Jai Nitai!
We are all more or less aware of the destruction and insanity that it currently taking place in Brindavan in the name of “development.” Instead of trying to maintain the spiritual and cultural heritage which is the real wealth of India, the current government is instead simply interested in quick money by exploiting India’s sacred areas and resources in their rush to fatten their purses and attain first-world status which they will never achieve by such careless and destructive behavior.
Jagat Ji informed me yesterday that on the 29th of May bulldozers were sent to Anyour, which is a small village about four kilometres south of the town of Govardhan on the parikrama marg and asked if I could get some photos. Grateful for the opportunity to do some seva I packed my camera, jumped on my bicycle, and wondered what I was going to encounter. Before actually arriving in Anyour I saw some buildings destroyed. I was a little confused because what they tore down with the bulldozers didn’t seem to follow any pattern. It looked random to me…as if they just picked and chose whatever they felt like destroying as they went.
The Government wants to install stone walkways on both sides of the marg and from what I have gathered, anything within 21 meters of the center of the road will be cleared out so the road can be widened and the stone pathways can be installed. It appears that soon you will no longer be able to walk on the natural surface of the sandy ground when doing parikrama. Let’s all hope and pray that they leave the inner margs untouched.
So far the damage from the bulldozers is somewhat minimal, but that is soon about to change. There are literally hundreds of trees that have the red and white stripes painted on them which I was told by some managers of Brij Vasundhara luxury cottages means that they are to be cut down. I spoke with one man and his son who lost their entire house which included a puja room for a large Govardhan sila they worshiped. The walls and ceiling of the puja room were smashed and collapsing. Giriraj was covered in dust and surrounded by broken chips of bricks and cement. The man was squatting on a little section of the roof of his house that was still standing with his chin in his hands contemplating what he should do. I saw several Shiva-linga shrines, a mandir of Durga Ma, and many other sacred places that will soon be crushed by the bulldozers.
Yesterday they began pouring concrete on parikrama marg from the road leading to the south side of Manasi Ganga heading towards town. The road that runs along with the parikrama marg will all be widened and covered with concrete and both sides of the marg will have those three-sided interlocking stones covering the natural dirt pathways we all so much enjoyed traversing. Nearly the entire road from Govardhan to Radhakund has been chopped up in preparation for the concrete that will eventually (probably soon) be poured and like everywhere else I saw, they are preparing for the stone walking paths to be laid.
I will post some photos that will give an idea what is happening on the parikrama marg now from beyond the town of Govardhan up to the area of Govinda Kunda. I hope to return tomorrow when the bulldozers are scheduled to come back and take more photos.
-
- This tree and shrine in Anyour will soon be destroyed
-
- I think we deserve at least one happier sight…Sri Dan Nivartana Kunda
-
- Ma Durga Mandir that will be destroyed
-
- Ma Durga Mandir that will be destroyed
-
- More trees fated for destruction
-
- Anyour– the entrance into the village from the north
-
- Street scene in Anyour
-
- This is the muck which is dug from Manasi Ganga and unloaded in a field near Radhakunds
-
- This man and his son lost their entire home. He is squatting of the roof with his cheeks in his hands
-
- This kalpataru will be destroyed. It is known as a Pharaas tree. There are 2 or 3 more nearby that will be demolished too.
-
- Just for fun– there are no plans to bulldoze this pig as far as I know
-
- The front entrance to an ashram torn down.
-
- Just beyond Anyour…you can see the archway in the distance to the inner marg leading to Govinda Kunda
-
- Only destruction I saw with my own eyes yesterday. This is very near to Radhakund
-
- This whole section of buildings will be taken down
-
- Breaking this somehow does seem appropriate to me
-
- Roadside shrine to Mahadeva will be destroyed
-
- An old man’s home and business crushed
-
- An old man’s home and business crushed
-
- Another beautiful kalpataru destined to be destroyed
-
- Ramesh Baba wanted to appear online
-
- Good news! This bata tree is on the safe side of the line!
-
- Kalpataru in front of Brij Vasundhara….the owners heavily protested the marking of this tree to be demolished
-
- South end of Anyour village–Sankarsana kunda
-
- Puja room of the man that lost his entire house
-
- The front of some ashram unknown to me has been destroyed
-
- Shani Dev and his vahana the hansa
-
- This tree and shrine in Anyour will soon be destroyed
-
- This tree and shrine in Anyour will soon be destroyed
I think I speak for most videshis when I say I like Vrindavan just the way it is, with its thousands of funky little Shrines to Hanumanji and Mahadev and Devi at every corner, the abnormally arranged housing and buildings. And I especially love the way the extremely narrow roads bring traffic to a near standstill. Driving fast is a good way for someone to get hurt. Gopal Ma, whom I blogged about recently, was hit by a car while doing parikrama several years ago and was bedridden for 3-4 months.
Many of the trees that will be cut down are centuries old. You cannot just cut them down and “replace” them with new ones. That is like killing an elderly, advanced and merciful sadhu and “replacing” him with a green teenaged brahmachari. It will take years and years and years for new trees to grow tall enough to provide shade and shelter for others. Meanwhile, Goverdhan becomes more and more like a desert.
My heart goes out to the Brajabasis who lost their homes. The legality of those structures aside, who ever told the trees not to grow where they grew? I firmly believe nobody has the power to kill a wish-fulfilling tree of Vraja without its permission. We only offend them and lose their kripa. In our ignorance, we lose the opportunity to take shelter of them.
Jai Radhe!
Jai Ma Paurnamasi!
Jai Vrindavan Dham!
This is heinous; No one has any right to do this; We need to join hands to oppose this; Time is very short, we need to do this quickly;
jai shri krishna
jai shri vallabh
Some day they will pay for this….these politicians are stupid people….they will fill der pockets…n not think of anything else……
The ancient architecture and natural beauty is what would be most attractive to tourists from around the world. The mad rush to pave over everything is not going to improve business. In the end, nobody wins. :(
[...] We are losing the natural beauty of Braja and the Govardhan Parikrama experience. From Sakhi Charan Dasji’s Living in Radha Kund blog. More pictures can be found there. We are all more or less aware of the destruction and insanity that it currently taking place in Brindavan in the name of “development.” Instead of trying to maintain the spiritual and cultural heritage which is the real wealth of India, the current government is instead simply interested in quick money by exploiting India’s sacred areas and resources in their rush to fatten their purses and attain first-world status which they will never achieve by such careless and destructive behavior. [...]
[...] We are losing the natural beauty of Braja and the Govardhan Parikrama experience. From Sakhi Charan Dasji’s Living in Radha Kund blog. More pictures can be found there. We are all more or less aware of the destruction and insanity that it currently taking place in Brindavan in the name of “development.” Instead of trying to maintain the spiritual and cultural heritage which is the real wealth of India, the current government is instead simply interested in quick money by exploiting India’s sacred areas and resources in their rush to fatten their purses and attain first-world status which they will never achieve by such careless and destructive behavior. [...]