Parikrama at Vrindavan in Mathura
I am going to share my experience on a spiritual tour to Mathura, the land of Sri Krishna.
Our journey started from Delhi. We were seven of us; two of them were my close friends and classmates. We studied together in school (11th and 12th Standard) and completed our graduation as well, together. We started our journey on 9th Dec 2011 at 6 AM in the morning. It was beautiful to see the sun-rise early morning. Mathura is about 150 kms from Delhi, about 3 hours drive. The route is Delhi – Faridabad – Ballabgarh – Palwal – Hodal – Mathura. We had tea and breakfast on the way. One good thing of highways in North India is you have plenty of options for food and the highways are full of Dhabas, the so called Indian roadside restaurants. We completed our trip on the same day and reached back home at 10 pm.
This is not the first time I have gone there. I have been there couple of times before as well. The whole Parikrama is 21 kms long and is divided in two parts. The first one is 12 kms long and the second one is 9 kms long. Though the second one is shorter as compared to the first one, but the second stretch becomes more difficult. Majority of the devotees do the Parikrama walking barefoot, but that’s not the only way people do Parikrama. There are cycle rickshaw’s available for people who are unable to do it on foot or want to do it comfortably.
There are some who make their Parikrama even more rigorous. It is called “Dandavat Parikrama”, rather than walking, they offered prostrations on the ground, falling like a stick (meaning of Dandavat) again and again and completed the entire path of 21 kms. Some people do not eat anything until they complete the Parikrama, but some like us enjoy every moment of this and the roadside eateries.
Last two times when I did, the roads were in pathetic condition and there were quite a few places with steep jagged rocks to walk over. But this time, there have been some improvements at least the roads are much better to walk (though it has been compromised by cutting trees due to road widening). Though people do it as and when they can, its peak during Ekadasi (eleventh lunar day of the waxing and waning of the moon). As I mentioned earlier, generally both stretches are completed in one go, some people do it one at a time and complete the other during next visit.
During peak time, this place is overcrowded with people and traffic. During this time traffic management needs attention, though there have been traffic policemen manning the traffic still there’s chaos everywhere and to top-it all drivers keep honking all the time. But once you start your journey and move away from the main city area, it is more peaceful with less traffic and noise. This area is highly infested by beggars and you will see them every few meters. Not only this, you will also see people selling food articles, eatables etc and some mobile ayurvedic medicine shops (I am sure you would have heard ‘Sheetal Pain Balm’) all across the road. There are groups on the way singing Bhajans and devoting their time meditating.
This time we did it slight differently, Instead of doing both the stretches at once we thought of completing first one (which is 12 kms) and visit few other temples and places around Vrindavan. In our quest, we visited few interesting places (interesting because it sounded like and took quite a long to figure out the place). We visited Sheesh Mahal (a room decorated from thousands of pieces of mirror), Basanti Kamara (meaning room of Basanti, I don’t know why this name has been given to this room but they have stored old chandeliers and lights in this room for public), Govind Dev Temple, Seva Kunj also called as Tulsivan (Place where Lord Krishna performed raslila with radharani), Nidhi Van (it is said that Krishna rested with his beloved Sri Radha and performed rasalila here, no one is allowed to stay inside after dusk because according to popular belief the lord visits the spot with Radha every Night and people say that no one looks at Nidhivan in the night, if anyone does that he/she will lose eye sight or get some other form of deformity) and few others. When you go there, you will find guides available at almost every place and they don’t cost more. We hired a guide to show us around for merely Rs.20. It seems cheap, but what people don’t know is they have fixed percentage in offerings given by devotees to the temple trusts (that’s we felt, we are not talking about the main temples but rather the smaller one’s made in almost every house and the guides will take you there and tell you some story about it). This is very organized and people usually don’t get to know about it.
While travelling within Mathura, we also saw a very big (like three story building) Maa Vaishno Devi figure, what a feeling, since we were in the car I could not get a better picture but was able to capture to show what it looked like.
