Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance

Join us

2010-08-28T03:46:00.000-07:00

Dear friends:
We want to invite you to our BVHAlliance main page.
There you can find all documents, news and information about Braj conservation.

Please check:
BVHAlliance.org

Stop Car Parikrama at Radha Kund

2010-08-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got out to Radha Kund yesterday. The trip is not without difficulties, as the flyover crossing the railroad tracks at Chattikara is being done with maximum inconvenience to everyone. Why they cannot leave some kind of facility for vehicle traffic while the overpass is being built is beyond me. Tempos and other vehicles leave you at the Mathura-Agra highway and make you walk the 200 meters or so up to the railroad tracks, where you have to climb under the gates, cross the tracks and then another 50 meters or so to find your next mode of transport. Evidently, people are accustomed to being taken for granted and their needs ignored.

At any rate, after visiting with a friend in the Radha Kund village, I made my way to the Kund itself. I was delighted by the results of the samskara efforts. I wish I had not lost my camera, as I would like to show everyone just how nice it looks. The three kunds--Radha, Shyam and Lalita--are all clad in decorated pink sandstone. Many of the entrance points to the kunds have also been given nicely made gates of the same material. The buildings that are at the confluence of the kunds have also been beautified, giving an overall positive impression.

There is no doubt in my mind that Radha Kund is one of the most powerful spiritual points I have ever been to. Radha's name immediately came to my throat and a feeling that I had come to my true spiritual home.

It was 3 in the afternoon on a fairly ordinary day, which may have explained it, but there was an overall atmosphere of peace.

After visiting the Krishna Chaitanya Shastra Mandir, I started on my way around the parikrama marg. The new road is nicely made, but even at 3 in the afternoon, a number of cars came honking by, filled with tourists doing their car parikrama.

As I have done each of the last few times I have gone to Radha Kund, I stopped at the Panchayat offices in the Raj Bari and talked to the people there about stopping car parikrama.

It would be a fairly easy thing to place a gate at the entrance way to the parikrama path and to oblige all people to go around the Kundas on foot. It is only a few hundred meters at most, even the the old and invalid could do it.

What I stressed to the people in the Panchayat office was the same as what we are saying in the BVHA: By promoting vehicle traffic, the local people suffer. No one will spend money locally if they are just speeding through.

Besides, those who are in vehicles ruin the atmosphere for everyone else. The beautiful peaceful and spiritually charged atmosphere is immediately ruined by people in cars who push their way through the pilgrims--many of whom do the parikrama lying down. When the spiritual atmosphere is ruined, then Radha Kund's principal wealth is lost.

As I continued on my way, when the next cars came by, I stopped them in a crusading spirit and spoke to the driver. "Do you think you are getting any spiritual benefit," I asked, "by driving around the Kunds? All the shastras say to do parikrama barefoot. They say it is an offense to enter the temple in a palanquin or vehicle. And yet you do it.

"Not only that, but you commit offenses to the pilgrims who are here. Piety is to help someone remember Krishna, but you make people forget Krishna by honking your horn. Do you not think that you are committing an offense to the devotees?"

The driver looked a bit helpless, as his main passenger was obviously his guru, an elderly sadhu dressed in orange. The sadhu did not look at me, but straight ahead. The driver indicated that the sadhu was old and infirm and could not walk. I said that they should make arrangements, bringing a wheelchair so that he could also better enjoy the parikrama. But as a senior sadhu, he should set the proper example for others, especially his disciples.

All too often, I see that sadhus in their vehicles, cars or motorcycles, become just as inconsiderate of others as ordinary non-devotees.If anyone, they should set the example.

Further on, I encountered a cluster of pandas drinking tea. I approached them and asked them why they don't pressure the town council to block the road and only allow local traffic in. I said, "No one will pay you one cent of pranami if they never get out of their cars. Your business will be better if they get down and walk."

The pandas complained that they had no power. That the rich rule the world and so on. I said, "Don't be foolish. You are the owners of the Kund. If you and the babajis worked together on this instead of always fighting, you might be able to accomplish wonders."

Afterwards, I met with my old friend Lakshman Brajvasi, who is building a guest house behind his own home. We talked for a while about these things and the BVHA, whose goals he eagerly supports. In Gaur Dham Colony, I also met with several babaji residents, all of whom fervently support my ideas. We laughed about the new fashion of doing helicopter parikrama around Govardhan. The point I tried to make is that much of the Govardhan parikrama has been ruined by turning it into a thoroughfare for vehicle traffic. But at least we should keep Radha Kund sacred and make everyone walk around it.

The bhajananandi Vaishnavas are the ones who are the worst affected by the desecration of the holy places. And it is they who should be first on the list of protected species. A society that only thinks of economic advancement loses all sense of true value.

“The idea of a society only held together by the relations and feelings arising out of pecuniary interests is essentially repulsive.” (John Stuart Mill)

(I could not find any recent photos of the Kunds online. The most recent seem to be of the samskara itself last year.)

Article by Jagadananda Das.

BVHA Meeting, Aug. 11, 2010. Radha Damodar temple

2010-08-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

The Minutes of the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance

Place: Radha Damodar Temple

Date: August 11, 2010

Time: 11 a.m.

Chair: Thakur Shri Damodar Ji Maharaj through His servant Shri Nirmal Chandra Goswami

Those Present: . Shri Nirmal Chandra Goswami, 2. Shri Tamal Krishna Brahmachari, 3. Shri K.G.Gupta, 4. Prof. K.M. Agrawal, 5. Shri Ramesh Chandra Sharam (Regional Officer A.S.I.), 6. Shri Yogesh Agrawal, 7. Ms. Veena Sharma, 8. Shri Pradyumna Pratap Singh, 9. Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, 10. Baba Sevak Sharan, 11. Shri Sushil Chandra Sharma, 12. Acharya Chandra Prakash Sharma, 13. Ms. Vimla Pandey, 14. Ms. Gandharvika Dasi, 15. Ms. Katie Walter, 16 Acharya Naresh Narain, 17. Shri Jagadananda Das, 18. Jagannath Poddar, 19. Shri Purna Chandra Goswami Advocate, 20. Shri Tota Ram Upadhyay, 21. Shri Ram Narayan Brajwasi, 22. Shir Kanika Prasad Goswami, 23. Shri Ravindra Kulshreshtha, 24. Shri Madhu Mangal Shukla, 25. Acharya Mridul Kant Shashtri, 26. Prof. Jerry Carney (USA), 27. Dr. Laxmi Goutam, 28. Shri Kanhaiya Gupta, 29. Shri Krishna Nandan Agrawal, 30. Acharya Devendra Chaitanya, 31. Shri Devendra Dixit, 32. Dr. Mahendra Pratap Singh, 33. Shri Om Prakash Shrivastava, 34. Shri Indra Prakash Pahuja, 35.Shri Pramod Rastogi, 36. Shri Sudhanshu Kumar, 37. Shri Gopal Goswami, 38. Shri Abhishek Shrivastava, 39. Shri Gouri Saini, 40. Shri Bal Krishna Goutam.

The following points were discussed:

Shri Ramesh Chandra Sharma, Regional Officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, presented a detailed report on what steps have been taken on the restoration of ASI-protected monuments of Shri Jugal Kishor, Govinda Dev, Radha Ballabh and Madan Mohan Temples. He said that 96 notices have been served to the people who have illegally done construction work around these temples in their houses. Unfortunately they did not take cognizance of any of these FIRs. However, the Director General of ASI does have powers to get the illegal structures demolished through the district administration, which in the first place should have stopped then being constructed.
It was suggested that the ASI should work closely with the owners of the ancient temples, ghats and buildings having archaeological importance to conserve the heritage buildings. It is not necessary that ASI acquire those buildings but it can always provide its technical support to restore them taking the owners into the confidence.
The proposed "ropeway" (overhead cable car from Jaint village to Banke Bihari) is completely irrelevant in Vrindavan’s case as it is not situated in hilly area. Moreover the ropeway will leave a negative impact on Vrindavan’s economy and will be beneficial for just one temple. The Right to Information will be sent to the concerned departments finding more details about it.
The meeting’s chair Shri Nirmal Chandra Goswami suggested that a separate federation of the temple trusts be formed under the aegis of the BVHA.
It was decided that Shri Jayant Chowdhry, Member of Parliament from Mathura should be invited to the next BVHA meeting.
Jagannath Poddar was asked to continue to convene the meetings and follow up the minutes of the meeting.

Bad News! Computer Lost!

2010-08-11T05:45:00.001-07:00

Dear friends,

On the way back from Vrinda Kunj, my computer was lost. Not sure how it happened, but it is something of a disaster considering that I use the computer so much for so many things. And of course, there was a lot not backed up...

The computer has become so essential to my life that it is almost like a second self, or at least a second mind or brain. A lot of services will be affected, in particular the work on the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance and Prema Prayojan blogs.

So I am sending out an appeal to all those friends who over the years have enjoyed or benefited from my websites like Gaudiya Grantha Mandir, or from writings in blogs like Jagat, or from my translations, to donate for a new computer.

I am sorry I have to do this, but I am afraid I have no other resources, so I am humbly asking for your assistance.

Please write to jankbrz {at} yahoo dot com.

Thanks.

Jagadananda Das.

BVHA Meeting at Radha Damodar, Aug. 11, 2010

2010-08-09T07:35:00.001-07:00

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. - Greek proverb

Dear Friends,

Radhe Radhe! A meeting of the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance is scheduled to be organized at Shri Radha Damodar Temple ( Shrila Rupa Goswami Samadhi Site) at 10.30 a.m. on 11th August 2010 Wednesday. The agenda of the meeting will be as follows:

Discussion on proposed ropeway between Jaint and Vrindavan by the Uttar Pradesh Government.
Debate on whether the private ghats, buildings, and the monuments of archaeological value should be acquired by the ASI or State Archaeological Department.
Any other issue with the permission of the Chair.

Kindly note that the meeting will start correct at 10.30 a.m

Regards,
Yours in service

Jagannath Poddar

Supreme Court puts spoke in Mayawati’s dream project

2010-08-07T04:13:00.000-07:00

By Rakesh Bhatnagar (DNA), Aug. 6, 2010

Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Mayawati’s Rs2,250-crore dream project — the Yamuna Expressway connecting Delhi and Agra — is in for a bumpy ride. The Supreme Court (SC) raised certain pertinent queries on Friday regarding its environment clearance after 4,000 trees were chopped in the vicinity of the Taj Mahal.

The project envisages a six-lane, 165-km stretch connecting Greater Noida and Agra and reduces travel time between the cities from four to around two hours.

The state government had announced that it would complete the project by February, but with SC stepping in it now appears a distant dream.

SC, which is seized of clearance to many projects since the 1990s in the eco-sensitive zone near the Taj Mahal, also called Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), said the clearance to the expressway had been given without its consent. “Which authority has permitted you? Even before touching TTZ, you have to seek permission of this court,” an anguished bench of justices DK Jain and HL Dattu said.

The court also asked the government-controlled Yamuna Expressway Authority and Jaypee Infratech Limited, which is building the expressway and real estates along it, to submit documents relating to environment clearance.

“We want to see how you have been granted permission,” the court said while putting in abeyance a plea of the authorities concerned for permission to chop more trees.

“You have put the cart before the horse,” the judges saidand pointed out that other aspects of environment, particularly protection of the Taj Mahal and other monuments in TTZ, had to be considered before giving any clearance to the project.

“We have to see whether the project is prejudicial to the monuments or not,” SC said while taking note of a submission made by Krishan Mahajan, who is assisting the court in this matter, that there were five protected Mughal-era monuments in the area.

A report submitted to the court in 2008 had said 2,332 trees were illegally felled around the Taj Mahal, rendering the white marbled monument vulnerable to environmental hazards.

Vivek Oberoi, Susmita Sen and Reha visit FFL Vrindavan

2010-08-06T02:34:00.000-07:00

Movie stars Vivek Oberoi and Sushmita visit Sandipani Muni School

Vrindavan (2010.08.05) When movie stars Vivek Oberoi and beauty queens Sushmita Sen andRehafound themselves in the midst of a crowd of students at the Sandipani Muni school, they could not hold themselves back from dancing.

Away from the Bollywood glitter in the holy city of Vrindavan, the three stars had a great deal of fun with the children. Meanwhile people from all over Vrindavan came to try to get a look at them.

Oberoi and the former Miss Universe Sen and Miss Universe runner-up Reha were visiting the Sandipani Muni School of the Food For Life Vrindavan institution. Vivek Oberoi in particular has been a several time visitor to the school, which has 1300 students in three different campuses, serving children, especially girls, from the most underprivileged backgrounds in the town.

Sushmita Sen announced the Sushmita Sen Scholarship Fund for higher education - 10 scholarships to MLA college, at over Rs. 100,000 per year per student, all FREE. She also said, "I want to sponsor as many children as you'll allow me to sponsor."

On their arrival, the children came to greet them by throwing flower petals on the ground and calling out the names of Radhe Radhe! This traditional way of greeting respected visitors seemed to be completely new for Sushmita. Wearing blue jeans and a white halter top, Sushmita was overcome with affection for the children and began hugging them.

Without any fanfare or airs, the stars mixed with the kids.Since Oberoi has been there twice before, many of the children began talking to him almost like an old friend, recounting stories from their experience.

All in all, the atmosphere of blissful intimacy of stars with the children gave proof of the amazing transformative effect of the school's devotional program on the lives of these children and the hope is that the Sandipani Muni formula can be brought to other schools for the underprivileged.

Oberoi and Sen came to inaugurate a higher education program. Sen said that she said that she herself was so impressed by the program that she would herself contribute as much as is necessary to develop it.

Afterwards they went to Banke Bihari templein the evening at 6 p.m. where they took darshan of the deity and prayed for a glorious future--so says the newspaper. Big crowds came to try to catch a glimpse of the stars making it difficult for them to reach their vehicles.

BVHA Meeting, Lala Babu Mandir, Aug. 1, 2010

2010-08-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. - Greek proverb

Minutes of the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance

A meeting of the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance was held in the Krishna Chandrama Temple (Lala Babu) on August 1, 2010.

Chair: Thakur Shri Krishna Chandrama through His servant Shri Vasudev Goswami

The following points were discussed in the meeting:

There should be one comprehensive master plan for whole Braj region for developmental point of view. The development should be inclined to the conservation and restoration rather than destructive unplanned development. The planning should be done in consultation with the intellectual, business, social and devotional community of Vrindavan. The developmental package of Rs. 250 crore given by the government has brought ten times more destruction for Vrindavan than actual development.
The agricultural land of Braj should not be allowed for the building of new colonies. The real estate business should be discouraged. A Right to Information will be sent to enquire the details of the land use in the Mathura District. Vrindavan is named after a van (forest), not a pur (town). Hence all effort should be done to save natural and built heritage of the place.
Multistoried building should be banned for construction in the Braj area. A letter showing this concern will be sent to the government. The elected public representatives will be approached to address the issues in their respective assemblies. A delegation will soon meet the Central and State Government to declare Braj as Eco Sensitive Zone and Vrindavan as a Pilgrimage Town. The speakers showed their concern on the unplanned making of the drainage system in the town which will only invite to the water logging and the diseases. When they are uncovered it may invite the untimely death for the people who live in the town and the visitors who come here with their ardent devotion.

Those Present: Shri Ram Gopal Goswami (Sevait Gopeshwar Temple); Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami; Shri Vaishnava Das (Temple Vice President – Iskcon Vrindavan); Shri Krisna Baldev Dasa (Secretary to the President – Iskcon); Shri Bal Krishna Goutam (Brahman Mahasabha); Shri Ram Narayan Brajwasi (Panda Mahasabha); Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma; Smt. Manju Sharma (President – Adhyatma Mahila Samiti); Pratibha Sharma Advocate; Shri Krishna Nandan Agrawal (Agrawal Jan Kalyan Trust); Shri Mridul Kant Shashtri; Shri Govind Sharma (Mahant – Vanshi Vat); Pt. Damodar Sharma; Shri Sushil Sharma; Anjali Sood; Shri Kanhaiya Gupta (Vyapar Mandal); Shri Shyam Lal Sharma; Smt. Sunita Tripathi, Shri Ram Shashtri; Shri Krishna Gopal Gupta; Shri Ashok Agrawal; Shri Yogesh Agrawal; Shri Praneshwar Das (World Vaishnava Association); Shri Madhumangal Shukla (Convener – BVHA); Jagannath Poddar (FoV); Shri Ravindra Kulshreshtha; Shri Abhishek Shrivastava.

BVHA Meeting at Lala Babu's temple, Aug. 1, 2010

2010-07-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. - Greek proverb

Dear Friends,

Radhe Radhe! A meeting of the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance is scheduled to be held at Shri Krishna Chandrama Mandir (Lala Babu temple) on 1st August 2010 at 10.30 am. The meeting will be followed by Prasadam (lunch). Please be in time to give your valuable inputs on the following agenda:

The construction of multi-story buildings in Vrindavan and other parts of Braj.
A greater role for people's representatives in the development of Vrindavan.
Preserving agricultural land from being used to develop new colonies.
How to get Braj declared an Eco Sensitive Zone.

Please bring your suggestions in writing if possible.

Pranams,

Yours in service

Jagannath Poddar

The Guru is not hungry for your money

2010-07-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

This has been Guru Puja weekend in Mathura. Along with the huge Muriya Poona Mela in Govardhan, a major event in Mathura has been the several days of festivities at the huge 150 acre campus of the Jai Gurudev Ashram on the Agra-Delhi Highway. The newspapers carried succinct summaries of Baba Jai Gurudev's lectures and I thought that it would be interesting to translate them here as this ashram is a major presence in Mathura.

Jaigurudev Baba belongs to the a tradition of north Indian saints who are generally classified as Sant Mat. They include Kabir, Ravi Das, Nanak, Dadu and many others. In the more recent times Sant Kirpal Singh and the Radha Soami sect based in Beas, and in the West, the Eckankar sect, are all prominent representatives. Some of the their principal ideas can be found here: Surat Shabd Yoga, Sant Mat, Contemporary Sant Mat Movements, etc. This article will give some idea of what he teaches, but I make no guarantees of accuracy.

Additional notes taken from Jaigurudev Temple in Mathura (hi.brajdiscovery.org)

The Guru is not hungry for your money

Sant Baba Jaigurudev Maharaj said that there is no worship without the guru. And at the same time, if you have done puja of the guru, you can say that you have done all the necessary puja. Just like all rivers flow into the sea, all worship culminates in the worship of the guru. One who does even a moment’s devotion to the guru can easily cross over the ocean of material suffering.

Sant Baba has been lecturing over the past few days at the Jayguru Ashram on the Mathura-Agra Road in Mathura. This is the biggest annual festival of the year and many thousands of disciples and admirers come from all around the world on this occasion.

He said that the glories of the guru are unlimited and that no one can fully describe them. The guru has no need or desire for the disciple’s money. One who has proper understanding spends his money in the service of the guru and gets benefited from it in that way. When the soul rises through sadhana then one will see the guru in his own image.

The Sant said that when one gets older then he becomes like an old ox. No one binds an old ox, so similarly there are no restrictions on the old. This is the influence of time. So do everything while you are young and it will be better for you. The human body is a rare gift and it should be used for worshiping God.

Baba Jaygurudev’s real name is Tulasi Das. His guru’s name was Ghurelal Ji from Chirauli village in Aligarh district. Baba lived with him for many years. His guru then told him to establish an ashram in a secluded place in Mathura city to serve the poor.

This he did in 1953 after the death of his guru. The first ashram was in Krishnanagar called Chirauli Sant Ashram. Later on in 1962 Baba Jaigurudev he purchased the 150 acre property on which the present ashram is built. Because he remembers his gurudeva’s name with every single thing that he does, he became known as Baba Jaygurudev. Very few people know him by his original name Tulasi Das.

One of his significant ventures was the beginning of a political party, the Doordarshi Party, which contested a couple of general elections in the 1980’s on a message of social reform and social uplift, with little success.

Separation in Sadhana

Baba Jaigurudev said that the Surat or spirit is the divine realm. There are no subdivisions or ingredients there: it is pure, permanent, undivided, and single. Within it 44,000 candles burn. No one can describe its beauty, only some indication can be given. The sadhak who recognizes the signs and takes up the path can reach this supreme abode. One who does not recognize the signs will never get there.

Many pilgrims have come to the Guru’s ashram to garner merit at the time of the Guru Purnima. In his lecture, Baba Jaigurudeva said that when the Surat first comes into the world, then first it takes on the names and forms, and then slowly the veil of karma falls over it. Karma takes over the mind, intelligence, and chitta.

You should relax your materialistic activities somewhat. Whatever you do, do it with industry and honesty. This is the way to get the grace of the sadhus. Always chant japa of the Name. Keep on doing sadhana until the Holy Sound manifests itself. When the Holy Sound manifests then your mind, intelligence and chitta, and your spirit, will all be cleansed.

Baba said that the suffering of separation in sadhana makes a devotee feel as though the entire world is empty. Everything seems to be inadequate. The great souls cried and lamented and by so doing crossed into the True Land. No trace of material conditioning is left on them.

He said that the material nature merges into earth, earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether, ether into Maya, Maya into Ishwar, Ishwar into Brahma, Brahma into the Para Brahma and Para Brahma into the Mahakala Purusha or great form of time. And when he so wishes, this entire creation expands outward again.

Give the treasure trove of your breath to others, says Sant Jaigurudev

Baba Jaigurudev said in a lecture yesterday that great souls come and do their work in the world. Then when they leave, whatever breath they leave behind they pass on as a gift to others. And when the time comes that energy is activated.

On Sunday, during the Guru Puja, Baba spoke to the assembly of devotees. He said that the external worship of the guru can be seen with the two physical eyes, but the true puja is seen with the third eye. When you look toward the guru with your inner vision, then you will see that all around him there is only light. When the guru is in the assembly, you can see above and below him. But in fact, the guru is in the divine realm of Sat Loka. In fact, the genuine guru is the one who is present throughout the world as Sat Loka.

Sadhana is only the external cause. In fact, everything is being done by grace. The sadhaka can only tolerate the light of illumination when the guru reveals his form to him. Otherwise, he will close his eyes to keep from being blinded. The divine sound becomes so powerful that the sadhaka cannot tolerate it and may even die. The guru slowly gives the disciple the capacity to tolerate it.

The great saints all instruct their disciples to remain on the path of spiritual practice and truth by eating vegetarian food, keeping away from intoxication, and promising not to harm other men or animals.

On this occasion, Baba gave initiation (Nam Dan) to many people, as well as marrying a number of couples without dowry. Booths for buying tickets for travel were available on the ashram grounds, and the ashram itself had several thousand volunteers driving cars to those destinations.

The Path of the Kali Yuga is Service

The clear road to spiritual attainment in the Kali Yuga is service and devotion. If the jiva learns to consecrate his life then all success will be his: his life will be filled with joy. In this age people are so riddled with flaws that without the mercy of the spiritual master, no one can go through life without a struggle.

On the fourth day of the Guru Parva festival at his Mandir, Baba Jaigurudeva said to his disciples that after a disciple gets guru, then there is nothing left for him to obtain. His bondage to repeated birth and death comes to an end. The devotee no longer has to take birth or die again. If he is devoted to the guru then the mercy of the spiritual master will take him across the ocean of miseries in a single moment.

Baba said that like birth and death, the time for encountering a saintly person is fixed in one’s destiny. But this is the most wonderful opportunity in a person’s life. The moment has been decided even in a previous lifetime. Through the good deeds that lead to good fortune, one also gets the shelter of a saint. But without the mercy of Lord Hari, we do not even give any attention to the company of saints. We must never forget the Lord.

Baba blessed thousands of devotees and their families individually. He blessed them and asked that they stay on the path of truth, eat vegetarian food, and remember the name of God. Another feature of the celebrations was that many poor boys and girls were married without dowry.

A crowd gathered to get the blessings of Baba Jai Gurudev, a Hindu holy man, during the annual Hindu festival of Guru Purnima, in the northern Indian city of Mathura. (K.K. Arora/Reuters)

Sanatan Goswami's Samadhi Utsava

2010-07-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Disappearance Day festival of Santana Goswami. The big festival of circumambulating Govardhan in honor of Sanatan Prabhu takes place over the five-day period ending on Purnima, with a major procession leaving the Chakleshwar temple in Manasa Ganga.

Festivities at the actual site of Sanatan Prabhu's samadhi in Madan Mohan is a little more subdued. Here are some pictures on Purnima, sent to us by Deena Bandhu Dasji.

Sanatan Kishore Goswami, the present sevait of Madan Mohan Mandir and Sanatan Goswami's Samadhi.

Darshan on Guru Purnima, Santana Goswami's Disappearance day 25 July 2010. Sanatana Goswami's Samadhi is at the Lotus Feet of Madan Mohan.

Front view of the restored Samadhi.

In restoring the Samadhi, we had to take down the Nat Mandir as it was just bricks and mud! So we put up a waterproof pandal for the festival. Now it's over, we will start construction. Since it is rainy season, we had to put up a waterproof pandal so they could do the ceremonies peacefully. This we volunteered to do as we had taken down the old Nat Mandir.

You can see the old Nat Mandir was just tiny bricks and mud and many cracks were seen, it was ready to cave in. So we had to take it down. We didn't want to disturb the festival, so now it's over, we will start construction.

The old Dwar, gate, of Madan Mohan Mandir.

Anyone who wants to help this restoration project should contact Deena Bandhu Dasji.

Muriya Poona Festivities in Govardhana Attract Six Million

2010-07-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Danghati temple in Govardhan on Muriya Purnima.
Pictures from Braj Discovery Website are of previous years' celebrations. No pictures were available this year.

Over 60 Lakhs of Pilgrims Do Govardhan Parikrama

Govardhan (Based on reports from Dainik Jagran, 2010.07.25)।

The popular festival of Muriya Purnima or Mooriya Poona ended on Sunday. This is the biggest festival in Govardhan during the year and this year official estimates state that more than six million pilgrims did the parikrama of Giriraj.

The festival commemorates Guru Purnima, which coincides with the disappearance day of Srila Sanatan Goswami, the doyen of the six Goswamis of Vrindavan. The term muriya refers to the shaving of heads that the Vaishnavas performed in mourning for Sanatan Goswami. Since Sanatan is often credited with restarting the practice of circumambulating Giriraj, this has became the principal way of commemorating him. But visiting the major temples around Govardha,including Mukharavind and Danghati, and bathing in the Manasa Ganga and other tanks around Govardhan form part of the ritual.

The last two months in Govardhan have been hectic as preparations have been made, especially road-widening and removal of encroachments. High security was everywhere, with CC cameras being used for the first time.

The festival lasts five days, but of course the largest crowds come on the full moon day itself. People came from many different states across North India. From early morning crowds flooded onto the Parikrama Marg. Caravans of pilgrims approached Govardhan, each with the cry of Jai Giriraj Maharaj ki Jai on their lips. The same cry echoed everywhere on the path.

The primary attraction at the Mela is the procession in honor of Sanatan Goswami that left the Chakleshwar Radha Shyamasundar temple at 11, headed by the picture of Sanatan Prabhu. Accompanied by sankirtan. Offered obeisance to Sanatan.

The procession goes from Chakleshwar, to Dasbisa, Bijali Ghara Tiraha, Sankh Adda, Danghati, Hati Darwaja and back. Tamal Krishna Das Baba gave a lecture.

Arrangements tested to their limits. Mathura Junction people coming back. People risking their lives by hanging to the outside and roof of trains, despite several extra trains. Not a square inch of space on the platform. People fighting to get space, even on the rooftops of buses.

Numbers down this year.

The Muriya Mela has been called a "mini Kumbha," but apparently the numbers were less this year, which is a matter of some concern in the local community.

The estimates came in at six million whereas in previous years, particularly in 2007 and 2008, the numbers were said to have passed ten million. The record was set in 2006 when an estimate 15 million people attended, but by last year, numbers had gone down to 8 million. Govardhan Development officer Hari Om Sharma said the reason numbers are going doing is the lack of facilities.

Why are the numbers going down? Certainly much less this year than predicted. Better facilities than previously. B.D. Paulson, the police superintendent says that since the road has been made wider all around Govardhan, it now looks like there are less people.

Since there were no buildings on the road, etc., people were able to walk easily. But there is some concern that attracting more people to the mela is necessary. Mathura Prasad Kaushik, the head sevayat at the Danghati temple said that it is not a good sign for Govardhan that less people are coming. Visitors have to face many difficulties. Not everyone wants to face the crowds and would rather come and do the parikrama on a regular day.

Deaths and Accidents

One pilgrimload of buses was forced to stop near Raya railway crossing. As the driver was dealing with the problem, the passengers got out. A car coming from behind ran into the bus. Several people were injured and two woman, one from Aligarh the other from Meerut, died. Several of the others are still in critical condition. Another person was killed on the road near the Jaygurudeva temple.

During the mela, three people drowned. Because of it, people in need of first aid had to wait long hourse before getting it.

As a safety measure, the PAC had a motorboat on the Manasa Ganga and divers stood at the ready. Microphones were sending out warnings of deep water, which were also cordoned off.

Despite all these preventive actions, two accidents happened.

One woman from Agra, another from Faridabad drowned. One of the women was taken to the Govardhan general clinic, but there were no doctors available. She was taken to a private clinic and treated, and then refered to the Mathura health center, but the drive took three hours and by the time they reached, she was dead. They asked the driver to stop at some other health center on the way, but he refused. When she was dead, the family members started a riot in the hospital.

One pilgrim died of a heart attack in a guest house at Radha Kund while resting after the parikrama.

Radhe Radhe!

Tree Planting in Vrindavan

2010-07-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Forestry Department of Mathura and Friends of Vrindavan jointly begins the tree plantation drive in Vrindavan. In the first day of the drive the trees were planted in Lalita Bag, Hardeo Ji ka Bagicha, Govind Dev Temple, Tatia sthan and Porter Burchard Methodist School. The trees will be planted in different temples, ashrams, schools and community places. It was declared that the trees will be planted in the selected areas where the protection is made available by the community members and taken care by them. The fifty trees of Kadamba, Neem, Peepal and Kanji was planted on the first day. Many saints and devotees were present during the event.

Sand bath

2010-07-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this picture is from this year's Dussehra, which was just a few weeks ago, or whether it is from another year. I don't see a date. The caption says, "Hindu devotees have baths with sand in protest against polluting the Yamuna river on the eve of Ganga Dussehra festival at Vrindavan, Mathura, on Sunday."

I thought it was worth posting. Taken from Udayavani, Karnataka's Daily. Found through 24dunia.com.

Truly Helping the Cause of Making Braj an Eco-Sensitive Area

2010-07-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Katie Jo Walter is our intrepid research scholar, whose association and assistance we are most fortunate to have. From Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, she is India on a 9-month Fulbright fellowship in communications. Her topic is "Between Religion and Economics: Establishing Ecological Development Discourse in Vrindavan," which is a most timely and related topic. This is Katie's second tour in India, the first time she helped establish a woman's collective called Vrindavan ka gaurav. She is associated in Vrindavan with the Sri Chaitanya Prema Sansthan.

Here I am, popping up on a borrowed computer to remind everyone: If something (petitioning for Braj as an Eco-Sensitive Area – or ESA) seems too good to be true (i.e. a clear, direct and relatively quick process), then it probably is!

The declaration of Braj as an Eco-sensitive area would be a great achievement. It would limit reckless development and require eco-conscious master planning. However, there are formidable hurdles to clear, namely:

1. The fact that Braj is a large (about 3800 sq. km.) and includes not only several large cities in their entirety but also spans three separate Indian states is a hindrance. Protection of such a large area containing urban centres has not been extended thus far, but this does not mean that Braj cannot be the first. It is encouraging that Mount Abu, including its town (which is a little less than half the size of Vrindavan) has recently been declared an ESA. (official notification on Mount Abu can be found here.

2. Again, the lack of a clearly delineated process for achieving the goal will serve as a frustration. The application process, grounds for advocating protection and even the official definition of an ESA are unclear. This led the Pune and Delhi based non-profit Kalpavriksh to create a report (here) detailing the history of ESA’s and how they have been acquired, including several specific case studies. According to the report’s introduction:

“…these (ESA) clauses have been used only by a few actors mainly because of the lack of knowledge about the scope of ESAs and also due to the MoEF’s ambiguity in notifying them.” and, “…due to incomplete informa¬tion, many proposals that were submitted to the MoEF are still pending or were subsequently rejected as they did not meet the MoEF’s criteria”.

Specific case studies by Kalpavriksh make two conditions for success clear:

A large, cohesive and vocal group supporting ESA status. This is where we can all help. The BVHA is doing a great job of getting the ball rolling, but the organization needs to be more transparent and inclusive of all members in terms of meeting attendance, opinion/logistics sharing and fundraising (the particulars of this are for another discussion). Bringing everyone together – in body, name and spirit – will lend not only the BVHA strength but also a great deal more credibility. Past successes involve numerous NGO’s and public/political figures united for the common cause of ESA status.
A well-informed, intelligent argument for the cause of protection. The religious significance of Braj is well-known and we need to go beyond this in our arguments (Please note: I am not saying that this aspect should be ignored; I am simply saying that it cannot be a stand alone argument). The Kalpavriksh report notes that success in the past has come from arguing along the lines of benchmarks made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) itself. For example, the Kalpavriksh report cited the MoEF report from the 80’s entitled, “‘Parameters for Determining Ecological Fragility” as critical in supporting the case for Dahanu (near Mumbai). A quick search revealed a 2000 report revisiting the “‘Parameters for Determining Ecological Fragility.”

Anyone who is serious about helping the cause to make Braj an Eco-Sensitive Area should look at this MoEF report and start building arguments around that. Here is the link. One can also look at all ESA notifications by the MoEF to see what arguments made in the past can also work for Braj.

Granted, we are only beginning to embark upon this effort. However, I find it important for supporters to know exactly what we are getting into, what it entails, and how we can best help. I look forward to hearing the outcome of the BVHA delegation’s visit with Sri Jai Ram Ramesh so we can learn how best to proceed and make our every effort count as much as possible!

Vrindavan dham ki jai!

Katie

Declaring Braj an Eco-sensitive Zone

2010-07-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Radhe Radhe! The Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA) is seeking to get the whole Braj region to be declared as an Eco-Sensitive Zone.

We are in process of sending one representation to Shri Jai Ram Ramesh, Hon'ble Minister of Environment & Forest, requesting him to declare Braj, with the focus on Vrindavan, as an Eco-Sensitive Zone.

It will be very helpful if you can send some of your views to us on why Braj & Vrindavan should be declared as such.

Your valuable comments will help us immensely to draft the petition. Kindly send your suggestions as soon as possible.

Pranams,

Yours in service

Jagannath Poddar

Kirtaniya Aindra Prabhu Leaves Body in Vrindavan

2010-07-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

Aindra leading kirtan at last year's
Global Kirtan for the Yamuna at Keshi Ghat.

Devotees from all around the world are mourning the passing of His Grace Aindra Prabhu, the leader of the 24-hour kirtan at the Iskcon Krishna Balaram temple in Vrindavan, who entered Radha and Krishna's nitya-lila this morning at 7.15 AM.

He was found in his room doing dandavat pranams in front of Goura Nitai, his personal deities. A devotee, who always helped him to serve his deity, tried to open the door this morning, but when there was no answer, he had the door broken open, and Aindra Prabhu was found lying in silent obeisances before the Lord.

His Grace Aindra Prabhu, a direct disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, was in charge of the 24-hour kirtan at ISKCON Krishna Balaram Mandir as ordained by Srila Prabhupada. His sincere devotion and commitment generated a pure spiritual atmosphere in the temple and strengthened perfect devotion in the minds of all visitors to the holy abode.

Aindra Prabhu received Harinama diksha in 1973 in Washington D.C. For many years he served as a pujari at the temple and regularly engaged in Harinama sankirtan and book distribution. After several visits to Vrindavan Dham, he was inspired to revitalize the 24-hour kirtan which had originally been started at the Krishna Balaram Mandir in 1975.

In 1986, Aindra Prabhu came to establish himself permanently in the Holy Dham, from which time he fully committed himself to the service of the Holy Name in the form of Maha Mantra kirtan, inspiring thousands of devotees from India and around the world with his great enthusiasm and melodious chanting. His wonderful devotional recordings have spread far and wide, bringing joy to the hearts of thousands of devotees.

May your chants remind you of Vrindavan and the blessings of Radharani and Shyamasundar be with you forever. We cherish your glories always in Vrindavan and may you live forever in the memories of all the devotees of Vrindavan. May you be ever absorbed in the glorious pastimes of Radha Krishna, always singing their holy names for their pleasure in the nitya lila.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

(From Lakshman Poddar, Facebook) --
More.

BVHA Meeting at Kishore Van, July 14, 2010

2010-07-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

July 14th 2010. A meeting of the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance was organized at Kishore Van. The meeting was chaired by Dr. K.L. Meena, Divisional Director of Uttar Pradesh Forestry.

It was resolved that the BVHA is very serious about getting the entire Braj be declared as the Eco Sensitive Zone, focusing on Vrindavan. They said if Braj is declared an eco-sensitive zone, then the hills, trees and water bodies can be saved from the greed of the developers. Moreover, the agricultural land around Vrindavan and Govardhan would not be used for the construction new colonies.

The Braj heritage has to be conserved at any cost and, if needed, people are ready to give their lives for it. A delegation of the BVHA will meet the Union Environment Minister for this cause.

Shri Govind Kishor Goswami, Sevait of Kishor Van, said that the celebration of 500th birth anniversary of Shri Hari Ram Ji Vyas will begin from 26th November, 2010. He asked that the BVHA be fully involved and participate in this event and help him to bring celebrity singers from Mumbai who can sing the Sakis and Pads Shri Hari Ram Ji Vyas. The alliance members unanimously approved his request.

Shri Goswami also said that he welcomes everyone to support the joint initiative of Friends of Vrindavan and BVHA to restore the Sacred Grove of Kishor Van. He said though he is the Sevait of Kishor Van but worshipping and adoring the Lord is everyone’s right. There is no restriction entering the temple and the grove. Any devotee who respects the rules of the sacred grove of Kishor Van is welcome to visit and practice his rituals here. He is ready to enter into an agreement with anyone whoever helps him to restore Kishor Van.

Shri Ghanshyam Kishor Goswami, son of Shri Govind Kishor Goswami also agreed with this arrangement.

Shri Govind Sharma, Sevait of Vanshi Vat said that he was also willing to restore the sacred grove of Vanshi Vat. The BVHA may adopt Vanshi Vat once the project of Kishor Van accomplished. He said that all the temples should be encouraged to restore their gardens and water bodies.

Dr. K.L. Meena in his presidential address said that he will save the biggest plants of Kadamba, Tamal and other typical trees from his nurseries to be planted in the BVHA projects. He also declared that all sort of technical support will be given by the U.P. Forestry to restore Kishor Van. He took away a sample of the soil from Kishor Van to be tested in the laboratory of the Forestry Department.

He said that it is the responsibility of the local bodies to relocate the stray animals. If the municipality or any one takes the responsibility of relocation of the monkeys he can give the NOC (no objection certificate). He said that the first step to restore Kishor Van is to cover it with iron nets only. This area is dominated by the monkeys, thus no fencing can stop them from coming inside the grove.

Present in the meeting were: Govind Kishor Goswami, Naresh Narain, Ghanshyam Kishor Goswami, Madhumangal Shukla, Kanhaiya Gupta, Sushil Chandra Sharma, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Ram Narin Brajwasi, Govind Mahant, Pratibha Sharma, Manju Sharma, Bal Krishna Goutam, Shyam Lal Sharma, Indra Prakash Pahuja, Ankit Agrawal, Braj Mohan Khandal, Krishna Gopal Gupta, Ravindra Kulshreshtha, Jagannath Poddar, Avishek Shrivastava.

Radhe Radhe !

ASI responds to questions from BVHA

2010-07-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

In the recent meeting with A.R. Siddiqui at Jugal Kishor temple in Keshi Ghat, BVHA delegates asked that the right to information requests sent to the Agra office of the ASI be responded to. Today, after a long wait, the following answers were given in a letter received today:

Reply from the Archeological Survey of India, Agra under the Right to Information for the construction of the half circular flyover in front of the Kesi Ghat.

(1) Was the No Objection certificate sought from the ASI before starting the construction of the bridge?

Ans. The NOC was not taken from the Archaeological Survey of India before constructing the bridge.

(2) How far is the bridge from the ASI protected Jugal Kishor Temple?

Ans. It is within the 300 meter area from the ASI protected monument.

(3) What actions did the ASI take when the information on construction of the bridge came to its notice?

Ans. We asked the concerned department to stop the construction of the bridge as soon as it came to our notice and we wrote letter to the local administration requesting them to stop the illegal construction.

(4) Is the construction permissible under the new law of the regulated area of ASI?

Ans. As per the law there can’t be any construction with the Ariel distance of 100 meters. The construction can be permitted within the regulated area with some conditions if the concerned person or agency applies in the prescribed format.

Sd/- Anil (Central Public Information Officer)

Also, it should be noted that in PIL 36311, stopping the cutting of trees, the Court extended the time for filing a counter affidavit by a further period of four weeks from July 13. The interim order shall remain in effect till further orders.

BVHA Meeting, July 14, 2010.

2010-07-13T20:10:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

Radhe Radhe! The BVHA will meet in Kishor Van on July 14th 2010. The District Forest Officer, Dr. K.L. Meena is expected to participate in the meeting. The agenda of the meeting will be:

1. To finalise the agreement of the Kishor Van Restoration between Friends of Vrindavan, Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA), Kishor Van authorities and the U.P. Forestry Department.

2. To discuss the future action plan on how to restore the Forest Heritage of Vrindavan when the Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad has extended the stay order till further order on cutting of the tree in Vrindavan.

Pranams,

Jagannath Poddar

Siddiqui from ASI visits Vrindavan

2010-07-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

July 12th 2010 (BVHA): Dr. Atique R. Siddiquie, Superintending Archaeologist of Agra Circle visited the ASI protected monuments of Govind Dev and Yugal Kishor in Vrindavan.

On Sunday last some pieces of the roof fell into the temple compound at the Govinda Deva temple. Luckily no one was present at the time and so there was no injury. Still the matter was one of concern to the ASI and occasioned the visit. He gave some instructions to the local caretakers and then went to the Yugal Kishor temple, where he also inspected the location where the half-moon bridge was being built near Kesi Ghat. javascript:void(0)

A delegation of the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance comprised of Acharya Naresh Narain, Madhumangal Shukla, Ram Narain Brajwasi, Ravindra Kulshreshtha, Manmohan Pareekh and Jagannath Poddar met the Superintending Archaeologist at the Yugal Kishor Temple.

The delegation demanded that the ASI protected monuments be properly taken care of and that no construction should be allowed around them as per the law. Mr. Siddiqui asked for all concerned with the protection of these monuments to report to him if there is any construction around them and that he will take immediate action against it.

When people asked him if the ASI supports the construction of the bridge he replied in the negative.

The Alliance members requested him to make a reply of the Right to Information letter sent to him one month back.

The BVHA members also demanded that the historical Kesi Ghat be protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. Mr. Siddiqui said that the Alliance should ask the District Magistrate to write a letter to the Director General of the ASI about the protection of this ghat of religious importance.

Lakhs of Pilgrims at Kokilavan Shani temple

2010-07-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Lakhs of pilgrims bathe in Suraj Kund.

In the midst of tight security, thousands of pilgrims bathed in Suraj Kund Saturday. Recent events on July 3, when a group of miscreants harassed women bathers and then got into a fight with the police, did not dampen the enthusiasm of the devotees.

Despite the heavy security arrangements, the devotees gathered in large numbers. The Bihariji temple was especially nicely arranged with flower decorations (phul bangalo)

The Kokilavan temple is an important center for pilgrimage with thousands coming on Saturdays for darshan of the deity. A major festival takes place when Saturday coincides with Amavashya. This temple is said to be the place where Krishna gave darshan of Shanideva (Saturn).

People come to this temple from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and further afield. Amongst the dignitaries who visited Saturday and bathed in the Suraj Kund were Rajasthan High Court judge Madan Mohan Sharma and the DM Dinesh Kumar. Mahanta Prema Das Maharaj welcomed the honoured guests.

Crowds were so thick that darshan and puja were conducted with difficulty.

Mathura DM inspects work on Govardhan Parikrama Marg

2010-07-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Govardhan, 2010.07.11 (Amar Ujala):

Mathura District Magistrate D.C. Shukla inspected work on the Govardhan Parikrama Marg yesterday to see what progress is being made in preparations for the upcoming Muriya Purnima festival, which takes place on July 25.

In several places he came across flooding drains and accumulations of filth, damaged roads, and other problems. He scolded the officers accompanying him and told them to have a plan ready by July 15 to deal with them.

The DM first visited Anyaur and saw accumulations of waste water outside the village due to improper drainage. He instructed PWD officers to solve the drainage problem and to barricade the swamp caused by it within two days.

He ordered the road to be smoothed at Puchari, where there are large pieces of rubble and for all electricity poles to be removed from the road to the sides.

He chastised the EO of the Govardhan Panchayat for the accumulations of water near the Panchayat offices.

He also came to take a look at Manasi Ganga where he expressed displeasure on seeing the dirty water draining into the kund. He chastised the Waterworks officers and told them to have this problem taken care of by the 15th of July so that only clean water is filling Manasi Ganga.

He was accompanied by SSP B.D. Paulson, ADME Rakesh Malpani, CO Sadar Kayam Singh and other officers.

U.P. Tourism to Invest in Ashta Sakhis’ Villages

2010-07-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Barsana 2010.07.11 (Amar Ujala). The Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Tourism, Vinod Kumar Singh, has announced a Rs. 2.4 crore investment for restoring, beautifying and improving facilities in the villages of Radharani’s ashta sakhis. The purpose is to increase tourism in these areas.

Chaudhari Laxhmi Narayan, Minister for Vocational Education, has offered 90 lakhs of his personal wealth towards the project.

The Minister will announce details of the plan at Brajeshwari Inter College, Barsana, on July 12, when the project will be officially launched.

Barsana, Sanket Bat, Chiksauli and other villages are being targeted for the development. Elements of the project will include restoring kunds and sarovars, Radha and Krishna’s lila places, as well as road construction.

Manasa Ganga Cleaning Rushed, Botched

2010-07-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

Govardhan (based on report in Dainik Jagran, 2010.07.07): Nobody would have dreamed that the cleaning of the Manasa Ganga would end up this way. After so many difficulties and an expenditure of more than 22 crores of rupees, the tank is being refilled with dirty water. The very limits of carelessness have been exceeded by allowing dirty water from the surrounding drains to empty into the tank.

This coming full moon is Muriya Purnima, on which day millions of people come to Govardhan to do parikrama and to bathe in the Manasa Ganga. The festival commemorates Guru Purnima and the disappearance of Sanatan Goswami. The expected influx of pilgrims into the area may exceed 10 million. It is the biggest such event of the year in the Govardhan area.

The government authorities in charge of development were pushing to have the samskar of the the tank ready by this date, and so they pushed forward with refilling before the sewage treatment facilities had been completed.

Work on cleaning and restoring Manasa Ganga has been going on for nearly a year now. The entire purpose of the effort was to get rid of the polluted waters by draining the reservoir, excavating the bed, and then refilling it with clean water. Now it seems that they due to mismanagement, they are simply reverting to the original situation, proving that the entire expenditure has been a waste.

A pumping station was being built on the Radha Kund Road at a cost of several crores, but it has not been completed. It does not seem that it will be ready for some time yet, and the machinery to do the water purification is not yet in place.

Several of the ghats that were to be repaired are as yet incomplete. Throughout this all, a great deal of noise is being made about the Muriya Purnima preparations. Fearful that the Manasa Ganga would still be empty when the influx of pilgrims came, it was decided to start filling it now, even though by any standards it would have been premature.

Water coming into the reservoir from the Chakleshwar side on Wednesday was observed to be mixed with filthy mud, causing great concern to everyone. Local people are saying that they could not imagine that this would be the end result of a project in which so much money had been invested. They are asking what was the point of doing all the excavation and filling up the Manasa Ganga if pilgrims and local people are once again going to have to bathe in dirty water.

The assistant District Magistrate, Rakesh Malpani, has been informed of the situation and is looking into the matter.

Drownings at Braj's ghats

In related news, on June 29, Dainik Jagran reported the drowning of a 5-year-old child in the Manasa Ganga. The reason seems to be that she lost her footing on the steps and slipped into the water. She was there with friends, but by the time they noticed she had fallen into the water and people had jumped into the water to pull her out, she had lost her life.

There are a great number of drowning reported on a nearly daily basis, whether in the Yamuna or the various kunds and tanks in the Braj area. Yesterday also, newspapers reported two drownings in Kusum Sarovar. The other day, someone also drowned in Radha Kund. This may be an auspicious way to end one’s life on earth, but authorities should be taking safety matters into consideration when they plan the upgrade and improvement of these holy water tanks.

It seems that with all the work that is being done on restoring kunds in the Braj area by various government and non-government agencies, some thought might be put into devising a safety system whereby the sudden steep descent of steps is reduced, at least in some of the ghats.

Child safety zones could be created where the water is shallower. At the very least, chains could be installed as in many bathing places so that older persons and invalids can bathe with a bit more security.

Unfortunately, Indian children are not given swimming lessons and it seems that they panic easily in the water. And of course, there are no lifeguards.

Yamuna One of 15 Most Toxic Places on the Planet

2010-07-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

The Mother Nature Network has published a photo essay of the 15 most polluted places on earth. The Yamuna has the dubious distinction of being 6th on their list. It comes accompanied by the following telling photograph:

Apocalypse now?

As the world's population balloons to almost 7 billion, it's become more and more difficult to find anywhere on Earth unaffected by man-made pollution and development, and far too often it takes things going really wrong before people take action to keep our planet clean. So here's a list that might help to motivate: The 15 most polluted places in the world.

Yamuna River, India

The Yamuna is the largest tributary of the Ganges River. Where it flows through Delhi, it's estimated that 58 percent of the city's waste gets dumped straight into the river. Millions of Indians still rely on these murky, sewage-filled waters for washing, waste disposal and drinking water.

Hindu Holy Place Altered by Technology, Development, Pollution

2010-07-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Author: Joshua M. Greene, Religion News Service
Publication: Beliefnet

Who will protect the holy sites in the sacred town of Vrindavan, India, where Krishna first appreared?

For centuries, this 27-square-mile town on the road from Delhi to Agra has been the holiest of holy places for devotional Hindus. Drums, brass hand cymbals, and the chanting of ancient prayers echo out each morning from Vrindavan's 5,000 temples.

Yet recent changes such as satellite television, digital phone service, and real estate development have brought this medieval site on the banks of the Yamuna River into the 21st century. Not everyone is happy with the transition.

"It is a painful subject," says Shrivatsa Goswami, whose family traces its roots to Vrindavan's 16th-century restorers. "In those days, this place had the most beautiful riverside architecture in India's history. It was like a miniature painting come alive."

Goswami notes that previous generations of temple authorities understood the importance of holy places and took responsibility for their maintenance. Today, he says, that sense of stewardship is absent.

"Many religious leaders here have a narrow view," Goswami says. "They don't see the universality of their own message. They don't see how a sacred site such as this can inspire people of all faiths. What they see is commercial opportunities, and the result is garbage and sewage backing up. In a few more years, my own children will not want to come here."

Beginning in the 17th century, Moguls and other invading forces razed Vrindavan's temple domes and left the town in architectural ruin. But according to Goswami, the real damage began with India's independence in 1947. Rather than return to its spiritual roots, the nation became a secular industrial power. India's cultural heritage in general, and holy places in particular, suffered.

"We are only two hours from Delhi," says Goswami, "and people are feverishly spending millions to turn Vrindavan into a suburb. Because there is so little appreciation for holy places, developers get away with using the Yamuna as a dump for their construction. Instead of dredging to restore the river's natural beauty, they have laid a tar road along its banks and in the riverbed to facilitate more traffic. I refuse to walk on it."

Indic scriptures identify Vrindavan as the place where Krishna, the Sanskrit name for God in personal form, appeared 5,000 years ago. Followers consider Vrindavan as having its genesis in the spiritual world. Devotees consequently worshipped the town as fervently as Krishna himself.

Yet with modernization, the nature of pilgrimage to this holy spot has shifted dramatically. As recently as the 1980s, hardly one car a day arrived here, and there was little to distract from an all-day walking tour of medieval sites. Today, traffic backs up along the newly completed six-lane National Highway. A water park has opened less than seven miles from Govardhan, a hill that is among Vrindavan's most sacred spots. Near the actual site of Krishna's appearance in nearby Mathura, Pepsi-Cola has constructed a production plant. Cell phone towers loom up into the sky over temple domes.

"There is a risk of the spiritual experience becoming diluted," says Braja Bihari, an American scholar who has lived in Vrindavan for 27 years. "Previously, you never saw people playing boomboxes or contaminating the roads with plastic bags. They came here to get away from those influences. The deep, contemplative experience is still available, but you have to work a little harder to find it now."

Some environmental organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature are working to restore Vrindavan through programs of reforestation. Ranchor Prime, the project's India liaison, notes that ecological values have always played an important role in Hinduism but have suffered in the rush of modernization.

