ISKCON Vrindavan

It's only a short walk from Ananda Krishna Van to the ISKCON temple, also known as Sri Krishna Balaram Temple Complex.  However, the path to and fro is slightly challenging.  (Which I can't help making some sort of analogy to it being like a spiritual journey, if the path to it was easy would we cherish it as much?)  The road was dug up to install underground sewer pipes, which is much needed. 

You can't begin to imagine the smell from the open sewer that lines the roads.  I'm not kidding... you can literally see the sewage floating by.

A funny story about the dirt road being dug up...  the road is narrow to begin with and the giant ditch pinches it tighter to the point of it being only one person wide.  There is nothing fencing off the giant trench, nothing to keep someone or something from falling 12 feet down.  In America that entire street would be closed off.  In India, you just go about your day and be careful to not trip or slip into it.  If you did fall into it, well, that's your stupid mistake.  In America if you fell into it you'd sue the township, county, and state and walk away a millionaire and a law would be enacted in your name to prevent further ditch falling tragedies from occurring.  I like the India method better.  But I digress from my story.  One day we were heading back to Ananda Krishan Van, G was in front of me and Chris behind me.  I turned to say something to Chris and all I could see from behind him were two giant horns.  I think I said his name in a panicky voice and I'm sure my face looked equally panicky.  He turned around and was face to face with a bull.  There's no where to go on this road - to the left was a wall and to the right was the 12 foot trench.  I hurried G along the 2.5 foot wide path as quickly as I could and all I could think about was the bull tossing Chris into the air.  We made it safely to the other end and stepped to the side to let the massive cow pass by.

So, enough about sewage and on to the beautiful temple complex.  It's probably sacrilegious to mention sewage in the same post as a temple and deities, but oh well.

The Sri Krishna Balaram Temple Complex is built with marble and is quite striking.

I particularly liked the temple with its open courtyard in the center.  My picture was taken in the evening and in the rain, so it doesn't do the temple justice.

Here is a photo taken from Veg Recipes of India blog, which shows a better shot of the open area.

"The temple has three altars. On the first altar are Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, the most merciful incarnations of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu who appeared about 500 years ago at West Bengal. The divine brothers, Sri Krishna and Balaram, are worshiped on the central altar and on the third altar are Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundara along Their confidental gopis, Lalita and Vishakha."  (ISKCON Vrindavan website.)

For those of you who don't know this, taking care of deities is a time consuming job.  Although the pujaris don't see it as a job, they view it as a service.  The deity outfits are changed twice every day (morning and evening) and they are offered arati and bhoga (food) six times everyday. 

Wondering what arati is?
Gaudiya Vaishnavism performs arati by blowing a shankha (conch) to start the arati.  Then an odd number of incense sticks are offered to the deity. The ghee lamp is offered next, and then offered to the devotees, who wave their hand over the flame and then touch their face/head with that hand. A conch is then filled with water and offered to the deity.  The water is then sprinkled over the devotees. A cloth and flowers are then offered, and the flowers are circulated to the devotees, who smell them. The deity is then fanned with a camara whisk and a peacock fan.  A devotional song is sung during the ritual.

Wikipedia gives a good explanation as to why arati is performed:
"When arati is performed, the performer faces deity of God (or divine element, e.g. Ganges river) and concentrates on the form of God by looking into the eyes of the deity (it is said that eyes are the windows to the soul) to get immersed. Arati is waved in circular fashion, in clockwise manner around the deity. After every circle (or second or third circle), when Arati has reached the bottom (6-8 o' clock position), the performer waves it backwards while remaining in the bottom (4-6 o' clock position) and then continues waving it in clockwise fashion. The idea here is that arati represents our daily activities, which revolves around God, a center of our life. Looking at God while performing arati reminds the performer (and the attendees of the arati) to keep God at the center of all activities and reinforces the understanding that routine worldly activities are secondary in importance. This understanding would give the believers strength to withstand the unexpected grief and keeps them humble and remindful of God during happy moments. Apart from worldly activities arati also represents one's self - thus, arati signifies that one is peripheral to Godhead or divinity. This would keep one's ego down and help one remain humble in spite of high social and economic rank. A third commonly held understanding of the ritual is that arati serves as a reminder to stay vigilant so that the forces of material pleasures and desires cannot overcome the individual. Just as the lighted wick provides light and chases away darkness, the vigilance of an individual can keep away the influence of the material world."


We arrived in Vrindavan on the last day or Kartik (for info on what the month of Kartik is, visit this website), so we were able to see Lord Krishna (as a child) being tied up by his mother for stealing butter, before it was removed from the temple.

Dhanurdhara Swami talking to G about the deities:

Devotees stringing garlands in the temple:

Coming soon (or at least eventually... this job thing is really getting in my way of blogging)....
Prabhupada's Samadhi
Prabhupada's rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple
A walk around Vrindavan
A Goshala
Madan Mohan Temple
MVT
Loi Bazarre
Lila
Taj Mahal
Indradyumna Swami
Sandipani Muni School