SANGEETA WADDHWANI TAKES YOU, STEP BY SACRED STEP, INTO THE MYSTERIES OF SRI KRISHNA’S HIDDEN UNIVERSES, AT THE GOVARDHAN ECO-VILLAGE IN PALGHAR, NEAR GUJARAT
LORD KRISHNA: MY INSPIRATION
Sometime in the middle of 2021, I did a roller coaster course with the UK-based but globe-trotting Master Sri Akarshana on how to be a successful YouTuber. The end of the weekend webinar involved us shooting a YouTube video of ourselves talking on a subject of interest, and sharing it for a class ‘competition’. I am not sure my video got our Master’s attention, given he had hundreds of participants, but the class definitely motivated me to start a YouTube channel and see where it would go! (Do check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChngc9lU-qexroVjBDy4I6g) or type HAPPINESS HACKS FOR A POST PANDEMIC WORLD…in YouTube…
I turned to my favourite ishta-deva, kul-deva, Lord Krishna, for support and inspiration. I chose to relay truths and insights into human nature, how to navigate the strange New World we were in – turning to the sacred Bhagavatam and Krishna’s life stories. And I called it, HAPPINESS HACKS FOR A NEW WORLD.
SAME QUESTIONS, DIFFERENT ERAS
How would Krishna’s world ever throw light on ours? Well, didn’t we have fratricide in His times, with the Mahabharat? Didn’t we have feminist inquiries with Draupadi’s vastra-haran? Back in 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ca change, plus c’est la même chose.” And a loose translation goes, ‘Turbulent changes do not affect reality on a deeper level other than to cement the status quo.”
Let’s face it. We were pretty much the same people with the same emotions through the haze of time and circumstance, through lifetimes. What has shifted are our values. Where in a purer age, we were far more willing to do things for a higher purpose – be it dharmic ideas, karmic balance, love of near and dear family members and friends. Today we are tossed on the miasma of digital distraction, materialism, consumerism, an obsession with self-projection, thanks to the virtues and vices of social media.
THE PANDEMIC’S SPIRITUAL WAR
It has proved to be the biggest challenge of our century to wake up to the true brilliance within…. Where so much has been taking our focus out and away from our true power, our Source, our Centre. The Pandemic came to slay those demons of distraction and destruction – or at least reveal them to us. Entire industries were ripped and exposed – nepotism and drug-nexuses in entertainment, the thriving porn industry and its immaculate practitioners. The print media and its powerful players had to bow down to the ‘everyday’ journalism generated by thought–leaders from every walk of life, shaping people’s views, buying habits, engaging live communities for better or worse. The new heroes and heroines were doctors and nurses and pharma giants. The honest ones, the self-sacrificing ones. Even the PM realized he was standing in front of a tidal wave of change… and now when one sees it, Modi-ji was not so off the mark when he tried to bring digital transactions to the forefront with demonetization. He was a few years ahead of a time when going to the bank would be hazardous to health!
So to return to Sri Krishna, I truly believe that he is closer than ever to his old-world style followers, or devotees, and is one of the most viral among divine deities because his philosophy is pro-life, pro-wealth, pro-growth, pro-dance, pro-music, pro-fashion. He understands the Maya or illusory nature of our material world better than any other Divine friend could, because he exposed himself to it in His many incarnations and sacred missions.
PHILOSOPHY AS LUXURY
Pre-Pandemic, my friend Viraj and I often signed up for evening talks on how scientific the cosmology of Sri Krishna’s Universe is, and how empowering it is to understand the subtle and not-so-subtle workings of Karma. These lectures were held by HG Prabhu Braj Mohan Das of ISKCON. Prabhuji is an IIT graduate, and has a gift for contextualizing spiritual knowledge to the news and everything around us in this world of ‘Maya’. So we would be regulars, sitting in the beautiful temple hall at Chowpatty, Mumbai. Feasting on the delicious ISKCON prasadam dinners after the lectures – very welcome as we were coming in from heavy duty corporate working hours!
While to be honest I was not a great devotee when the lectures moved to Zoom, things changed radically when the lockdowns were fully eased, and an opportunity to experience living at the Govardhan Eco Village in Palghar, during the moonlit, nectar-filled nights of Kartik Poornima came up. Accustomed to our creature comforts, my friend and I were prepared to ‘slum’ it on this three-day visit, quietly trying to spot baniya stores on the outskirts of the campus ‘just in case’ we needed mundane supplies.
I think Sri Krishna had the first and last laugh!
