Supreme Personality Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the only lover; where His svarūpabhūtā vraja-gopīs, the embodiment of all Lakṣmīs, are the beloveds; where every tree and creeper is a transcendental desire-tree; where the earth is made of spiritual touchstone and the water is nectar; where speech is like melodious song and movements are like dance; where the flute is the dear female companion; where light is full of knowledge and bliss; where each and every supreme, transcendental object is all tasty and delectable; where great divine oceans of milk continually flow from the udders of uncountable surabhī cows; and where transcendental time is eternal, and without past and future, so that even half a moment never slips away. In this material world, only rare, saintly personalities behold this abode as Goloka, and only those who are the objects of Gokulapati Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy can understand the nature of this abode.”
The Ṛg-veda (1st maṇḍala, sūkta 154) also describes Vrajadhāma:
tā vāṁ vāstūnyuśmasi gamadhyai yatra gāvo bhūriśṛṅgā ayāsaḥ
atrāha tadurūgāyasya vṛṣṇāḥ paramaṁ padamavabhāti bhūri
“Vraja-Vṛndāvana is the Lord’s topmost dhāma, or sacred abode. There, the Supreme Personality Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the object of the Vedas, sweetly plays His flute and protects the roaming cows, who have many good qualities and beautiful horns.”
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.21.10), the gopīs themselves sing the glories of Vṛndāvana:
vṛndāvanaṁ sakhi bhuvo vitanoti kīrtiṁ
yad devakī-suta-padāmbuja-labdha-lakṣmi
govinda-veṇum anu matta-mayūra-nṛtyaṁ
prekṣyādri-sānv-avaratānya-samasta-sattvam
“O sakhī, the fame of the Earth is enhanced, having been splendidly decorated with the marks of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. Upon hearing Kṛṣṇa’s flute song, the peacocks take it to be the thunder of the clouds and, becoming intoxicated, begin to dance. When the other animals in the meadows of Govardhana see this, they also feel pleasure and become stunned. Thus, the presence of Śrī Vṛndāvana on the Earth makes this planet even more glorious than Vaikuṇṭha.”
The gopīs also say, “O sakhī, all of the six seasons’ many flowers,such as belī, jūhī, camelī, campaka and kadamba, bloom all over Vṛndāvana. Their fragrance reaches far and wide, inviting bees to partake of their honey. They come in swarms to drink this honey and, becoming intoxicated, start humming. This sound seems to come from Vana-devī, the goddess of the forest, who, having anticipated the arrival of Madhupati Kṛṣṇa, now welcomes Him. When birds with sweet and melodious voices like the śuka, pika and papīha, hear the humming of the bees, how can they remain silent? They are also immersed in bliss, and fly from one tree to another and from one branch to the next. Vṛndāvana resonates with their harmonious singing, that echoes all over the hills and across rivers and ponds.
“Aha, Vṛndāvana is such an extraordinary and astonishing sacred abode. In this Vṛndāvana, the sweet splendour of spring, the king of all seasons, is ever present, and a green velvety carpet covers the surface of the earth. Lotuses of many colours bloom in the ponds and rivers, and the branches of the trees are well adorned with fully-bloomed campā, camelī, belī, jūhī and other delightfully fragrant flowers, whose nectar is relished by intoxicated bees. The entire atmosphere is pervaded with both transcendental bliss and the intoxication of youth. These combine to create a kingdom of ever-increasing joy that captivates the body and mind.”
Playing sweetly on His flute, Vrajendra-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa roams throughout this land of Vraja along with His elder brother, Balarāma, and Their innumerable cowherd boy friends and cows. This land of Vraja is blessed; where the creator of the universe, Lord Brahmā, dwells in the form of a mountain range in Varsānā, to have the dust of the Divine Couple Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet on his head; where the maintainer, Lord Viṣṇu, has assumed the forms of Govardhana and Viṣṇu-parvata; where the moon-crested Mahādeva (Lord Śiva) has taken up residence as Nandīśvara Hill in Nandagrāma; and where Uddhava, the best of Śrī Hari’s servants, lives as a blade of grass, a small shrub and a creeper on the bank of Kusuma-sarovara.
Here in Vraja, the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa becomes the calves and relishes the tender and delicious grass. Here the young girls of Vraja go daily to wells and other sources of water (pana-ghaṭas) on the pretext of filling their water-pots, but in fact they go only to fill the pots of their hearts with the rasa of kṛṣṇa-prema. “Panaghaṭa jāna dai rī, panaghaṭa jāta hai – My friend, please let me go to the pana-ghaṭa, otherwise the resolve (pana) to meet my beloved will diminish (ghaṭa jāegā).” To protect this resolve, the young girls of Vraja would crowd the pana-ghaṭa, carrying their clay pots.