Always keep in mind the following point:
- This is a sacred place, please help and maintain it
- Always remain vigilant for your belonging and surroundings
- Do not pay attention to beggars, you pay one and you will soon be surrounded by too many.
- Do not pay attention to those who sell religious items or books unless you are interested in buying any of those products being offered. They try to lure buyers saying the need to feed their kid or need to pay the school fees of their kid, all these are tactics used by them for selling their items.
- This place is full of monkeys and they are always on the lookout for food and other items. The monkeys here have special fascination for cameras and spectacles apart from food of course (It is possible that these monkeys are trained to steal such items from devotees, no proofs but saying it from experience). Therefore, keep your spectacles, mobiles or any other valuables safely. Do not keep any such items in your shirt pocket as well.
- Your goal should be to worship Lord and complete the Parikrama.
- Keep chanting his name and you will get thru.
- Choose your pace as you are comfortable and maintain.
- Have plenty of liquids in between not to get de-hydrated.
- Don’t forget to enjoy Puri-Sabji and Mathura’s favorite Peda’s.
We had our share of fun, laughter and spiritualism and we enjoyed every bit of it. Not to mention, we did enjoy our share of puri-sabji and the famous peda’s, what a treat. I met my friends after 2 years on this trip. It was fun and laughter during the entire journey and I will cherish this trip for times to come. Thanks my friend for organizing this trip and making it a memorable experience, once more.
Our journey started from Delhi. We were seven of us; two of them were my close friends and classmates. We studied together in school (11th and 12th Standard) and completed our graduation as well, together. We started our journey on 9th Dec 2011 at 6 AM in the morning. It was beautiful to see the sun-rise early morning. Mathura is about 150 kms from Delhi, about 3 hours drive. The route is Delhi – Faridabad – Ballabgarh – Palwal – Hodal – Mathura. We had tea and breakfast on the way. One good thing of highways in North India is you have plenty of options for food and the highways are full of Dhabas, the so called Indian roadside restaurants. We completed our trip on the same day and reached back home at 10 pm.
Vrindavan Parikrama is a spiritual walk undertaken by devotees around Vrindavan town in Uttar Pradesh. Parikrama meant walk around the sacred Vrindavan by foot, feeling the Braj raja, the soil of the Dham under one’s feet and meditating. As such there is no particular start or end place specified, but there are junctions, which are considered as the start and end points. The point is you should end at the same place you start.
This is not the first time I have gone there. I have been there couple of times before as well. The whole Parikrama is 21 kms long and is divided in two parts. The first one is 12 kms long and the second one is 9 kms long. Though the second one is shorter as compared to the first one, but the second stretch becomes more difficult. Majority of the devotees do the Parikrama walking barefoot, but that’s not the only way people do Parikrama. There are cycle rickshaw’s available for people who are unable to do it on foot or want to do it comfortably. 
There are some who make their Parikrama even more rigorous. It is called “Dandavat Parikrama”, rather than walking, they offered prostrations on the ground, falling like a stick (meaning of Dandavat) again and again and completed the entire path of 21 kms. Some people do not eat anything until they complete the Parikrama, but some like us enjoy every moment of this and the roadside eateries.
While walking, it takes anywhere between 6-8 hours to complete the entire stretch of 21 kms. The first one usually takes lesser time as your energy levels are high and your feet’s are not tired. If you are doing Parikrama by Cycle Rickshaw, you can complete entire Parikrama in just 2-3 hours and Dandavat Parikrama can take days to complete. They stay in different Ashrams in the night and next day morning start their Parikrama where they stopped last night so that it becomes continuous.
Last two times when I did, the roads were in pathetic condition and there were quite a few places with steep jagged rocks to walk over. But this time, there have been some improvements at least the roads are much better to walk (though it has been compromised by cutting trees due to road widening). Though people do it as and when they can, its peak during Ekadasi (eleventh lunar day of the waxing and waning of the moon). As I mentioned earlier, generally both stretches are completed in one go, some people do it one at a time and complete the other during next visit.
