Gauranga.org Articles

 
 
 
Dhritarashtra appointed Vidura, Sanjaya and Dhaumya to make all arrangements for the cremation of the great heroes who were lying on the battlefield. It was all over soon, Yudhishthira, accompanied by Dhritarashtra and all the others, turned towards the banks of the river Ganga to offer the funeral oblations to the dead. They were all there, Gandhari, Kunti and Draupadi. Now the men laid aside all their jewels and silks, they were wearing the simplest of clothes, their immense chests were covered by thin upper cloths. The dismal procession wended its way slowly towards the banks of the river Ganga.
 
Kunti’s condition was pitiable, three days back Radheya was killed by her Arjuna. There was great celebration in the Pandava camp, she had heard about it from Sanjaya. When Sanjaya was telling Dhritarashtra about the war, about the death of Radheya, she heard it. Her heart was burning with grief, she could not tell anyone about it, she could not talk about the wound in her heart, she had to be silent. Today, on the battlefield, she saw the dead form of her first-born. She would not allow herself to faint, Krishna was watching all the while. She looked at Radheya and she saw his wife weeping over her lord, she saw that too, and still she did not speak. Now, at the end of all this, she was walking with all of them to see the funeral oblations paid on the banks of the sacred river Ganga. It was the same Ganga who took her son away from her years back. Still Ganga flowed as placidly as she did on that memorable day when she set the wooden box afloat on the bosom of the river. It looked like yesterday.

 
Born Of The Sun
 

 
King Soora was one of the Vrishnis. He had a son called Vasudeva and a daughter called Pritha. This king had a cousin called Kuntibhoja who had no children. Soora was very fond of his cousin, he was sorry for him because he was childless. He gave his dear daughter Pritha to Kuntibhoja to be brought up as his own. Pritha was a very beautiful child, her manners were excellent, she was the most cherished possession of her foster-father, she was given the name Kunti.
 
Once, the sage Durvasa came to the capital of Kuntibhoja. He was famed throughout the world for his penance and for his temper. He wanted to spend a few days with the king Kuntibhoja, Kunti had been appointed by her father to attend to the wants of the sage. Entrusted with such a difficult task, Kunti conducted herself admirably, indeed the sage was so pleased with her that he wanted to grant her a boon. He summoned her to his presence and told her that he would teach her a certain incantation. If she recited it any deva whom she thought of would come to her. She received the gift with the humility becoming the daughter of a king and Durvasa went away.

 
If you’ve never been to Krishna’s Island you should consider doing so. I decided to give it a go, especially as it was the 25th anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Radha Govinda. The island is also known as Inishrath or Govindadvipa. The following entries are meant to be a short travel diary. I hope you will enjoy them.
 
I have been to Krishna’s Island before, but that dates back some 15 years. At that time a group of devotees from Leicester went there for a Bhakti Vriksa seminar, an innovative approach of cell group preaching.
 
Now 15 years later the place has been transformed into a replica of Vrindavan with beautiful pastime places such as Vrinda Kunda, Nandagram, Ter Kadamba and many others. The temple is on an island and can only be reached by boat. In fact, the whole island is the temple along with its extensive grounds.
 

 
Govindadvipa is in Northern Ireland, not far from the border to the South, the Republic of Ireland. To travel from the UK, in my case from Leicester, is a straight forward affair, namely by National Express coach to Birmingham airport and from there to Dublin with Ryanair. The flight was only £30 with one cabin bag of luggage. I took the bus number 30 from Dublin airport to Belturbet, where I was picked up by devotees. The entire journey took about 10 hours.