We arrive in Vrindavan,
the land where Shri Radha Krishna spent their childhood days, and head over to
our ashram. After freshening up, we head
directly over to Prem Mandir by pedal cart through the streets of
Vrindavan. We finally arrive near Prem
Mandir and we can see the beautiful pure white Italian marble structure erected
by skilled artisans from across India.
From afar, just one glimpse and one would think what is this marvelous
structure that is grandeur than the Taj Mahal.
It’s when you arrive at Prem Mandir, then you realize the sheer beauty
and gift of divine love that is erected on the very ground that Shri Krishna
and Radha Rani used as their play ground.
There are so many gates
on the main road that one would get confused as to which gate to enter
through. Luckily, there were security
guards directing traffic and showing the way into the mandir. The first gate is the main entrance and opens
to a beautifully landscaped garden thus leading to the main entry of the
mandir. The second gate leads to the Jagadguru
Dham and Sadhana Hall (the Sadhna Hall is under construction [for the Prem
Mandir opening a temporary hall was created which would take a whole page just
to describe it which would be fully air-conditioned and would seem to hold more
than 1,000 people respectively. The
third gate is for vehicle parking. The
last two gates lead to the charity hospital which will provide free medical
services to all those that need it.
Throughout the entire
festival period, Maharaji has fed everyone with three excellent meals and at
various times a sweet was also provided.
The management was excellent as so many devotees had volunteered to
assist with the kitchen and dining areas.
There were separate dining quarters for women, for foreigners and
disabled people, and for men. This
helped alleviate the traffic in a big way and at most times there was very
minimal waiting periods to receive the Prasad of Maharaji.
Sitting inside the
mandir or even outside one gets a true feeling of divine love that is flowing
from within the mandir. With every
thought in Radha Krishna, we will be so much closer to reaching our divine
destination.
Day 1 – Kalash Yatra
& Start of Havan
Our day begins as per
Brahma Murat at 4:30 am with Prathna, Aarti, and Sadhna. This is a daily routine which will continue
for the next 3 days. Today the hall is
full with over 2000 people with almost 1500 of them dressed in a Yellow Saree,
Dhoti or Paijama (matching Thakorji).
Everyone has wrapped a Radhe Shami around their body to show their love
and appreciation of Shri Maharaji. At
5:30 am, the participants of the Kalash Yatra leave the Sadhna hall to
prepare. As a dress code was mandatory,
Kalash yatra participants were dressed in yellow. As each person scrambles to get their Kalash
and form an orderly line, almost 2 hours pass.
Now, there are over 2700 Kalash yatra participants lined up to perform
Kalash Yatra. Everyone has a nicely
decorated copper Kalash filled with the water of River Yamuna. What’s mind boggling is the monstorous task
of decorating 3000 Kalash’s for each participant
We sit, wait, and watch
in the garden for this long line of Kalash Yatra participants. The Havan has already begun with Maharaji’s
immediately family sitting at the head of the Havan. We wait for Maharaji to appear. The weather is quite gloomy and foggy today,
with no sun in sight. It’s also very
cold outside and we feel for the Kalash Yatra participants as they are only wearing
dhotis and sarees to cover themselves and have been standing in line for 3
hours now while either holding the Kalash filled with water on their head. Suddenly, a slight drizzle comes as if Yugal
Sarkar is crying to wash Prem Mandir from the outside. As we sit and wait, we see a flock of birds
(probably about 20 or so) fly around Prem Mandir and slowly swoop towards the
entrance to get a glimpse of Yugal Sarkar.
The doors are not open so they get a beautiful darshan of Yugal Sarkar
and all of Shree Krishna Leelas from the various 3D plates created and attached
to the walls of the mandir. The birds
then swoop forward and head on their way, being enlightened by the darshan of
Yugal Sarkar.
Finally, Maharaji
appears and immediately heads to the Havan area.The
band is ordered now to begin their march and slowly everyone proceeds to Prem
Mandir. Now each participant places the
Kalash on their head and move towards Prem Mandir along with the various
orchestras. There is a standing order as
follows: The three Didi’s, Maharajji’s
Pracharaks, Foreigners – both men and women, then last come Indian Men followed
by Indian women. In between each group
there are bands and orchestras performing dances, playing loud music on drums,
gants, etc, and a beautiful row of children dressed as peacocks. This is one sight to see as the group marches
up towards Prem Mandir. The group now
moves into the mandir and each participant is given an area of the mandir to
wash with Yamuna Jal. Some are fortunate
enough to have Maharaji stand next to them and give them clear instructions of
scrubbing a little harder to clean the mandir.