BEAUTY SACRALITY MEET MODERN IDEAS OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING
There is one irrefutable truth about any of Lord Krishna’s paradises – they seem to grow organically, effortlessly, into spaces basking in all kinds of abundance. We felt like we had the best of both – civilized comforts and nature’s coy manifestations, be they rare flowers, butterfly groves, raat ki raani fragrances that intoxicated us as we strolled under moonlit skies. We later heard HG Prabhu Gaurang Das expand on how this eco-village came to be; how its first ‘attraction’ for international supporters was a ‘gaddha’ or donkey that was “full of love.” They called it the ‘eco-village’ fully aware the ecology was dear to their international community’s hearts. It was a revelation to hear that ISKCON is really embraced fiscally and physically as an Idea, by a vast global following… and this was true from its earliest days, when there were 10,000 devotees in America, and a mere handful in India.
While HG Prabhu Gaurang Das made light of the splendour of the village, confessing that he would envision Parikramas of the temples here even before they were built, what I took away from his story, was that somehow, mystically, no matter how grand or foolish an ISKCON believer or leader’s vision is for a new temple, or a new Vrindavan, somehow, it manifests in full glory. He later explained that there are 11 Vrindavans spread around the world!
When we reached the reception, we saw how sophisticated our ‘village’ was… electric, solar-charged buggies were to take us to our room complexes. There were villas on stilts, there were pretty dorm room complexes called Vrindavan… and our double room was in a beautiful, solid building called Mahavan. The floors leading to the rooms had gorgeous terracotta and earthy toned-tiles and looked Moroccan. Flanking all the residences were beautiful flower groves. The balconies had a view of the Sahyadri mountains. When we entered our air-conditioned room…we were amazed to see the colour of Sri Lakshmi – gold lacquer… all over our traditional furniture, which my friend identified as being the Sankheda style from Gujarat. I fell in love with the golden closet featuring two larger-than-life peacocks painted in black over the gold. Our floors had polished granite tiles and our bathroom was large, with those lovely Moroccan tiles and a well-appointed shower chamber with a glass door. There was hot water and cold water, 24/7 on demand. Just as well as we had to be up at 3.30 am, showered (to respect scriptural dictates) and at the temples to wake up with The Lord and his Radha Rani, in the Brahma mudra hour.
The day we arrived, a deep respect for nature was evident as our very first stop was to be the Gaushala. The cow shed. We didn’t make it according to schedule but we did visit the Gaushala the following day, and fed the holy cows. Few other countries have the reverence for cows that India has, and I remember reading somewhere that to every Indian, she represents FIVE boons – first, she nurtures humanity with milk. Then, her dung becomes manure, and today is also collected to produce biogas and generate electricity and heat. (The gas is rich in methane and is used in rural areas to provide a renewable and stable source of electricity!) The male of the species, the bullock, helps to plow the fields. In many village homes, dung cakes are dried in the sun and then applied to the walls, to ward off mosquitoes. Cow urine is also used as medicine in Ayurveda.
Our eco-village had a solar power ‘shed’ just near the Gaushala, which made us feel less guilty about keeping the room ac on. Somehow, being close to Gujarat, the humidity and heat was far more intense than it was in Mumbai, and we would often shower thrice in a day just to feel energized and fresh.
As we were busy feeding the cows, we saw wild peacocks on the fields just behind… and just the day before, I had come across a sign about the relevance of the peacock in Hindu myth. One, a peacock feather was always a part of Lord Krishna’s ‘look’, and do we know why? So legend has it that His flute music had mesmerized a group of peacocks and they danced till the point of exhaustion. In gratitude, the King of Peacocks offered his most prized possession – his feathers, to the Lord. Sri Krishna accepted the offering and wore one feather in his hair, forever after. I found it no coincidence that I was getting a chance to delight in the peacock prancing around in front of us…what a gorgeous, iridescent blue, its body was…and what stunning shades of green on the neck and wings… I also read in a signpost that the peacock was the Goddess Saraswati’s mount! To me, it was a creature symbolizing everything creative and graceful…until my camera got too close to its beautiful back and it pounced on my phone A proper and first time ever peacock attack!;)
However, there is another fascinating dimension to the peacock that I came across on India.com:
“The brilliant colours of the peacock do not arise from the correspondingly coloured pigments. Instead, they arise from the phenomenon called ‘structural coloration’. The light waves entering the different thickness of keratin layers on peacock feathers get out of phase and undergo interference. The resulting light wave patterns give the beautiful play of colours which the human eyes see. The ‘actual’ colour is just a deep brown pigment which occurs in the background of these keratin layers.