"If the faith leaders brought back their own tradition of cleanliness and respect for nature here, in one of the greatest holy places of India," says Prime, "it could have a dramatic impact nationwide. Environmental awareness is not a hollow religious sentiment. It makes practical sense."

Not everyone sees the changes in dire terms. Lokanath Swami, a religious leader from South India, sees an upside to modernization: comfortable facilities attract clients.

"First, people have to want to come to a holy place," he says. "Then the inner experience can occur."

Still, he agrees with Goswami's assessment that leadership must take an active role in protecting the site's integrity.

"The scriptures tell us that the real pilgrimage is not bathing in a river," he says, "but taking instruction from the saintly people who make such places their home. And certainly they have an added degree of responsibility."

Historically, holy places have been the refuge of ascetics seeking escape from the material world. It would take days or weeks to arrive at a holy place. Once there, pilgrims confronted austere conditions that quickly separated spiritual dabblers from the truly devout. Today, the opposite holds true as developers encourage tourism and Vrindavan struggles to adjust, for the first time in history, to market economics. Like many other places of pilgrimage in India, this is a town faced with reconciling its cultural and spiritual purposes with its need for a stronger economic infrastructure.

Even staunch defenders of Vrindavan's innate sanctity acknowledge the inevitability of modernization and accept, as well, its potential value. From the roof of his art institute, called Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana, Goswami can see solar panels on buildings in surrounding villages. The panels feed energy to satellite dishes that connect farmers to Hindi-language Internet Web sites, which provide district-specific weather reports, current market prices and tips on modern growing methods.

More than half the residents in the Vrindavan area live off the land, and Goswami acknowledges that the technology could lead to improved quality of life and possibilities for saving Vrindavan from urban blight.

"Spirituality has never been an enemy of science and technology," he says. "Devotion and knowledge have always gone together. That is the Indian approach. I'm not afraid of laptops and satellites. It is losing the spiritual content of Vrindavan that has me concerned. That cannot be stopped by better technology alone. That can only be stopped if the religious leaders come out of their shells and renew their emotional bond with their own culture and history."

Empathizing with Joel Stein : His Edison, My Barsana

2010-07-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

A controversial article appeared in the July 5 edition of Time magazine, in which Joel Stein laments about the influx of Indian immigrants to his hometown of Edison, New Jersey. The story touched a lot of sensitive nerves and has even resulted in an apology from Time.

Environmental activist Raghav Mittalji of the Braj Foundation has written a riposte, which we publish here. The opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily represent those of the BVHA. --- Jagat

Despite the harsh and uncomfortable comments made by Joel Stein on the changing landscape of his hometown Edison, NJ, due to the influx of Indian immigrants, I do find a strong reasons to empathize with him.

We all possess a sense of belongingness to our native places - whether we are Indians, Americans, Europeans, or Australians. Every culture, tradition and lifestyle has its own innate strengths as well as its share of weaknesses. We all like to live in our own peculiar manner and cherish our own customs and traditions. It is therefore legitimate for Stein to duly express feelings.

Just as Stein is disturbed or concerned or astonished over the transformation of his American hometown, I too am concerned and disgusted over a similar transformation of one of the most venerated spiritual places in India, which has been brought about by the mindless influx of an insensitive band of American NRIs and the accompanying flood of dollars.

Chiksoli and Manpur are twin villages near the town of Barsana (located in District Mathura in the state of Uttar Pradesh), which happens to be the birthplace of Srimati Radharani, the eternal consort of Sri Krishna, the propounder of the world famous Srimad Bhagvad Gita.

Everything was going on well in these twin villages till about a decade ago. The serene rural settings compounded by the ecological grandeur of Gahvarvan, one of the finest sacred groves of Braj, Dohini Kund, Vihar Kund, Maangarh, Vilasgarh, Ashtasakhi hills, Radha Sarovar, Mor Kuti, Kadamb Khandi and the surrounding expanses of fertile agricultural land, gave an internalizing experience to one and all who dared to visit these spiritual hamlets.

The experience was further amplified by the musical renditions of Sri Ramesh Baba, the revolutionary saint of Braj, performed in honor of the Divine Couple Sri Radha Krishna, every evening. The warm hospitality offered by the local people at Ras Mandir made one forget the comforts of the finest hospitable destinations.

A community-led movement aimed at reviving the lost heritage of the region comprising of ancient water bodies, sacred groves, degraded pasture lands and hill slopes was going on, silently inspired by Sri Ramesh Baba. It reinstilled the confidence in the local youth to take charge of their ecological infrastructure and build upon their prosperous socio-economic enterprises on the innate strength of Braj.

To attract further support, a team of locals went to the US to seek the support of the American NRI (non-resident Indian) community there. This proved to be a 'turning point' in the destiny of the twin hamlets of Chiksoli and Manpur, as the Lyndon Johnson's 1965 decision to open America's gates to Asian immigrants resulted in such drastic changes to Stein's Edison.

Hordes of Non Resident Indians were attracted to the charismatic Sri Ramesh Baba and started, in their own characteristically pompous style, to influence the entire state of affairs. The simple rural folk were swayed by their economic might and started selling off their prized lands for the invaders' palatial spiritual retreats.

The place's austerity and simplicity took less than a decade to get lost. The way that Edison was overrun by alien and unadapting South Asians, Chiksoli and Maanpur were encroached on by materialistic spiritualists.

Now there are multi-story towers in these small villages with shoddy drainage and sewerage disposal systems. The ostentatious display of money is clearly visible everywhere. To house cattle, fortresses have been built as if they are real endangered species.

Instead of upgrading the local school Sri Raseshwary Vidya Mandir, which was to be turned into a rural university, the entire focus has shifted on building residential apartments for the overseas clients. Due to the lack of building regulations in these rural areas and the absence of adequate local government or infrastructure, havoc is being created. Effluent from these gushing buildings is despoiling the local habitat at a pace that far exceeds its ability to cope.

Cultural invasions are happening all across the globe. Whether it is Edison, New Jersey, or Chiksoli-Manpur near Barsana. In both cases, local communities are at peril and at a disadvantage as their independence and liberty is encroached upon.

I would certainly empathize with Stein as I too feel I have lost the very place that was the source of my inspiration and instruction while I was a little kid, which is no longer holds the same charm and attraction for me and I now rarely visit.

Stein has simply been vocally condemned and publicly chastized by the Indian-American Community. My own criticism of the NRI invasion in Barsana has resulted in threats from goons flourishing on their financial support, so that I have practically speaking been exiled from there.

Cultural invasions of such insensitivity should not and just cannot be tolerated or patronized.

BVHA and FOV: Seminar on 'Forest Conservation'

2010-07-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

A seminar on 'Forest Conservation' was organized by Friends of Vrindavan under aegis of Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance in the Rangi ka Bara Bagicha. Dr. K.L.Meena, the District Forest Officer attended the seminar as the Chief Guest.

Dr. Meena said that the seminar was organized in a place where the glimpse of original swaroop of Vrindavan can be seen. He said the venue, weather and the flora fauna perfectly matched the cause of organizing the seminar. The peacock dancing, parrots and other birds tweeting reminded him of the actual duty of the Forestry Department.

The seminar formally began with reading the message sent by His Holiness Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami who is currently traveling on a spiritual tour in Europe.

The speakers said that Vrindavan should be declared a pilgrimage town as well as an Environment Sensitive Zone. Though it has already been transformed into a concrete jungle, there is still hope that some certain areas can be made completely green.

It was stressed that whatever injury is caused to the swaroop and environment of Vrindavan by cutting down trees is unforgettable and unforgivable, and can only be remedied if the Forestry Department plants ten times more trees in and around Vrindavan. The Department should frequently organize Van Mahotsavas.

It was decided that a committee should be formed which will suggest where trees can be planted under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The speakers said that the Forestry Department should try to acquire the whole Yamuna Khadar (front) area and do massive plantation there.

It was also decided that the Honorable High Court which is hearing the case of tree cutting in Vrindavan would be requested to order the acquisition of land for the Forest Department so that tree planting can be done there on a massive scale.

The PPP programme can only be carried out on roadsides and within private lands. But when we talk about the massive tree plantation it should be done purely by the government as it involves problems of encroachment and land grabbing, etc.

The restoration of the sacred groves and containing the monkey population was also discussed in the seminar.

The seminar was presided by Shri Bal Krishna Goutam. Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Shri Govind Kishor Goswami, Acharya Naresh Narain, K.G. Gupta, Kanhaiya Gupta, Chandra Lal Sharma, Suresh Chandra Sharma, Rajendra Agrawal, Jagannath Poddar, Totaram Upadhyay, Girdhari Brajwasi, Ram Narayan Brajwasi, R.D. Singh (Forest Ranger), C.B. Singh (Deputy Forest Ranger), O.P. Sharma (Forest Guard), Braj Mohan Khandal, Puran Kishor Sharma, Govind Mahant, Ankit Agrawal, Jagdish, Vishnu Pada Das, Madhu Mangal Shukla (petitioner) and many others participated in the seminar.

Trees saved from the ax

2010-07-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

30th June 2010: Some trees were being cut in the Raman Reti area by the Electricity Department. People tried to stop them from cutting the trees, informing them of the High Court's order, which appeared in the newspaper on that day. But instead of stopping their action, the workers threatened the people who tried to stop them.

The people then informed petitioner Madhumangal Shukla and the Friends of Vrindavan office about the Electricity Department's action. Several activists immediately informed the District Forest Officer, D.L.Meena, about it and then went to the spot accompanied by the media. The D.F.O. sent their team to stop the cutting and took legal action against the workers.

So that one tree was saved. It is noteworthy, however, that hundreds of trees have already been cut in the name of road broadening and sewer laying. The High Court of Allahabad has put an injunction on cutting the trees after a PIL was filed by the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance.

Radhe Radhe!

BVHA Meeting at Rangaji, July 6, 2010.

2010-07-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Radhe Radhe! A meeting of the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance is scheduled to be organised at the Bara Bagicha of Rangji Temple near Katyayani Mandir on Tuesday, 6th July 2010 at 5 p.m. The Divisional Director of the Uttar Pradesh Forestry (District Forest Officer) Dr. K.L. Meena has given his consent to participate in the meeting. He wishes to discuss about the massive tree plantation as compensation of the trees cut in Vrindavan. This is very important and crucial meeting about the future of Vrindavan's ecology. So, kindly take out your valuable time for this imprortant event if you are in the town.

Pranams,

Yours in service,

Jagannath Poddar

Help the court battles with a donation

2010-07-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Radhe Radhe! As you may know that the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court of Allahabad through Madhu Mangal Shukla to protect the trees and do the massive forestation in the Yamuna Bank. The first order of the High Court is attached with this mail.

Madhumangal Shukla has asked me to request all the well wishers of Vrindavan and the BVHA members to generously donate to sustain the legal battle to protect the identity of Vrindavan's ecology. You may donate any amount of money for this cause. It is up to you how you wish to support this mission.

Pranams,

Yours in service,

Jagannath Poddar

Next BVHA Meeting

2010-07-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

The next BVHA meeting will be held at Rangaji ka bara bagicha on July 6 at 5 p.m. The District Forest Officer will be present.

High Court: Kumbha Mela land in Vrindavan must be protected

2010-07-03T03:43:00.000-07:00

Chief Justice's Court

Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 35711 of 2010

Petitioner :- Acharya Atul Krishna Goswami And 14 Others

Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru Chief Sec. Lko. And Others

Petitioner Counsel :- R.K. Srivastava

Respondent Counsel :- C.S.C.,D.S. Chaudhary

Hon'ble Ferdino Inacio Rebello, Chief Justice

Hon'ble Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, J.

The petitioners contend that a land was acquired for the KUMBH MELA and now the land should be preserved as MELA KSHETRA. It is also contended that there are encroachments on the said land.

The land vests in the State Government. It is for the State Government to take such steps to which it is entitled to do for the use of the land. At the same time, the State Government is duty bound, in the event, there is any encroachment to take steps to remove the encroachment.

With the above observation, the petition is disposed of.

(F.I. Rebello,CJ)

(A.P. Sahi,J)

Order Date :- 1.7.2010

PIL stops cutting of trees. High Court Decison

2010-07-02T03:58:00.000-07:00

Court No. - 29

Case: - PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 36311 of 2010

Petitioner: - Madhu Mangal Shukla
Respondent: - Union Of India Thrugh Secy. Min. Of Environment And Others
Petitioner Counsel :- Amit Verma,A. Chaturvedi
Respondent Counsel :- C.S.C.,Asgi 2010/1261

Hon'ble Arun Tandon,J.
Hon'ble Rajesh Chandra,J.

Let counter affidavit be filed by respondents.

In the Counter affidavit to be filed by respondent Nos. 1 and 2 it shall specifically be stated as to whether the proposal required environmental clearance under the provision of Demolition Act with reference to the notification or not and whether it is only after such clearance from the environmental impact Assessment Committee the 369 green trees standing on the land could be cut for the purposes of widening of the road (Vrindavan Chattikara Road) (Mathura Vrindavan Road)

Prima facie, we find that it would not in the interest of justice to restrain the respondents from cutting the green trees till the matter was examined after affidavits are filed by the respondents.

We direct that till the next date of listing tree standing on the land in dispute shall not be cut by the respondents without leaving of the court.

Affidavit may be filed by the State authorities by the next date of listing enclosing the documents referable to Sections 2 and 3 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

The Divisional Forest Officer/ Regional Director Social Forestry Forest Division, Mathura is present in the Court. Personal appearance is exempted unless directed otherwise.

Let the case be listed before appropriate Bench on 13.06.2010.

Order Date: - 25.6.2010
Pr/-

PIL filed in Allahabad to save Vrindavan's trees

2010-06-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

Case Status - Allahabad

Last updated on: 23-06-2010 17:41:46

Pending
WRIT - PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION : 36311 of 2010 [MATHURA]
Petitioner:	MADHU MANGAL SHUKLA
Respondent:	UNION OF INDIA THRUGH SECY. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT AND OTHERS
Counsel (Pet.):	AMIT VERMA
Counsel (Res.):	C.S.C.
Category:	PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION-PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
Date of Filing:	19/06/2010
Last Listed on:	22/06/2010 in Court No. 29
Next Listing Date (Likely):	25/06/2010

This is not an authentic/certified copy of the information regarding status of a case. Authentic/certified information may be obtained under Chapter VIII Rule 30 of Allahabad High Court Rules. Mistake, if any, may be brought to the notice of OSD (Computer).

There are three points being pursued in this case:

1. That the trees not be cut for road building.
2. That the monkey problem be dealt with.
3. That the Kumbha Mela site be declared protected ground.

BVHA Meeting Minutes, Jun. 16, 2010

2010-06-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

Minutes of the meeting of Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA)

Place: Shringar Vat; 16th June 2010

Those present: Shri Anoop Goswami, Shri Bal Krishna Goutam, Shri Kiran Goswami, Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, Shri Govind Kishor Goswami, Shri Ram Narayan Brajwasi, Pandit Damodar Sharma, Shri Krishna Gopal Gupta, Jagannath Poddar, Ms. Pratibha Sharma, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Shri Madhumangal Shukla, Shri Ravindra Kulshreshtha, Shri Rajendra Agrawal, Puran Kishor Sharma, Suresh Chandra Sharma, Braj Mohan Sharma, Shri Indra Pahuja, Shri Yogesh Agrawal, Shri Abhishek Shrivastava

Chair: Thakur Shri Nityananda Mahaprabhu through His servant Shri Anup Goswami

The following topics were discussed in the meeting & unanimously resolved:

The projects under the Vrindavan Samgra Vikas Yojna is being implemented arbitrarily which is unlawful and against the environment and culture of Vrindavan. There is no sense of laying sewerage line and drainage by damaging the ancient monuments ghats of Vrindavan.

There is no use of such drains as they are directed towards Yamuna.

This project is killing Vrindavan more than benefiting the town.

The broad drains will make the streets narrower and will leave no room for more than one vehicle at a time. While the roads leading to the different temples of Vrindavan are already narrow, such developments will result in more traffic congestion and leave Vrindavan at a stand still.

People were much concerned over how the Jagannath Rathyatra from the different temples will pass on these streets to Gyan Gudri if it is broken.

It was decided that a letter should be sent immediately to the authorities by giving a week’s ultimatum to check the unplanned developments; otherwise different ways of demonstrative actions will be adopted. People even said that they wouldn’t shy to go for the hunger strike till death to save the land of Lord Krishna.

It was also decided to invite Shri Jayant Singh (Member of Parliament from Mathura) in the next meeting and share the concerns with him and request him to take the issue to the Indian Parliament.

Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 1.32-34

2010-06-14T04:24:00.000-07:00

na kuru na vada kiṁcid vismarāśeṣa-dṛśyaṁ
smara mithuna-mahas tad gaura-nīlaṁ smarārtam |
bahujana-samavāyād dūram udvijya yāhi
priya nivasatu divya-śrīla-vṛndāvanāntaḥ ||

Don’t do anything, don’t say anything. Forget everything you have ever seen. Just remember that Eros-piqued black and gold Divine Couple. Be indifferent to the general masses and stay far from them, my dear, and just stay within the confines of divine, beautiful Vrindavan. (1.32)

kara-nihita-kapolo nityam aśrūṇi muñcan
parihṛta-jana-saṅgo’rocamānānuyānaḥ |
pratipada-bahulārtyā rādhikā-kṛṣṇa-dāsye
vasati parama-dhanyaḥ ko’pi vṛndāvane’smin ||

Holding his hand against his cheek while constantly releasing tears, abandoning the company of non-devotees and without any taste for keeping servants or followers, and at every moment performing service to Radha and Krishna with intense emotion, some most fortunate person resides here in this Vrindavan. (1.33)

Many of the verses in VM are thought with ambiguous references to "some person" are thought to refer to Hit Harivams.

asulabhām iha loke labdhum icchasy ayatnāt
yadi vipula-dhana-strī-putra-gehottamādi |
kara-nipatita-mukti-kṛṣṇa-bhaktiṁ ca kāṅkṣasy
adhivasa para-dhāmaivādya vṛndāvanākhyam ||

If you desire to acquire the rarest things of this world, great wealth, wife, children, a beautiful home; if you year to acquire liberation in your hands, or devotion to Krishna, then from this very day reside here in this supreme abode named Vrindavan. (1.34)

Prabodhananda's message: Be prepared to accept everything, or nothing. Just stay in Vrindavan, by hook or by crook.

Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 1.29-31

2010-06-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been a bit negligent about daily posting Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam. I am glad to do it, to relish these verses with their mad mood of renunciation, the disorganized jumping around from condemnations of those who don't see the transcendental beauty of Vrindavan, who don't see the presence of Radha and Krishna, who think the people and creatures of Vrindavan are like any other mortals... It is a kind of madness, no doubt about it.

And no doubt those who think that the quest to serve and preserve Vrindavan is also a kind of folly. Politics and economics, these things stir passions, but passions about ineffable things, about vague things like religious heritage is just so medieval. What place could it possibly have in the modern world?

What can I say folks? Seva. Bhakti means seva. And seva of the Dham is the best seva because seva in the Dham incorporates all the five best kinds of bhakti. This is a preaching site, my friends. kurvann eveha karmani: Service in the state of knowledge is called bhakti. This is not karma-yoga, this is prema-bhakti-yoga. Find out how to serve. If you have faith in the Dham, find out how to serve. If you don't have faith, read Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam, and may you find Prabodhananda's madness attractive.

These are tough verses today. Each one of them raises questions... Old Prabodhanandaji knew his Upanishads...

śrī-vastrābharaṇādibhiḥ kara-padādy-utkarta-dāhādibhir
nindā-saṁstava-koṭibhir bahu-vibhūty-atyanta-dainyādibhiḥ |
jīvann eva mṛto yathā na vikṛtiṁ prāptaḥ kathaṁcit kvacit
śrī-vṛndāvanam āśraye priya-mahānandaika-kandaṁ param ||

Whether I am covered in beautiful clothing and ornaments, or whether my hands and feet are cut off or burned; whether I am cursed and mocked or praised; whether I have great riches or complete poverty; whether I live or die, the only thing I ask is that this one single thing remain ever unchanged: I should remain in the shelter of Vrindavan, the supreme, single root of all the great joys of my beloved Lord and Lady. (1.29)

duḥkhāny eva sukhāni viddhy apayaśo jānīhi kīrtiṁ parāṁ

manyethā adhamaiś ca duṣparibhavān saṁmānavat sattamaiḥ |
dainyāny eva mahā-vibhūtim ati-sal-lābhān alabhān sadā
pāpāny eva ca puṇyamanti yadi te vṛndāvanaṁ jīvanam ||

Know suffering here to be joy. Know ill-repute here to be the greatest glory. Accept that being defeated here at the hands of the lowliest people is equal to being honored by the saints. Know that poverty is the greatest wealth and the greatest pious gains are ever as nothing of value, and sins are piety. If you know this, then you will be able to live in Vrindavan. (1.30)

tyaktvā saṅgaṁ dūrataḥ strī-piśācyā sarvāśānāṁ mūlam uddhṛtya samyak |
daivāl labdhenaiva nirvāhya dehaṁ
śrīmad-vṛndā-kānane joṣam āssva ||

Renouncing from afar the company of witch-like women, pulling up the very root of all material hopes, maintaining the body by whatever fate gives you, lovingly take up residence in Vrinda Devi's forest. (1.31)

Article on Taj Heritage Corridor Affair

2010-06-10T23:00:00.001-07:00

In yesterday's good news article about the courts stopping the Keshi Ghat flyover on the Yamuna once again, the role of the ASI was pivotal. Mentioned there was the Taj Heritage Corridor Affair, which came to prominence in 2002-2003. Several similarities and differences with the Vrindavan situation can be pointed out. It seems to be no accident that the same Sushri Mayawati who was CM of UP during the THC affair is following the same MO in the current situation.

So for reference, I am sharing this rather good summary article I found on the India Environment Portal.

(Notice how I am picking up the Indian newspaper style. Rule #1: Know your abbreviations and acronyms!) -- Jagat

Taj corridor project compromises heritage

Author: Kushal P S Yadav 30/07/2003, Source: Down to Earth.

“Leaving aside the human lives, protection of Taj Mahal is of utmost priority.” Supreme Court in M C Mehta vs Union of India case on Taj Mahal

Sadly, preserving Taj Mahal appeared to be the last thing on the authorities’ mind when they allowed land reclamation work to continue for six months on the dried-up Yamuna riverbed right in the monument’s backyard. They may actually end up scripting its epitaph, because experts fear that the monsoon-ravaged new embankment could weaken the very foundations of the Taj.

The hectic activity, from December 2002 to June 2003, in the vicinity of India’s biggest tourist attraction was in fact the groundwork for the Rs 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) Project that proposed to give a facelift to the areas surrounding Agra’s major monuments along the Yamuna. Included in the venture was a blueprint for a swanky shopping mall. The grandiose scheme, however, fell to pieces when it came under media scrutiny in mid-June 2003.

Even as the issue snowballed into a major controversy, both the Union and Uttar Pradesh (UP) governments washed their hands of the matter. They would have us believe that the entire clandestine operation was the handiwork of one bureaucrat of UP, who has since been suspended. But documents pertaining to the case tell a different story: while the state government tailored an environment plan to its needs, the Union government also turned a blind eye to the manoeuvrings. It has come to light that the project had got underway without any of the mandatory clearances. Furthermore, the work was in violation of several stipulations such as those imposed by the Supreme Court (SC).

As the dust settles, it is quite evident that not only were cultural and heritage issues cast aside to pave the way for the venture, environmental concerns too were ignored.

Plan gone awry

The thc plan was put forward by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and consultancy firm German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in 2001. It was part of a series of proposals collectively referred to as the ‘Environment Management Plan -- Agra’. Under THC, the CPCB had conceptualised a heritage corridor covering five historical monuments, including Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Ram Bagh, Etmad-ud-Daula’s tomb and Chini ka Rauza.

“While the scheme involved taking steps such as development of a green belt and landscaping, it was never once suggested that this should be done by reclaiming land from the riverbed,” claims a CPCB official.

These plans, and others, were submitted to the Union Ministry Of Environment And Forests (MOEF) as well as local authorities in Agra. “Rules mandate that detailed project reports (DPRS) should be prepared at this stage by the relevant departments in the state government. They should then be submitted to the MOEF, and funds sought under the Taj Protection Mission (TPM),” explains an Environment Ministry official.

Jointly set up by the Union and UP governments, TPM envisages improving the environment around the monuments through various projects. These schemes are administered by a body called the Mission Management Board (MMB).

For its part, the UP Government did not bother to submit the DPRS. It dispensed with other procedures, too, and unilaterally decided to give the green light to the the project. In November 2002, the then principal secretary (environment), R K Sharma, released a sum of Rs 17 crore for preliminary work.

Sharma has been inexplicably singled out and suspended. Evidence suggests that the MMB was responsible for initiating the THC project (see box: Procedural lapses). It cleared the proposal in its August 2002 meeting, which was chaired by up chief secretary D S Bagga. Ironically, Bagga himself was later asked to conduct an inquiry into the matter by up chief minister (CM) Mayawati.

The first tranche of funds was released in November 2002 and work commenced in the very next month. The contract was awarded to the National Projects Construction Company (NPCC), a public sector undertaking.

“It is highly unlikely that Mayawati and Bagga were unaware of the goings-on,” feels a senior official of the UP Government. This seems plausible because the money could not have been released without the finance department’s consent, and the CM holds the finance portfolio.

After the issue came in the public gaze, the Union Minister For Culture And Tourism, Jagmohan, instructed the Mayawati government to stop work on THC. “It is astounding that such a project was being executed so close to the complex,” remarked Jagmohan.

Significantly, even the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) -- which comes under the Union Ministry For Culture And Tourism -- is said to have stayed abreast of the developments. For their part, MOEF officials acknowledge that they did have an inkling of the events but claim that the details were divulged to them only recently.

Plot thickens

On March 26, 2003, an application was filed in the SC in the M C Mehta versus Union of India case. It contended that the up government was diverting the flow of the Yamuna by reclaiming about 75 acres (30.4 hectares) of land between Agra Fort and Taj Mahal. The SC asked the CPCB to submit a report on the issue.

On April 7, the CPCB filed an affidavit asserting it had never suggested that the riverbed be filled up at the site. On the contrary, the board was of the view that construction at the spot could adversely affect the hydrology of the river, cause air pollution and alter the landscape of the region.

On May 1, the SC ordered the UP Government to bring to a halt all construction activity at the site. Appallingly, the directive was complied with only a month and a half later when the media blew the lid off the matter.

“The controversy grabbed the headlines because it involved the prestigious Taj Mahal,” opines K C Joshi, former director general of ASI. He adds: “Thousands of other monuments in the country are in a shambles. Though laws to protect such structures do exist, they are not stringent enough.”

