Gokul: Pilgrimage Travelogue of A Devotee

"Whoever sees Me present in all beings and all beings existing within Me, I am never lost to him and he is never lost to Me." (Bhagavad Gita 6.30)

      Gokul is located 15 km to the southeast of Mathura. Gokul, for many, is the real Gokul, where Krishna was secretly raised by Yashoda and Nandarai. However, there are others who believe that Mahavan is the real' Gokul where Krishna lived. There are many locations here that are connected with infant Krishna's growing up days. The similarity with Mahavan was so striking that I began to wonder which of the two the 'real Gokul' was! Gokul is located at 27.45°N latitude and 77.72°E longitude.

Gokul

      We travelled on the Mathura-Agra highway, in the direction of Gokul. Within a few minutes, we crossed the River Yamuna. We knew that we would be reaching Gokul soon. Suddenly, we saw a signboard indicating a left turn for Gokul. The signboard indicated that Gokul was around three kilometres away. When we took the left turn, we saw lots of young men standing on the road. Some of them were frantically waving at us, using both their hands. I told my driver that there might be a roadblock ahead, so these men were cautioning us to avoid taking the road ahead. My driver laughed at my innocence. He said that they were also guides who wanted to force themselves upon hapless tourists. He was right. Within a few seconds our car reached the human barricade. Each man insisted that he was not a guide, but a Brijwasi Brahmin student performing this task to further his education. The guides at Gokul are as aggressive as their counterparts in Mathura. I refused to enlist any of them. One of them was enterprising enough to climb our Toyota Qualis and hang onto the footboard. My driver accelerated, hoping that he would get scared and drop off. However, he did not realise that these men have nerves of steel. As many driver accelerated and kept turning on the winding roads, the guide hung on to the car, swaying his body in the same direction as the car to prevent his fall.

      After a couple of kilometres, I asked my driver to stop the car and told him, "Let us hire him. Any person, with this level of perseverance to guide us, must be a true devotee of Lord Krishna. Let him take us around Gokul."

      Ashwani waved his hand and the guide happily jumped into the cat.

      The guide told us that there were a few salient features of this holy town. No meat, alcohol, and eggs are sold here. People believe that crows don't stay in this town at night and they will die if they do so.

      Surprisingly, there are more than 2000 Gujarati families staying here. Most of the shops carry signboards both in Hindi and Gujarati. I felt as if I was in a small town in Gujarat and not Uttar Pradesh!

      As I entered Gokul town, I passed through a huge gate known as Gokul Dwar. After passing through it, I saw a goshala (cowshed) to my right. It is believed that the secret naming ceremony of Lord Balarama and Lord Krishna was performed by Garga Muni in this very Goshala. On the right is a road known as Makhan Chor Galli. It is believed that Krishna would walk through these lanes and enter the houses of various villagers and steal the butter and distribute it to His friends. The gopis would be upset on finding their butter and curds stolen everyday. They even complained to Yashoda a few times about the pranks Krishna and His friends would play.

NANDA YASHODA BHAVAN

      Similar to Mahavan, this town too boasts of a Nanda Yashoda Bhavan. This is the house where Krishna was left in the custody of Yashoda and Nanda. When entered the premises, on the left side of Nanda Yashoda Bhavan, I found a small play area with lot of sand. This is the place where Lord Krishna played as an infant and also showed the world some of His miracles.

      As I walked past the main arch, I reached the main entrance of Nanda Bhavan. Inside, on the left, is an idol of Lord Shiva. It is believed that when Krishna was consistently attacked by various demons, His mother Yashoda felt scared and was concerned about the safety of her infant. She prayed to Lord Shiva and asked Him to protect her Son from demon, without realising that her Son was an Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Protector of the whole Universe! Lord Shiva, hearing Yashoda's innocent pleas, agreed and promised to stay in the form of an idol at the entrance of Nanda Bhavan.

      Right opposite the idol of Lord Shiva, is a small room known as the Putana Moksha room. This is the room where the demoness Putana tried to poison Krishna but was killed in the bargain. Since she was killed by the Supreme Lord, she attained moksha immediately. There is a huge statue of Putana lying on the floor with Infant Krishna crawling on her body. This reminded me of Putana Temple in Mahavan, which narrated the same story.

      Inside Nanda Bhavan is a room filled with different idols. At the centre is a huge idol of Balarama, with a snake hood rising above him a reminder to devotees that Balarama is an incarnation of the Lord Sheshnag. To the left is an idol of Nanda and to the right is that of Yashoda. In front of these are the idols of Krishna, Balarama, and Revathi on the left. On the right are idols of Krishna and Yogamaya. Yogamaya is an incarnation of Goddess Durga and here She is mounted on a tiger, like Goddess Durga. In front of all these idols is a cradle with an idol of Infant Krishna in it. The way these idols have been set up resembles that in Mahavan. Devotees are allowed to swing this cradle and receive the blessings of the Supreme Lord. The priest opens and closes the curtain every few minutes. The people here believe that the curtain needs to be closed every few minutes to feed Infant Krishna. One striking feature of this temple is the fact that the idol of Balarama is bigger and more prominent than that of Krishna. One more noteworthy feature is the fact that the idol of Balarama is black and a peacock feather adorns it, which we normally associate with Krishna.

      By the time I came out of Nanda Bhavan, the guide realised that I was spending too much time for his comfort. He felt he was better off chasing tourists who would spend just five minutes at each temple and still pay him the same amount. He collected ten rupees from me and hastily excused himself, saying he had to rush to complete some personal errands!

YASHODA GHAT

      Yashoda Ghat in Gokul is equivalent to the Brahmanda Ghat in Mahavan. Just as people in Mahavan believe that Lord Krishna showed the whole Universe to His mother Yashoda at Brahmanda Ghat, people at Gokul believe that this divine incident took place here in Gokul. This serene ghat is on the banks of Yamuna where lots of devotees take a holy dip. As in any ghat, this one too has many long steps that lead down to the river. The many huge trees that surround this ghat provides shade to the tourists. If you are tired and need respite from the hot sun then you have come to the right place.