A Visit to Surya Kunda -

The following are a few photos from a recent visit to Surya Kunda. I'd been wanting to visit for a long time, having once come across a picture of Surya Narayanaji that I took a great liking to. (The picture was part of a slide show and I had to secretly take the slide off to a photo studio in order to have it printed up. I've kept the photo with me since then.) The pastimes that take place here are also some of the most amusing that I have come across, especially with Krsna pretending to be a brahmacari and refusing to touch Radha's hand or be alone with her. He also manages to crack many jokes at the expense of Jatila and her son.

Aesthetically, Surya Kunda is also wonderful. It is part of the old Vraja, off the beaten track, located away from the crowds in the midst of farmland and open fields.

Surya Narayanaji in his temporary location, moved while a new temple is built:

(unfortunately the lights were going on and off and the flash didn't seem to work well)

This picture looks out across the kunda from the roof of the new Surya Narayanaji Mandir toward a small island. The kutir on the island belonged to Manipuri Baba, who apparently performed bhajan there for 100 years.





Looking to the right of the kunda:

This is on the roof of the new temple. On the left is Dhanurdhara Swami and on the right is BV Trivikrama Maharaja. I knew Trivikrama Maharaja from his days at the Krishna Balarama Mandir, where he was Krsna Caitanya Das. He took sannyasa in the Gaudiya Matha from Santa Maharaja. He was given control of Surya Narayanaji by Mauni Baba. From memory, they had collected 20 lakh or so for the new temple, mostly from Delhi.



This is looking to the left of the kunda. The building is the asrama of Siddha Madhusudana Das Baba.



A few of the construction workers' children.

This is apparently where Jagannatha Das Babaji performed bhajan. Trivikrama Maharaja said that the Brijbasis had taken control of it, perhaps knowing its potential as an attraction.

I didn't quite understand the story here but this is where Radharani's mukut has made an impression. The stone is placed in the wall of the samadhi of Madhusudana Das Baba.



The samadhi, with the base of the mukut stone visible behind.



Opposite the samadhi is an altar with Gaura Nitai.



Radharaman Carana Das Baba on the altar. There was also a "Nitai-Gaura Radhe-Syama" inscription above the altar but when I asked Trivikrama Maharaja who was in charge, he said that the followers of Tinkudi Goswami were.

The sadhus here were actually amazing. There were at least four or five present when we arrived and they all paid dandavats to us. I only took photos of two of them but you can see that they were obviously intent on their bhajan. There was one sadhu who was extremely humble in his demeanor but he stared at us the whole time we were there, while chanting on his mala. When I say "stared", I don't mean the typical "let's look at the Westerners" kind of staring. It was a mystical kind of look. I really don't know what he was seeing and I didn't dare take a picture of him. When we left, he followed us and, standing behind a low wall, kept looking right into us. It was exhilarating somehow.

Surya Kunda seems to be a great place for bhajan.





This is looking back across the kunda at the new temple construction.



Outside the Siddha Baba temple.



A final view of a resident, happy that the rains were about to come down again.

If anyone has any factual corrections, please let me know. I scribbled notes on a small piece of paper but they didn't always sound convincing or thorough.

It'd also be nice if anyone can post pastimes (or even references to pastimes) at Surya Kunda.

Dandavats. All glories to the Vaisnavas.

Surya Kunda

At this place, there is a temple dedicated to Surya Narayana. Surya Kunda and Gopala Kunda are here. The village is known as Bharna. The Surya Narayana temple is on the bank of Surya Kunda.

Once Radharani placed Her mukut (golden crown) on a rock while she was bathing in Surya Kunda. The rock melted and still there are the marks of Radha’s crown imprinted into the rock. This rock is located in the Gaura Nitai temple, near the samadhi of the Gaudiya sadhu Madhusudana Dasa Babaji, on the west bank of the kunda. The rock is embedded in the back wall.

The samadhi of Madhusudana Dasa Babaji, the guru of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, is here. Jagannatha Dasa Babaji did bhajana here for some time. The samadhi of Sri Bhagavat dasa Babaji, the sannyasa guru of Gaura Kishor Dasa Babaji, is also here.

Radha and Krishna would come here to enjoy their Surya-puja pastimes around 3 pm. This was one of the few places that Krishna and Srimati Radharani could meet safely. On Sunday, Radharani would come to this place and worship the sun god, Surya. This was the only place her mother-in-law would allow her to go. The pujaris in this temple were two respectable looking brahmacaris. One was the guru and the other was his disciple. Krishna was acting as the guru and Madhumangala was acting as His disciple. There is a full description of this story in Govinda-lilamrita and Krishna-bhavanamrita.

It is also said that Krishna would pick flowers here and make them into a garland for Radharani

from: http://www.naturalnirvana.com/Braja-Mandal...a-Parakrama.htm

Brajaji:
Thanks for these wonderful pictures... they are so sweet for those of us that have not had a chance to visit the Holy Dham... and probably will not for a while.

When I opened this post, and the pictures of Surya Narayanaji came up, my 10 month old daughter started bouncing on my lap & laughing... and she stopped when I scrolled down a bit... then started again when I when back to the top of the post.. She singlehandedly surpased any type of devotional feelings I've ever had in my whole life...

Radhe! Radhe!