Structural inadequacies

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture,” states Article 51 A (F) of the Constitution. Its seventh schedule also empowers the Union and State Governments to frame laws for the protection and upkeep of monuments.

“The statute provides a wide scope in this regard,” reveals Ritwick Dutta, a Delhi-based environmental lawyer. “Each state can have its own set of regulations,” he adds.

Subject to the fulfilment of certain criteria, the Union government can declare a particular monument to be of national importance. The ASI is in charge of preserving such structures at the central level. Currently, there are more than 3,500 structures in the ASI’s protected monuments’ list.

Monuments of national and regional importance are governed by the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, and state legislations, respectively. The central act lays down guidelines relating to the siting of structures around protected monuments. It prohibits construction within 100 metres (m) of a protected monument and regulates activities within 300 m of the spot.

“This rule is flouted time and again,” points out Joshi, citing the case of Qutab Minar in Delhi. “There is an entire settlement within a few metres of the monument,” he says.

Other experts concur with Joshi on the issue of the laws being toothless. “The 100 m or 300 m rule notwithstanding, no protection is provided to the areas surrounding a monument,” alleges Ratish Nanda, a Delhi-based conservation architect. “In case of monuments like the Taj, the entire setting -- including the skyline -- is crucial for preserving the site’s integrity. But the law is silent on this aspect,” adds Nanda. He opines that even building bylaws need to be primed for the conservation of heritage complexes.

The example of Delhi’s Jantar Mantar illustrates this point. Jantar Mantar is an astronomical observatory built by Jai Singh II of Jaipur in 1724. It houses a huge sundial and other instruments that can measure astral movements. The direct rays of the sun play a crucial role in the functioning of these devices.

“In the 1980s, the New Delhi Municipal Council constructed its new multi-storeyed building near Jantar Mantar. The building’s shadow fell on the monument and blocked the sunlight. As a result, the clocks stopped working,” observes Joshi. “Today it stands as a mere sand and brick structure. We failed to preserve the symbol of ancient scientific progress,” he laments.

Meanwhile, even as the Taj Heritage Corridor row is yet to die down, doubts are being expressed about how long the monument can continue to retain its World Heritage Site status. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) office in New Delhi is reported to have apprised the World Heritage Centre (WHC), Paris, of the details of the case.

According to the UNESCO’s ‘Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage’, member states should ensure that nothing interferes with the “authenticity and integrity of the site.” India ratified the pact in 1977 and currently has more than 25 such sites.

It may be noted that in 1999, construction activity around Hampi in Karnataka had prompted the WHC to include the monument in a list of endangered heritage sites. Is the Taj -- which is visited by about 5,000 tourists daily -- headed in the same direction?

There are many similarities, as stated above, between what the government did then and what it has been doing in Vrindavan. Unfortunately, the lesson they seem to have learned is that you do it quicker and with less information, and with so much suffering inflicted on the people during the course of the work that they beg, beg the government to just please finish it!!

Anyway, the essence seems to be passing off a profiteering scheme "in the garb of an environment-cum-heritage project." When you see this Parikrama Marg project being sold as "beautification" you see how Nuspeak has descended into the PR department of the UP Government, the MVDA and all the rest of the people behind it.

If anything, it seems that this time around, all the authorities acted with even more cynicism and callousness than in the Taj Heritage case. Indeed, looking at the pictures, it is clear that far more damage has already been and is still being done with this Vrindavan Project than would have been done even if they had managed to complete the THC.

How people failed to see the pattern is amazing! And how it is that the people of Agra were able to come together to protest with more vigor than the Vrindavan-vasis, most of whom seem to have had the wool covered over their eyes?

But I think that Central Government anxieties about the Commonwealth Games and the hope to maximize the development gains that could be made with this entry onto the world scene is what really led to the great and mindless haste to finish this project.

Mayawati obviously sees herself as a proud leader and agent of change and economic modernization. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and a five-storey mall casting shadows on the Taj Mahal certainly must have looked beautiful to someone who had dollar signs in his eyes. Just as this flyover masking the Yamuna and Keshi Ghat could only look beautiful to someone who still thinks of the future with the mind of a science-fiction buff from the 1950's. -- Jagat

Construction of new bridge over Yamuna stopped

2010-06-10T03:58:00.000-07:00

DUE TO A MISUNDERSTANDING, I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS OUR BRIDGE IN VRINDAVAN, BUT APPARENTLY IT IS ANOTHER ONE, NEARER TO AGRA. SO MY APOLOGIES TO EVERYONE FOR THE MISTAKEN INFO. LET US HOPE THAT THE SAME WISDOM SHOWN IN THIS CASE IS CARRIED OVER TO VRINDAVAN. JAI RADHE!

June 9th, 2010 - 5:49 pm ICT by IANS (Thaindian)

Agra, June 9 (IANS) The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has asked for immediately stopping construction of a bridge on the river Yamuna here as it is quite close to a Mughal era monument.

Superintending Archaeologist A.R. Siddiqui told IANS: “We have asked the Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation Limited to stop construction and seek clearance from ASI headquarters in New Delhi.”

This, he said, had been done as new rules have come into force, according to which construction within 300 metres of a protected monument is regulated and can be continued after a green signal from the ASI headquarters.

The monument in question is Etmauddaula, built by Noor Jahan, the favourite wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, as a mausoleum for her father Mirza Giyas Beg.

The bridge on the river Yamuna was slated to be completed before the Commonwealth Games in October. More than half the work is already over, according to the site workers and engineers.

Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society president Surendra Sharma welcomed the ASI initiative, saying it was “long overdue”.

“They should not have, in the first place, allowed construction so close, hardly 200 metres from the Etmauddaula. They had misled the officials. Even the local ASI officials goofed up and ignored the protests from conservationists,” he said.

The controversial bridge is not likely to be completed now as the ASI headquarter is firm on following its latest norms.

“Especially after the Taj Heritage Corridor controversy, the ASI has become particularly sensitive to these issues,” an official said. (See also Another Taj Project runs into trouble).

Local conservationists were particularly angry as the new bridge suddenly turned right in violation of the original design submitted.

“This would have obstructed the view of the beautiful Mughal building Etmauddaula that is older than the Taj Mahal,” said Ravi Singh, a conservationist.

“There have been gross violations of heritage conservation guidelines and every time the ASI reacted late. This time too the ASI has woken up late after more than half the bridge is complete,” hotelier Sandip Arora said.

Pictures of Shringar Bat Damage

2010-06-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

As reported the other day, the road workers caused some serious damage to the chatris or gazebos at Shringar Bat. Some pictures have been made available.

Every one of them was apparently damaged. According to our reporter, one of the chatris collapsed completely, but it may not have been directly the result of the road work.

Braja News Digest, June 10, 2010.

2010-06-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

Govardhan Parikrama

A group of 80 marketing students from Girami MBA College in Bangalore spent Purushottam month in Govardhan doing a survey and came up with some interesting finding about the economic impact of pilgrimage there.

The students not only spread over every inch of the Parikrama Marga, but also did the parikrama themselves at least twice each.

They counted vehicles coming with pilgrims, surveyed all the products that they purchased, like toys, deity clothing,

21,544,000 people did parikrama
832,867 in four-wheeled vehicles
285,000 three-wheelers
35,000 in tourist buses (UP and Rajasthan Roadways buses were not counted).

Parking income for two wheelers earned 17 million rupees. Over the course of the month,

96 million rupees income for guest houses or dharmashalas,
176 million in food business.
4 million by shoe checkers in temples, etc.
19 million rupees were earned by beggars alone!

Another interesting statistic: 50,600 liters of milk were poured on Govardhan at Jatipura and Danaghati, bringing in more than a million rupees to milk sellers.

At any rate, it will be a long time before curious tourists from Germany bring that much money into Govardhan! What is interesting is the number of pilgrims doing the Govardhan Parikrama in vehicles of some sort. I would be curious to know how that works. Presumably, they stop at the various temples and darshan sites like Govinda Kund, Puchari Lota, Jatipura, Radha Kund, etc. Are these vehicles all sharing the same road with the millions who are walking?

Mohanananda Lal Baba to start another sitdown strike

Mohanlal Baba seems to get in the papers a lot. He is complaining that no one is serious about cleaning the Yamuna. Last time he went on a hunger strike the ADM himself came to see him and promised action, but nothing happened. So he will start again, this time at Shringar Bat. Hope he does not fall into a new ditch.

A survey of Bengali widows in Vrindavan and Radha Kund

The district government will do a survey of the widows in Vrindavan and Radhakund in order to follow an order given by the Indian Supreme Court and Human Rights Commission. has given the order that the way of life of the Bengali widows in Vrindavan should be investigated. Taking the order seriously, they have decided to look into the situation at Radha Kund also, where they are supposedly even more neglected. In Vrindavan there are several women’s shelters run by NGOs and the state government (Mira Sahabhagini), which are absent in Radha Kund.

Volunteer organizations there do not have a strong income base and are not in a position to do very much for them. District officers are aware that many of these widows beg by the Parikrama Marg, whereas in Vrindavan they at least seem to have somewhere to stay. There are also a fair number of widows in Govardhan. The ADM Avadhesh Tiwari and some other district officers were in Vrindavan recently to inspect the programs for widows. The UP government has budgeted for 320 widows to stay at the Mira Ashram. Mr. Tiwari said that the survey was meant to get a proper idea of the situation on the ground.

Today's TOI: More about cars, expressways and India

2010-06-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

Today’s Times of India (TOI) contains several articles related to the car, so I thought I would just summarize what it says as a footnote to yesterday’s article.

On a somewhat positive note, in the paper’s main headline article, no doubt put there because of its potential to stir up controversy, urban development minister S. Jaipal Reddy is reported suggesting a congestion tax to cure car mania in an effort to turn India’s "car-crazy upwardly mobile" classes to public transport. This pious hope would help reduce congestion and emissions. The model would be Singapore, “a city much admired by the same class.”

"Roads in the country are extremely cruel to pedestrians. The foot overbridges are so intimidating that people prefer to jump and cross the roads rather than use them. These are small things which have to be taken into consideration," Reddy said, pointing out that more than 1 lakh people are killed in road accidents in the country every year.

Perhaps that voice in the wilderness trying to promote public transportation in large cities like Delhi, the Indian Center for Science and the Environment (CSE), has been able to catch the minister's ear. And it is good that not all thinking about cars and traffic is blind planning for more roads, flyovers and expressways.

But the rest of the news indicates business as usual: First of all, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) announced a new record monthly sales figure for the month of May. The number was 128,851 new cars sold, a 30% increase over the previous high. April figures were close to 150,000. Two-wheeler sales also were in the vicinity of 725,000.

Siam director Vishnu Mathur said, “Our economy is growing very rapidly. The per capita income has almost touched $1000 and that is a magical figure, which is the threshold for automobile demand.”

India's first expressway, Mumbai-Poona.

This was accompanied by followups on a central government Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MRTH) announcement that a plan has been put in place to build toll expressways crisscrossing India by the year 2022. The length of these highways will be in excess of 18,000 km. The roads will be built with enclosures on both sides to prevent slow-moving vehicles from entering them.

At present, India has only 200 kilometers of expressway, which is less than 0.2% of the entire national highway (NH) network. Haryana and UP are currently building three others: the KMP, Yamuna and Ganga Expressways.

“We are considering whether a solar lighting system can be extensively used for illumination. The expressway network must be on a green model,” said a MRTH official.

The Times Op-ed page also has a semblance of debate, with the “Times View” saying that highways will lead to “tomorrow’s prosperity,” and the counterview by Amrith Lal, who calls the plan “dangerous and elitist.”

The Times holds up the Chinese model, where 60,000 km of superhighway were built between 1990 and 2008, stimulating the country's tremendous growth. The columnist also argues that the Chinese model shows that they:

used 40% less land than conventional roads to move goods and people
cut down on vehicular emissions by a third
cut down on accidents, also by a third

Overpasses and intersections at appropriate junctions can solve the potential problem of dividing communities.

Amrith Lal argues that the whims of the elites in a position to pay pricey tolls are being prioritized over the needs and conveniences of local populations. He suggest focusing on improving and augmenting the railway system, which could be upgraded to meet the needs of the growing economy. It will help more people, move more freight and people than the highways ever could. Moreover, existing roads would have reduced congestion if traffic regulations were better at enforcing laws.

It seems that Amrith Lal is speaking to the wind, as the readers of the Times of India will not pay much heed to his appeal to improve the current inadequate transport system. Whatever the long term costs of the car culture, India is clearly committed to this way of development and there is not much that will change it.

No amount of appeals to global warming, the cost of petrol, petitions or people lying across bulldozer paths and fresh asphalt is going to stop this juggernaut. In twenty years perhaps there will be efficient electric vehicles or other ways to keep such a highway system operative and functional, and environmentally less destructive. But clearly, no one has an alternative to this model in their plans to create a modern economy in India.

But our main concern is with the unique case of Vrindavan and other pilgrimage towns in India. The point here is not to stop progress or the advent of motor vehicles. Nor is it a simple question of preserving local community life, though that is a point of connection.

The real point is that progress should not mean wholesale destruction of important heritage towns like Vrindavan. There are hundreds and hundreds of cities in India where a highway crisscrossing the haphazard constructions of uncontrolled urban expansion will not have a great negative effect, but Vrindavan is not merely some urban community like any other.

Vrindavan is a tirtha. Its function is religious. It is meant to be an oasis from materialism, not just another chapter in India’s development story, "The Long March to Prosperity." Vrindavan absolutely must be developed, but developed in a way that preserves the value of the temple architecture, the ghats, the Yamuna River, the kunjas, the trees and greenery, the natural and devotional beauty of its many holy sites.

More than anything, this development must proceed in the consciousness of the sacred nature of the town. That means that economics must take a back seat to preservation and enhancement of the atmosphere.

The local people must be sensitized to the fact that this heritage, this environment and this atmosphere is the lifeblood of their economy, and not the hotels, malls and amusement parks that will be built by carpetbaggers from Delhi and elsewhere.

Some sanity has to be brought into the development plans for Vrindavan. Perhaps when this first bit of construction is finished and the horror starts to become apparent, all those shop owners, ashram and temple owners and ordinary citizens who thought this was progress will become sensitized to the blow that Vrindavan has received as a sacred site of pilgrimage.

As is so often the case, so many will come to loudly close the garage door after the cars have left.

Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 1.26-28

2010-06-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

śaṁ sarveṣām aprayāsena dātrī
dvi-traikānti-prema-mātraika-pātrī |
ānandātmāśeṣa-sattvā nidhātrī
śrī-vṛndāṭavy astu me’ndhasya dhātrī ||

The Vrindavan forest easily gives joy to everyone, she is the sole object of love for only a few exclusive devotees; she is the soul of joy and the resting place for all living beings. May she be like a mother to me, who am blind. (1.26)

veṇuṁ yatra kvaṇayati mudā nīpa-mūlāvalambī
saṁvīta-śrī-kanaka-vasanaḥ śīta-kālindī-tīre |
paśyan rādhā-vadana-kamalaṁ ko’pi divyaḥ kiśoraḥ
śyāmaḥ kāma-prakṛtir iha me prema vṛndāvane’stu ||

May I always have love for Vrindavan where some swarthy young boy wrapped in a beautiful golden garment gazes upon Radha’s lotus face and joyfully plays his flute while leaning on a kadamba tree by the cool Yamuna. (1.27)

tais taiḥ kiṁ naḥ parama-paramānanda-sāmrājya-bhogaiḥ
kiṁ vā yogaiḥ para-pada-kṛtaiḥ kiṁ parair vābhiyogaiḥ |
vāsenaiva prasannam akhilānanda-sārātisāraṁ
vṛndāraṇye madhura-muralī-nādam ākarṇayiṣye ||

So what need do we have for all those pleasures of the empire of supreme, supreme bliss? And what of the yoga paths that lead to the supreme destination, or all other philosophical arguments ? Here in Vrindavan, I will raise my ears to hear the sweet flute sounds, the essence of the essences of all the varieties of bliss, which will play, being pleased with me simply for residing here. (1.28)

Road Deaths: The Way of the Future

2010-06-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to keep up with the news digests. Each day I collect articles from the online Hindi newspapers to find out what is going on in the Braj area. These get posted on the Prema Prayojan blog.

Generally, I try to post articles that deal with religious news or are connected directly to temples or religious events, and articles about the environment or development issues. The weather has been of interest lately, and I consider that an environmental issue. Occasionally there are other articles that just catch my eye, but that is the primary focus. The big problem, of course, is that we have no one contributing news directly, no intrepid reporters sitting in on Nagar Palika meetings or following up on the paper thin stories the broadsheets provide.

One thing I have generally not been posting is reports of petty crime in the Braj area, though some mentions are inevitable, like today's story of a group of thieves who stole the bells from a temple and were caught. Dowry or bride murders have been reported in the papers with more frequency than anyone would desire.

There have been numerous suicides, many by young women in domestic difficulty, including a gruesome incident two or three days back where two women put their heads on the train tracks and were decapitated. But farmers, people losing their jobs, students who failed their exams, have all committed suicide in the past few weeks. And then there are the drownings in the Yamuna, often quite heart-rending, like the bride whose brother drowned at Vishram Ghat on the day of her wedding.

And then there are the car accidents. The other day, a woman laborer in Govardhan, working on rebuilding the walls to an ashram that had been razed in the recent demolitions, was run over by a tractor on the Parikrama Marg. I immediately got a frisson of premonition: Perhaps people will come to do Parikrama as a way of committing holy suicide, like those who used to throw themselves under the wheels of Lord Jagannath's chariot.

There is an incredible number of road deaths in Mathura district. I have not been keeping count, but I would estimate an average of two or three are reported each day. That would make an incredible 700-1000 road deaths per year in this district, which has an estimated population of two million.

UP Chief Minister Sushri Mayawati's "Vrindavan Project" seems an almost certain recipe for much more of this when the Parikrama Marg becomes home to ever more speeding vehicles. The roads are intended to normalize traffic in a transformed world based on the car culture, but it may take generations before people learn proper road etiquette on the one hand, and the tractors, camel, buffalo and donkey-driven carts, bicycles and, yes, people on foot, are taken off them on the other.

Can you import LA to the land of the holy cow? And why would you want to?

Over the past twenty years, India has seen an incredible growth in the number of cars and, consequently, in the number of accidents. Last year, in its first ever Global Status Report on Road Safety, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that India has more traffic fatalities every year than any other country in the world (BBC, Times of India).

In 2006, more than 100,000 people were killed on India’s roads, and an estimated 2,000,000 were seriously injured. Another 8-9 million minor injuries. A year later, that figure had increased to a stupendous 114,000 deaths! However, real numbers could be even higher, since many accidents are not even reported, and many of those injured may die a few hours or days after the accident. Only in a country where life is so cheap could such a horrendous slaughter be tolerated.

And India's growing economy means that there has been a surge in demand for new cars. Since 1991, when economic liberalization was introduced, automobile production has soared. 100,000 new cars come onto the roads in India each month, but in fact, cars only make up 10% of the vehicles on the road. Two-wheelers make up more than 70%, and their drivers suffer disproportionately in accidents.

The number of drivers in India is expected to reach 11 in 1,000 this year - a doubling since 2000 when 0.5% of Indians had a car. And 10% of homes now have some kind of two-wheeler. Even so, in absolute numbers, the proportion of drivers to total population is still very small. India, in case anyone has forgotten, is a very densely populated country. Cars and roads take a lot of space in a land that is already very crowded. How much of such economic development can it take?

Many reasons are given for the high number of fatalities: one is that people just don't know the rules of the road. Another is the inadequacy of the roads, which are shared by many slower-moving vehicles. The one cited most often is speed. The greater the speed, the more chance for accidents, the more chance for fatalities.

One person, the mother of a teenage girl, told me of a nice, well-mannered young man who visited her home in Vrindavan. He had just gotten a two-wheeler and he confessed, "Once I start moving, I just want to go as fast as I can! And woe to anyone who stands in my way!"

Road anxiety is so high in India, it is palpable. Traffic jams are so full of tension as each vehicle competes for every centimeter of available asphalt. No one dares let anyone pass for fear of being left stranded and still for an extra few minutes. There is no such thing as fixed lanes on any road, and two-wheelers take even the narrowest space between vehicles as an open invitation to attempt passing.

It used to be somewhat amusing and picturesque to see bearded sadhus covered in ash and tilak at the wheel of a Maruti or on an Honda Hero. But the psychology of horsepower of affects even them. They may love silence in their morning meditations, but behind the wheel, they are just as likely to honk heavily at any poor pilgrim who encroaches on their few square meters of roadway.

The point is that roads themselves, inasmuch as they permit more speed and aggression, because they habituate drivers to speed in a way that makes them even more impatient and aggressive when they find themselves in the narrow streets of a medieval town like Vrindavan, are unlikely to reduce the number of fatalities. Indeed, they will likely increase them.

Vrindavan was designed, if it can be called that, for a pedestrian culture. It grew around saints' and pilgrims' desire to walk in the soft holy dust of Vrindavan parikrama marga, to walk across the sands to the Yamuna to bathe, to walk from one temple to another in quiet contemplation and devotion.

The car promotes the tourist culture of speedy get in-get out. A quick, mindless fix of see-what-is-there-OK-seen that-done that. An infrastructure that is based on this mentality may work in an industrial town, or even some kinds of tourist towns. But in general this is an incredible destructive approach to development. Even Agra, the main tourist magnet in North India, is struggling with keeping a balance between tourism and the natural rhythms of a livable life for the local people--what to speak of a town like Vrindavan, whose very product (if we can call it that) is peace and quiet!

I fear that it is too late to stop this madness in Vrindavan. By making the pilgrim-choked Parikrama Marga the main traffic bypass connecting the Delhi-Agra highway to the new Yamuna Expressway, along with all the other ills that it will bring--and they are numerous--a spike in the number of traffic fatalities is also inevitable.

And, of course, those whose pockets are being lined with profits will sing the glories of economic development and progress and barely pay any lip service to the thousands who will die, nor recognize that they have blood on their hands.

Construction goes on on the bridge at Keshi Ghat.

A sandbar is being built to facilitate construction at the west end of Keshi Ghat.

Photo taken June 8, 2010.

Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 1.23-25

2010-06-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

Tekari Rani Mandir, Vrindavan, photo by Gopa Dasi.

soḍhvā pāda-prahārān api ca śata-śataṁ dhik-kṛtīnāṁ ca koṭīḥ
kṣut-tṛṭ-śītādi-bādhā-śatam api satataṁ dhairyam ālāmbya soḍhvā
muñcan śokāśru-dhārām atikaruṇa-girā rādhikā-kṛṣṇa-nāmāny
udgāyan karhi vṛndāvanam ativikalo’kiñcanaḥ sañcarāmi ||

When will I wander confused and exhausted through Vrindavan, where despite suffering hundreds of kicks and millions of curses, tolerating hunger, thirst, cold and hundreds of other obstacles, I will take refuge in patience and, releasing torrents of tears, sing loudly Radha and Krishna's names in a voice filled with emotion? (1.23)

adya śvo vā yāsyatīdaṁ kudehaṁ
sarve bhogā yānti tatra sthite’pi |
tasmād saukhyābhāsa uccair vibhāti
nityānande nanda vṛndāvanāntaḥ ||

This despicable body will die today or tomorrow. All its pleasures will go with it. Happiness in this world is a mere reflection, so take pleasure in Vrindavan, where the joys are eternal. (1.24)

kiṁ no bhūpaiḥ kiṁ nu devādibhir vā
svāpnaiśvaryotphullitaiḥ kiṁ ca muktaiḥ |
śūnyālambair vaiṣṇavair vāpi kiṁ naḥ
śrīmad-vṛndā-kānanaikānta-bhājām ||

What business do we who are the exclusive devotees of Vrindavan have with kings or gods? What need have we of riches that are the products of fantasy? And what do we care for the liberated souls who take shelter of the void? Or even of the worshipers of Vishnu? (1.25)

Radhe Radhe!

Chandraswami Visits Vrindavan

2010-06-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

Chandraswami visits, warns of Vrindavan becoming a concrete jungle

Of some interest is the visit to Vrindavan of the disputed Tantrik Chandra Swami, who came to national prominence when Narasingha Rao was Prime Minister. He was known as a "black magician," able to cast spells for the superstitious politicians who thought he could help them defeat their enemies and so on. He was the one for whom "Godman" became an everyday word in the Indian press. He eventually became implicated in numerous court cases, many of which are still pending, but despite losing his good standing seems nevertheless to have retained some of his "star power."

At any rate, he came to Vrindavan yesterday and got some coverage in the Amar Ujala. He stayed at the house of Pandit Udayan Sharma at the Tarash Mandir.

Chandra Swami said that before he came to national prominence, he had spent time in Vrindavan and received the blessings of Banke Bihariji, in whom he still has great faith. In fact, he is hoping that Banke Bihari will help him with his court cases!!

Chandra Swami's visit is worth mentioning in that he also said what more and more people are saying: that Vrindavan is being turned into a concrete jungle and that something must be done. "The state government is pouring millions of rupees into Vrindavan, but if it destroys the culture, then its religious greatness is in danger. The money is coming, but there seem to be no proper plans. A trust must be formed for the protection of Vrindavan heritage," he said.

It is becoming apparent that many outsiders are coming to Vrindavan and remarking on the atrocious development being foisted on this sacred town. It is good that the newspapers are reporting these stories. Nevertheless, it is all too easy for these visitors to come and go. There is a lot of talk going on, but concerted action by the residents and Braja stakeholders is very much needed.

The Mayawati Government is cleverly ramming this development project through and we will soon be left with a terrible fait accompli. And once that is in place, life here will follow the new rhythm that this infrastructure creates. Once that new normal is accepted as the way things have "always been," it will become harder and harder to return to the kind of atmosphere that is essential for a sane spirituality. The overlay of rajo-guna and tamo-guna will become thicker and thicker until the the true, pure spiritual quality of the Dham will become almost entirely impossible for us conditioned souls to perceive.

Anyway, it is certainly most welcome that he got this press coverage, stating what is becoming more and more obvious to everyone.

Work on the Parikrama Results in a chatri by Shringar Bat collapsing.

As the bulldozers busily work building a large drain along the Parikrama Marg—signalling the determination of the development authorities to carry through the road project that includes the so-called half-moon bridge—the inevitable destruction of heritage buildings is taking place.

Yesterday, a 300-year-old chatri (or burji) in one of the old ghats in front of Shringar Bat collapsed due to careless work by a bulldozer operator, resulting in great anger by local perople. Apparently more than one such chatri was damaged, in both Shringar Bat and Ranapat Ghat.

