Travel to Mathura and Ayodhya – My experience with ‘faith’

Travel to Mathura and Ayodhya – My experience with ‘faith’

During my visit to Mathura and Ayodhya in March'13, I felt the common folks in these towns are different in their thoughts. My visit to Mathura was after visit to Agra and of course visiting the Taj Mahal. The town of Mathura and Ayodhya look very similar to any other small town of India, densely populated, narrow roads, and crowded streets where merchants sell everything under the sun, non-descript shops selling from bangles to groceries to clothes to sweets.

As my daughter, Meghna pointed out - you can see almost every animal on the street - monkey, dog, cow, pigs, donkey, horses, cat, goat, buffalo et all…..

Then where is the difference, one may ask. To find out, join me in this journey of discovery in Mathura and Ayodhya.

We started in the morning in our car with the visit to Krishna Janmasthan, the place where Lord Krishna was born. We got down about half a kilometre away from the temple and had to walk through a narrow street. We were informed by the driver not to carry any bags, mobiles, other electronic items, iPods, camera, etc. This is the world we live in today, courtesy International terrorism.
 
After couple of security checks, we entered the temple complex. There was a small prayer hall with the idol of Lord Krishna. It was crowded with both men and women - young and old. They were singing songs with musical instruments and dancing.

I always felt it is special to north India, where people come together for any religious gathering, leave their inhibitions behind and rejoice the prayers with song and dance. We, south Indians, or at least me, would be shy to just get into singing and dancing impromptu, in a public gathering.

The room where the bhajans were going on was charged up with devotion and everyone was in the world of Krishna. When you enter such places, your mind becomes automatically focussed on the Lord.

We came out of this small prayer hall, and then saw a big sign board with information on the period in which Krishna was born and that the place was ransacked and destroyed by Mughal kings and the temple had been rebuilt many time by various Hindu kings. In proof of this historical fact, is the presence of a mosque built absolutely adjacent to the temple with one of the Walls being shared by the temple complex and the mosque.

We entered the main temple, and were led through a small pathway, resembling the passage of a jail. When you walk through this jail passage, you are led to a small room, which has a small raised platform on which Krishna's idol is kept and in the centre of the platform, is a square which is decorated with kum kum, turmeric and silk. The poojari, sitting there informs us that the square and the platform surrounding it is the place where Krishna was born.

Adjoining to the main temple was another temple built by a Saint many years ago. Not to mention, it had Radha-Krishna idols in all grandeur and the 'alankaram' was really eye-catching and full of Color. Here in the huge hall of the temple, lot of devotees were meditating or reciting slokas and the place was filled with devotion. I was able to feel the devotion.

After the darshan, we came out of the temple complex and in the small street picked up a wall hanging with a classy painting of the Govardhan Giri held aloft with one finger of the Lord.

Further down the street, based on suggestions made by our relatives, we stopped by a non-descript lassi shop and ordered for the lassi. It was served in mud containers. The lassi was sweet and very tasty. No wonder, it is Krishna's Land...!!!!

Our driver had the inputs of the next places of visit. As the car was unable to go to these places, we took an auto from the main road and went into a very small gully. The narrow gully had shops on both the sides and there were bikes, bicycles, autos, luggage carriers all vying for whatever little space was there in the street. Navigating such a street required real skill and part of the instructions was given by just shouting. Horns do not matter nor do they work!

I was watching the manoeuvring skills of the auto driver from close quarters - I was sitting in the elongated driver seat in the front along with the driver. I was noticing the numerous sweet shops on both sides of the street. There were shops which had a huge black iron vessel in front of the shop, being used to stir some milk sweet and the milk was boiling with other flours added in the vessel. I was unable to recognise the sweet, but one thing was sure, it was made of milk and the sweet was being fried in ghee. The aroma of frying ghee was in the air. And this black vessel used for frying was jutting out of the shop and you could reach out to the vessel, just by stretching your hand from your auto.

I noticed such sweet preparation in almost every fifth or sixth shop in the street. It made me wonder- these are all milk sweet preparations. They have a very short shelf-life, probably 2-3 days. In that case all these sweets have to be sold and consumed. And no sweet shop owner will like to throw away spoilt sweets and incur a loss. Was there any connection with the milk and milk products being made is such a large quantity and getting consumed in Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokulam to that of the fact of Lord Krishna's fondness of milk ........

