Searching for Krishna in Vrindavan

Srila Prabhupada wonderfully describes in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.24 the devotees who are searching for Krishna in Vrindavan:

"The tract of land comprising about one hundred square miles from modern Delhi to the Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, including a portion of the Gurgaon district in Punjab (East India), is considered to be the topmost place of pilgrimage in all of India. This land is sacred because Lord Krishna traveled through it many times. From the very beginning of His appearance, He was at Mathura in the house of His maternal uncle Kamsa, and He was reared by His foster father Maharaja Nanda at Vrindavan. There are still many devotees of the Lord lingering there in ecstasy in search of Krishna and His childhood associates, the gopis. It is not that such devotees meet Krishna face to face in that tract of land, but a devotee's eagerly searching after Krishna is as good as his seeing Him personally. How this is so cannot be explained, but it is factually realized by those who are pure devotees of the Lord. Philosophically, one can understand that Lord Krishna and His remembrance are on the absolute plane and that the very idea of searching for Him at Vrndavana in pure God consciousness gives more pleasure to the devotee than seeing Him face to face. Such devotees of the Lord see Him face to face at every moment, as confirmed in the Brahma-samhita (5.38):

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
'
Those who are in ecstasy of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Syamasundara [Krishna], see Him always in their hearts due to love and devotional service rendered to the Lord.'"

Properly hankering to see Krishna in Vrindavan or wherever we go, means hankering for the pure state of complete, total surrender to Krishna in which Krishna fully reveals Himself to Hs devotee. It does not mean maintaining your rascal material desires and cheaply expecting to see God.

Lord Sri Krishna in Vrindavan

Lord Sri Krishna in Vrindavan

Video For the Day: Intensify Your Hankering for Krishna Bhakti

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: Pray for Bhakti or for Material Things?

Dear Gurudeva,

I pray for material things as I fear that I may lose or Krishna may take away my job/business (in which I am struggling), house, money, family, etc. to try to push me towards Him. This is a hard landing.

But without job/business/money how I am going to survive? And more so, I and my family will go through' great difficulty and they along with friends & everybody may ultimately desert me considering me a fool, which could turn me away from Krishna consciousness as well. Total Loss .

If I pray for devotional service will Krishna automatically take care of all my anxieties, i.e. fear of loss etc?

Your aspiring servant,
P.A.

Answer: Pray Fruitfully, Not Fruitlessly

You have not yet understood the Bhagavad-gita. You describe coming to Krishna as something undesirable, a hard landing. Krishna says that He provides all necessities for those who are fully devoted to Him. Praying for other things means that you are not fully devoted to Him. As long as you remain on the material plane you will only get those material things that you deserve according to your karma. In other words, you will not get material things by praying for them. Such materialistic praying will keep you on the material plane in a constant state of confusion and frustration. So, such materialistic prayers are a useless waste of time. If you want your prayers to be fruitful, you must pray instead for pure devotional service by devotedly chanting at least 16 rounds daily of the Hare Krishna mahamantra on japa mala beads. Your prayers will not be effective unless you pray for pure devotional service. So why waste time praying fruitlessly? This is less intelligence. You should pray where your prayers will be fruitful by only praying for pure devotional service.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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