Shringar Bat sevayat Anup Goswami said he had complained to the Archaeological Survey of India and to the District Magistrate. Millions of rupees are being spent on this development work, but the contractors are acting carelessly and destroying the ancient heritage. Despite the complaints, however, work goes on as mindlessly as ever.

Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 1.20-22

2010-06-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

kasyāpi divya-rati-manmatha-koṭi-rūpa- dhāma-dvayasya kanakāsita-ratna-bhāsam |
atyadbhutair madana-keli-vilāsa-vṛndair
vṛndāvanaṁ madhurimāmbudhi-magnam īkṣe ||

I see Vrindavan, which is filled with the gold and black jewel light of some Divine Couple, that pair of effulgent entities who are more beautiful than ten million pairs of Kama and his wife Rati. This Vrindavan has been immersed in the ocean of sweetness that is their most amazing loving dalliances. (1.20)

gāḍhāsaktimatām apīha viṣayeṣv atyanta-nirvedato

dṛk-pāte’py asahiṣṇutātiśayināṁ yoge samudyoginām |
brahmānanda-rasaika-līna-manasāṁ govinda-pādāmbuja-
dvandvāviṣṭa-dhiyāṁ ca mohanam idaṁ vṛndāvanaṁ svair guṇaiḥ

By its own virtues, this Vrindavan enchants the minds even of those who are deeply attached to sense objects, of those who valiantly practice yoga due to being completely hopeless about sense pleasure and have become intolerant of even the briefest thought of such pleasures, of those whose minds have become totally absorbed in the one undifferentiated taste of Brahman, and even of those whose intelligence is fixed on the lotus feet of Govinda Deva. (1.21)

cirād upaniṣad-girām ati vicārya tātparyakaṁ na labdhum iha śakyate yad anu mādhurīm apy aho |
tam apy anubhaven mahā-rasa-nidhiṁ yad-āvāsatas
tad eva paramaṁ mama sphuratu dhāma vṛndāvanam ||

May this supreme abode of Vrindavan, always manifest in my mind. Though its sweet perfection cannot be conceived even after studying the teachings of the Upanishads for a long, long time, one can intuit it as a great ocean of rasa just by living here. (1.22)

Photo of Surya Kund deities by Gopa Devi Dasi.

"Get Acquainted with Braja" Project started

2010-06-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today's Amar Ujala has an article announcing an admirable new project being started under the aegis of the district Community Development Officer.

CDO Ajaya Shankar Pandeya is engaging block and village level development workers to collect information and build a database about Braja culture. Along with their usual tasks, they are now required to also inquire into local culture, in particular about "the way it was in the time of Krishna," especially to identify places that have some relation to the Puranic tales and legends.

The CDO said that the Braja culture and traditions have spread in every village of Braj. Each has its own stories and legends that are unknown elsewhere. This research will go into finding out more information about this heritage and cataloging forgotten or hidden historical places.

A data base will be built up that includes details about each village’s hills, water basins, ancient ruins and sacred places. The appropriate geographical information about all these places will also be collected.

On completion, the database will be verified against textual or archeological data, or by local scholars. This will be followed by the making of a tourist map and the creation of tourist circuits through the more developed villages. The last leg of the plan will be to build roads and so on to facilitate travel to and from these places.

This last paragraph finally elucidates the mystery behind the development officer's descent into a realm generally left to anthropologists and cultural historians. Since when do people charged with economic development engage in this kind of exercise? The answer is that we want to maximize Braj's value as a tourist destination in the short and long term.

But has there not been a discovery of Braj going on for the last 500 years or more? Is not practically every place in Braj already known for its specific Krishna-related value ? And surely there are numerous books, from Braja-bhakti-vilasa in Sanskrit to Entwistles's Braj: Centre of Krishna Pilgrimage, which catalog the places of Braj. And the Braj Foundation has been doing a marvelous job of mapping Braj, especially where the kunds and hills are concerned.

Of course, no one will doubt that more work of this sort could be done, though it remains to be seen whether block development officers and village panchayati leaders are the best people suited for this kind of work. Renaissance men can no doubt be found everywhere.

Nevertheless, it should be noted here that in the world of development, tourism and pilgrimage are two totally different things.

In the June 4 Mathura edition of Amar Ujala, the Mathura tourist office is quoted as saying that it was having trouble assessing how many tourists came into the area. One thing was certain, though: they don't count pilgrims as tourists. Pilgrims belong to a different economic class and are apparently not even worth counting. One goes to hotels, the other to Dharamshalas or ashrams.

The reporters who wanted to know the closest estimates for pilgrimage figures to Braj got no help from the tourist office, which does not keep such statistics. You see, people who go to see the Taj Mahal or visit the Mathura museum are tourists. People who come to take darshan of Banke Bihari or Dwarkadhish are not.

So the wise men and women who rule India's future have determined that Mathura-Vrindavan's destiny is to become a tourist trap. They will parlay Krishna into a tourist attraction. Well, I am not altogether against it, as long as they keep the two worlds separate. If they must have a Krishna theme park with a 500 foot tall statue of Krishna surrounded by Kaliya Nag shaped water slides, let them have it. Let the day-tripping Delhi bourgeoisie and a certain class of foreign tourist have their Hindu kitsch.

But let them do it it FAR away from the sacred historical and cultural sites that have real meaning for the devotee pilgrims of today.

What a foolishness it is to minimize the economic importance of Indian pilgrims! The search for the European or American tourist dollar is perhaps an inevitable aspect of globalization, but it will never be able to match the economic value provided by India's own faithful, to whom Vrindavan still has profound meaning!

What is needed now is fresh thinking on this matter. Do you wreck the old Vrindavan, the pilgrims's Vrindavan, to make it accessible to people who at best would only be motivated to visit it by nothing more than a fleeting curiosity?

Vrindavan is not a dead archaeological ruin like a ziggurat in Mesopotamia. It is a living sacred place. And to treat it as nothing more than a tourist attraction is frankly nothing less than sacrilege. Especially when that attitude entails a slow process of murdering it, by chopping down trees, by replacing ashrams with weekend condos, pilgrim walkways with four-lane highways, and covering the holy river and sacred ghats with flyovers!

The way to plan tourism for Braj is to develop it AS a sacred place of pilgrimage. To develop the sacred character of the land. The current plans being rammed through are so wrongheaded they stagger the imagination. The sadhus and sants of Braj are left dumbfounded watching the big heads and suits come here from their Delhi, Agra and Lucknow offices to stomp all over this land without the slightest feeling for what makes Vrindavan something of value in the first place.

Vrindavan is not some curiosity to be stared at, or oohed and aahed at. Let's work on getting Vrindavan to be what it was meant to be, not what some tourist development officer thinks will attract tourist dollars. There will be no fear for economic development.

Vrindavan as it was meant to be is the abode of the All-attractive Lord and Lady of Love. The people who are attracted to Them will attract people from all corners of the globe.

Turn Vrindavan into a heap of ruins and it will sink into oblivion. It may be surrounded on all sides by superhighways, but it will just be something to throw your empty Coke bottle at as you go gawking by on the overpass.

Even the Taj Mahal only holds a tourist's interest for a few moments. The real Vrindavan's attraction is far more powerful than that. Why are we trading diamonds for grains of sand?

BVHA Protests Tree-cutting in Raman Reti

2010-06-06T01:51:00.000-07:00

The Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance lodged its protest against the cutting of the ancient trees of Vrindavan.

On June 5th World Environment Day the members of the alliance protested against the cutting of trees by tying Raksha Sutra on the ancient trees of Ramanreti and Parikrama Marg. The BVHA members met at the Bhagwat Niwas before the demonstration.

The speakers said that the government had cut hundreds of fully grown trees in Mathura – Vrindavan road in the name of Development in Vrindavan. Now they are planning to cut the ancient trees of Raman Reti and Parikrama Marg for road broadening. If needed the design of the road and sewerage system should be changed.

The trees are the soul of Braj – Vrindavan and Krishna lover will oppose any kind of action which results into tree cutting. The roads are being broadened for the increasing number of traffic in Vrindavan. But there is no traffic plan for the town.

Big buses and vehicles are allowed to park in the middle of the road. If needed, one-way traffic rules should be enforced for few hours on certain busy streets which lead to the major temples.

We don’t want Vrindavan to be developed as a metropolitan city. It should be developed as Tirtha sthali.

As its name suggests, Vrindavan used to be a jungle, but the land mafias and so-called developers are working hand in hand to destroy Vrindavan’s heritage. No government has seriously thought of Vrindavan’s development since Independence. Now for the first time a huge amount of funds is being spent on this development. There is nothing wrong in the intention of the government. But whatever destruction is happening is due to the lack of planning.

The government should sit with the citizens and make a plan how to develop this temple town. The situation becomes more alarming when the government makes sewage drains (nullahs) over the ancient ghats on the Yamuna. This legitimizes the illegal encroachments on the ghats and makes it impossible to bring the Yamuna back to these original ghats.

The Archaeological Survey of India, which is the government agency responsible for the protection of ancient buildings is not taking any interest in protecting these magnificent ghats. The miniature art of these ghats is better than that of any other pilgrimage town. The ASI is not even taking proper care of those monuments that are officially protected by it.

Several unnecessary drains are also being built in the town. These drains are so big that they will be only be cleaned occasionally. The traditional small drains were far better in that municipal workers cleaned them regularly. It is a big question how the sanctity of this holy town will be maintained if it is transformed into a fully concrete jungle.

Present were prominent personalities were present in the meeting and the demonstration that followed: Baba Sewak Sharan, Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, Bal Krishna Goutam, Pt. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Baba Balaram Das, Anuragi Baba, Nitai Das, Acharya Mridul Kant Shashtri, Naresh Narayan, Pratibha Sharma Advocate, Shuk Dev Das, Suresh Chandra Sharma, Ram Narayan Brajwasi, Rajendra Agrawal, Devendra Dixit, Vishakha Dasi, Brahmachari Devendra Chaitanya, Haridas Shashtri, Nirguna Davi Dasi, Priya Sharan Das, Biharin Dasi, Jai Kishor Goswami, Ashok Kumar Agrawal, Krishna Das, Shri Shyam Sundar Das, Mohit Agrawal, Alok Agrawal, Madhumangal Shukla, Katie Walter, Devendra Dixit, Atul Goyal, Monu Goyal, Jagannath Poddar, Abhishek Shrivastava, Ravindra Kulshreshtha, Girdhari Lal Ji, Shyam Das, Kunj Bihari Das and many other devotees.

Śrī-Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam (1.17-19)

2010-06-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

Prabodhananda continues with his description of Vrindavan’s natural beauty:

mahā-premāmbhodher yad anupama-sāraṁ yad amalaṁ
hari-premāmbhodheḥ madhura-madhuraṁ dvīpa-valayam |
munīndrāṇāṁ vṛndaiḥ kalita-rasa-vṛndāvanam aho
tad etad dehāntāvadhi samadhivāsaṁ diśatu me ||

O Vrindavan, you who are the spotless incomparable essence of the great ocean of love, you who are the archipelago of great sweetness in the ocean of love for Lord Krishna, you in whom the greatest of sages envisioned the topmost flavors of love, please bestow upon me residence here until the very end of this life. (1.17)

vāpī-kūpa-taḍāga-koṭibhir aho divyāmṛtābhir yutaṁ
divyodyat-phala-puṣpa-bāṭikam anantāścarya-vallī-drumam |
divyānanta-patan-mṛgaṁ vana-bhuvāṁ śobhābhir atyadbhutaṁ
divyāneka-nikuñja-mañjulataraṁ dhyāyāmi vṛndāvanam ||

I meditate on Vrindavan, which has divine waters filling its millions of lakes, wells and reservoirs, with amazing gardens of trees and vines filled with fruits and flowers, an infinite number of birds and beasts fill these forest lands with wondrous beauty, with so many divine bowers and groves beautifying it in every direction. (1.18)

śrī-rādhikā-madana-mohan-keli-kuñja-
puñjair vṛta-druma-latā-ghana-ratna-bhūmi |
ānanda-matta-mṛga-pakṣī-kulākulaṁ śrī-
vṛndāvanaṁ harati kasya haṭhān na cetaḥ ||

Whose mind will this beautiful land of Vrindavan not steal away, its jeweled terrain covered with thick foliage from the trees and vines throughout the many, many thickets where Radha and Madanamohana play, where the birds and beasts are intoxicated with joy? (1.19)

I heard that when the Muslim marauders came eastwards conquering India, they thought they had reached paradise when they came to Bengal, because for the first time they reached a place that was really lush and verdant. The Quranic paradise is described in terms of plentiful water, flowers and fruit filled trees.

Perhaps Vrindavan never was and never could be the luxuriant and bounteous place that the Vaishnava poets described, either after seeing or imagining, but certainly chopping down trees willy nilly is a recipe for desertification. This is well known. The only way to stave off making Vrindavan into a barren, parched wasteland is to preserve and expand its greenery.

An African proverb says when an old person dies, a library burns to the ground with him. What is lost when an old tree is chopped down? What reservoirs of ground water, what wealth of shade for weary walkers in the hot season? What witness, on the parikrama marga in Vrindavan, of countless bhaktas singing or muttering Radha and Krishna's names?

Grow more trees and don't chop the old ones down.

World Environment Day, 2010

2010-06-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have been reading the news from America over the past few weeks. You may have heard that on April 20, 2010, a British Petroleum rig that was pumping oil from 1500 meters below the surface exploded. Eleven workers died in the explosion, but the consequences of the explosion are far more drastic: every day millions of liters of oil are literally gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

This has been going on now for nearly two months now, and despite making efforts, neither the company nor the American government have found a way to contain the leak. The oil and dispersants being used to make it sink to the bottom of the sea are quickly poisoning the entire ecosystem.

The most visible feature--the oil covered birds and other sea creatures, the beaches covered in ugly tarlike substances--are being photographed and publicized. The ecosystem there will be affected for decades; countless species of fish, birds and water mammals will be deprived of proper living space. Some of the most beautiful wildlife preserves in the world with some of the most beautiful creatures that can be found anywhere will be placed in serious danger of survival.

The debate about pumping for oil in the sea, where the consequences of such environmental disasters are so far reaching, rages on in the United States, but still all too few people are ready to face the bitter fact that their automobile-dominated culture and the resultant dependence on oil is becoming more and more unsustainable.

Here in India, we are currently undergoing the hottest summer since records were first kept. It is not the only place in the world where this heat has reached new levels of intensity. In America also, this is the hottest year since people first started measuring temperatures scientifically. In fact, it is shown that this year, on a global scale nearly every single day has been the hottest on record.

In Vrindavan, the ground water levels have been receding for years. Last year was a difficult growing season for farmers, 30% of crops were ruined due to the lack of rain. But this year, the waters of the Ganga and Yamuna, which are the source of irrigation throughout northern India, are insufficient. Recent reports say that only 50% of the water needed for irrigating the rice paddy nurseries in the Mathura district can be supplied. Villagers everywhere are anxious about water supplies just for their basic needs.

And the problem is not just cyclical, something that we experience here for a year or two, and which will then be gone when normal patterns resume. Normal weather patterns may not resume. The glaciers in the Himalayas that are at the source of the Ganga and Yamuna and the rivers of Panjab, are all disappearing year by year. They may be fully gone in another 20 or 30 years. Then these great rivers will be entirely dependent on annual rainfall for their existence.

Luckily there has been rain over the past few days which may save this year's crops, but global warming is a reality that needs to be reckoned with.

And what is the basic cause of this global warming, whose effects are so visibly being felt more and more? It is primarily our use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are being used everywhere, but nowhere more so than in the ubiquitous automobile.

Two other news items come to mind. One is that environment minister Jairam Ramesh recently stated that the chances of a breakthrough in the Cancun conference to combat climate change is very remote, since the big emitters are not willing to make firm commitments to reduce their emissions. So why should the developing countries like India do so? And now, today's papers note that the India federal government is again raising the pump price of consumer gasoline.

Now while all this is going on a global scale -- the costs of the gasoline culture are become more and more apparent in every way, being felt in terms of environmental damage and global warming, and costs to the consumer -- we see that no one is willing to stop the mad rush to destruction that it all entails.

Here, on a much smaller scale, we are worrying about the trees in Vrindavan. But this is merely a footnote in this human intoxicated madness that has been engendered by the so-called progress.

Progress to what? Progress to destruction of the environment. Here in Braj, where we are suffering already due to environmental degradation, and what is the government's solution? Create more degradation by building more roads and destroying more trees.

I could say so much about Vrindavan itself and what it represents, but just try to see this chopping down of a few hundred trees in this little part of the world, which a few people still believe is a sacred, holy place, in the context of a global rush to self destruction.

Sorry

2010-06-05T06:17:00.001-07:00

Due to internet problems, posting has been next to impossible for the past two days. Hope to resume as soon as the technical situation permits.

Protesting the Cutting of Trees in Vrindavan

2010-06-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, June 5, 2010, at 10.00 a.m.on the occasion of World Environment Dayin Bhagavata Nivasa on Raman Reti Road, across from the Vrindavan Research Institute
Members and Supporters of the
Braja Vrindavan Heritage Alliance
will meet to express their deep displeasure and intense opposition to the cutting of Vrindavan's sacred trees.
The sacred town of Vrindavan has traditionally been identified with gardens, forests and nature. The wanton cutting of trees is turning it more and more into an urban wasteland ! We will not allow the holy land of Vrindavan to be turned into an asphalt jungle, built only for cars!
Come and join us as we tie the symbolic rakhi of protection around all the trees marked for destruction.

In the name of development, we widen roads. To widen the roads, we cut down ancient trees like this one.How will progress bring any auspiciousnesswhen it is based on horrible offenses to these eternal residents of the Dham?

Minutes for Jun. 1 meeting of BVHA

2010-06-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

Minutes of the meeting of Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA)

Place: Thakur Shri Radha Shyam Sundar Mandir
Date: 1st June 2010, Tuesday 5.30 p.m

Present: 1. Krishna Gopalananda Dev Goswami (Shyam Sundar Mandir) 2. Acharya Shri Vatsa Goswami, 2. Shri Bal Krishna Goutam (Brahman Mahasabha), 3. Shri Ashok Kumar Agrawal ( Mathura Radio station) 4. Shri Govind Kishor Goswami (Sevait Kishor Van), 5. Shri Ram Narayan Brajwasi (Vice President Brajwasi Panda Sabha), 6. Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma (Secretary Brajwasi Panda Sabha), 7. Kanhaiya Gupta (Vyapar Mandal) 8. Jagannath Poddar (FoV), 9. Madhumangal Shukla (BVHA convener), 10. Shri Gopal 11. Diwakar Dixit (Dixit Studio) 12. Devendra Kumar Dixit (Dixit Studio) 13. Banke Lal Baja (trader) 14. Ms. Pratibha Sharma (advocate), 15. Ankit Agrawal (trader) 16. Shyam Lal Sharma, 17. Satya Murti Saraswat (advocate), 18. Vinod Kumar Varshney, 19. Gopal Ji (Sevait Nimbark Kot), 20. Suresh Chandra Sharma, 21. Rajendra Agrawal Kanthi mala wale (Vyapar Mandal), 22. Pooran Kishor Sharma (Decorators), 23. K.G. Gupta (Sr. Journalist), 24. Mohit Agrawal 25. Abhishek Shrivastava (FoV)

Chair: Thakur Shri Shyam Sundar Ji Maharaj through His servant Shri Krishna Gopalananda Dev Goswami

The following topics were discussed in the meeting & unanimously resolved:

The minutes of the BVHA delegation meeting with the Divisional Commissioner were presented in the forum.
Urgent attention on stopping the government to cut the trees of Raman Reti and Parikrama Marg for sewerage laying and road broadening.
Serious questions were raised on the new sewerage system. There is no need of the big storm water drains as they will only be cleaned occasionally. The traditional small drains are better as they are cleaned once in a week if not regularly.
If necessary the design of the road and sewerage be changed, but under no circumstances the trees should be allowed to cut. One way traffic system should be regulated in the congested areas.
It was decided to send immediate petitions on protecting the trees of Vrindavan to the President of India, Prime Minister, Environment Minister, Hon’ble Chief Justices of both the Supreme Court and High Court, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh etc.
A demonstration to be done on World Environment Day, 5th June 2010 to save the trees of Vrindavan. Raksha Sutra will be tied on each of the trees which are prone to be cut.
Public Interest Litigation will be filed in the High Court of Allahabad to stop the cutting of trees for road broadening, declaring the Yamuna Bank of Vrindavan as protected area and Vrindavan as Tirtha Sthali, controlling monkey population which has become danger for human kind.
The website of the BVHA has to be managed from Vrindavan.

Losing the Govardhan Parikrama Experience

2010-06-02T04:10:00.000-07:00

We are losing the natural beauty of Braja and the Govardhan Parikrama experience. From Sakhi Charan Dasji's Living in Radha Kund blog. More pictures can be found there.

We are all more or less aware of the destruction and insanity that it currently taking place in Brindavan in the name of “development.” Instead of trying to maintain the spiritual and cultural heritage which is the real wealth of India, the current government is instead simply interested in quick money by exploiting India’s sacred areas and resources in their rush to fatten their purses and attain first-world status which they will never achieve by such careless and destructive behavior.

Jagat Ji informed me yesterday that on the 29th of May bulldozers were sent to Anyour, which is a small village about four kilometres south of the town of Govardhan on the parikrama marg and asked if I could get some photos. Grateful for the opportunity to do some seva I packed my camera, jumped on my bicycle, and wondered what I was going to encounter. Before actually arriving in Anyour I saw some buildings destroyed. I was a little confused because what they tore down with the bulldozers didn’t seem to follow any pattern. It looked random to me…as if they just picked and chose whatever they felt like destroying as they went.

The Government wants to install stone walkways on both sides of the marg and from what I have gathered, anything within 21 meters of the center of the road will be cleared out so the road can be widened and the stone pathways can be installed. It appears that soon you will no longer be able to walk on the natural surface of the sandy ground when doing parikrama. Let’s all hope and pray that they leave the inner margs untouched.

So far the damage from the bulldozers is somewhat minimal, but that is soon about to change. There are literally hundreds of trees that have the red and white stripes painted on them which I was told by some managers of Brij Vasundhara luxury cottages means that they are to be cut down. I spoke with one man and his son who lost their entire house which included a puja room for a large Govardhan sila they worshiped. The walls and ceiling of the puja room were smashed and collapsing. Giriraj was covered in dust and surrounded by broken chips of bricks and cement. The man was squatting on a little section of the roof of his house that was still standing with his chin in his hands contemplating what he should do. I saw several Shiva-linga shrines, a mandir of Durga Ma, and many other sacred places that will soon be crushed by the bulldozers.

Yesterday they began pouring concrete on parikrama marg from the road leading to the south side of Manasi Ganga heading towards town. The road that runs along with the parikrama marg will all be widened and covered with concrete and both sides of the marg will have those three-sided interlocking stones covering the natural dirt pathways we all so much enjoyed traversing. Nearly the entire road from Govardhan to Radhakund has been chopped up in preparation for the concrete that will eventually (probably soon) be poured and like everywhere else I saw, they are preparing for the stone walking paths to be laid.

I will post some photos that will give an idea what is happening on the parikrama marg now from beyond the town of Govardhan up to the area of Govinda Kunda. I hope to return tomorrow when the bulldozers are scheduled to come back and take more photos.

Captions and explanations of these and other pictures can be found on Sakhi Charan Dasji's blog.

2010-06-02 Braja News Digest

2010-06-02T03:58:00.000-07:00

Vrindavan Project

In Gaura Nagara Colony, in Tarawali Gali behind the Chari Sampradaya Ashram, the sewer line digging work on the Parikrama Marg has broken a watermain, and the leaking water has seeped into the ground under the houses, causing flooding, movement of foundations and cracking of walls. Beside this, the waterfill trench dug by the sewage pipe laying work has kept some people unable to leave their homes. Municipality EO S.K. Sharma came to inspect the damage but threw the ball back into the Water Dept’s court, saying it was their responsibility.

In the meantime, the Chattikara Road is going to be one-way from the Raman Reti Police Chowki up to the Hari Nikunj intersection. At first the encroachments were blamed for the slowness of the sewage work, but now in most places along the road, these encroachments were removed more than a month ago, and still there has been no speedup. When Commissioner Bobade came, he was told that the traffic jams were now the principal reason for delay. The Commissioner approved the plan to make this section one-way and the SSP B.D. Paulson is engaging more police officers in the area to enforce the rule.

Old age home being built in Moti Jhil

On June 3, the International Banke Bihari Sevak Sanghatan will have a religious ritual consecrating the ground and a cornerstone laying ceremony for a hostel for the aged, named after Haridas Bihari. Details were discussed by organizers on the grounds of the Haridas temple in the Moti Jhil area on Tuesday. The president of the meeting, Lalita Vallabh Goswami said that the home would give an opportunity for elderly people who wanted to engage in the devotional life. Coordinator Prahlad Vallabha Goswami said the hostel is being built near the Sukhada Bhakti Ashram. The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m.

Yamuna

One of the reasons that the Yamuna Action Plan is failing is that when nodal officers come and make recommendations, no action is taken. Last month the nodal officer came and inspected the drains, the Yamuna and pumping stations. At one pumping station, two of the six pumps were found to be broken. Silt was blocking the flow in the drains. At the Bengali Ghat pumping station, three of four were inoperative and silt was blocking the channels. Because of it, neither station was able to properly clean the dirty waters. One month later, nothing has changed.

Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and Chemical Treatment Plant (CTP) are not being properly monitored and so many chemicals are entering the Yamuna. Most of the points raised by the officer have not been acted on. In particular the silver polishing industry is a growing source of chemical pollution (cyanide and chromium). Other chemical polluters are the cloth and metal industries. Recommendations have been made to move these centers away from the river area, but nothing has yet come of it.

In Vrindavan, Mohanananda Lal Baba is back in the papers promising to start agitation for the purification of the Yamuna, beginning on June 5 for an indefinite time. His principal complaint is the way the government and NGOs are doing its work. Day by day, the river is becoming more and more polluted. He will take his movement to various spots along the river and also to Delhi and Lucknow.

Heat wave

After a short respite, the mercury is climbing again. The average high temperature throughout the district on Tuesday was 44.9C. The Mathura area was hottest at 45.7C. The last few days saw some light showers.

Irrigation officers say that due to the heat wave less water is available and they are not able to fill reservoirs as planned. The shortages begin from Meerut. As a result the canals have not been able to supply the secondary channels. The rice nurseries along the Agra Canal and the Mat branch canal have not got enough water for their needs. The head portion are able to get by, but the tail section will be left thirsting.

This is the usual time for planting rice seedlings, but the water problem is serious. The requirements in the Dehra head are for 2000 cusecs, but on Tuesday, only 750 could be granted. Dividing the water between the various sections has become a headache. Water needed for the irrigation has been sent to Hathras, for Mathura drinking water and Agra area farmers.

