Day 32 : Celebrating At Terra Kadamba

We woke up quite early in the morning, totally excited to go see Terra Kadamba, and to celebrate Sri Sri Radha Banabehari's 33rd Anniversary Day. Me and Kar had stayed up kind of late that night, trying to figure out our ten offerings that we were going to mentally prepare for Them later that day. Yamuna Prabhu had requested everyone to mentally prepare 10 offerings each so that we could offer Sri Sri Radha Banabehari a huge feast! So we were a little tired, but it didn't matter.

As soon as we could we went over to see how Yamuna and Dina were feeling. Unfortunately Dina was still feeling pretty sick, and Yamuna was going to stay back and take care of her. So they decided that they weren't going to be able to come. It was pretty sad for us, but we took the picture of Radha Banabehari, and Neem and I promised to take lots of pictures to show them, and then we headed out. Of course we started out later then we had planned, took a little while to get everyone together. During that time, Kar confirmed that the paste I put on my face did indeed turn it yellow. So I was headed out into the forest, with a big group of people and a yellow face. That dampened my mood a little. Then we all piled into the car, and started on the worst roads ever again. Of course as soon as we hit the really bumpy parts, about 15 minutes out of Vrindavan, I had to go to the bathroom. It is about an hour drive, and by the end, each bump was extremely difficult!

Finally we arrived in this beautiful secluded temple. There was a lovely green pond near it and it was all nestled in the forest, right at the edge of some rice patty fields. At that time all I could think about was a place to go to the bathroom. By the time I had finished (finding a spot, hurridly going, and then washing up somehow), everyone was already in the temple. The temple was actually this amazing little Siva temple, one of the guardians of the Holy Dhama, and it was so beautiful. It felt like something right out of the Vedic times. We had a little kirtan and circumambulated the Siva Linga, then headed across the patty fields to the secluded little grove of Terra Kadamba. It is hard to describe that place. It felt so mystical and powerful, yet so sweet and intimate. There was an Indian Babaji who took care of the whole place, and he was one of the most amazing people we met in Vrindavan, a true Vaisnava. He had this whole place built and themed around the festival Gopastami, when Krsna and Balaram get to take the cows out for the first time. Everything was Krsna and Balaram! Kar was in complete heaven there, I think he would have definitely stayed forever if he was given the chance. The temple or bhajan kutir was underneath a whole network of branches and trees covering a huge area in front. There were statues and pictures of cows everywhere. I could go into much more detail but it wouldn't give an accurate picture, so I will just talk about what we did there.

First we had a kirtan on a large platform built for these beautiful Krsna Balaram dieties, by the Kadamba tree that Rupa Goswami wrote under. Then we went over to the bhajan kutir of Rupa Goswami, and had a few more kirtans, or bhajans. And then Danudhara Swami spoke about the place for a little bit. As Danudhara Swami was describing different pastimes, of how Radharani came and brought sweet rice to Rupa Goswami one time, the Babaji got really excited and said, "she has come today and brought sweet rice!" Then he quickly left and came back with a veil over his head and a bucket of sweet rice! He was dressed up as Radharani, and then showed us Radharani's sweet rice, and told us the story in a beautiful way. He told us other stories too, and they were so funny, especially the way he would tell them. After he told the story of Gopastami, he would say " and today is Gopastami Day!" Then Danudhara Swami or someone would say, " but I thought Gopastami was in October?", and he would just say" no, no, Gopastami is today, and tomorrow, and everyday!" And for him you could see that it really was, his whole world was Krsna and Balarama and Gopastami, and the cows. It was truly amazing.

After we had the bhajans and stories, Danudhara Swami told us we could spend 1/2 hour walking around, chanting and absorbing the place, so we all walked around and just enjoyed being there. There was also a little pond there that Rupa Goswami would bathe in, and feathers everywhere, including beautiful little peacock feathers. It really felt like it was the real, untouched spiritual world! Such an incredible place. We all got together for one final bhajan before the noon artik, and we took out the picture of Sri Sri Radha Banabehari and put it on the altar with Krsna and Balaram. It felt like Saranagati again, during one of our festivals! Then we mentally offered our offerings, and did one more bhajan. After that it was time for the noon artik, and so we sang one last kirtan, and then the babaji had us all sit down to take prasadam. He had made a whole feast for us! It was a fast till noon day, so by then we were pretty hungry. The prasadam he served was definitly one of a kind too. He had made kitchiri, spinach pakoras, normal chapatis, and then chapatis the size of a large beach ball! Also he had made sweet rice, and these huge Manohara Laddus, about the size of my fist! I have never really tasted anything quite like that prasadam before. There was so much love and devotion in everything he did. If we tried to refuse something saying we were not feeling good or we were sick he would just say, " This cure! This cure! No problem, you take!" and then plop it down on your plate. I couldn't believe that I ate that whole huge laddu, and I never got sick. Although I don't think I ate anything else that day.

Before we left we all went over to the small platform under the Kadamba tree and chanted some more japa there. The babaji had built a little throne for Radha and Krsna under there, and so we all chanted around the throne for about 10 minutes. Then it was time to go home. Nobody really felt like leaving, especially Kar. I think it was everything he ever dreamed of appearing for real! It is a very very special place. On the way back we could see the beautiful hill of Nandagram in the distance, and we could just imagine Krsna and Balarama herding Their cows in the green fields, and Krsna sneaking off to meet with Radharani at Terra Kadamba. We felt so honored and privileged to have been allowed to see that wonderful place, and very very thankful and grateful to Danudhara Swami for taking the time to take us there and give us such an amazing experience.

When we got back, me and Kar went to Loi Bazaar to pick up some things we had ordered for Krsna and Balarama, and to get a little gift for Sri Sri RadhaBanabehari. When we got back, we went straight over to Yamuna's and Dina's for a special Banabehari kirtan, and to share all the pictures and experiences with them. It is a place everyone loved very very much. If we went to Vrindavan and only saw that place we would have been completely satisfied!