The mandir is now cleaned by over 2700 people and more than 2000 litres
of Yamuna Jal. Surprisingly, Maharaji
makes an announcement during the day that there will be another opportunity
tomorrow for Kalash Yatra. This is not
with new devotees but with existing participants. How lucky the participants are to be able to
repeat Kalash Yatra.
The Havan continues
throughout the day and all Devotees are led to the sadhna hall to perform
sadhna. Sadhna continues throughout the
day till evening with the occasional lunch, dinner, and tea breaks. For the next 3 days, there will be continuous
sadhna by all devotees.
The evening holds a
special event for all devotees.Maharaji
has arranged for Vrindavan’s famous Raas Leela performing group to perform for
all that have come. Maharaji starts with
aarti of Yugal Sarkar, this is the Yugal Sarkar from the Raas Leela. Many devotees felt that it was the real Yugal
Sarkar that had appeared for aarti. Then
the entertainment begins with the live performance of Raas Leela. What a most enjoyable time everyone had on
their first day of Prem Mandir inauguration.
Day 2 – Repeat Kalash
Yatra and visit Rangeeli Mahal
Today we repeat the
Kalash Yatra but with a different tone. After the aarti is completed, Kalash Yatra participants start the line
formation process. It’s the same as the
previous day but with a twist. Today,
participants have increased to a total of 3,000. In addition to this, Maharaji is also
participating by carrying a golden Kalash on his head along with the three
Didi’s and various Pracharaks. He starts
the march to the mandir with the rest of the pracharak’s and devotees
following. As Maharaji and the
Pracharaks enter Prem Mandir and perform the ritual, the other devotees
encircle prem mandir three times while carrying the Kalash on their heads.
After the Kalash Yatra
is completed, then almost 600 foreigner devotees and 400 indian devotees went
to Barsana to perform Abhishek, Jagadguru Aarti, as well as Satsung with
Maharaji. Fourteen buses were arranged
to move devotees from Vrindavan to Barsana.
As we arrive in Barsana, Maharaji just announces that Abhishek and Aarti
will now commence at 4:30pm. So he says,
please enjoy the wonderful lunch and we will meet in the afternoon.
After lunch, we decided
that it made sense to see Barsana and Radha Rani mandir. As the ashram is only minutes from Barsana we
decide to talk the path most travelled by foot.
We arrive within seconds of the mandir closing the curtains and we get
the last darshan of Radha Rani. As we
still had time we decided that it made sense to see some of the sites like Maan
Mandir and Mandir Shri Kushal
Bihariji. We then return back to
Rangeeli Mahal to await our meeting with Maharaji.
We arrive at Rangeeli
Mahal and there is a line queued to enter the main sadhna hall. As each person enters slowly, we find a place
to sit as close to Maharaji as possible.
The devotees that have signed up to perform Jagadguru aarti are sitting
in the front while abhishek devotees are right behind them. Men to the left and women to the right. Maharaji enters the sadhna hall and we
immediately start the Jagadguru aarti.
After the aarti is finished, Maharaji goes into his private chamber and
we proceed to a queue for abhishek. Each
devotee is allowed to wash the feet of Maharaji and then receive a gift from
him. After abhishek is finished,
Maharaji has also provided prashad in the form of Samosas and Soan Papdi. Then we re-enter the hall and Maharaji has
now announced a special photo session where one can have his/her picture taken
with Maharaji. This photo will be
cherished for a life-time. After the
photo session, devotees form a queue to receive the Jal of Maharaji’s
charan.
We wait now to proceed
back to Vrindavan. Maharaji then makes a
special announcement that everyone must eat dinner at the ashram and also take
part in Kirtan after dinner, afterwards the bus will take everyone back to
Vrindavan. We immediately eat dinner and
proceed to the small sadhna hall next to Maharaji’s living quarters. Maharaji then appears in a great mood and
sings along with us his favorite Kirtan, Topiwala Barsana Wari. Afterwards, we board our respective buses and
return back to Vrindavan.
Meanwhile, the
entertainment continues in the evening at Prem Mandir with the Raas Leela group
and their performance of Dayand avatar. Additionally, the importance of the name of
Radha is explained, lucky are those that were able to attend this session.