Satellite imaging to stop forest fires

Satellite imaging is being used to give timely inform of fire outbreaks in Mathura. The program was started by the Forest Survey of India, headquartered in Dehradoon, to detect forest fires to within a single square meter. Its success has led to use in other areas. This new program started only on May 15, but already 8 fires have been detected in the Mathura district.

Haryana's governor does car parikrama of Govardhan

Haryana’s governor Jagannath Pahadia came to visit Govardhan, did a parikrama sitting in his car with his family. Stopped at the Danghati temple to offer milk to Govardhan before heading off to Delhi. He was greeted here and there by local Congress Party leaders.

Śrī-Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam (1.14-16)

2010-06-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

śrī-vṛndāraṇya-śobhāmṛta-laharīḥ samālokato vihvalā me
dṛṣṭir vā bhātu vṛndāvana-mahima-sudhā-vāridhau majjatād dhīḥ |
śrī-vṛndāraṇya-bhūmau luṭhatu mama tanur vihvalānanda-pūraiḥ
śrīvṛndāraṇya-sattveṣv ahaha tata ito daṇḍavan me natiḥ syāt ||

May my eyes become filled with anxious desire on seeing the waves of Vrindavan’s nectarean splendor! May my intelligence dive deeply into the ocean of Vrindavan’s glories! May my body, imbued with joy and spiritual desire, roll in the dust of Vrindavan! And may I fall down in prostrated obeisances in every direction to all of Vrindavan's creatures! (1.14)

yatra krīḍanti kṛṣṇa-priya-sakhi-subalādy-adbhutābhīra-bālā
modante yatra rādhā-ratimaya-lalitādy-ujjvala-śrī-kiśoryaḥ |
āścaryānaṅga-raṅgair ahaha niśi-divā khelanāsakta-rādhā-
kṛṣṇau raty-eka-tṛṣṇau mama samudayatāṁ śrīla-vṛndāvanaṁ tat ||

May that Vrindavan manifest to me, in which Krishna and the amazing cowherd boys like Subala and others play, in which the effulgent maidens like Lalita and others, filled with love for Radha, find their joy, and where the Divine Couple, Radha and Krishna, whose only desire is for their mutual lovemaking, are attached day and night to their love games in which the god of love demonstrates his wondrous skills. (1.15)

svacchaṁ svacchandam evāsty atimadhura-rasa-
nirjharād ambu tātuṁ
bhoktuṁ svādūni kāmaṁ sakala-taru-tale śīrṇa-parṇāni santi |
kāmaṁ niḥśīta-vātaṁ vimala-giri-guhādy asti nirbhāti vastuṁ
śrī-vṛndāraṇyam etat tad api yadi jihāsāmi hā hā hato’smi ||

In Vrindavan, the waters flowing from the springs are pure and very sweet tasting and one can drink them to one’s heart’s content; one can eat all one desires of the delicious dry leaves that fall from each and every tree. One can take up residence in the spotless caves of the mountains where cool winds freely blow. When Vrindavan is like this, if I should ever wish to leave it, it will be a sign of greatest misfortune. (1.16)

It is hard not to read this last verse without being provoked into deep reflection about the changing times. It is clear that Prabodhananda is an extremely renounced sadhu. Again and again he expresses a pleasure in the life of renunciation and austerity. Living in caves? dry leaves? Not so appealing to us today. But the evocation of plentiful sweet water gives pause. Even so, the idea of a forested area, with plenty of open space, easy access to water, is not only a sign of a place suitable for the renunciate, but for any kind of living.

Of all the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, it is Narottam Das who has the most similarities to Prabodhananda. Narottam's songs about rolling in the Vrindavan dust, bathing in the Yamuna, sleeping under the trees, drinking the Vrindavan waters... all these things seem to be directly following in the ascetic mood expressed in Prabodhananda's Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam. We hear of the same thing in the Goswamis' practice, but the expression found in so many of Prabodhananda's verses is closest to that found in Narottam.

Like Narottam, Prabodhananda switches back and forth from sādhaka consciousness to sphürtis of the nitya-lila with ease, blending the two so that they become one. The distinctions between that world and this one are blurred until they become meaningless.

Hundreds die in Indian heatwave

2010-06-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

Death toll expected to rise as India faces record temperatures of up to 122F in hottest summer on record

The Guardian (May 30, 2010) Jason Burke

Record temperatures in northern India have claimed hundreds of lives in what is believed to be the hottest summer in the country since records began in the late 1800s.

The death toll is expected to rise with experts forecasting temperatures approaching 50C (122F) in coming weeks. More than 100 people are reported to have died in the state of Gujarat where the mercury topped at 48.5C last week. At least 90 died in Maharashtra, 35 in Rajasthan and 34 in Bihar.

Hospitals in Gujarat have been receiving around 300 people a day suffering from food poisoning and heat stroke, ministers said. Officials admit the figures are only a fraction of the total as most of the casualties are found in remote rural villages.

Wildlife and livestock has also suffered with voluntary organisations in Gujarat reporting the deaths of bats and crows and dozens of peacocks reported dead at a forest reserve in Uttar Pradesh.

"Because of the heat, lakes and other water bodies have been reduced to parched land, making dehydration common in such birds," said Neeraj Srivastava, a wildlife campaigner.

Even India's northern hill stations – historically a refuge from the heat – have not escaped. Temperatures in Shimla, recorded a peak temperature of 32.4 Celsius, eight degrees hotter than the seasonal average.

After a drought last year, India's farmers are now impatient for the arrival of the monsoon, which irrigates 60% of India's fields. National meteorologists have forecast "normal" rains for this year, a relief in a country where prices of basic foodstuffs have rocketed in recent months due to growing shortages and structural problems with agriculture.

Forecasters have predicted that the south-west monsoon could arrive over the southern state of Kerala as early as today, but it is unlikely to reach the parched north before the end of June.

"It's too long to wait. We'll all go mad before," said Sanjoy Kumar, who sells dumplings from a stall in south Delhi.

The capital has sweltered under intense heat for weeks though, having endured temperatures of around 45C last week, dust storms and scattered rain brought some relief over the weekend. The new air-conditioned metro has seen record numbers of passengers as travellers abandon buses, taxis and auto rickshaws.

Parts of the city have suffered prolonged electricity blackouts and, in outlying suburbs, water shortages. In upmarket Mehrauli village, residents were forced to buy from private suppliers plying door to door with tankers. In the new town of Gurgaon, entire apartment blocks have run short. In the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra, petrol pumps ran dry after railway wagons which normally carry fuel were switched to supply water.

The Indian Meterological Department attributes the record heat to lack of atmospheric humidity, hot dry winds blowing across the south-western Thar desert and the effects of last year's El Nino cycle.

Mean temperatures for both March and April were the highest in more than 100 years.

Columnists have wondered why, given that scorching temperatures in India are inevitable, the heat has become the centre of every conversation. For Jug Suraiya, a well-known writer, the answer lies in the concept of karma and rebirth.

"That's why we moan and bitch and bellyache," Suraiya explained in The Times of India newspaper. "Because by doing so we hope in our next incarnation, life will, in all senses of the term, be cool."

śrī-vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam (1.11-13)

2010-06-01T04:42:00.000-07:00

Vrishabhanu Kund, renovated by the Brij Foundation.

atyutkṛṣṭe sakala-vidhayā śrīla-vṛndāvane’smin

doṣān dṛṣṭān nija-hata-dṛśā vāstavān ye vadanti |
tādṛk mūḍhā hari hari mama prāṇa-bādhe’py adṛśyāḥ
sambhāvyā vā katham api nahi prāyaḥ sarvasva-hāsyāḥ ||

This Vrindavan is most perfect in all respects. Those who see flaws in it due to their imperfect vision and announce that they are real are fools. Lord, Lord! May they remain out of my sight, even if I am in danger of my life. Such persons are never to be taken seriously, for they are almost totally laughable. (1.11)

brahmānandam avāpya tīvra-tapasā samyak-prasādyeśvaraṁ

gorūpāḥ sakalā ihopaniṣadaḥ kṛṣṇe ramante vraje |
vṛndāraṇya-tṛṇaṁ tu divya-rasadaṁ nityaṁ carantyo’niśaṁ
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādāmbujottama-rasāsvādena pūrṇāḥ sthitāḥ ||

Even after attaining Brahmananda, the Upanishads continued to perform great austerities to perfectly please the Supreme Lord so that they could take birth as cows in Vrindavan. Now they take pleasure here in the pastures, grazing on the juicy grasses of the Vrindavan forest, feeling total satisfaction at relishing the taste of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna's divine lotus feet. (1.12)

śrī-vṛndāvana-vāsini sthira-care doṣān mama śrāvayed
yo’sau kiṁ śatadhā chinatti nahi māṁ śastrair athāstraiḥ śitaiḥ |
sarvādhīśitur eva jīvana-vane dveṣan ca mātraṁ cared
ekasyāpi tṛṇasya ghora-narakāt taṁ kaḥ kadā voddharet ||

Anyone who tells me about the flaws of the residents of Vrindavan, whether they are mobile or still, does he not realize that he cuts me into a hundred pieces with sharpened knives and arrows? If one should condemn even the tiniest blade of grass in this beloved abode of the Supreme Lord, there is no one, no one who could lift out of the darkest hell. (1.13)

Agra Commissioner Inspects Vrindavan Project

2010-06-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

The commissioner inspects progress, tightens the screws on the heads of the different departments, gives three months to the water department to finish their job. Work on the Iskcon Road has to be finished by the end of June. Random checking will be done for quality assurance. Insufficiency of funding will not leave any aspect of the work hanging. There will be no discrimination in the removal of encroachments.

Divisional Commissioner S.M. Bobade came not only to do an on-the-spot inspection of the progress being made in the Vrindavan Project, which [Amar Ujala says] is the Chief Minister’s aspiration for glory], but to give clear orders to the responsible development officers to hurry it up.

[Uttar Pradesh has three levels of administrative area. The Agra division is comprised of four districts (jela or zilla), namely Agra, Mathura, Mainpuri and Firozabad. The commissioner is the highest ranking officer in the division. Districts are headed by the district magistrate (DM). These are further subdivided into blocks or tahsils, headed by the block development officer (BDO). Vrindavan is a part of the Mathura tahsil.]

In a pointed meeting, he scolded officers from the water department and warned them that they had to finish the job in three months or face suspension. Where there is a question of stay orders, he said, they should work so quickly that the stay orders do not have time to come into effect. Where stay orders have come into effect, they should use all their powers in court to get them vacated. The whole project must be completed by the end of the year.

On this occasion, the Commissioner met with reporters and spoke about the need to speed up the work. No irregularities will be tolerated.

At about 8 a.m. Monday morning, the Commissioner inspected the new needy women’s shelter in Chaitanya Vihar and the flyover crossing the railway line. He also visited the new 100-bed hospital that is under construction near Pagal Baba’s temple, the design of which he criticized. He then came and inspected the work on the road near Iskcon and expressed displeasure with the slow pace of work and instructed the engineers to have it finished by June 30.

Present were the ADM, Sadar Rakesh Malpani, the assistant director of the MVDA R.K. Singh, secretary Manavendra Singh, municipality representative Yogesh Dvivedi, PWD executive-in-charge Santram, the water department’s Lokendra Sharma, the electricity board’s Jagamohan Lal, and the municipality executive officer S.K. Sharma.

Afterwards, the Commissioner went to the MVDA boardroom and held a meeting after which he spoke to reporters. He said that work had sped up over the last ten days. Different stay orders that had come up in court, problems with chopping down trees in certain places and the inability to get required funding were some of the causes of delay. Stay orders were being vigorously fought in court, and applications for the required funds were being expedited.

The Commissioner furthermore, he said that separate inspections to assure quality were being made and random checks would be made on all aspects of the development work. Action is already being taken against engineers and executives of the PWD with regard to irregularities in road construction. Contractors have also been put on notice.

With regards to complaints that there has been preferential treatment in the removal of encroachments both in Vrindavan and Govardhan, he said that all demolition work is following the approved design and no one will be spared. If there are any exceptions, they will be looked into.

He said that a request has been sent for funds for staff and materials at the new women’s hospital to be released.

All departments were instructed to apply the plan designs as they were given. A joint committee to resolve differences between the PWD and the Water Department has been set up.

The Commissioner gets stuck in Traffic.

Traffic jams in Vrindavan are nothing new, but on Monday a particular difficult situation was caused when the Commissioner came there to inspect the Chief Minister’s dream project. Even he ended up getting stuck in a jam. After inspecting a few places, he came to the Hari Nikunj crossing to examine the street widening on Raman Reti Road. The garbage, open ditches and rubble causing a jam that lasted 20 minutes. After the traffic had cleared, he inspected the whole construction site on foot. Local citizens and some of the managers asked him to order one-way traffic. He said he said that until the roadwork was finished, one-way traffic should be the rule and the road should be closed to lorries.

This digest was based on articles from Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran.

śrī-vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam (1.7-10)

2010-05-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

prodañcat-pika-pañcamaṁ pravilasad-vaṁśī-susaṅgītakaṁ
śākhā-khaṇḍa-śikhaṇḍi-tāṇḍava-kalaṁ prollāsi-vallī-drumam |
bhrājan-mañju-nikuñjakaṁ khaga-kulaiś citraṁ vicitraṁ mṛgair
nānā-divya-saraḥ-sarid-giri-varaṁ dhyāyāmi vṛndāvanam ||I meditate on Vrindavan, where you can hear the clear sound of the koil’s song and the wafting tones of the flute’s sweet tune, watch the peacocks display their artistic dance beneath the branches, see the trees enthusiastically embraced by the vines, the delightful bowers rendered colorful by the various birds and beasts, and all the divine lakes and streams, as well as Govardhana, the best of mountains.(1.7)

sthūlaṁ sūkṣmaṁ kāraṇaṁ brahma-turye
śrī-vaikuṇṭha-dvārakā-janma-bhūmiḥ |
kṛṣṇasyātho goṣṭha-vṛndāvanaṁ tat
gopy-ākrīḍaṁ dhāma vṛndāvanāntaḥ ||Within this Vrindavan, you can find everything, the gross, the subtle, the causal and Brahman, the fourth state of consciousness, Vaikuntha, Dwaraka and Mathura, Krishna’s birthplace. There you will find the terrain on which Krishna grazed the cows with his friends, and his most secret effulgent abode, his playground with the gopis. (1.8)

atyāścaryā sarvato’smād vicitrā
śrīmad-rādhā-kuñja-vāṭī cakāsti |
ādyo bhāvo yo viśuddho’tipūrṇas
tad-rūpā sā tādṛśonmādi sarvāḥ ||

Here shines Radha’s beautiful flower grove cottage, which is most amazing, more wonderful than all these other aspects of Vrindavan. The original mood of erotic love in its purest and most perfect form is embodied in it, intoxicating all the Vraja gopis. (1.9)

tatraivāvirbhavad-rūpa-śobhā-
vaidagdhyānyo’nyānurāgādbhutaughau |
nityābhaṅga-pronmadānaṅga-raṅgau
rādhā-kṛṣṇau khelataḥ svāli-juṣṭau ||

In that spot, through the descent of beauty, form and expertise in the arts of love, accompanied by their sakhis, play the Divine Couple of Radha and Krishna, this embodiment of infinitely wondrous mutual love, engaged in eternal, uninterrupted, deeply intoxicating erotic games. (1.10)

Here, Prabodhananda Saraswatipada shows his predilection for the doctrines of the Radhavallabhi Sampradaya, of which he must be considered a founding member. Some of the differences with other rasika sampradayas are discussed here.

Where the dhama is concerned, those who call themselves followers of the sakhī-bhāva make a distinction between Vrindavan, Vraja and the Kunja, as is clearly stated in these verses. The development is given beginning with the standard Upanishad (Mandukya) hierarchy of four stages of consciousness culminating in the turīya state sought for by the Advaitavadins, i.e. Brahman. Higher than that is Vaikuntha, and the various dhams of Krishna lila--Dvaraka, Mathura, and Vrindavan.

However, Prabodhananda makes a further distinction between Vrindavan, where Krishna’s parents and vātsalya-rasa are dominant, and Vraja, where Krishna engages in his pastimes with the other cowherds and the cows. Where those pastimes are present, Radha and Krishna’s most intimate lilas cannot take place. Therefore those following the sakhī-bhāva have conceived of an abode of the Lord that is exclusively dedicated to the madhura-līlā. This is usually called the Kunja.

Since the Kunja is only possible where Radha and Krishna are present, and where Radha has no competitors, the sakhī-bhāva sampradāyas even consider līlās like the Rāsa to be a part of the Vraja and not the Kunja.

A similar hierarchy can be found in Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the Upadeshamrita (9) of Rupa Goswami, which leads to Radha Kund as the most intimate or most secret portion of Vrindavan.

In the Kunja, Srimati Radharani is most clearly manifest in her svādhīna-bhartṛkā svarūpa. The mood is that of the nitya-vihāra, where Radha and Krishna are never separated for a moment. There is no viraha. Though Prabodhananda as a sādhaka may express viraha from Radha, he never writes of Radha's separation from Krishna.

--o)0(o--

2010-05-31 Braja News Digest

2010-05-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Over on the Prema Prayojan blogsite, I have been posting articles of interest from the Mathura editions of Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagaran, as well as other relevant items when they come up. The intention here, ladies and gentlemen, is to eventually (soon) have a Braja related news website in both English and Hindi. When this happens, hopefully the site will quickly evolve and we will receive submissions from various local institutions telling of events both before and after they happen.

We also hope that we will be able to find correspondents who will do some investigation, interviews, opinion pieces and color and human interest stories. Obviously, Western devotees are a little more internet savvy than Indians, even though there are hundreds and hundreds of Indian-language blogs, which I am also scouring for relevant material. Such relevant material, up to now, seems primarily related to the environment, and environmental issues are predominantly related to the state of the rivers and the ever decreasing water tables.

In today's papers, for instance, there are two stories of particular interest.

One is related to an event yesterday organized by the "Free the Yamuna from Pollution Movement" based in the Krishna Janmasthan.

All the managers and workers of the Janma Sthan gathered and went to the Yamuna shores where they engaged in a far reaching effort to clean up. Seeing the enthusiasm of the workers, many of the people there bathing, whether residents of Mathura or pilgrims from afar, joined in the seva. The air filled with the sounds of “Yamuna Maiya ki jaya!”

On completion of the work, Gopeshwar Nath Chaturvedi, a Hindu nationalist leader, said that their intention is to clean all the Mathura bathing ghats before Ganga Dassehra on June 21. Apparently, they have been doing this annually for several years. Since more people are volunteering this year, they will complete the work as far as Bengali Ghat.

The problem is that because of the Gokula Barrage, silt is accumulating in the river and on the ghats, causing great difficulty to bathers. The Pollution Control Department took an active role in the cleanup, and financial assistance also came from the business and industrial sectors. They engaged 50 workers.

________________________________________

We just posted an article recently about Rajendra Singh, who was awarded the Magsaysay prize for Community Leadership in 2001 for his work in combating desertification through rainwater capture. Certainly one of the big concerns that recurs regularly in the Braj news sections is that of depleted ground water.

In a plan that sounds similar to the kinds of things that Singh has done, Whether the work announced by the a five year plan of dyke construction in the Braj area covering 59,000 hectares at a cost of Rs 68.3 crores. 30% of the work will be done in the first year.

The program is being run by the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Since so much water is being pumped out of the ground for irrigation and other uses, the water table is constantly descending. In an attempt to keep water levels constant, the Soil Conservation Department has prepared a plan to separate irrigation water from domestic use. In Mathura district, the Nauhajhil, Chata, Mathura, Raya, Mant and Baldev blocks are participating in this scheme.

In the terms of the Soil Conservation Department, Nauhajhil block was called a “dark block.” In Baldev the water table is at 300 ft., and other blocks are comparable.

It would appear that the MGREGS is taking active interest in water restoration. Dykes will vary in height from according to Ashok Kumar Tewatia, director of the Soil Conservation Dept., from 1 ½ to 2 feet, and others will be 2 ½ feet or more.

Higher embankments of 2 meters will also be built around terrain that is subject to erosion. Survey work has begun and work will be begun after the next rainy season. Money is being allocated for the project.

Other than this, it was a pretty slow news day from the internet sources. The big social event yesterday in Mathura, which attracted most of the local bigwigs was a celebration of Hindi Journalism Day at the Press Club. Many people gave speeches about the importance of journalism.

In human interest, the two stories that had buzz were the rescue of a 14-year-old Bengali girl that had been brought by a riksha-wallah from Murshidabad to be sold for the sum of Rs 20,000. A whistle-blower reported that the sale of the girl into white-slavery was about to take place and prompt police intervention put a stop to it.

Another dowry murder was also reported in the Vrindavan area.

No temple events reported. I suspect that not everything gets into the online edition. I am hoping that we will be able to interest Goswamis, Acharyas, Sevayats, Kathavyasas, Pathakas, Kirtaniyas, Lilamandalis and others to report their events both before and after they take place. We will eventually post a global calendar including all Vrindavan sampradayas.

śrī-vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam (1.4-6)

2010-05-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

rādhā-kṛṣṇa-vilāsa-pūrṇa-sucamatkāraṁ mahā-mādhurī-
sāra-sphāra-camatkṛtiṁ hari-rasotkarṣasya kāṣṭhāṁ parām |
divyaṁ svādya-rasaika-ramya-subhagāśeṣaṁ na śeṣādibhiḥ
seśair gamya-guṇaugha-pāram aniśaṁ saṁstaumi vṛndāvanam ||

I constantly sing this hymn to Vrindavan which is most wonderfully filled with the pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, ever surprising in the expansion of the essence of great sweetness (mahā-mādhurī-sāra-sphāra-camatkṛtiṁ), the very highest limit of the various rasas enjoyed by the Lord. The divine land of Vrindavan is unlimited in its good fortune, in that is the unique place where all the relishable relationships can be experienced, whose glories cannot be comprehended by Shiva or Shesha or any of the other gods of this world. (1.4)

***

premautkyena vicintyatāṁ viluṭhanaiḥ sarvāṅgam āyojyatāṁ
dehasyāsya samarpaṇena sudṛḍha-premā samāsthīyatām |
rādhā-jānir upāsyatāṁ sthira-cara-prāṇīha santoṣyatāṁ
śrī-vṛndāvanam eva sarva-paramaṁ sarvātmanāśrīyatām ||

My friends! Meditate constantly on Vrindavan with the deepest love! Rolling in its dust and by offering up your body in this way, become totally fixed in unshakable love. Worship Radha’s lover, bring satisfaction to every creature living here, whether moving or unmoving. This Vrindavan is the supreme destination, so take shelter of it with your entire being. (1.5)

***

vedāntāḥ pratipādayanti mukhato no cet tataḥ kiṁ mama
manyante bata śāstra-garta-patitā dustarkiṇaḥ kiṁ tataḥ |
no ced bhāgavatānubhūti-padavīṁ yātās tataḥ kiṁ mama
svātmā vajra-sahasra-viddha iva na spandeta vṛndāvanāt ||

If the Upanishads do not speak openly of Vrindavan’s glories, then what is that to me? I don’t care if the dry philosophers who have fallen into the hole of scriptures do not agree with me about this land. And even if the devotees who have attained direct realization of the Supreme Person do not accept Vrindavan, that does not matter to me. Even should [their words] strike my soul as if with a thousand thunderbolts, it will not move an inch from Vrindavan. (1.6)

O Bhaktas! Just wrap Prabodhananda's language around you like a protective garment. Slip into it like a comfortable cloak. Listen to him come back to those familiar turns of phrase and poetic tropes. That nishtha, that indifference to philosophical debates that deny the reality of his mystic vision.

That attempt to outdo himself (because there are no competitors really doing the same thing) in stating what odds he will overcome without abandoning his goal, his dedication to that supreme devotion to Radha's service in Vrindavan.

Let yourself be carried away, listen to his unique style and language and let him transport you to the impeccable, glowing, effulgent Vrindavan of his transcendent vision.

Let his enthusiasm and love for Vrindavan wash over you and wash you away.

Destruction and Demolition Reaches Govardhan

2010-05-29T18:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the ubiquitous JBC heavy machinery came to Anyaur on the Govardhan parikrama marga. Ever since those damned machines came into vogue, it seems they can't restrain themselves from chopping everything they can find to bits.

The Parikrama Marg through Anyaur, a strikingly poor village, has always been a dreadful mess, but the idea that they should build a 66 foot wide road that close to Govardhan is just so totally misguided it staggers the imagination.

As usual there was a heavy police presence to enforce the destruction. This time the local people threw stones at the police and the workers.

I suppose the next thing will be to build a tunnel through Govardhan--to show the miracles of which Indian engineering is capable--so that the Delhi day trippers can go from the golf course to Jatipura, so they can throw a pint of milk on the shrine to Govardhan's mouth before hurtling back to the city.

I don't understand it at all. If you must have heavy traffic going around Govardhan, can't you make it far enough away from the mountain that the natural beauty is preserved or even, God forbid, enhanced?

As the previous article Realty Ride On Divine Living shows, the money is just talking a blue streak here, and there is not though for what the future will bring.

Like so much of Braj, Govardhan is being turned into a Delhi suburb. I am left speechless. The madness and destruction is going on so unintelligently. Who will want to live in Govardhan when it is just another suburban development?

Again, we have been fast asleep and the forces of the dark side have gotten the jump.

Hindi reports from Dainik Jagaran and Amar Ujala

Realty Ride On Divine Living

2010-05-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

From The Real Estate Review.

The holy lands in India are witnessing a real estate boom. The twin cities of Mathura and Vrindavan, traditionally steeped in Krishna consciousness, are a testimony to this development. They not only draw devotees by thousands but are now attracting home seekers who want to own apartments for a peaceful life without compromising on the need for modern amenities.

Mathura- Vrindavan is witnessing lots of development on the residential and commercial front with the emerging interests of various local and outstation real estate players like Shri Group, Triveni, Suncity Projects, Space Buildwell, Tarang, Prabhatam Buildwell and many more.

Because of the saturation in Delhi and NCR, the people now wish to set foot on Mathura and Vrindavan in the search of peace and contentment. The presence of several ‘ghats’ along the Yamuna with beautiful temples makes it a good holiday destination as well. And to satisfy the aspirations of the house seekers, both local developers and those from New Delhi and other places are coming up there with various residential projects.

Residential scenario

Shri Group, a major Mathura based housing construction company, is in the forefront of real estate development. It has already constructed and sold out Shri Radha Puram, a colony of designer row houses located strategically on NH2. This colony is fully inhabited and has 300 houses. Earlier, the company built a colony Jamuna Dham which according to the group, is the first housing society in Mathura. Currently, it is working on about a dozen projects including Shri Radha Orchids, Shri Radha Puram Estate, Shri Radha Farms, Shri Radha Brij Vasundhra, Shri Radha Golf, Shri Radha Valley, Shri Radha Highway Farms, Shri Radha City, Shri Radha Town and Shri Radha NRI Greens.