Thus, Lord Krishna wears a brilliant example of His own Maya in His crown and stimulates our intelligence to understand the fact that the whole universe is a diverse manifestation of one single divinity. Thus, we are also supposed to understand the nature of Maya continuously during our life so that we do not get carried away and suffer due to its influence. If we also start wearing this idea in our mind, like Krishna wears is symbolically in His crown, then we can also enjoy this life in the manner Lord Krishna wants us to live.”
Do you see what one means? There is no aspect of Lord Krishna that doesn’t resonate at multiple levels. We felt his and Radha Rani’s blessings as we walked barefoot towards the Radha Kund and the Shyam Kund – miniature ponds in imitation of the life-sized ones in the ‘real’ Vrindavana in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. What really were the legends behind these ‘kunds?’ We read on Wikipedia, “According to popular legend, when Lord Krishna slew a mighty asura (demon) in the form of a bull, his consort Radha asked Krishna to wash off his sins by taking dips in various holy rivers. Krishna laughed it off and struck the ground with his foot whereupon all the river goddesses emerged in front of them and filled the ground with their water. Krishna bathed in this kund (temple tank ) to please Radha. Later, this water reservoir was called Shyam kund. Opposite to Shyam Kunda, Radha and her friends also dug out the ground which was filled with the holy water of Shyam kund by Krishna. This water reservoir is named after Radha and is called Radha kund. Krishna then took a bath in the Radha kunda and announced that whoever bathes in Radha kund will be blessed with the intense love (Prem-Bhakti) which Radharani has for him. Similarly, Radharani also took a bath in the Shyam kund and announced that whoever takes bath in Shyam kund would be blessed with the love that Krishna has for her. To this day, millions of pilgrims desiring love for Radha-Krishna come to this holy spot to take a bath in a reverential mood, bathing first in Radha-Kund, then in Shyam-kund, and then again in Radha-kund. This is the only place of pilgrimage where an auspicious bath is taken at midnight!
We delighted in the Deepavali-like ambience on the banks of the miniature Yamuna river, where kirtans were held every night at sunset and beyond. Everywhere we walked, even when we had minor traumas locating our chappals, we were delighted by the smells of fresh plantlife, our bodies thrilled with the prana or life-force rich ambience. (A little footnote – one is encouraged not to keep footwear on when doing a parikrama or walking towards the kunds or touring the diadems in the forest, so I would recommend keeping freshly washed socks handy if you have sensitive feet!)
The meals at the Govardhan Eco Village were so flavourful and made in such generous quantities, it felt like the Goddess Annapurna herself presided over the kitchens. I particularly loved one dish – masala bhindis soaked in lightly sweet yoghurt curry…hmmmm. Their kichdi – dal soaked rice with carrots and potatoes and peas, was also somehow laced in such fresh flavours, nothing from a fancy seven star could match its wholesome flavours. It took us right back to the delicious ISKCON dinners at the Chowpatty temple in Mumbai. Each meal had chaas, papads, and an Indian sweet side dish – seera or kheer or srikhand.
Being spoilt city girls, the early morning rituals sounded almost cruel to us. The havan pooja was held at a special havan hall, open on all sides to the forests around, at 6.00 am sharp. Since the drivers to the buggies were not usually around at this hour, we found ourselves guided by a beautiful wild dog right towards the hall. The havan we realised, was about summoning all the devas and devis and putting before them a manokama – a heartfelt wish. Our brahmin explained that in earlier yugas (eras) it was common for people to pray for 1000s of hours, sometimes months and years across generations… and new beings would manifest through the yagna fire – like Draupadi did! But in the Kaliyuga, the age of instant gratification, the devas and devis were called upon within just two odd hours to hear human wishes and grant them:( However, we did the ‘swahas’ when asked to, we did the parikrama of the yagna fire, and we ate the delicious prasad.
For me, the peak of our time at the Govardhan Eco-Village was the final parikrama around the two sides of the little Yamuna – “We have seven forests to one side, and five forests to the other side of this bridge,” explained Prabhu Braj Mohan Das. As we walked, we were told fascinating stories about Sri Krishna. One, how he often benefitted seemingly evil creatures even when he demolished or fought them. Like the demoness Putana, who had poisoned and killed hundreds of infants by feeding them breastmilk laced with poison on her skin.
She came to do the same to little Krishna, but he not just drank her milk, he also sucked out her life force. However, her soul ascended to the higher realms and not hell, because for a few moments, she had truly maternal and loving thoughts about Krishna. The moral of this story is, the Lord is able to redeem a soul based on even a minimum of genuine virtue – and we are asked to do the same. To not focus on the negatives but the positives within all who cross our path, and to reinforce that which is positive. Sounds easier than done, but it is worth trying!