At this place, which is filled with rasa (rasīlā), the Vraja girls begin to dip their pots in the water on the pretext of filling them. Then, the rasīlā flute of the crown jewel of all rasikas fills the air with rasa. Who even notices whether these girls of Vraja fill their pots or bring them back empty? O my friend, this is all the wonder of that pana-ghaṭa.
The topmost relisher of transcendental mellows, Vrajendranandana, repeatedly drowns in rasa – in the sweet groves that echo with the rippling sounds of the Kālindī River, and in the twisted and narrow rasīlā lanes. He drowns in the rasīlā teasing of the rasīlī girls of Vraja – in the heated disputes He has with them; in their crooked, sweet glances; in the sweet conversations and water-sports He enjoys with them. Who can describe the glories of such a place as Vraja?
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī has explained the meaning of Vṛndāvana in the following way, “vṛndasya samūhasya, avanaṁ rakṣaṇaṁ pālanaṁ yasmāt tat vṛndāvanaṁ – that place which maintains, nourishes and protects everyone is called Vṛndāvana.” This land of Vṛndāvana conceals its godly nature (bhagavad-bhāva) and lovingly maintains the herds of cows and calves, and the society of gopas and gopīs. The Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being controlled by their love, does not leave Vṛndāvana even for a moment: vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvacin naiva gacchati (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā 1.67; quoted in Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.5.461).
Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa describes the land of Vraja as enchanting, and expresses this with exquisite feelings:
brajbhūmi mohinī maiṅ jānī
mohinī kuñj, mohan śrī-bṛndāvan mohan jamunā pānī
mohinī nāri sakal gokul kī bolti mohinī bānī
śrī-bhaṭṭ ke prabhu mohan nāgar mohinī rādhā rānī
“Vraja-bhūmi is enchanting – the groves are enchanting, Śrī Vṛndāvana is enchanting and the waters of the Yamunā are enchanting. All the women in every part of Gokula are enchantresses who speak in an enchanting way. Śrī Bhaṭṭa’s master and mistress are Mohana Nāgara and Mohinī Rādhārānī.”
The Borders of Vraj
Vraja-maṇḍala extends for about 168 miles (eighty-four kosas). Garga-saṁhita (khaṇḍa 2) states:
prāgudīcyāṁ bahirṣado
dakṣiṇasyāṁ yadoḥ purāt
paścimāyāṁ śoṇitapurān
māthuraṁ maṇḍalaṁ viduḥ
“That land between Bahirśad (Barhada) in the north-east, Yadupura (the village Baṭeśvara of Śūrasena) in the south and Śoṇitpura (Sonhada) in the west, and which measures eighty-four kosas, has been called Mathurā-maṇḍala, or Vraja, by learned persons.”
F.S. Growse in his Mathurā – A District Memoir quotes the following verse:
it barhad it sonahad ut sūrsen kā gāon
braj caurāsī kos meiṅ mathurā maṇḍal māṅh
“On one side is Bara, on another side, Sona and on the third side is the town of Sūrsena; these are the limits of the Braj Chaurāsi, the Mathurā circle.”
It is clear from this couplet, that Bara marks the boundary of one side of Vraja, Sonhada marks another side, and Baṭeśvara, or the village of Śūrasena, marks the boundary on the third side. Bara is situated in the present district of Aligarh in the north-east corner of Vraja-maṇḍala. Sonhada lies in the present district of Guragaon in the state of Harayāṇā, which is in the north-west corner of Vraja-maṇḍala. Its ancient name is Soṇitpura. The village of Śūrasena is the village of Baṭeśvara in the revenue district of Bāha. The area between these places is called Vraja-maṇḍala.
The borders of Vraja-maṇḍala are also mentioned in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa. According to this Purāṇa, Hāsyavana lies in the east of Vraja-maṇḍala, Janhuvana in the south, Parvatavana in the west and Sūryapattanavana in the north. Corresponding to this description, Hasanagaḍha of the Agra district, which lies in the east, is known as Hāsyavana; in the west, Bahāḍī-grāma near
Kāmyavana in Rājasthāna is known as Parvatavana; in the south, Jājaū-grāma of the Dhaulapura revenue district is famous as Janhu; and in the north, near Jevara-grāma of the Aligarh district, lies Sūryapattanavana.
