Madan Mohan Temple on the Yamuna, Vrindavan, 1789, Painting
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"Gadadhara Pandita said, 'Wherever You stay is Vrindavana, as well as the river Yamuna, the river Ganges and all other places of pilgrimage. Although wherever You stay is Vrindavana, You will still go to Vrindavana just to instruct people. Otherwise, You will do whatever You think best."
PURPORT
It was not essential for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to go to Vrindavana, for wherever He stayed was immediately converted to Vrindavana. Indeed, at that place were also the river Ganges, the river Yamuna and all other places of pilgrimage. This was also expressed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself when He danced in the Ratha-yatra. At that time He said that His very mind was Vrindavana (mora-mana -- vrindavana). Because His mind was Vrindavana, all the pastimes of Radha and Krishna were taking place within Himself. Nonetheless, just to teach people, He visited bhauma-vrindavana, Vrindavana-dhama in this material world. In this way the Lord instructed everyone to visit Vrindavana-dhama, which is a very holy place.
Materialists consider Vrindavana-dhama an unclean city because there are many monkeys and dogs there, and along the bank of the Yamuna there is refuse. Some time ago, a materialistic man asked me, "Why are you living in Vrindavana? Why have you selected such a dirty place to live after retiring?" Such a person cannot understand that the earthly Vrindavana-dhama is always a representation of the original Vrindavana-dhama. Consequently Vrindavana-dhama is as worshipable as Lord Krishna. Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrindavanam: according to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's philosophy, Lord Sri Krishna and His abode, Vrindavana, are equally worshipable. Sometimes materialistic people who have no spiritual understanding go to Vrindavana as tourists. One who goes to Vrindavana with such materialistic vision cannot derive any spiritual benefit. Such a person is not convinced that Krishna and Vrindavana are identical. Since they are identical, Vrindavana is as worshipable as Lord Krishna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's vision (mora-mana -- vrindavana) is different from the vision of an ordinary materialistic person. At the Ratha-yatra festival, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, absorbed in the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani, dragged Lord Krishna back to Vrindavana-dhama. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke of this in the verses beginning ahus ca te (Madhya 13.136).
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.84.13) it is stated:
yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradishu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janeshv abhijneshu sa eva go-kharah
"A human being who identifies the body made of three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of the body to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of birth as worshipable, and who goes to a place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than meet men of transcendental knowledge there is to be considered like an ass or a cow."
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally renovated Vrindavana-dhama and advised His chief disciples, Rupa and Sanatana, to develop it and open it to attract the spiritual vision of the general populace. At present there are about five thousand temples in Vrindavana, and still our society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is constructing a huge, magnificent temple for the worship of Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama, along with Radha-Krishna and Guru-Gauranga. Since there is no prominent Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavana, we are attempting to construct one so that people will be attracted to Krishna-Balarama, or Nitai-Gauracandra. Vrajendra-nandana yei, saci suta haila sei. Narottama dasa Thakura says that Balarama and the son of Maharaja Nanda have advented Themselves as Gaura-Nitai. To propagate this fundamental principle, we are establishing a Krishna-Balarama temple to broadcast to the world that worship of Gaura-Nitai is the same as worship of Krishna-Balarama.
Although it is very difficult to enter into the Radha-Krishna pastimes, most of the devotees of Vrindavana are attracted to the radha-krishna-lila. However, since Nitai-Gauracandra are direct incarnations of Balarama and Krishna, we can be directly in touch with Lord Balarama and Lord Krishna through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Those who are highly elevated in Krishna consciousness can enter into the pastimes of Radha-Krishna through the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is said, sri-krishna-caitanya radha-krishna nahe anya: "Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a combination of Radha and Krishna."
Sometimes materialists, forgetting the pastimes of Radha-Krishna and Krishna-Balarama, go to Vrindavana, accept the land's spiritual facilities and engage in material activity. This is against the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The prakrita-sahajiyas proclaim themselves vraja-vasis or dhama-vasis, but they are mainly engaged in sense gratification. Thus they become more and more implicated in the materialistic way of life. Those who are pure devotees in Krishna consciousness condemn their activities. The eternal vraja-vasis like Svarupa Damodara did not even come to Vrindavana-dhama. Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi, Sri Haridasa Thakura, Srivasa Pandita, Sivananda Sena, Sri Ramananda Raya, Sri Sikhi Mahiti, Sri Madhavidevi and Sri Gadadhara Pandita Gosvami never visited Vrindavana-dhama. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura points out that we have no authorized documents stating that these exalted personalities visited Vrindavana. Nonetheless, we find many nondevotees, Mayavadi sannyasis, prakrita-sahajiyas, fruitive workers, mental speculators and many others with material motives going to Vrindavana to live. Many of these people go there to solve their economic problems by becoming beggars. Although anyone living in Vrindavana somehow or other is benefited, the real Vrindavana is appreciated only by a pure devotee. As stated in the Brahma-samhita, premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs. 5.38]. When one has purified eyes, he can see that Sri Vrindavana and the original Goloka Vrindavana planet in the spiritual sky are identical.
Srila Narottama dasa Thakura, Srinivasa Acarya, Sri Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja, Sri Bhagavan dasa Babaji Maharaja and Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, and later Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura of Calcutta, always engaged in nama-bhajana and certainly did not live anywhere but Vrindavana. Presently, the members of the Hare Krishna movement throughout the world live in materially opulent cities, such as London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Moscow, Zurich and Stockholm. However, we are satisfied with following in the footsteps of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other acaryas. Because we live in the temples of Radha-Krishna and continuously hold hari-nama-sankirtana -- the chanting of Hare Krishna -- we consequently live in Vrindavana and nowhere else. We are also following in the footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by attempting to construct a temple in Vrindavana for our disciples throughout the world to visit.
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(Caitanya-caritamrita Madhya 16.280-28, Purport)
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(Pencil and wash drawing by Thomas and William Daniel, 1789.)
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