Day 3 – Opening Day
Today is the big day
and thus we again start at 4:30 am with Prathna, Aarti, and Sadhna. There will be a balloon launching, Prem
Mandir aarti, as well as the official opening of Prem Mandir to the public. There are over 12,000 devotees present for
the opening ceremony of which 600 are foreigner devotees that have flown in
from around the world to partake in this unique celebration of divine
love.
The food is extra
special today with special boondi ladoo prasad being distributed to all that
come. Sadhu bhog also takes place with
gifts given to all Sadhu’s that have
turned up for the Prem Mandir celebration.
The Sadhu’s are given food, Prasad, and also gifts such as blankets from
Maharaji.
In the evening, the
Raas Mandri group continues their performance and plays holi with the
Devotees.
The balloon launching
begins with all devotees gathered around the Gowardhan sculpture in front of
the main entrance of the mandir. Each is
a given a balloon to launch. There is
chanting of Hare Rama Hare Krishna as there is word that Yugal Sarkar is
coming. Maharaji arrives and the fun
begins with Maharaji launching the first balloon followed by the rest of the
balloons by the devotees. The sky is
filled with colorful helium balloons providing for the grand entry of Yugal
Sarkar.
Surrounding Prem
Mandir, are beautifully landscaped gardens, water falls, laser show water
fountains and many different sculpted objects within the gardens. A Kadamb tree sits in the main garden with
Radha Krishna sitting on a Jhula hanging beneath the tree. There is a great structure erected in front
of the main entry of the mandir. This
structure is what looks like a real life-like Govardhan hill with Shree Krishna
holding it up with his pinky and the Brajwasi’s all looking for protection from
their beloved. What’s amazing about this
structure is that it’s Shree Krishna’s pinky that is holding the man-made
Govardhan Hill, with no other supports to be seen.
The divine love that is
flowing from Prem Mandir is not only captured from the outside but also within
the mandir itself. All around the
mandir, there are many plates created in white marble using a special 3D
engraving machine depicting the various leelas of Shri Krishna. As you enter the mandir, you’ll notice large
doors for the entry way and on both sides of the entryway are 3d carvings of
Yugal Sarkar thus following around the mandir from birth to full age leelas of
Shri Krishna. One that is very memorable
is the Maha Raas Leela. There are so
many doors all around the mandir giving one a feeling of Radha Krishn calling
out to any and all with open arms to experience the bliss of divine love.
The first prem mandir
aarti will be performed by devotees.
There are so many devotees lined up to perform the aarti. They are all lead in with foreigner devotees
standing on the ground floor and Indian devotees on the first floor. Maharaji appears and the Ram Sita “Vigrah” is
revealed. Maharaji now start the aarti
with the devotees followed by Mahraji’s parivar from the Havan. Afterwards, he heads downstairs and reveals
the Yugal Sarkar “Vigrah” and immediately starts the Yugal Sarkar aarti. After the aarti is finished, then the
devotees that are present inside the mandir take aarti and view the beauty of
the mandir from the inside. The
remaining devotees and guests will only be able to visit the inside of the
mandir after 2:00 pm when the mandir will be officially open to the public.
Inside the mandir there
are two levels. On the ground floor
there is a Yugal Sarkar “Vigrah” and on the first floor a Ram Sita “Vigrah”. Words cannot describe the sheer beauty of
both Murtis. Yugal Sarkar look as if
they are really in front of us and talking to us.
The Shringhar is absolutely beautiful and
looks as if it’s radiating from afar. All
around the mandir there are so many decorated pillars and 3D carvings
everywhere you look. These 3D carvings
are once again of Shree Krishna Leela, Maharaji, the four other Jagadguru’s, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and of course the
Jagadguru Parivar. There is one
beautiful wax figure of Maharaji while he is creating his beautiful padhs. Just looking at this wax figure one would get
the feeling that Maharaji is really right in front of you. The ceilings have beautiful chandaliers
hanging to provide light and decorative beauty.
The internal dome structure is delicately carved and one would have to
wonder how the artisans were able to climb so high to carve the designs. Every wall inside and out is filled with
Radha Krishna prem. The internal walls
have couplets of Radha Govind Geet to once again remind the visitor of the
divine love of Radha Krishn. Each 3D
carving is so beautifully painted that it gives the feeling that this must be
the real Radha or real Krishna performing leelas in front of us.
The first floor also
has a structure which has not been revealed.
Some say it’s a robotic structure designed by a devotee in the US. The mystery entices us to visit the mandir
again to find out what Maharaji will reveal.
In my opinion, there is no mandir in the world that displays the clear bliss
of divine love of Yugal Sarkar.
Awesome!!
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