as it was in Vrindavan. The objects of love have changed but the source of love
remains the same. So whosoever comes near him receives the gift. And this.
Krishna's Vrindavan:
From Pollution to Purity T RAAS LEELA: Raas means dancing with the Master, so that your energy is flowing and the Master's energy is flowing.
12
he word "mysticism" comes from a Greek word, mysterion, which means "secret ceremony"," says Osho, "The people who have touched the unknowable gather together to share. The sharing is not verbal; it cannot be verbal. The sharing is of their being; they pour their being into each other. They dance together, they sing together, they look into each other's eyes, or they simply sit silently together. That's what was being done with Buddha, with Krishna, with Jesus, in different ways. "The lovers of Krishna were dancing with him. That was a mysterion, a secret ceremony. If you look from the outside at what is happening you will not be able to know what is really the case. Unless you become a participant, unless you dance with Krishna, you will not know what is being shared, because that which is being shared is invisible. It is not a commodity, it cannot be transferred from one hand to another; you will not see anything happening like that. It is not objective. It is the flowing of one being into another, flowing of the presence of the Master into the disciple. "These kinds of secret ceremonies in India have been called raas; in the tradition of Krishna they are called raas. Raas means dancing with the Master, so that your energy is flowing and the Master's energy is flowing. And only flowing energies can have a meeting. Stagnant pools cannot meet, only rivers can meet. It is only through movement that meeting is possible," says Osho in his book "The Secret".
OLDEST IN VRINDAVAN: Madan Mohan temple on the left for Radha signifying purity and on the right for Krishna.
On the banks of a pristine Jamuna, Krishna frolicked, killed demons, played his flute, danced the Raas Leela with Gopis, and played his 'Leela' over 5,000 years ago. Osho describes it, "Only a person who is aware can love, because he doesn't need you. But then love has a totally different dimension: it is not attachment, it is not dependence. He is not dependent on you and he will not make you dependent on him; he will remain a freedom and he will allow you to remain a freedom. You will be two free agents, two total, whole beings, meeting. That meeting will be a festivity, a celebration - not a dependence. That meeting will be a fun, a play. "That is why we have called Krishna's life KRISHNA-LEELA, the play of Krishna. He loves so many persons but there is no attachment. The same is not true on the part of the GOPIS and the GOPALS, the friends and the girl friends of Krishna. The same is not true. They have become attached, so when Krishna moves from Vrindavan to Dwaraka, they weep and cry and suffer. Their anguish is great because they think that Krishna has forgotten them. He has not forgotten, but there is no pain because there was no dependence; he is as whole and happy in Dwaraka as he was in Vrindavan and his love is flowing as much in Dwaraka
as it was in Vrindavan. The objects of love have changed but the source of love remains the same. So whosoever comes near him receives the gift. And this gift is unconditional: nothing is required as a return, nothing is asked as a return. When love comes through an aware consciousness it is just a pure gift with no condition, and the person who is giving it is happy because he is giving it. The very act of giving is his bliss, his ecstasy," says Osho in VIGYAN BHAIRAV TANTRA. "Down the centuries, pilgrims have been going to Vrindavan to experience the ecstasy, the ambience, the environment and vibrations of Lord Krishna. On the banks of the river lies the ancient city Vrindavan a city where the Gods once lived. This is the sacred place where thousands of Krishna devotees from all over the world come in search of the legends of Krishna and themselves on its 5,000 red sandstone temples. It is part of man's eternal search for himself," says Osho. Today, this holy city is lost in a maze of polluting traffic, jostling crowds and ever-present garbage…. a city that now looks as if it's soul is being drowned out by the sound of its pilgrims and their material ways. But Krishna's past in evidence on these temples is now in very real danger of disappearing according to research done by an Osho lover and a noted film director, Satyen Wanchoo. Making a documentary film under the banner of Avifauna for the Eco City Project, he discovered that the 19th Banki Bihari, the most popular temple in Vrindavan is now hemmed in by a spillover of a city that's burst it's seams. Thousands of pilgrims come here for a glimpse of a rare idol of
Osho Lover and film director, Satyen Wanchoo. making a documentary film under the banner of Avifauna for the Eco City Project in Vrindavan.
13
Krishna called thousands of Thakurji. The Krishna pilgrims who visit idol was discovered by Vrindavan every year. poet and mystic Swami Their Parikrama or walk Ram Das, a poet and the around the city's guru of Tansen, a temples is anything but musician at the court of comfortable. Vast stretches along the Mughal Emperor Akbar. parikrama route, the Tansen's Guru unearthed main road encircling this precious Krishna Vrindavan is devoid of idol in the sacred groves any tree cover. To add to - the Nidhi Van. Now, all it, is the stench from that's left of this sacred garbage and open grove are a few stunted Despite the vanishing green space, Vrindavan's monkeys are flourishing grabbing food from pilgrims and making a ruckus while enjoying themselves. drains. Tonnes of solid shrubs. It's here, in waste generated in Vrindavan every day by a Nidhi Van, that Krishna is believed to have played his population of nearly 40,000 residents and about 150,000 flute for his Gopis or his many consorts. pilgrims. Some of this is just dumped into vacant plots Osho says, "Gopi is a very significant word; it of land, piling up, untreated for years together - a comes from the tradition of the devotee. There are two potential breeding ground for disease. paths: one is of knowledge, wisdom, meditation, and Garbage that is now even filling some of the city's the other is that of love, devotion, and surrender. The sacred spaces. Like the Bramha Kund. This is the spot word "gopi" belongs to the other tradition, the where Lord Brahma, the Hindu God of Creation is tradition of surrender. Literally Gopi means the supposed to have hidden all the cowherds and cows beloved of God. On the path of devotion only God is from Vrindavan in a cave to test Lord Krishna's powers. the man; everyone else is feminine. And everybody is Krishna responded by transforming himself into all the desiring, searching, seeking the lover. Krishna missing cowherds so that their families would not miss represents the lover and Gopi represents the beloved. them. Finally, having realized the true power of Lord The search is not through mind but through heart. The Krishna, Brahma the creator returned the cowherds and search is not through effort but through surrender, cows to their protector, Krishna. Humbled by the total surrender. So slowly slowly teach her the way of experience, Brahma is said to have cried enough tears devotion, of love." to form a small lake, that was later called the Brahma People here believe that Krishna still comes to Kund. Nidhi Van every evening to dance with his gopis. Now, while the Which is why, nobody Kund is filled with the is allowed to enter here city's waste, the lake after sundown. The has completely dried sacred groves then are up. The city does have one of very few a sewage treatment surviving legacies from plant by which 18 Vrindavan's past. wastewater drains from Despite the the city are diverted to vanishing green space, the sewage treatment Vrindavan's monkeys plant. However, some are flourishing drains still empty into grabbing food from the Yamuna. As a pilgrims and making a result, the riverfront is ruckus while enjoying polluted. Yet pilgrims themselves. Unlike the actually come to this monkeys, there is very polluted river looking little respite for the Some drains still empty into the Yamuna. as a result, the river is polluted. rrying, most residents thousands of pilgrims 14 Cont. Pg. 19