At a small junction, the street became further narrow and the auto driver stopped and asked us to walk further. We walked further down till we came to a small temple, of who else, but Lord Krishna. The small temple was on the banks of river Yamuna. We were told that Krishna after killing Kamsa took rest at this place and hence the place is called 'Vishram Ghat' (rest place).

The thought which struck me since visiting Krishna Janmasthan was flowing back again in my mind. In all the places we had visited till now in Mathura, it was the particular spot or place which is important to the devotees and not the temples or the structures there. I had heard before that in Hindu religion, always the spot or place is important for worship and not what or how the structure or temple remains in that place. This concept was visible for me to see.

We then went to 'Govardhan Giri' - the hill which Krishna lifted with one finger to protect the people of Vrindavan. Today the hill has become a huge rocky place with circumference of 7 km. We were told that local people perform a parikrama of going round the hill as a prayer to the Lord.
 
After lunch and a brief break, we continued by visiting Gokulam. We took a guide (all locals act as guides) . We went to a place called Nandagaon, the place where Krishna's parents, Nandagopal and Yashoda lived. The guide explained that Krishna spent his early years - up to 11 years in Gokulam. You go around the ancient building which is in ruins, and partly reconstructed by various kings in different eras.

He emphatically explained and showed the place where child Krishna killed Rakshasa Bhoothana. There was a temple inside the Bhavan which had idols of child Krishna. The guide instructed us to sit down and join the bhajans and prayers. All had to sit down because nobody should stand and be taller than the child Krishna !!.

We then proceeded to Vrindavan, which is on the other bank of river Yamuna.
We visited a very old temple (Govinda Dev Temple) constructed in the 14-15th century by Rajput kings from Jaipur. During the period of Mughal kings, the temple was attacked and the idols destroyed. The main idol of Krishna was taken by the Jaipur kings and re-installed in a temple in Jaipur and we were told that the idol can be seen in Jaipur even today.

Then we took an auto and went through the narrow streets of Vrindavan to a place called Seva Kunj. We were explained that Krishna played with the gopis at that place and what you see today is a large open garden with lot of bushes and plants around. We were also told that even today Krishna visits this place and hence there is no one present in this garden after sunset.
 
We had time only for visiting one more temple. The car was parked and we had to walk for about 1.5 km in a narrow street amidst crowded Market area. On the street, people were walking fast for either visiting a shop to purchase anything or on their way to the temple. There were many sweet shops selling milk sweets. We visited 'Shri Banke Bihari' temple. There was a big crowd inside the temple, all of them waiting for the evening 'aarthi' pooja. There was a crowd of men, women, girls and boys dancing to the songs sung by a team sitting in front of the main sanctum sanctorum, with musical instruments. They looked to be immersed in the devotion of Krishna and not bothered or even care to look at anybody. You were able to see that the devotion was absolute and complete.

When we came out of the temple after the Darshan, I was enquiring about the number of days required to visit all the temples in Vrindavan.

His answer made me think - "There are more than 657 temples in Vrindavan alone. Almost every house is a temple. Each house has a story to tell of their association with Krishna and those stories have been passed on over the generations. Each house will have a Krishna at home and each will have daily poojas and other customs, again passed over the generations. Hence to answer your question, it is practically impossible to visit all the temples of Vrindavan".

We were told that Krishna resides and never leaves Vrindavan. The local guide continued, “The place of Vrindavan is a transcendental place and certainly anyone who goes there becomes transcendentally purified”.

With these thoughts, we proceeded to leave Mathura. When we were in the railway station, boarding a train to Lucknow, the porter who did help in carrying the luggage, asked a very innocuous question about the purpose of the visit. When I replied, he was feeling happy and was asking whether we visited all the temples he knew. And to top it, when his charges were paid, he folded his hands and uttered, "radhe radhe". I replied, "radhe radhe". His face was full of smiles !!!.

The use of "radhe radhe" to greet anybody was what I found in Mathura. When we checked in, the guy at the reception, was greeting another guest, saying - radhe radhe......

