Khadiravan

KhandirvanKhadiravan is one of the forests where Krishna would often bring His cows for herding. Krishna, Balaramji alongwith all the other Gopas have performed many playful pastimes in the forest of Khadiravan. Here at Khadiravan, Krishna killed the gigantic duck demon, Bakasura. Sangam Kunda also known as Madhurya Kunda, the meeting place of Krishna and the Gopis is also situated in Khadiravan. At Sangam Kunda, Krishna and the Gopis would perform Rasa Leela and many other extraordinary pastimes. Khadiravan is also the place where Lokanath Goswami and sometimes Bhugarbha Goswami also, would perform their bhajan (devotional practices).

Shrila Lokanath Goswami was first amongst the Goswamis to be sent to Vrindavan by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for fulfilling His mission of excavating the lost pastime places of Vrindavan and to establish the temples of worship in Vrindavan. Lokanath Goswami would stay in a secluded place on the banks of Kishori Kunda in Khadiravan and perform his bhajans constantly.  Radhanath Swami narrates in one of his discourses at Khadiravan that how the deity of Radha Vinoda manifested before Lokanath Goswami at this place. Lokanath Goswami later moved to Vrindavan with his worshipable deities on the request of Rupa and Sanatana Goswami. Shrila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur who was a descendent in his disciplic line later on established the  worship of Radha Gokulananda at the place where Lokanath Goswami used to worship Radha Vinoda in Khadiravan. The deities of Radha Gokulananda are still worshipped at this place.

Prayer: Radhanath Swami states that Bakasura, the demon killed by Krishna in Khadiravan, represents the anartha of hypocrisy, duplicity and deceptive behavior. It is a great demon that kills our propensity of loving service to Krishna. He quoted Bhaktisiddhanta Sarawati Thakur explaining that the first quality of a real Vaishnava is simplicity. Simplicity means without duplicity, without a second agenda. A Vaishnava doesn’t speak one thing and does another thing. He doesn’t speak things to deceive people for his own selfish purposes. Deception is an expression of false ego. One must be honest, simple and truthful. So at Khadiravan, we should pray that we can chant the names of Krishna with such sincerity and serve the Vaishnavas with such care that the demon of hypocrisy, duplicity and deceitfulness can forever be vanquished from our hearts. Also we should pray that the sweet beautiful pastimes of Radha and Krishna be forever manifest in our hearts.

[srp srp_number_post_option=’10’ srp_orderby_post_option=’rand’ srp_thumbnail_option=’yes’ srp_filter_cat_option=’50’]