Flooded Yamuna

Here in Vrindavan we are seeing something very extraordinary. Because of the flooding the River Yamuna has come back to its original bank at Kaliya ghat, the place where Lord Krishna jumped from the kadamba tree into the Yamuna to subdue the Kaliya serpent 5,000 years ago. When Krishna was here the Yamuna took the form of a great lake here in Vrindavana. I have been coming to Vrindavan regularly for the last 30 years, and I have only seen the Yamuna as a shallow stream that you can wade across. It is normally situated at least a half a mile from the site where Krishna jumped into it. But now for the first time in my experience it is indeed wonderful to see that Yamuna as again become a huge lake with its bank at Kaliya ghat.

In the follow excerpt from the Krishna Book Srila Prabhupada describes the kadamba tree and how Yamuna took the form of a great lake:

"Sukadeva Goswami narrated the story as follows. Within the river Yamuna there was a great lake, and in that lake the black serpent Kaliya used to live. Because of his poison, the whole area was so contaminated that it emanated a poisonous vapor twenty-four hours a day. If a bird happened to even pass over the spot, it would immediately die and fall down into the water. Due to the poisonous effect of the Yamuna's vapors, the trees and grass near the bank of the Yamuna had all dried up. Lord Krishna saw the effect of the great serpent's poison: the whole river that ran before Vrindavana was now deadly.

"Krishna, who advented Himself just to kill all undesirable elements in the world, immediately climbed up into a big kadamba tree on the bank of the Yamuna. The kadamba is a tree bearing round yellow flowers that is generally seen only in the Vrindavana area. After climbing to the top of the tree, He tightened His belt cloth and, slapping His arms just like a wrestler, jumped into the midst of the poisonous lake."

There are so many wonderful ways to remember here in Vrindavana. Everyone who aspires for ultimate perfection of going back to home, back to Godhead should plan on spending some quality time at least once in their lifetime here in Vrindavana.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Krishna Subdues Kaliya Serpent in River Yamuna

Flood Brings Yamuna to Kaliya Ghat
Sri Vrindavana Dhama--27 September 2010

Flood Transforms Yamuna into a Vast Lake
27 September 2010

View of Kesi Ghat from Madan Mohan Temple
27 September 2010

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Attain Knowledge of God's Creation?

I would like to thank you for elaborating about Maheshwaraloka in "Thought for the Day" on Sunday 26 September 2010. Such wonderful knowledge and information!!!!!!

I would like to have more knowledge like that. In fact more than devotional service I'm interested in this type of knowledge. If it is ok with you to teach jnana yoga instead of bhakti yoga, can you please guide me to attain this kind of knowledge and information? It will be very nice of you if you can suggest me the texts and literature which will give me a complete knowledge about God's creation.

Gautam

Answer: Read Srila Prabhupada's Books

If you want to become a master of Vedic knowledge all you have to do is read and apply the teachings of my most beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. You can find them available in the store at:www.krishna.com

There is no reason to teach jnana yoga (the yoga of knowledge) separately because when one becomes fully realized in bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) he automatically becomes the most learned jnani (wise man). If one wants jnana without bhakti, his knowledge will always remain imperfect and incomplete. So the intelligent thing to do is to cultivate knowledge and bhakti side by side by utilizing the knowledge as a springboard to catapult oneself into higher and higher dimensions of bhakti or devotion. Perfect knowledge of God and His creation is only revealed to those who purely love Him without any thought of material benefits.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari