Well, last Sunday i.e. 4 th July, tempted by pleasant weather we decided to go to Mathura. We started our journey around 8 in the morning. Our first stop was at Haryana tourism restaurant near Hodal. There we had our breakfast. The quality of food offered is not worth the money.After breakfast we started our journey again for Mathura. The drive on the Mathura road is very nice and smooth. We reached Mathura around 12 ‘o clock. Upon reaching Mathura, we came to know that all the temples are closed by 12’o clock and they open at 4 pm. But the Krishna Janam-bhoomi is open all the day. So we headed towards the Krishna Janam bhoomi(Kansa Karagraha) in Mathura. The experience of visiting this place was very nice and the place was full of devotees.
Since all the other temples were closed, our next stop was at Gokul, the village where Krishna was bought up. It’s a small village near to Mathura. It must be arounf 10 kms from Mathura. And if we go from Agra highway, it is around 4 kms inside the highway. Gokul is small village on the banks of Yamuna. There we visited the house were Krishna was bought up. As per the people there, the house is 5088 years old. The house is not in a well maintained state. There is pooja room inside the house where devotees pay their homage.
After Gokul, we headed towards Goverdhan. Goverdhan is 20kms from Mathura. The road to Goverdhan is a single road and many villages lie across the road. We reached Goverdhan around 3 pm. After reaching there we went around the Goverdhan Parvat. The road around the Parvat is very narrow and it goes across the villages.After having a round we visited the temple and then started the journey back toward Mathura. Please be careful while returing back as their are chances of missing the correct road to Mathura.On journey back from Goverdhan, it was raining very heavily. So it took us more time on our retun journey.
Once we reached back to Mathura, we drove to Vrindavan, Vrindavan is around 10 kms from Mathura and then further 6 kms inside the highway.While we reached Vrindavan, we encountered a very heavy traffic jam, so we decided to park the car and walk rest of the way. We decide to go to Banke Bihari temple. It was around 2 kms from the place we parked our car.While walking our way, the rain started again. In no time, the streets of Vrindavan were flooded with water. Then we had to walk our till temple in water upto the knee height. It seemed that we were crossing river to visit the temple. Once we reached the temple, it was an awesome experience. The temple was very beautifully decorated with the flowers and lights.We stayed in the temple for around 20 mins. We started off from Vrindavan around 8 pm for Delhi.Till Kosi, it was raining very heavily.After Kosi , it stopped raining and we found little showers at some places.Finally we reached Delhi around 11 pm in the night. A day very well spent in God’s Grace.
Saurabh,
Welcome to Ghumakkar. Thanks for taking us to Gokul, Govardhan and Vrindavan. I think visiting Banke Bihari temple in knee-deep water must be an experience in itself :-)
Seems you could not visit Mathura, for the rains or due to temple closure.
Dear Saurabh,
Short & sweet post.
It would be great if you could add some of the pictures.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Yes Manish, visiting the temple in knee deep water is a unforgettable experience. It seemd like that we were crossing Yamuna to visit temple. We had a short visit at Mathura where we only visited the Krishna Janam-bhoomi.
Mahesh,
Unfortunately we didn’t carry a camera that day, otherwise I would have posted the pictures.
Saurabh……The Banke Bihari Temple in rain must be fantastic…Thanks for sharing ….NICE TRIP…although the two day programme would have been better…Thanks Vishal
So after Singapore, it was Mathura-Vrindavan. Great :-)
As you finished by saying….A day very well spent in Gods Grace……
I would respond – Yes Indeed.
Keep traveling.
Dear Saurbh,
I am very impressed and very happy for you. Keep up the good work!
Please send some pics.
hi Saurabh
its a short n sweet post!! its always a nice feeling to visit the Banke Bihari Mandir especially on the day when its decorated with flowers. though i hate the rush there.
Work often takes me to Mathura these days. so i can say the road to vrindavan is always crowded. more so coz half the road is dug up due to some reason or the other. and the pot holes do their job brilliantly on the other half!
well just to mention…just as you move out of the banke bihari mandir lane,
there’s a tikki wala right at the T point. its crowded coz of the yummy chole-tikki and lassihe sells . do try it the next time u r there.. :)
Thanks for pointing to the tikki-wala…we will surely have our share of chole-tikki during our next visit.
It is very nice experience to visit the temple when it is decorated with flowers. The chanting of “banke bihari” inside the temple makes it more beautiful.
As far as roads are concerned, the experience worsens up if it is raining. The situation of the roads should be impoved keeping in the mind the religious importance of this place. The number of people visiting their is very high and everybody has to go through bad experience of roads.
Thank you for the very informative writeup. in my experience things are slighly more complicated than you make them seem. time will tell, but the problem is I do not have enough time. it is good to know we are not alone in the struggle. but you might want to reconsider some fragments in your post. after all, if it can do all that, why do we even need the rest anylonger? just a bit. take care