Along with Villas, new houses and apartments, the township concept has also caught up in Mathura. Triveni Infrastructure Development Company (TIDCO) is creating a mini township, ‘Triveni Krishna Vatika’, in Vrindavan, on 43 acres of land incorporating all the modern conveniences and accoutrements like marble flooring, lavishly designed interiors, state-of-the-art attachments and fitting, security camera scans etc. The proposed township will be a blend of modern and spiritual living as it will have a golf course, a billiard room , tennis court, skating rink along with the provisions of conducting “pooja and havanas.” House-keeping facilities will also be included.

The plan is to have three segments: Nand Vatika, Anand Vatika and Govind Vatika, each of them independent These all freehold villas having options as one, two and three bedrooms. They are planning one more Kanha Vatika consisting of four bedrooms to come up on 1000 sq.yard area. The price of a fully furnished residency at Krishna Vatika will range from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 2700 per sq. ft.

The luxurious Krishna Vatika project is being developed keeping in mind the needs of NRI and HNI buyers. As Madhur Mittal, JMD,TIDCO says, “Triveni Krishna Vatika project is primarily targeted of NRI and HNI customers. NRIs will be interested in preserving a unique residency close to NCR with the lifestyle standards matching to their expectations and HNIs shall look forward to own a piece of land to add an icon to their financial and lifestyle portfolio.”

There are two types of buyers in such sacred spots: one section which has only holidaying in mind and the other, senior citizens specially, intending to spend the twilight of their life in serene atmosphere. This is the only reason why the construction firms operating in this region are trying hard to provide all possible facilities to their target buyers. Lots of USPs are being thrown in to attract customers. For example Ananta, a 15-acre housing project of Space Buildwell Pvt. Ltd., highlights in its advertisement the proximity of a big temple and a swimming pool to its location.

Leading Delhi developer Suncity Projects Pvt Ltd. is planning to raise a modern high- tech township in Mathura very soon. This is the joint effort of three major groups¾ Action, Essel and Odean. This proposed township will cover more than 1,500 acres. And they have targeted mostly the upper middle class and the foreigner devotees of Lord Krishna. Suncity is developing a Krishna-theme township. Ashok Bansal, Director, Suncity Projects says that their target customers are those in quest of peace and really want to get acquainted with the ancient culture of India.

“We want to change the residential scenario of Mathura where most of the housing projects being constructed are very congested. We are using only 40% of the land for residential purposes and the rest 60% will be left open for greenery and one more thing the buyer will get full satisfaction with our project”, says he.

Push to affordable housing

Mathura-Vrindavan Development Authority (MVDA) has also been playing a significant role in contributing to the real estate boom, particularly by way of meeting the demand for low income housing. Says Kartikey Nath Dwivedi, Secretary of MVDA, “We have already developed Radha Puram, Krishna Puram, Chaitanya Vihar, Kailash Nagar colonies of low cost houses offering one bedroom flats of Rs. 4 lakhs and two bedroom flats for Rs. 8-10 lakhs.”

Taking a cue from MVDA and cashing in on the demand for affordable or low-income group housing, private players like Shri Group and Tarang Infrastructure have also taken to low-cost housing. Tarang is offering one bedroom and two bedroom apartments in its project¾Radhe Radhe, at Rs 1300 psf. Says Pradeep Agarwal of Shri Group, “We are getting a very good response as good housing is available for the lower income group.”

Capitalising on pilgrimage tourism, Delhi developer Prabhatam Group is coming up with a residential project of 480 flats over 20 acres of Goverdhan, near Mathura. The USP of this project comprising 1 and 2 bedroom double-storey flats is that these will be fully furnished flats equipped with all modern facilities. The one bed room flat of 500 sq ft costs Rs. 8-9 lakhs while the 2 bedroom flat of 800 sq ft costs Rs. 12.5-13.5 lakhs. The residential complex promises beautiful landscaping and recreational facilities in the form of a Club House.

In the last few years, Vrindavan has ushered in the group housing concept because of the growing population and the rising land prices. Several small housing societies are coming up there. For example, in Vrindavan’s Raman Reti area, small group housing societies like Radhe Priya Kunj, Keshav Kunj, Shree Radhe Dham and many more have only 83 to 175 flats in their premises. But these societies are providing the residents affordable living options. According to a local builder, the rising land rates are compelling the lower income group customers to opt for the group-housing schemes.

Rising demand & soaring realty rates

The appetite for modern living in tranquil environs of Mathura-Vrindavan is clearly evident from the growing demand for residential properties. According to Pradeep Agrawal, Chairman, Shrigroup, they have sold out 100-115 houses in just one month. Triveni Krishna Vatika in Vrindavan has sold out 80% of the total of over 500 villas under construction. The high demand for housing is created by NRIs , HNIs and investors (particularly for NCR) besides local-end users.

This pent-up demand is in turn fuelling property prices. According to Pawan Gautam of Kamdhenu Real Estate, prices in Mathura-Vrindavan region have more than doubled. “The plot prices in Mathura today range from Rs.4000-15000 per sq yd. But at some places, the hike is much higher”, says Pradeep Agarwal of Shri Group.

Hardly a year back, the cost of land at Raman Reti was just about Rs 1000 per sq yd and now it has gone up to Rs 5,000 per sq yd. Even the prices of flats and independent houses are registering a steep rise. A fully furnished residency at Triveni’s Krishna Vatika costs Rs 2,000-2,700 psf. Even the retail real estate prices have registered a considerable hike from Rs 5,000 per sq meter to Rs 7,000 per sq meter in two years’ time.

Mall culture

Meanwhile, the residential boom has spawned mall culture in Mathura. There is a total transformation of retail real estate scene in the city which till a few years back had only small shopping clusters. Now one can enjoy shopping in a mall where all the famous national and international brands are seen. This has been made possible by Shri Group, which has come up with Mathura’s first mall¾ Highway Plaza on NH-2. Following this more new shopping malls are coming up that will completely change the face of retail real estate of Mathura.

Future Prospects

Little wonder then that Shri Group has come up with a slogan, “Mathura Bane Metro” (Making Mathura a Metro City). Says Shuresh Kaushik, Director of Shri Group, “We want to make Mathura really a metro city, providing all modern residential and shopping facilities to the residents.”

So what are the parameters? They are improved connectivity through NH2, fresh government impetus religious tourism, and overall, selling a dream of leading a modern spiritual life. On the strength of these basics and the rising demand for modern housing and retail that may go up and up in the coming years, the real estate boom in Mathura has arrived and is certain to stay.

Saving Water, the (Really) Old-Fashioned Way

2010-05-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Drawing on indigenous Indian knowledge of geology, hydrology and ecology, Rajendra Singh helped to save a watershed.

May 29, 2010 | AlterNet

Rajendra Singh, founder of Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS, or Young India Association), always wanted to be a farmer. Bowing to family pressure, he studied to be a doctor of traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine and after school moved to the Alwyn district in the arid state of Rajasthan. Singh was not simply practicing medicine, he wanted to test some ideas about healing ecosystems.

The local Arvari River had dried up during the 1940s when the surrounding hills were stripped of trees. It flowed only during the monsoon season. Since that time most people fled local villages to seek a livelihood elsewhere. When Singh arrived in 1985, he noticed that only the oldest and poorest people were left in the area.

Drawing on indigenous Indian knowledge of geology, hydrology and ecology, he began building tiny dams with johads (reservoirs) on streams flowing to the river in the hopes of reviving the natural water flow of both surface and underground water in the region. The local elders chuckled as they watched him do backbreaking labor with very little results for two years. Only then, he remembers with a chuckle, did they decide he was sincere in trying to help them and began offering tips on the right spots to place dams and johads.

It worked. The water captured in the johads during monsoon season slowly rejuvenated vegetation, which helped refill the aquifers (used for local drinking water) and restore the water retaining capacity of the hillsides.

The Arvari River came back to life and now runs all year as do four other once-dry rivers in the region. Groundwater levels have risen by an estimated 20 feet, and crucial forest cover, which helps to maintain the water-retaining capacity of the soil, has increased by 33 percent. People who abandoned the district are now moving back to farm and start businesses, Singh says.

In addition, The Young India Association challenged plans to privatize and deplete freshwater resources. In the Alwar area, where Singh began his work, activsts have prevented 40 water-intensive industrial companies (including bottled water and soft drink makers) from setting up factories. Villagers are creating their own “river parliaments” to sustain the water commons; each is governed by two leaders: “one who is responsible to the community, and one who is responsible solely to the water and nature.

“Water is a very emotional, spiritual thing,” Singh explains, noting that the once-lost river is now once again sacred to local people. He says that many of the older residents now ask that when they die that their ashes be sprinkled into the Arvari rather than the Ganges.

Jay Walljasper is editor of OnTheCommons.org, a news and culture website devoted to recognizing the importance of the commons -- those things that belong to all of us -- in modern life.

More:

śrī-vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam

2010-05-29T05:49:00.000-07:00

Photo by Melanie Drury.

While in the Vrindavan mood, since I am already posting Prabodhananda Saraswati's Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam on the Prema Prayojan site in Hindi, with the translation of Shyama Das (Shyamlal Hakim), I thought I would try giving an English version over here. This lengthy poem of more than 1700 verses is a celebration of Vrindavan like no other, and often describes it as almost paradise-like even in the real world of his time. Certainly reading it creates a desire, an aspiration, to both see the underlying archetypal reality and to recreate it in the "real" world.

As inadequate as it is, in the mood of Sri Saraswatipada, here it begins:

śrī-śrī-prabodhānanda-sarasvatī-kṛtam

śrī-vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam

prathamaṁ śatakam

śrī-rādhā-muralī-manohara-padāmbhojaṁ sadā bhāvayan
śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhoḥ pada-rajaḥsv ātmānam evārpayan |
śrīmad-bhāgavatottamān guṇa-nidhīn atyādarād ānaman
śrī-vṛndāvana-divya-vaibhavam ahaṁ stotuṁ mudā prārabhe ||1.1||

Thinking constantly of the lotus feet of Krishna, who plays his enchanting flute, offering my soul into the dust of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet, and most respectfully bowing down to the virtuous great devotees of the Lord, I take up the composition of this hymn in praise of the transcendental glories of Sri Vrindavan.

īśo’pi yasya mahimāmṛta-vāri-rāśeḥ
pāraṁ prayātum analambata tatra ke’nye |
kintv alpam apy aham ati-praṇayād vigāhya
syāṁ dhanya-dhanya iti me samupakramo’yam ||1.2||

The Supreme Lord Himself is not able to cross the ocean of Vrindavan’s nectarean grandeur, so who else would dare even try? Nevertheless, overcome by intense love, and thinking that if I dive just a little into that ocean I will be made most fortunate, I undertake this daunting task.

śrīmad-vṛndāṭavi mama hṛdi sphorayātma-svarūpam
atyāścarya-prakṛti paramānanda-vidyā-rahasyam |
pūrṇa-brahmāmṛtam api hriyā vābhidhātuṁ na neti
brūte yatropaniṣada ihātratyā vārtā kutastyā ||1.3||

O Vrindavan! Please reveal to my heart your true essence, your most amazing nature, with all its secrets of esoteric knowledge leading to supreme bliss. When the Upanishads themselves are too shy to describe the full manifestation of Brahman, and so only speak of It in negative terms, then where can we hope to find proper information about you [other than through your own merciful revelation]?

This comment about the Upanishads is interesting. In the Bhagavat-sandarbha, Srila Jiva Goswami discusses at length the prayers of the personified Upanishads from the 87th chapter of Canto X. The question that starts the chapter is, "If Brahman is ineffable and beyond the capacity of words to express, then how can the Vedic texts themselves describe It?"

Without going into the details of what is a very lengthy argument, Jiva concludes that it is possible, since the words that describe the Lord are a part of His energy and so are given the capacity to indicate Him, even if the Lord is unlimited and beyond the capacity of the mind of an individual soul to fully grasp. Jiva also says that even the negative statements like neti neti, the negative path to the Absolute, is in fact a process of describing the Lord!

Of course, the real point is that the personal form of God, his name, his abode, his pastimes all exist specifically in order to be accessible to the individual souls. They would have no purpose, indeed God Himself would have no purpose, if there was no one to relish his blissful existence in all its infinite manifestations and with its divine center in Vrindavan, the abode of love as embodied in the form of Radha and Krishna.

Anyway, here Prabodhananda ascribes the Upanishads' silence about the glories of Vrindavan and Radha-Krishna's lila to shyness (hriyā). In a later verse, he says that they all became cows in Vrindavan so they could relish the grasses here. Like the Bhagavatam says that the great sages all became birds.

Maya orders timely implementation of basic amenity projects

2010-05-28T04:06:00.000-07:00

Lucknow: Sun May 23 2010, Indian Express

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday asked her officials to ensure the timely implementation of all projects related to basic amenities in major pilgrimage tourism destinations like Varanasi, Mathura and Vrindavan.

“Good arrangements of water, electricity, transport and roads should be made to ensure that pilgrims, tourists and residents of these cities do not face any problems.” said Mayawati.

Asserting that laxity would not be tolerated in the implementation of development works, she warned the officials concerned of stern action if any complaint was received.

She also said that a tourism development scheme for Mathura-Barsana-Vrindavan should be prepared and a detailed report on the same be submitted to the government.

Expressing displeasure over the “tardy” pace of projects in Varanasi, Mayawati said all schemes should be completed on schedule.

See also वाराणसी, मथुरा व वृन्दावन की विकास परियोजनाओं को समय से पूरा किया जाए - मुख्यमन्त्री

Vrindavan's cows

2010-05-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Picture from Care for Cows Vrindavan

brahmānandam avāpya tīvra-tapasā samyak-prasādyeśvaraṁ
gorūpāḥ sakalā ihopaniṣadaḥ kṛṣṇe ramante vraje |
vṛndāraṇya-tṛṇaṁ tu divya-rasadaṁ nityaṁ carantyo’niśaṁ
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādāmbujottama-rasāsvādena pūrṇāḥ sthitāḥ ||1.12||

Even after attaining Brahmananda, the Upanishads continued to perform great austerities to perfectly please the Supreme Lord so that they could take birth as cows in Vrindavan. Now they take pleasure here in the pastures, grazing on the juicy grasses of the Vrindavan forest, feeling total satisfaction at relishing the taste of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna's divine lotus feet.

Vrindavana-mahimamrita 1.12, Prabodhananda Saraswati.

BVHA Delegation meets DC Bobade in Agra

2010-05-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

A delegation of the BVHA met Divisional Commissioner Shri Sudhir Mahadev Bobade at his camp office on 26.05.2010 in Agra.

A four point memorandum was presented to the Commissioner.

A master plan be prepared by the Government of Uttar Pradesh with proper participation of the local stake holders - the citizens, for an integrated development of the sacred town of Vrindavan.
Vrindavan be declared and developed as a Tirtha Sthala.
Yamuna to be brought back to the old ghats of Vrindavan dating back to the 15th century.
Kumbh mela area be declared as protected Mela Bhumi

Outcome of the meeting: The Divisional Commissioner has assured the delegation that he will soon visit Vrindavan and understand the problems and then find a solution.

A meeting is also proposed in Vrindavan where the administration would share the details of the Vrindavan Development Plan of UP Chief Minister with the citizens of Vrindavan next month.

Sri Bobade has also accepted the request to participate in the celebration of the World Environment Day on 5th June at Kishor Van, Vrindavan.

The delegation was comprised of:

Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami
Shri Govind Kishor Goswami
Shri Chandra Prakash Sharma
Shri Damodar Sharma
Shri Udayan Sharma
Shri Anshuman Gopal ji
Shri Kanhaiya Gupta
Shri Rajendra Agrawal
Shri Jagannath Poddar
Shri Omendra Shrivastava

Jai Shri Radhe!

PW projects in Vrindavan will be completed on time

2010-05-24T04:02:00.000-07:00

Vrindavan (Dainika Jagaran, May 24, 2010) । The Chief Minister of UP may well have ordered her officers to finish the Vrindavan Project on time, but the original timetable was not met. But now with a new timetable it seems that everything will be finished on schedule. Lucknow has been a bit late in freeing up the cash needed for all these projects, and this means that the different agencies involved in doing the work have had difficulty coordinating their tasks.

For example, one part of the overall plan includes the construction of a sewage treatment plant. The water department fixed December of this year as the date for completion. Land for the plant was designated in Rajpur Khadar and was to be expropriated, but when they inquired from the district authorities, the claim was refused.

The laying of sewage line is proceeding at a snail's pace with the result that the building of the Parikrama Marg is being held up. The Parikrama Marg is 10 km in length, and it was to have been completed by March 31 of this year. This deadline was later extended to June 2010, but if even the sewage pipes can be laid by this date it would be a major achievement. The Public Works Department stated categorically that they cannot build the road until the sewage lines have been put in.

The project was initiated two years ago, and the laying of sewage pipe was to have been finished by December last year, but only five of the ten kilometers had been completed by that time. The work of laying sewage pipe has left almost all of Vrindavan's roads in a ruinous state. Complaints are constantly being heard from both pedestrians and drivers trying to make their way around town.

PWD officers clarified that if the sewer work can be finished by June, then the roadwork can be completed by October. District Magistrate D.C. Shukla has ordered the PWD officers to start roadwork as soon as the sewer pipes are ready. There is some shortage of funds for completion of the work, however. The work was to be done in five sections, but although all applications have been made, not all funds have been received from the UP Government.

In the beginning 187.41 lakhs was given for the first stages of the work, but this has not been approved. Money is required by the ROB for all the projects, including the completion of the Vrindavan-Chatikara Road, the beautifying (!) of the Parikrama Marg, the bridge around Keshi Ghat, the building of a 100 foot road on the narrow-gauge railway line from Vrindavan to Mathura.

Original Hindi here.

Demolition Photo Album

2010-05-24T00:07:00.001-07:00

Vishakha Devi has posted photos of the demolitions in Vrindavan reported on recently.

Evidence that the trees will indeed be cut down. This grandaddy neem tree's bark is stripped 2 feet from the ground up.Note the yellow arrow. (Arrows on buildings indicate walls to be broken down.)

Photo evidence also shows that the widening of the Parikrama Marga for car traffic is also going on, indicating that no real effect has been made on government planners.

International Day for Biological Diversity

2010-05-23T01:02:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

Vrindavan, May 22nd, 2010: Friends of Vrindavan celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity (World Biodiversity Day) in Vrindavan. A seminar and a tree plantation drive was organised at Kishore Van.

The speakers said that the sacred forests and groves have always been a defining characteristic of Vrindavan and the larger Braj region of which Vrindavan is a part. These green areas, along with various kunds and the Yamuna River, are glorified in detail in the Bhagavat Purana and the timeless poetry and literature of such great figures as Surdas, Rupa Goswami and Jayadev. Together, these natural features constitute the foundation of the area’s environmental heritage, creating the vision of Vrindavan that exists in the popular imagination and devotional musings of people all over the world.

Currently, this environmental heritage is under sustained attack from thoughtless development and mismanagement as businesses and institutions scramble to obtain quick money from pilgrimage and tourism. The kunds, both sacred sites and traditional rainwater harvesting catchments, are silted and going dry, and the Yamuna River is a waste canal that serves as a breeding ground for disease. The sacred groves of Vrindavan are nearly extinct: only a handful of specific spaces and trees remain, and even these have been ravaged by water shortages and a population of monkeys that is too large for the town to sustain.

Only three of the many sacred groves of Vrindavan are still in existence today. These are Nidhivan, Seva Kunj and Kishore Van. Kishore Van is the smallest of the three and thus a good place to begin the efforts of reviving and conserving it.

Pilgrimage and tourism both will vanish along with environmental heritage if the rush for growth continues to go on unchecked. People stand to lose not only their heritage, but their livelihoods as well. Now is the time to reverse this process by making people see that conservation can be more profitable than destruction, especially in the long run. The ongoing degradation of Vrindavan’s environment is rapidly severing a vital link between the religio-cultural significance of the area and the people who live and make pilgrimages here.

By restoring and conserving sacred groves, Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival (SGCR) can help reestablish this link and communicate the need to rescue the entirety of Braj-Vrindavan’s endangered environmental heritage. Friends of Vrindavan (FoV) declared to adopt Kishore Van for the revival of its sacred grove with the participation from the local community.

The function was addressed by His Holiness Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, Acharya Naresh Narayan, Shri Arvind Kumar (Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board), Shri Govind Kishor Goswami, Shri Bal Krishna Gautam, Shri Neeraj Agrawal (Secretary - GLA Institute of Technology and Management, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma (Secretary - Brajwasi Panda Sabha), Shri Sushil Chandra Sharma, Shri Brajendra Goswami, Shri Anshuman Gopal Ji, Dr. Devendra Chaitanya Brahmachari, and many others. The vote of thanks was given by Shri Pradyumna Pratap Singh.

See also: Grove Restoration in Kishor Van.

Bulldozing has resumed on the Raman Reti Road

2010-05-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Road widening creates turmoil in Vrindavan

(based on Amar Ujala article, May 22, 2010)

Bulldozers were at work again in Vrindavan yesterday in the Vidyamandir market area, tearing down all buildings that encroach on designated municipal property.

Under the greater development scheme of Vrindavan, in order to permit road widening on the Raman Reti Road, all buildings that stand in the way are being destroyed. This work resumed on Friday. The municipal authority’s campaign began in Raman Reti and has now reached the Hari Nikunj intersection.

The campaign was led by City Magistrate Kumar Singh and C.O. Ashutosh Dvivedi.

Accompanied by police and PAC, bulldozing began from the Vidyamandir Market at about 9 a.m. In the midst of a heavy police presence, encroaching portions of many buildings--Shorawala, the water fountain at Balaji Ashram , Fogla Ashram, Hanuman Tekari, Shyama Bai School, Vrinda Foods, Sadhu Bela, Yamuna Dham, Neha Nikunja and many other pakka buildings--were torn down using JCB machinery.

Afterwards, the PWD and Municipal authorities came out to survey the road between the Hari Nikunj and Vidya Pith intersections.

As the bulldozers advanced, owners of the affected businesses and other buildings expressed their distress.

Many ashrams of holy men, poor people’s homes and shops were knocked down. On the other hand, there was an angry display that the homes of rich and influential people were spared.

Other than this, it should be noted that in the course of this campaign, Braj Bihari Colony, Iskcon and several other institutions that were affected, have gotten a stay order from the court.

Political parties have appealed for compensation for those affected by the campaign, as this is a matter of the livelihoods of many.

BVHA Meeting at Kishore Van (May 19, 2010)

2010-05-20T02:03:00.001-07:00

Minutes of the meeting of Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA)

Place: Kishor Van
Date: 19th May, 2010, Wednesday 5.00 p.m

Present: 1. Acharya Shri Vatsa Goswami, 2. Shri Bal Krishna Goutam (Brahman Mahasabha), 3. Shri Pradyumna Pratap Singh (Sevait Meera Bai Mandir), 4. Shri Govind Kishor Goswami (Sevait Kishor Van), 5. Shri Ram Narayan Brajwasi (Vice President Brajwasi Panda Sabha), 6. Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma (Secretary Brajwasi Panda Sabha), 7. Mahesh Chandra Sharma (President Brajwasi Panda Sabha); 8. Jagannath Poddar (FoV), 9. Madhumangal Shukla (BVHA convener), 10. Avishekh Shrivastava, 11. Arup Govinda Das (World Vaishnava Association); 12. Ravindra Kulshreshtha, 13. Ms. Katie Walter, 14. Ms. Pratibha Sharma (advocate), 15. Anand Bihari Sharma, 16. Sandeep Kumar Sharma, 17. Satya Murti Saraswat (advocate), 18. Jai Kishor Goswami (Bhagwat Preacher), 19. Gopal Ji (Sevait Nimbark Kot), 20. Suresh Chandra Sharma, 21. Rajendra Agrawal Kanthi mala wale (Vyapar Mandal), 22. Girdhari Brajwasi (Treasurer Brajwasi Panda Sabha), 23. K.G. Gupta (Sr. Journalist), 24. Ghan Shyam Kishor Goswami (Sevait Jugal Kishor Mandir), Dr. Devendra Chaitanya Brahmachari

Chair: Thakur Shri Jugal Kishor Ji Maharaj through His servant Shri Govind Kishor Goswami

The following topics were discussed in the meeting & unanimously resolved:

A delegation of the BVHA will meet the Divisonal Commissioner of Agra within a week to discuss about the so called development in Vrindavan. Dr. Devendra Chaitanya Brahmachari will fix an appointment with the Commissioner and Shri Rajendra Agrawal will organise the conveyance for the delegation.
The Brajwasi Panda Sabha will coordinate with the Tourism department to train young and educated pandas to guide the temples and places of the religious importance in Braj – Vrindavan. No out side guides are accepted.
The temples, ashrams and other places of interest of Vrindavan will be motivated to put the history of that particular place in a sign board or scribed in stone out side the establishment.
The proposed ban on the business of peacock feathers by the MoEF has appreciated. A petition on controlling and relocating the monkeys to be signed and then to be sent to the authorities.
Endeavors will be made to get a site located for the crematorium. There has not been any permanent site for the cremation so far.
Any effort of cutting the Raman Reti trees for the road broadening will be opposed by the BVHA.
The next meeting will be held at Radha Shyam Sundar Mandir on 26th May 2010.

A World Apart: My uncle is a Hare Krishna spiritual master

2010-05-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

A World Apart: My uncle is a Hare Krishna spiritual master by Chico Harlan.

A surprising article about BVHA founding member Paramadvaiti Maharaj in the Washington Post, no less, by his nephew, 26-year-old Chico Harlan. I rather enjoyed it.

Excerpt:

Paramadvaiti crisscrossed South America setting up temples for the mission, and he was good at it, a talent that triggered his rise through the faith. But Krishna members, at the time, faced persecution across the globe. He was jailed in Argentina and Paraguay, told only that the government prohibited all religions except Catholicism, he said.

One guard with a particular zeal for torture dragged Paramadvaiti into the jailhouse bathroom and ordered him to wipe feces off the floor. Paramadvaiti clawed for his spiritual strength, until at last he realized that Lord Krishna must have willed this feces-cleaning, because it taught a lesson about pride, and no man should be too proud to obey orders. So Paramadvaiti... well, he kept on cleaning, and he even grew kind of happy.

"The torture guy came back, probably expecting some monk to be in there looking all miserable, and he sees me like this," Paramadvaiti recalled. "Yes, I was happy!" He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper: "I think I blew his mind."