During peak time, this place is overcrowded with people and traffic. During this time traffic management needs attention, though there have been traffic policemen manning the traffic still there’s chaos everywhere and to top-it all drivers keep honking all the time. But once you start your journey and move away from the main city area, it is more peaceful with less traffic and noise. This area is highly infested by beggars and you will see them every few meters. Not only this, you will also see people selling food articles, eatables etc and some mobile ayurvedic medicine shops (I am sure you would have heard ‘Sheetal Pain Balm’) all across the road. There are groups on the way singing Bhajans and devoting their time meditating.
This time we did it slight differently, Instead of doing both the stretches at once we thought of completing first one (which is 12 kms) and visit few other temples and places around Vrindavan. In our quest, we visited few interesting places (interesting because it sounded like and took quite a long to figure out the place). We visited Sheesh Mahal (a room decorated from thousands of pieces of mirror), Basanti Kamara (meaning room of Basanti, I don’t know why this name has been given to this room but they have stored old chandeliers and lights in this room for public), Govind Dev Temple, Seva Kunj also called as Tulsivan (Place where Lord Krishna performed raslila with radharani), Nidhi Van (it is said that Krishna rested with his beloved Sri Radha and performed rasalila here, no one is allowed to stay inside after dusk because according to popular belief the lord visits the spot with Radha every Night and people say that no one looks at Nidhivan in the night, if anyone does that he/she will lose eye sight or get some other form of deformity) and few others. When you go there, you will find guides available at almost every place and they don’t cost more. We hired a guide to show us around for merely Rs.20. It seems cheap, but what people don’t know is they have fixed percentage in offerings given by devotees to the temple trusts (that’s we felt, we are not talking about the main temples but rather the smaller one’s made in almost every house and the guides will take you there and tell you some story about it). This is very organized and people usually don’t get to know about it. 
While travelling within Mathura, we also saw a very big (like three story building) Maa Vaishno Devi figure, what a feeling, since we were in the car I could not get a better picture but was able to capture to show what it looked like.
The facilities are pathetic or should we say no facilities provided.The UP government and administration should pay attention to the civic amenities and build basic infrastructure to help the devotees.. There are no provisions of toilets, especially for ladies. They should provide dustbins at regular intervals to maintain cleanliness. There are more than 5000 temples in this area but the place is poorly maintained, even some of the main temples are not maintained properly. The place is infested by monkeys who are notorious and fascinated by cameras and spectacles. These monkeys are very bold and will snatch the items at the first opportunity. One of the monkeys snatched my friends hand towel and we saw couple of them stealing food items from the fellow devotees.
Always keep in mind the following point:
- This is a sacred place, please help and maintain it
- Always remain vigilant for your belonging and surroundings
- Do not pay attention to beggars, you pay one and you will soon be surrounded by too many.
- Do not pay attention to those who sell religious items or books unless you are interested in buying any of those products being offered. They try to lure buyers saying the need to feed their kid or need to pay the school fees of their kid, all these are tactics used by them for selling their items.
- This place is full of monkeys and they are always on the lookout for food and other items. The monkeys here have special fascination for cameras and spectacles apart from food of course (It is possible that these monkeys are trained to steal such items from devotees, no proofs but saying it from experience). Therefore, keep your spectacles, mobiles or any other valuables safely. Do not keep any such items in your shirt pocket as well.
- Your goal should be to worship Lord and complete the Parikrama.
- Keep chanting his name and you will get thru.
- Choose your pace as you are comfortable and maintain.
- Have plenty of liquids in between not to get de-hydrated.
- Don’t forget to enjoy Puri-Sabji and Mathura’s favorite Peda’s.
We had our share of fun, laughter and spiritualism and we enjoyed every bit of it. Not to mention, we did enjoy our share of puri-sabji and the famous peda’s, what a treat. I met my friends after 2 years on this trip. It was fun and laughter during the entire journey and I will cherish this trip for times to come. Thanks my friend for organizing this trip and making it a memorable experience, once more.
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