The other fascinating diadem showed Lord Krishna dancing on the heads of the venomous Kaalia serpent. “Krishna liked drama, so he asked Balarama his cousin to rally all the villagers and showed them how he was wrapped up in the coils of the serpant. As soon as the panic reached breaking point, he had himself out of its grip and dancing on the snake’s many heads! In one way, he was actually blessing the serpent, leaving his divine footprints all over its heads, protecting it from predators….like Lord Vishnu’s mount, Garuda. “Why did Garuda never come to Vrindavan and attack this serpent? Because it was protected!” shared Prabhuji. He also shared that Kaalia represented certain darker aspects of human nature – jealousy, anger, and in more modern terms, our tendency to poison our planet. “Krishna was the first eco-activist, seeking to destroy Kaalia because the creature was poisoning his beloved Yamuna. By poisoning Yamuna, even the plant life, animal life, and human life was being negatively impacted. He spared Kaalia’s life because the snake had two naga wives who were devout followers of Sri Krishna. But he told the snake to go to the Fiji Islands..and to this day, there is a Kaalia temple there…. And people claim to be have spotted Kaalia!”
HARE KRISHNA!
Prabhuji also pointed to his U-shaped tilak, saying, “The coil represents the footprint of the Lord, and the dot below, represents the Tulsi of Sri Lakshmi!” We also noticed that wherever there was a Radha temple or a Radha Kund, we found the Tulsi plant growing naturally. To me, this meant that nature was synonymous with Shakti in any form – be she Radha Rani, Sri Lakshmi, or any other goddess. Prakriti was feminine. And so alive.
We later saw another ‘scene’ or diadem showing Lord Krishna getting married to Radha Rani at Brahmi Van. I could not resist asking Prabhuji, “But didn’t they love each other unconditionally? Why did he leave her behind after he went to Mathura to kill his evil Uncle Kansa?” It is truly a part of the Krishna saga I never understood. “Krishna’s avatar wasn’t only about fulfilling his heart… he had layers of karmic obligations. All the many wives he later married were actually princesses who had been abducted during wars. In those times, if a single woman spent even one night outside her father’s home, she was considered unfit to marry. So as Lord Krishna knew they had no future, post-war, he married all of them. Also, he knew that too much ‘swakiya’ – too much stability, actually took love out of a relationship. You will never see a husband dressing to the nines to impress a wife of 20 plus years!” he joked. So ‘Radhe-Shyam’ actually means, “where Love meets Longing.”
And so we left yet another painstakingly beautiful sacred space, both cultivated and self-manifest, as another graceful Prabhuji told us, “Not all the trees and flowers had to be planted by us… some were already a part of this forest land.”
We had hoped to capture in more detail, the carved panels of the Radha-Govinda temple, each panel revealing a story around Lord Vishnu’s avataars and scenes from his many incarnations. But so hectic were our schedules those three delightful days of the Kartik Poornima, that we made a silent promise to return again soon. However, as the Prabhujis tell you, “Coming here is not purely your intent, it is only through the blessings of Radha Rani that you come here.”
To be honest, both my friend and I felt like ever-young gopis and part of Radha Rani’s personal circle of friends, when we visited the GEC gift shop at the Satsang Hall, and came across delightful chaniya-cholis and Anarkali outfits, made in the sacred Braj bhoomi of Vrindavana. The words of HG Prabhu Madhav Das echoed in our hearts, as we moved through the fascinating eco-village… “See we believe that in the sacred groves of the actual Vrindavana, in Utter Pradesh, the divine leelas of Sri Krishna, Radha Rani and the gopis, are occurring all around, 24/7. But we have mortal vision, and need the Divya-Chakshus or divine vision, to see them. Which is why at sunset, every living creature leaves the sacred forest and temples there. They are not equipped to handle that energy or that grace.”
Prabhu Gaurang Das made it clear in his talk at Radha Kund, that the Govardhan Eco Village needs devotion for its consecration… “it is a reciprocal relationship, the more we praise the Lord here, the more we do havans, kirtans, bhajans, and evoke the Maha Mantra, the more precious and blessed this space becomes. So you devotees are also an important part of the ‘construction’ of a dham like ours! It is not only about the physicality of our temples and forests… but about the vibrations we create here to attract Divine Grace.”
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare! Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare!
LIFE OF A MAGAZINE EDITOR 