Radha Damodar Temple in Vrindavan

      Radha Damodar Temple is also one of the most important temples in Vrindavan. The idol here was carved by the famous saint Rupa Goswami. Later, he handed it over to his disciple Jiva Goswami who built a temple here in 1542. It is believed that all the Goswami's used to meet here and discuss the stories of Radha and Krishna. This temple is very close to Seva Kunj. In fact, many centuries ago, it was a part of Seva Kunj. The temple is also close to the ever busy Loi Bazaar.

      The temple has a huge courtyard in front of the Sanctum sanctorum. I saw lots of devotees chanting in the Courtyard. The style and the accent of the chants and the arati of the devotees reminded me of ISKCON. The reason is not difficult to comprehend. I learnt later that Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON had spent many years in Vrindavan, frequenting this temple. His influence is very evident among the present day devotees. Srila Prabhupada had prepared well before he launched the ISKCON movement worldwide.

Radha Damodar Temple

      On the right side of the temple premises was a small room which was used by Srila Prabhupada. Sitting in this small room, under the sweltering heat of Vrindavan, he translated the entire Srimad Bhagavatam. From his room, he could see the samadhi and Bhajan Kutir of Rupa Goswami which served as a continuous inspiration to him.

      The cream-coloured temple building had three arches in front. Beautiful paintings adorned these arches. A huge bell hung on the right. As in many other temples of Brij Bhoomi, here also, the altar had a huge multi-stepped podium. This podium was covered with a colourful cloth. Many pairs of Radha-Krishna idols, known by different names, were kept on the podium. Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandraji's idols were worshipped by Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. Lalitha Sakhi Sri Radha Damnodarji's idols were worshipped by Jiva Goswami. Sri Radha Madhavaji's idols were worshipped by Jaidev Goswami. Sri Radha Chail Chikanjis idols were worshipped by Bhugarbha Goswami. As in the case of Banke Bihari Temple, here too, huge curtains cover the deity every few seconds.

      In front of the deities was a black stone. This was no ordinary stone, it was Goverdhan Shila. This is also known as Girirajcharan Shila. It was worshiped by Sanatana Goswami because it has the divine footprints of Lord Krishna on it. It also has imprints of a calf, flute and a lathi (stick used to control the cows while grazing).

      While performing Parikrama of the altar, I was surprised to see numerous small temple-like structures on three sides. These were samadhis of holy saints. One more notable feature is that although these structures were small, there were many of them on the left side of the altar. And they were bigger in size and less in number on the right side of the altar. Among them were many bhajan kutirs. The bhajan kutirs and samadhis of Rupa Goswami and Jiva Goswami can be seen here. There was also a bhajan kutir of Srila Prabhupada.