Vrindavan Ghats & Yamuna Restoration - Friends of Vrindavan project

"VRINDAVAN GHATS & YAMUNA RESTORATION"

CHIR GHAT. Vrindavan, Tuesday, June 3rd 2003, from 7.00 a.m.

Krishna, the God of love could not kill Kaliya, the serpent of pollution living in Yamuna, he merely contains him and orders Kaliya to live in the depths of the ocean. Krishna is telling us that he, being the Supreme godhead is unable to kill pollution, the greatest evil.

Once created it cannot be destroyed,
at best it can only be contained,
so he tells us not to pollute.

But Kaliya has returned to Yamuna at Vrindavan.
Yamuna has been forced away from Vrindavan
and we push her further away from our hearts and better sense each day.

PERHAPS THE WAY FORWARD IS TO RESPECT THE YAMUNA AS OUR WATER SOURCE
AND THE GHATS AS THE TRADITIONAL ACCESS TO YAMUNA.
LET US WORK TOGETHER IN SEVA, TO SAVE A DHAM!
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.
WHICH WAY ARE YOU GOING?

Friends of Vrindavan
Gambhira, Jai Singh Ghera
Vrindavan. UP 281 121 India.
Tel: + 91 (0) 565 2 442 087

Who is behind this effort? I noticed the Jai Singh Ghera address. Is Srivatsa Goswami involved?

Jagat should answer, he requested me to post this.

Vrindavan Ghats & Yamuna Restoration

Vrindavan Ghats & Yamuna Restoration

The point of the flyer is clear but philosophically it may be incorrect.

At the request of Kaliya's wives Sri Krsna spared the life of this polluter
but could have killed him very easily.

Does Kamsa still live at Mathura and does he still dispatch demons to Vrindaban ?

Just a thought ..I hope I don't offend anyone and if I am wrong I bow my head in humility and would love a chastizement.

Dnadavat Pranams,
Alan

http://www.fov.org.uk/

They have their offices in Jai Singh Ghera, but I don't believe that Srivatsa Goswami is directly involved except as a supporter.

This poster came to me without any further information. I agree that it is not very well written. I support FoV's goals, however, and thought that this should be circulated, even though it is not altogether clear to me what is going to happen on the said date.

A novel by Ursula K. LeGuin comes to mind: "The Word for World is Forest". Its a pretty good read, for you sci-fi fans.

Vrindavan: Eco City.

In Radhakund, the traditional Gaudiya Bengalis and Manipuris occupy much of the ramshackle area immediately around the Kundas. They are aware that they once collectively, as descendants of the sad-gosvami, owned '60 bighas' of land around, and have been steadily encroached upon over the centuries. The exception is the large residential area just outside town called Gaur-Dham, and I am told that a court case has been hearing dispute as to the ownership of that.

There was a rumour recently, that the Vrindavan Green Party was proposing that the area around the Kundas now be taken by the government, to be turned into a spacious park. Environmentally, this seems sound as the RK area is extremely congested. But in terms of the areas heritage, this would of course be disastrous, effectively 'ethnically cleansing' it, so to speak! No doubt some elements in the local land struggle would see 'Greening' as a very useful strategy to advance their cause.

I do not vouch for these rumours, but I post them as a warning to those who wish to support any such cause, to remain vigilant as to what its aims are.

Well, the Gaura-dham faction also tried to turn the Das Goswami land into government property.

We (myself and Acyutananda) also tried planting some trees there to transform Radha Kund closer to what it once was. We brought 7000 Rs. worth trees from a local nursery and brought them to Radha Kund and Shyama Kund area by tractor. Many of the Babas we'd spoken with eagerly awaited the trees' arrival. However, as we began digging the holes, a representative of the Panchat came and stopped our work. Eventually it turned out the biggest problem was that we are Westerners, the second biggest problem being their great desire to cut down the trees and build more and more of those kutirs.

We had to just leave the trees there in the open, unsure of their destiny. If they stood there for a couple of days, they'd inevitably die. At the same time, there wasn't much the two of us could have done, as the eyes of the Panchat were fixed on us. Baba himself liked the idea, but it seems that the word of the Mahant doesn't weigh much. He isn't inclined to participate in extensive quarrels with the managers there.

Anyhow, the next morning we learned to our great delight that many babajis had secretly taken trees in the nighttime from where we left them at, planting them here and there around the Shyama Kund area. We ended up having almost 90% of the trees planted, and the last I heard, most of them were still up and well despite the monkeys' harassment. Just recently I sent 8000 Rs. more to Acyuta for planting trees during the rainy season. I am waiting for a letter to arrive with some news.

Some pictures to come in a moment.