In Ayodhya, we had a guide to accompany us. The first point was the place where work is going on for the construction of a magnificent temple for Lord Rama. When I tickled his brain with the Supreme Court ruling, his immediate response was about the Supreme Court ruling which had been passed few years back wherein, the land has been divided and the Hindus have the share of land where Rama was born. He continued that the Rama temple will come there one day.
As in Mathura, in Ayodhya it is "jai ram shri ram" when people meet and greet each other, and when anybody says "Jai Ram Maharaj ki", the people around complete the sentence in chorus saying "jai".

In Ayodya, we saw the Dasarath durbar hall and the Dasarath palace. And the guide took us to Sita ka Rasoi (Sita's kitchen).

And then next day morning, we went to Ram Janmabhoomi. You pass through more than 8-10 security check points, more than even any international airport! If you are a faithful Hindu, you really get irritated that for seeing your Lord, you go through such security checks. The high point of irritation was to come later.

You walk through a passage which is covered by fully barbed wires, and was never ending. You need to walk more than 2 km through this narrow barbed passage. At various points along this closed passage, you have security personnel with guns and at some places, guns mounted on sand bags. I felt that you were walking in a prison with security around and through a narrow passage. While walking, I was wondering, how come, we have not left our footwear. I did not realise the fact that Ram Janmabhoomi was just a place (and not a temple!) located about 500 ft from the prison passage and that you just see a small idol of Lord Rama kept in a place covered by a tent!!!!!!!! To a Hindu, this proved really awful. This fact was the reason why you did not leave your footwear behind. I just controlled by thoughts and the fact that you are living in an age where belief itself is being questioned.....

I realised during my visit to Mathura and Ayodhya that people living in these places are binary in nature (either 0 or 1). I thought that only two sets of people lived in Mathura or Ayodhya - either atheist of theist. There is no existence of the third category of people - who call themselves rationalists (pagutharivalar in tamil), who think they are rational in their thinking and feel that they are intelligent because they question any belief or faith presented to them. They tend to question whether Krishna or Rama lived or they are only mythological characters and part of Hindu religion.  They tend to ask questions on how Krishna would have been born about 5000 years back in a prison which you see today in Mathura. Or, question how Vasudev would have carried Krishna and crossed river Yamuna. It is not possible or practical. It is only a story on which we have been fed to believe about the life of Krishna. 

I feel we are missing something here. First a simple fact - faith or belief in anything has to be absolute, complete and without any doubt. For these common folks, faith is absolute and is without question. And when faith exists completely, there is happiness around, which is what I saw in these common people of Mathura and Ayodhya.

When each of them spoke, they were making only affirmative statements.

Sample these –

      -       Krishna lived in Gokulam for 11 Years before he moved to vrindavan.

-       Krishna was born in Mathura at this place in the prison.

-       Krishna did his Leela with the gopis here....

-       After Kamsa was killed by Krishna, he came and sat here on the banks of Yamuna.

And sample these statements at Ayodhya –

      -       Dasarath's palace was here. It is an old palace which exists at this place.

-       Rama was born here - Ram janmabhoomi.

-       This is Sita Rasoi  - Sita's kitchen.

I was continuing in my reasoning process - these people in Ayodhya or Mathura do not want or expect any certificate of existence of Rama or Krishna from anybody. I felt their rationale is simple - If you do not believe or have doubts in their existence, so be it..... They are least bothered to prove the existence to you and make you understand that Rama or Krishna truly lived in Ayodhya or Mathura.

In my perspective, the difference in the thought process of these common people living in these two places comes from the fact that these people go beyond the point of faith. Since their faith or belief is absolute, their mind is clear to think much beyond at a higher spiritual plane, as the basic issue of faith is a given...,  unlike the rationalists, who are still in the lower zone, thinking whether Rama or Krishna lived or they are just mythological characters.

Faith or belief in anything has to be unquestionable. Even an iota of doubt in this belief, takes you back to the earlier level or zone on thinking. Practically you have to climb the ladder again to reach the next level of thinking through your mind.

 “Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.” - Mahatma Gandhi.

This quote aptly summarises my reflections and thoughts.

 

-    Venkatesh