In 2018, His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami took us to the Radha-Govinda Mandir in Kamyavana, where we find Vrndadevi, Deities of Radha-Govinda and a hypnotic Lord Jagannatha accompanied by Gaura-Nitai. Check out Maharaja’s full kirtan and lecture below, along with a few photos, at Radha-Govinda Mandir in Kamyavana during Parikrama 2018.
On this altar, we find Vrndadevi and we also find the Deities of Radha and Govinda. They are pratibhu Deities or replicas of the original. When the original Radha-Govinda Deities were leaving Vrndavana, it was such a momentous occasion. The Radha-Govinda Deities were in the centre of worship of the Gosvamis and at the heart of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. When They are leaving Vrndavana, the devotees experienced intense separation and as They passed through Radha-kunda, expansions of the original Deities were made. These are called pratibhu Deities. In that way, they continued to worship Radha-Govinda in Vraja. Kamyavana is at the edge of the dhama, the beginning of Rajasthan, and another set of pratibhu Deities were made here.
The original Radha-Govinda are now in Jaipur and the devotees worship Them there. Vrndavana is manifesting there. How many times have we went there for darsana and witnessed the transcendental worship of Radha-Govinda? There are thousands of devotees who very enthusiastically worship Them, and give everything to the Deities. They give the Lord everything. Nothing is lacking in Their comfort. In Jaipur, they are afraid that if they neglect the Deities, then the Deities will return to Vrndavana. And in Vrndavana, well we are just waiting for Them to return! (laughter)
We are at home here. Srila Prabhupada would say, “Vrndavana is my home, Mayapur is my place of worship and Bombay is my office.” This is the home of Krsna. This is the home of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is non-different from Krsna. He brings the transcendental ecstasy of Vrndavana with great force to the entire world. Before Him, all of Vrndavana was covered. This is why we come to such holy places – to penetrate a little deeper. Of course, we come here as servants of Srila Prabhupada and he connects us to all these eternal associates. When we try to go directly to the eternal associates, we will find that we have no adhikara. We will find that, sooner or later, we will be blocked. But Prabhupada is our connection. He is at home in Vrndavana. In this way, we are also very much at home in Vrndavana. We are at home because this is Krsna’s home. In many other places, Krsna is far away. So we are very fortunate to come to such places where Krsna has lived.