There is a nice slide show of Maharaj in Vrindavan. Some of the photos of Vrindavan, like no. 3 of Govindaji mandir, are pretty spectacular. Nice to see something about Vrindavan in the Western media that is NOT about widows.

How Much Can the Municipality Do?

2010-05-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

by Katie Jo Walter

Organizations like UNESCO and INTACH insist that if we want sensible development that will protect heritage in Vrindavan, we need to focus on the municipality, namely the mayor and the Nagar Palika Parishad. This is based on the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution, which initiated a process of decentralization of power to panchayats and urban local bodies. However, implementation of these amendments has been “tardy and uneven,”(1) leaving municipalities like ours here in Vrindavan unable to tread water in terms of finance and provision of services.

Some of this may be common knowledge for Indians, but I am going to present some information on municipalities in India and Uttar Pradesh in particular, including service provision responsibilities, revenue and obstacles to adequate functioning. A conversation with Neeraj Saigal, General Manager at Food for Life Vrindavan, inspired me to compile this information. I hope that some of you find it useful in formulating opinions about what should be done to improve Vrindavan’s situation, as well as by whom and how.

First of all, in Uttar Pradesh, the following services are listed as being the responsibility municipality:

Providing water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes;
Establishing, maintaining and assisting maternity centers and child welfare and birth control clinics and promoting population control, family welfare and small family norms;
Regulating tanneries;
Construction and maintenance of parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences;
Promoting urban forestry and ecological aspects and protection of the environment;
Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society including the handicapped and mentally retarded;
Promoting cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects;
Constructing and maintaining cattle pounds and preventing cruelty to animals;
Slum improvement and upgradation;
Urban poverty alleviation;
Providing urban amenities and facilities such as gardens, public parks and play grounds. (2)

According to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry,

Cities have narrow financial resource bases leading to monetary constraints. Share of transfers from state governments in the revenues of municipalities was 31.7 per cent on an average (2001/02). Municipalities in several states are almost entirely transfer-dependent for running local services. The dependence was as high as 84 per cent in case of Jammu & Kashmir, 83 percent in case of Rajasthan and 74 percent in case of Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, the financial viability of municipal corporations is dependent on the transfers from the State Governments.A city’s own revenues are mostly dependent on octroi and property taxes. Most urban districts have abolished octroi; property tax collections suffer from evasion and low levels of collection efficiency. Consequently, Indian cities are unable to commit requisite financial resources for development (Exhibit 4.7). (3)

I am told that in the particular case of Vrindavan, the municipality has found it extremely difficult to raise property tax over the years to meet the town’s needs because the moneyed interests of temples and ashrams have strongly resisted and even refused to pay higher taxes, clinging to archaic codes and often paying little more than an ordinary householder.

According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative,

The present condition of Municipalities in India is very dismal in terms of the wide gap between the functions to be performed and the available resources for it. The studies instituted by the 11th Central Finance Commission confirmed this fact across all the states. In spite of this, the Commission declared an ad hoc award of Rs. 1600 crores for Panchayats and only Rs. 400 crores for Municipalities. The amount is less than half of what the earlier finance commission had awarded. Nevertheless, the Commission recommended that there should be a separate tax.

An explanation of state transfers and the lack of municipal revenue outside of property tax is offered by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative:

The Constitution, even after the 74th Amendment does not provide for an independent set of taxes that the Municipalities can raise. The Constitution has made it mandatory for every state to constitute a State Finance Commission (SFC). The SFC is to review the financial position of the Municipalities and make recommendations regarding distribution of taxes between the States and the Municipalities. It is also expected to look into the criteria for grants-in-aid and suggest measures needed to improve the financial position of the Municipalities. But the SFC has to function strictly according to the terms of reference provided to it by the state.

Since funds required and the functions to be performed are interrelated the SFCs could review the existing situation and recommend a functional domain that would serve public interest and also be financially viable. But most of the SFCs did not touch on the subject at all. (4)

By 1997, the Uttar Pradesh SFC recommended that Uttar Pradesh 7% of the net proceeds of State’s total tax revenue should be transferred to urban local bodies. According to the 2009-2010 UP budget, a little under 4% of state revenue is being transferred to ULB’s, with an additional 2 percent allocated for specific projects like targeted city development (such as funds allocated for the Braj projects), slum housing, latrines and river pollution control. 200 crore is earmarked for interest-free loans that municipalities could take out.(5)

The State Planning Department points out that, “the financial position of ULBs in the State continues to be precarious and they are often unable to meet expenditure on salaries and other essential services like power dues. As a result, the quality of urban services remains poor. Urgent steps are, therefore, called to revamp the financial situation of ULBs. The fiscal domain of these bodies needs to be expanded and they have to be persuaded to take steps to raise revenue from their own resources. Access of these bodies to institutional sources of funding and capital market has to be improved.”(6) The Planning Department also reports that the financial power of the Nagar Palika Parishad is limited to Rs. 50,000.

Both Human Rights Initiative and the Confederation of Indian Industry point to a lack of manpower and organizational infrastructure as well as (or as a consequence of) low revenues. From the Confederation of Indian Industry report:

Resource constraints are not only financial but also capability driven. Planning capabilities often do not match up to requirements. Consequently, city development has mostly been short sighted and not holistic. Capacity to execute has also traditionally been poor due to shortage of skilled personnel. Our interviews with Municipal Commissioners and Mayors clearly highlighted that he biggest limitation to project execution is unavailability of skilled personnel. This is further exacerbated by the use of archaic tools and processes. (7)

Corruption and fragmented accountability or overlapping areas of responsibility are also cited as problems facing municipalities as urbanization trends place more demands on them for infrastructure and services (See exhibit E.1 below).

This is yet another example of India having legislation in place (the constitutional amendments), but not having a proper delineation of detail and framework for accountability. It is therefore important that we try to understand the position of the municipality and the constraints under which it works. This tells us that the state is who we really want to target when it comes to demanding better municipal service, that property taxes should be increased for high revenue institutions in town, and that NGO’s and public private partnerships should be recognized as possible key participants in any plans for improvement or change.

NOTES

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. "Decentralization and Municipalities." Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 18 Jul 2002. Web. 16 May 2010.
Planning Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh. "Chapter X: Self-Governance through Panchayati Raj." Tenth Five Year Plan 2002-2007 and Annual Plan 2002-2003 Volume I (Part I). Planning Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, n.d. Web. 16 May 2010.
Cisco and Booz & Co. "Intelligent Urbanization." Confederation of Indian Industry, 06 May 2010. Web. 16 May 2010.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
"Uttar Pradesh Budget 2009-2010 Salient Features." Information and Publlice Relations Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Press Information Bureau Information and Public Relations Department Uttar Pradesh, 15 Feb 2009. Web. 16 May 2010.
"Chapter 5: Self Governance Through Local Self Government." Planning Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, n.d. Web. 16 May 2010.
Cisco and Booz & Co

Can the Yamuna be cleaned, the Finnish way?

2010-05-16T19:41:00.001-07:00

Article by Nishant Arora of IANS.

Lahti (Finland): If there is will power and a clear vision, the now dying Yamuna river in India can be saved, says an expert from Finland where the once sewage Lake Vesijärvi now provides crystal clear water to people in this country.

Vesijärvi, near the Finnish city of Lahti (pop. 100,000), was a sewage and industrial wastewater dump 30 years ago, just like the Yamuna is for New Delhi. In the 1980s, a campaign was launched to revitalise the entire 111-sq km stretch and improve the quality of water.

Today, it is one of nearly 60,000 lakes, out of 180,000 that dot this Nordic country, providing potable water to 5.3 million people.

A similar campaign now aims to see the Yamuna -- one of the most polluted and toxic waterways in the world -- regain its old glory by 2015.

"To clean the 22-km long stretch of Yamuna, the same miracle model of Vesijärvi can be used," said Kaj Jansson, vice president for research and technology with Kemira, one of the world's three leading water chemical companies.

"Believe me, much more than funds, it takes strong will power and a clear vision to save rivers," Jansson told IANS.

So where do Finns see a possibility to clean the drainage called Yamuna?

"Finland has the technology to clean rivers like Yamuna. New Delhi needs clean water for its 16 million residents. So this expertise can certainly come in handy," said Nina Harjula, the development manager with the Lahti Science and Business Park.

The park is home to the third largest business incubator in Finland and coordinates the development of the national Cleantech Cluster.

Heikki Tallgren, managing director of Waterix, a market leader in Finland in natural water aeration, said: "We can provide surface water areators that works in cleaning natural bodies of water, for municipal and industrial waste water treatment to the Indian government. Waterix is also capable of providing tailor-made solutions which fit into the customer's process perfectly.

Said Jansson: "Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has announced Rs.500 crore (82 million Euro) for 2010-11 for Ganga clean-up. Also, the government has spent over Rs.5,000 crore (820 million Euro) on cleaning the Yamuna till now.

"Compared to this, the lake Vesijärvi clean-up budget was minuscule. In the year of the Commonwealth Games when the world will be looking at India, it is probably the right time to look beyond the available means to provide clean water to its billion-plus population," added Jansson.

Kemira and Finland's Technical Research Centre VTT have recently announced the setting up of a major water research centre to turn clean water into a high-end industrial product.

Proposed Ban on Trade in Peacock Feathers

2010-05-16T06:01:00.000-07:00

PROPOSED BAN ON TRADE IN PEACOCK FEATHERS

10th May 2010. Delhi

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, in response to numerous requests from various stakeholders, is in the process of banning the trade of peacock feathers. It has been brought to the Ministry’s attention that the demand for the feathers outsrips the supply leading to the rampant poaching and killing of the birds for the purpose of their feathers.

To this end the Ministry proposes to amend Sections 43(3)(a) and 44 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 which relate to the transfer and sale of the tail feathers of peacocks. The proposed amendment is intended to prevent the illegal trapping and killing of the national bird for their tail feathers.

Currently, the Act prohibits the killing of peacocks as well as export of tail feathers or articles made from them. But, the Act allows domestic trade in feathers or articles under the assumption that these are naturally shed.

Following the amendment, section 43(3)(a) and section 44 will no longer exempt those possessing a certificate of ownership for peacocks from transferring or selling the tail feather and articles or trophies made from them. There will be imposed a comprehensive ban on the sale, transfer and trade of peacock feathers.

Comments are invited on the above.

The Cleaning of Manasi Ganga

2010-05-16T05:11:00.001-07:00

Recently the cleaning of Manasi Ganga began under the auspices of the National Lake Conservation Plan by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, whose website informs as follows:

In the State of Uttar Pradesh, the projects for ‘Prevention of Pollution and Revival of Mansi Ganga Lake’ in Mathura and ‘Pollution prevention & Conservation of Ramgarh Tal’ in Gorakhpur have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs.22.71 crore & Rs.124.32 crore respectively. An amount of Rs.9.22 crore has been released for project implementation.

Sakhicharan Dasji, our Radha Kund correspondent, blogging at Living in Sri Radha Kund has given the following report. Many more pictures were posted there, so please visit his site, which is rich in Radha Kund katha.

(March 27) I was unaware of it and quite surprised to see the work going on when I went there for a snana. These images are all from March 27th taken from the southern bank. Soon I will return and get some updated photos. By tradition Manasi Ganga is the place where pilgrims begin and end there parikrama of Sri Giriraj Govardhan. Briefly, I will retell the story about the appearance of Manasi Ganga.

This Hanuman image was found in the muck at the bottom of the steps.

Nanda Maharaj, Yasoda Ma, and many others decided to go on pilgrimage to take bath in the Ganga. On the way they stopped to spend the night in Govardhan. Krishna began to think, ” All of the holy rivers are present here in My Braja, but alas the Brajabasis do not understand this. Let me show them.” As soon as Krishna thought in this way Mother Ganga appeared in person before Him and everyone else. The Brajabasis were extremely surprised to see her there. Krishna told them, “All of the holy rivers in the three worlds are present in Brajabhumi because they wish to do the seva of Brajabhumi. Because you were all going to leave Braja to bathe in the Ganga she has mercifully appeared before you, therefore take your bath in her sacred waters. Henceforth this place will be known as Manasi Ganga.” This took place during the night of the new moon in Kartik Masa. Mother Ganga appeared from the mind of Sri Krishna.

(May 11) I went back to see how the cleaning process was going and found that they are still working at it in full force. A company from Delhi was hired to do the job and they brought in many pieces of heavy equipment to remove all the sludge and gunk from the bottom and haul it away. From what I understand it is being dumped somewhere between Govardhan and Radhakunda. They are predicting that they will be finished in about two months.

Manasa Ganga has been frightfully dirty for a long time. It is good to see that the central government is taking this initiative. It appears that enough consciousness raising has been done by Braja Foundation and other groups in the Braj area to attract federal money.

Already looking a lot better.

Check Sakhicharan's blog for more pix.

BVHA Meeting at Vamsi Vat, May 12, 2010

2010-05-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

Minutes of the meeting of Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA)

Place: Vanshi Vat; 12th May 2010

Those present: Shri Bhagawat Sharan Goutam, Shri Bal Krishna Goutam, Shri Govind Kishor Goswami, Dr. Devendra Chaitanya Brahmachari, Shri Jagadananda Das, Ms. Katie Walter, Acharya Naresh Narain, Shri Krishna Gopal Gupta, Jagannath Poddar, Ms. Pratibha Sharma, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Shri Suresh Vedpathi, Shri Gopal Ji, Shri Jagadananda Das, Shri Madhumangal Shukla, Shri Ravindra Kulshreshtha, Shri Satyamurti Saraswat, Shri Anand Bihari Sharma, Shri Gour Gopal Bharadwaj, Shri Pradyumna Pratap Singh, Shri Kanhaiya Gupta, Shri Govind Sharan, Shri Manatosh Pahari

Chair: Thakur Shri Vanshivat Bihari through His servant Shri Govind Sharan.

The following topics were discussed in the meeting & unanimously resolved:

The meeting began with the issue of the Kesi-Ghat proposed bridge. Some newcomers argued about this issue, saying that they agree with all the other issues of the BVHA to protect the swarup (original form) of the holy town of Vrindavan. But their opinion differs on the issue of the Kesi Ghat Bridge. They thought that the bridge was essential keeping in mind the traffic congestion, parikrama and the growing number of tourists coming to Vrindavan.

It was clarified to the newcomers by the senior members of the BVHA that Kesi Ghat is the only ghat left where the Yamuna touches (even if it is sewer water) the ghat. Under no circumstances the construction of bridge is acceptable. The bridge will only help to deteriorate the swarup of Vrindavan. The actual Parikrama marg was inside the town where the devotees used to visit the temples while doing Parikrama and then coming out to the ghats by the side of Yamuna. Moreover twenty six pillars on Yamuna is not acceptable.

The bridge should be built across the river in Sunrakh or near Kalidah keeping the growing population in mind. Vrindavan should be kept in the form of a peninsula.

It was also decided that a form containing the issues of BVHA be signed by those who are interested to be a member of the alliance. Those who support the bridge are not welcome in the BVHA meetings.

It was also decided to make a Tulsi Van in Vanshi Vat. Some typical Braj trees will also be planted where ever there is a scope to plant in the Vanshi Vat temple campus.

Some scenes from the Vanshi Vat temple:

Acharya Naresh Narain before the deities.

The current incarnation of the tree under which Krishna sent out the call for the gopis to come and dance the Rasa dance. The walls have Krishna and the gopis dancing all around the temple quadrangle, as you can see from the above photo and below.

This altar, in front of which the meeting was held, commemorates the Rasa dance itself. That is Ms. Pratibha Sharma sitting in front of it.

This picture shows "Kali Baba's ghar," which is right behind Vanshi Vat. A lot of Vrindavan looked like this 30-40 years ago--crumbling walls. Something charming about it though. Everything the color of govar.

It was dusk, so the picture is not altogether clear.

Goa CM Comments on Vrindavan Development

2010-05-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

Based on reports in today's Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagaran. The original Hindi articles are being collected and posted on Prema Prayojan blog until further notice. We hope to have a bilingual Vrindavan-Braj daily news page in the near future. We invite our Hindi speaking readers to submit news and comment articles in Hindi for internet and paper publication.

Goa's Chief Minister Digambar Kamath came with his family to Mathura and Vrindavan on Thursday. In Mathura, Mr. Kamath went to attend the yearly festival at the Ramaayan Pracharini Sabha. He also visited the Dwarkadhish temple and the Krishna Janma Bhumi for darshan. In Vrindavan, he visited several temples including Iskcon, where he danced with the devotees, and Banke Bihariji.

Though on a personal pilgrimage, he agreed to give informal press conferences in both towns before leaving. He refused to discuss politics but only spoke on religious matters to journalists, praising the path of devotion and love. A person may be from anywhere in the world, but if he comes to Vrindavan, he will not be bereft of bhakti.

He said that Mathura and Vrindavan have not changed much in ten years, when he came the last time for a visit. He said that the beautification of all religious sites throughout Vrindavan and Braj is a necessity.

In his opinion, development in the land of Krishna's birth is insufficient, but he promised to put his own personal influence and contacts to use for helping increase such development.

He said that he has given a great deal of cooperation in the development of other religious sites like Pandharpur (in Maharashtra) and could do the same here. In fact, he seeks a kind of close relationship between beautiful scenic Goa and Krishna's birthplace. Both would benefit from it.

He said that in Goa also, the number of temples is increasing. Many tourists visit Goa and it has become an important tourist center for Indians as well as foreigners. The federal and state governments have vowed to protect the area.

He observed that the broken streets in Vrindavan must be a source of great vexation to the faithful.

By way of contrast, he gave the example of Shirdi in Maharashtra, which has made great forward strides. Ten years ago there was absolutely nothing, but the development that has taken place over this time is really worth seeing. The Maharashtra government has invested a great deal there, providing many facilities for pilgrims. Everyone who goes there is very impressed with their visit.

Comments: This shows several things. One is that people notice that Vrindavan is not living up to its potential and that the mess in the streets is the first thing that they notice. This is not good because it makes everyone's focus the damn cars. And this makes the city and development authorities concentrate all their energies on streets rather than finding other ways to improve the city. All the problems that we are facing are due to accomodation for cars above everything else.

Two, people like Kamath, from a faroff state like Goa, are ready and willing to help. The idea of a Goa-Vrindavan axis of some sort sounds interesting. But Vrindavan would need to be brought up to snuff. It could be a kind of Jaipur with its beautiful old buildings and temples, if only these are brought into their best light. And, obviously, if the garden-forest mood of Vrindavan can somehow be revived.

Three, they mostly have no idea what they are talking about. Shirdi and Vrindavan cannot be compared in any way, as Shirdi is a new place. You can build highways, parking lots, hotels, etc., with little or no negative impact on local heritage or environment. Vrindavan is a far more complex and delicate situation. People like Kamath need to be educated, but they are no doubt open to such education.

The man is obviously pious and such people need to be engaged in any way possible, as donors, advisors, well-wishers. Let us wish him the best and hope that someone with vision takes him up on his offer.

Radhe Radhe.

Grove Restoration in Kishor Van

2010-05-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

Project: Kishor Van

A Pilot Project for Rehabilitating Environmental Heritage through Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival Project in Vrindavan

Background: Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh’s connection with nature stretches back for thousands of years. It is a pilgrimage town due to its association with the Hindu god Krishna, who worshipped the trees, mountains, rivers and animals while teaching his family, friends and devotees to do the same. Vrindavan’s very name is derived from the words, “vrinda,” meaning the tulsi or sacred basil tree (as well as its form as a revered goddess) and “van,” meaning forest.

The whole town of Vrindavan, as well as the rest of the Braj region of which it is a part, once contained large areas of sacred forests and groves. Today, thoughtless development and mismanagement has caused these sacred green spaces to dwindle down to the bare minimum: only a handful of specific spaces and trees remain, and even these have been ravaged by water shortages and a population of monkeys that is too large for the town to sustain.

The Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival Project aims to save these last bastions of environmental heritage in Vrindavan and use the experience as a pilot project for greater efforts throughout Braj.

In the Indian public imagination, Vrindavan is an idyllic small town set within a majestic forest near the pristine River Yamuna with green pastures for grazing cattle nearby. This scene serves as the backdrop for stories about young Krishna, who played and accomplished numerous heroic feats here. The popular stories of Krishna’s youth are even being aired as a cartoon series that ranks second most watched on India’s top children’s channel.

This image originally put forth in the Bhagavat Puurana and the timeless devotional poetry and literature of such great figures as Surdas, Rupa Goswami and Jayadev is still what comes to mind for many when Vrindavan is mentioned. Additionally, due to its legendary status as a dham, or dwelling place of Lord Krishna, Vrindavan is an important centre for pilgrimage. Pilgrims have come here for centuries to experience an environmental ambience that will inspire devotional ecstasy and recollection of Lord Krishna’s life in Vrindavan.

However, what people see when they visit Vrindavan today is a concrete maze of overcrowded streets filled with garbage. Sadly, there is nothing that would constitute a forest here. There are only a few trees, and these face the danger of getting chopped down as the town rushes to expand without considering consequences to the environment and its heritage role in Vrindavan.

Streets are widened and new properties are constructed, bringing in more people, which in turn means yet more cars, more garbage, less green space and less water. Pilgrimage feeds economic growth and economic growth feeds pilgrimage, but the course of economic growth here is unwieldy and threatens to destroy the very heritage that makes Vrindavan a place worth coming to.

This rapid depletion and destruction of the environment is severing a vital link between the people and the religio-cultural significance of the area. By reestablishing this link, the Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival Project can raise awareness among the public at large regarding conservation of sacred groves and environmental heritage.

The kunds, forests and River Yamuna are the core of environmental heritage for Braj-Vrindavan and all of them are under sustained attack. The kunds, both sacred sites and traditional rainwater harvesting catchments, are silted and going dry; the forests and groves are vanishing, and the Yamuna River is a waste canal that serves as a breeding ground for disease. These aspects of the sacred geography of Braj, which make Vrindavan and its surrounding area what it is to millions of people all over the world, will soon become ruined completely if efforts are not taken.

Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival Project

A rehabilitation of environmental heritage and a hope for future: Heritage is the cultural legacy that we inherit from our past and pass on to the future. Indian heritage is unique in its respect for all nature and belief that every organism on earth has a special role in life’s cycle. There is a reverence for Mother Nature in all her manifestations which is evident in the traditions, rituals and practices that permeate every aspect of life, and this is especially true in Braj.

In Braj and many other parts of India (and indeed throughout the world) Krishna serves as a vital link between people, their ecology and environment. Sacred scriptures contain numerous examples of how nature and ecology were powerful elements during Krishna’s life and times. In Shrimad Bhawatam Krishna tells his father, “The cities, the cultured lands nor the villages or their houses are ours. We are the forest people, dear father, and will always live in the forests and the hills”.

This is the heritage that will be rehabilitated through our efforts. People will be trained to protect the existing groves, gardens and forests of Braj and thus reconnect with a cultural identity that has been lost to the pursuit of quick money gained though theme tourism. Tourism and pilgrimage both will vanish along with the groves as the rush for growth continues. Now is the time to reverse this process to make people see that conservation can be more profitable than destruction, especially in the long run.

Kishore Van: a pilot project for the sacred grove conservation

The choice of Kishor Van as a starting point for the Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival Project is an obvious one. Only three of the many sacred groves of Vrindavan are still in existence today. These are Nidhivan, Seva Kunj and Kishore Van. Kishore Van is the smallest of the three and thus a good place to begin our efforts.

Krishna’s past in evidence is in real danger of disappearing and Kishor Van, along with the other two remaining groves of Vrindvan, is one of the few remaining legacies from Vrindavan’s past. It is here that Krishna is believed to have danced with his gopis and many consorts and played his flute for them. Many people believe that Krishna still comes to these groves every night to dance and play, which is why nobody is allowed to enter these groves to after sundown lest they disturb the divine activities.

At present, Vrindavan’s groves have only scattered patches of stunted shrubbery. The Sacred Groves Conservation and Revival Project aims to restore these groves to the glory they possess in sacred texts and the popular imagination by accomplishing the objectives outlined below.

Objectives:

Step One: Preparation

Conduct surveys of local flora and fauna.
Form Sacred Grove Management Committee
Conduct Sacred Grove Management Workshop

Step Two: Restoration

Develop a tree nursery to grow the typical trees of Braj-Vrindavan.
Create circular paths through the grove.
Install micro-speakers throughout Kishor Van and play light flute music so that people feel Lord Krishna’s presence there.
Arrange iron nets to protect the trees from monkeys.
Production of a leaflet for the use of visitors to the grove

Step Three: Maintenance, Community Participation and Education

Organize a Workshop to assess community needs.
Conduct education programmes with local communities focusing on the concept of conservation and the importance of protecting sacred groves.
Sponsor plantation drives in the grove in which school children will participate.

Step Four: Gearing up for what comes next

Identification of two tour guides to take the visitors to all the sacred grove sites in Braj.
Identification of all the sacred groves in Braj.

India 7th in world for environmental degradation

2010-05-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

An international study Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries has placed India 7th in the world for environmental degradation. This is not too bad, on the whole, if you consider the population of the country. In a proportional environmental impact ranking, which takes population factors into account, India ranks much lower.

The study uses seven indicators of environmental degradation: natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, carbon emissions and species threat. Unlike existing rankings, this study deliberately avoided human health and economic data, and instead focused on environmental impact only. Other variables–bushmeat harvest, coral reef habitat quality, seagrass loss, freshwater habitat degradation, illegal fishing, invertebrate threat patterns, and some forms of greenhouse gas emission–were excluded due to a lack of country-specific data.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in an effort to boost food production, win farmer votes and encourage the domestic fertilizer industry, the government has increased its subsidy of urea fertilizer over the years, and now pays about half of the domestic industry’s cost of production. The overuse of urea is so degrading the soil that yields on some crops are falling–landing India is 2nd place for environmental impact due to fertilizer use.

India ranks 3rd for water pollution as increasing competition for water among various sectors, including agriculture, industry, domestic, drinking, energy generation and others, is causing this precious natural resource to dry up–while increasing pollution is also leading to the destruction of the habitat of wildlife that lives in waterways.

India comes in 8th for another three areas: threatened species, marine capture and CO2 emissions.

Source: Care 2

The Yamuna at Gokula

2010-05-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

This picture was posted on the ROW (Rivers of the World Foundation) Website. This picture was taken by Dr. Subijoy Dutta in January of this year near the barrage that crosses the Yamuna at Gokula.

Dr. Dutta is a leading member of the Yamuna Foundation for Blue Water. He is quoted in the Hindustan Times, Jan. 14, 2010:

I am alarmed at the rising amount of garbage in the Yamuna bed. There is polythene, material related to religious events dumped on the riverbed that cause irreparable harm to the river ecosystem. The decaying polythene bags submerged in the riverbed decay and this leads to the formation of the chemical Phthalate which is harmful in combination with water. Such garbage needs to be removed from the river.