Hail Krishna Raj!
The annual Vaishnodevi trip this year was even more special for more than one reason.
Firstly, i had to take off almost 10 days from my latest obsession, Law, which i could ill afford actually, secondly, there was a trip to THE Taj( of Shahjahan and Mumtaz fame)- my first and long awaited, and last but not the least......... i was going to finally visit Krishna's own land.
At the very outset i must mention, that i am a Krishna lover. Always have been. Even as a child. While my not so religious parents, had Hanuman as the family diety, i had always secretly wished, we had somebody cool like Krishna. Krishna's stories had always prodded the woman in me, even at 6, and later as a adult, i could even appreciate him, in his other roles...as a son( with his two set of parents), a brother to Subdhara, sakha to draupadi, and a bossom pal to Arjun. The love story was complete.
So, when the hosts had decided Vrindavan and Mathura, amongst other places, as part of the itenary for this year, i was, as they say, in the sixth heaven of delight.
Stepping into Mathura Railway station, however, my senses were not able to be aroused by the feel of divinity, which i had sort of automatically expected, the vibrancy which i had felt in haridwar and even kashi, to be part and parcel of Mathura.
But there were no misgivings either. Not yet, at least.
Not even when the driver of our contract bus, (who immediately claimed that he had no idea of the roads of Mathura, as he was a Delhite and kept taking double the time to reach anywhere from anywhere), refused to ply the bus, insisting that the police officials were demanding Rs.200/- to let the bus go that route. I somehow got the impression, that the driver was in connivance with the local loot brigade.
When, after, flashing OUR source of power, our uniformed government Identy Cards, the bus started off, without the loot being tendered, and we reached, the birth place of Krishna. Once the formalities of storing the camera, mobiles and rest of electronic paraphernalia into their official lockers, the dis satisfaction began to seep in.
To be fair, the dungeon, where Krishna was supposed to have been born, was interesting, but thats about it..the rest seemed a farce, mainly made by man, to satisfy the religious greed for a gossamer touch of divinity of the hungry religious tourist. Nothing seemed original. Nothing teased the subtle emotions. Nothing, nothing,even remotely touched the heart.
The one sentence that echoed, in my head, as i headed out of the temple, to collect my belongings, from the locker, was, a disappointed "not up to the mark".
As we trooped back into the bus, we were greeted by a tour guide. Introduced by our , otherwise perennially inefficient driver. A young boy of between twenty to twenty five. Jeans clad,tobaco teethed, small town youth.
My internal eyebrows raised involuntarily, when he said he was not going to charge us for the touring.
Somewhere on the way, he showed us the yamuna river, in the fading sunlight, and it occured that the yamuna seemed to come only after at least 25 to 30 minutes of the bus ride. Could Vasudev have really walked that much, that stormy night?
The next stop was Nandgaon, the hallowed land where Krishna was famed to have lived the first eleven years of his life with his foster parents, Nand, and Yashoda.
Here a grand play began to unfold. The tourist boy, asked us all to hold hands, as the power had just then shut down, and all we could see was pitch darkness. As we held hands and lead each other to Krishna's house, the lights came back.
Each group gets only 15 minutes with the lord, he said, as we reach the home, cum temple of Nand, and we have to wait for the previous group to come out..in the meanwhile he efficiently recited his well rehearsed story of vasudev, devaki, yashoda and nand, all the while peppering his talks, with how the lord wants to see us happy, not sad.."ahhahaha....say ahhahaha with both ur hands raised". If u give with a sad or unhappy mind, its not giving,,the lord doesnt want something which u grudge giving with an open heart...ahhahaha...raise both hands,...thats how he wants u to give..thats how u re going to receive from the lord.....ahhahaha.....
I felt im part of some laughter club..i can't help but think that these gestures seemed to have evolved only to suit the sensibilities of the white ISKONites who seemed to abound in plenty, in the Lord's land.
Later as we crawled to the diety in a cradle("the lord is in the roop of Balkrishna here" this bit of wisdom from the head poojari.). The head poojari made another speech, in effect repeating all what the tourist guide had mentioned, with more elan and more professionalism that the boy guide.
Dont give the lord anything with a long face, he wont accept it..he doesnt want what u dont have..he wants what u have...and then he will give u what he has...AHHAHAHA..hands raised.each and everybody will get to rock the cradle of the lord, whether u give or dont give, he promises.
By now i had stopped being disgusted with the farce, and actually looking forward to know what would happen next.
"We have a donation box, (ah, here it comes..the pitch of the sale), and only interested parties need make donations...donations go to the goshala..they start at Rs.5000/-, Rs.3000/- , Rs.1300/-( our collectively shocked breathes gasp).receipt books(for the skeptics)" thrown in too.
I watch fascinated, as one hand after another raises to make donations of Rs.1300/-. When the hands stop raising, he starts allowing us to rock the cradle, one by one,..not 1300/- how about 600/-....after a few 600er scalps, how about 300/- and down to 101/-, i must have rocked twice when i firmly shake my head,, he dropps my hand, with a pained look into his eyes...(such blasphemy, they seem to say), and i crawl out of the lords room.
Once, out of the sanctum, we visit the smaller deities around where some other pujari says, u need put only Rs.10/- here.
Now fully out of the temple, to retrieve our shoes, i wonder if the tourist guide would guide us back to the bus, and was pleasantly surprised to see him still hovering around...ah, i cant fault the after sales at least!..i think, when he thanks us for comming and begins again,....two dans(gifts) are the best...cow dan, and dan for brahmin...food for a brahmin..im a brahmin..i take dan in multiples of 50/-!
At the end of it it, all i can say is Lord, Im Enlightened!