In the eighty-four kosas of Vraja-maṇḍala, there are forty-eight different forests (vanas), which includes upavanas (sub-forests), prativanas and adhivanas. According to the Padma Purāṇa, there are twelve principal forests situated east and west of the Yamunā. They are (1) Mahāvana, (2) Kāmyavana, (3) Madhuvana, (4) Tālavana, (5) Kumudavana, (6) Bhāṇḍīravana, (7) Vṛndāvana,
(8) Khadīravana, (9) Lohavana, (10) Bhadravana, (11) Bahulāvana and (12) Baelvana. Of these twelve forests, seven lie on the western side of the Yamunā – Madhuvana, Tālavana, Kumudavana, Bahulāvana, Kāmyavana, Khadīravana and Vṛndāvana. The remaining five – Bhadravana, Bhāṇḍīrvana, Baelvana, Lohavana and Mahāvana – are situated on the Yamunā’s eastern side.
The Varāha Purāṇa mentions twelve upavanas: (1) Brahmavana, (2) Apsarāvana, (3) Vihvalavana, (4) Kadambavana, (5) Svarṇavana, (6) Surabhivana, (7) Premavana, (8) Mayūravana, (9) Māneṅgitavana, (10) Śeṣaśāyīvana, (11) Nāradavana and (12) Paramānandavana.
The Bhaviṣya Purāṇa mentions the following twelve prativanas:
(1) Raṅkavana, (2) Vārttāvana, (3) Karahāvana, (4) Kāmavana, (5) Añjanavana, (6) Karṇavana, (7) Kṛṣṇākṣipanavana, (8) Nandaprekṣaṇa Kṛṣṇavana, (9) Indravana, (10) Śikṣāvana, (11) Candrāvalīvana and (12) Lohavana.
Finally, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes the following twelve adhivanas: (1) Mathurā, (2) Rādhā-kuṇḍa, (3) Nandagaon, (4) Gaḍha, (5) Lalitā-grāma, (6) Vṛṣabhānupura, (7) Gokula, (8) Balabhadravana, (9) Govardhana, (10) Jāvaṭa, (11) Vṛndāvana and (12) Saṅketvana. This adds up to forty-eight forests in all.
How to Observe Vraja-maṇḍala Parikramā
Vow at Viśrāma-ghāṭa
Before starting Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā, one should take a vow (saṅkalpa) at Viśrāma-ghāṭa in Mathurā. This vow should be made through the medium of a Vaiṣṇava devoted to bhajana, any devotee, tīrtha-guru or Vrajavāsī priest who
is simple-hearted, learned in the scriptures and philosophical principles,virtuous, merciful, non-envious and non-avaricious. When the vow is taken, parikramā may begin.
The rules for Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā
While performing parikramā, one should as far as possible observe certain positive and negative injunctions. The positive injunctions are as follows: to speak the truth, to observe celibacy, to sleep on the ground, to forgive the offences of others, to take bath in the holy rivers or ponds, to do ācamana, to accept only prasāda offered to the Supreme Lord, and to perform harināma-kīrtana on tulasī beads or perform harināma-saṅkīrtana in the assembly of Vaiṣṇavas. One should perform the parikramā by properly respecting and worshipping the brāhmaṇas, deities, sacred places and the Supreme Lord’s pastime places encountered during the course of the parikramā.
Coming now to the negative injunctions – it is prohibited to become angry; to commit any violence towards trees, creepers, small shrubs, cows and so forth along the parikramā path; to dishonour brāhmaṇas, Vaiṣṇavas and so on; to disrespect the deities; to use soap and oil; to shave; to kill ants and other living entities; to involve oneself in disputes; and to criticize others.
The timing of the parikramā
Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas follow Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s own journey through Vraja. Hence, some people start their parikramā after Vijayā-daśamī in the month of Āśvina (October–November) in autumn. This is because, according to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīman Mahāprabhu arrived from Śrī Nīlācala-dhāma (Jagannātha Purī) at this time to have darśana of Vraja-maṇḍala. Other Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas start their parikramā and kārtika-vrata niyama-sevā on the Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight in the month of Āśvina and complete their vow on Devotthāna-ekādaśī of the bright fortnight in the month of Kārtika. Most Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, however, make their vow for both Kārtika niyama-sevā (or ūrjā-vrata) and Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā on Śāradīyā-pūrṇimā. They then complete the kārtika-vrata and Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā after Devotthāna-ekādaśī on Kārtika-pūrṇimā.
The Vaiṣṇavas of the Nimbārka sampradāya start Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā on the Daśamī after Śrī Kṛṣṇa-janmāṣṭamī. They complete their parikramā in one-and-a-half months. The Vaiṣṇavas of Puṣṭīmārga (the Vallabha sampradāya) start their parikramā on the Daśamī or Ekādaśī after Śrī Rādhāṣṭamī and complete it in approximately two months.
