Vrindavan, January 11th 2015: Jaidev Goswami’s Tirobhav Mahotsava (death anniversary) was celebrated with great devotion in Radha Damodar Temple. Scores of devotees and saints paid their respect to the great poet and composer by visiting his Samadhi. The Goswamis of the temple performed the Samadhi Pujan, where the devotees offered flowers and garlands on ‘the pushp samadhi’.

The Saints, acharyas and devotees glorified the author and composer of the ‘Geet Govindam’ and paid tribute to him on his Samadhi. A ‘bhakti-conference’ was also convened where the speakers threw light on the life and works of Jai Dev.  Glorifying Shri Jaidev Goswami for his works Shri Tamal Krishna Das Brahmachari from Imlitala said, “Gita Govinda expresses the intense feelings of separation that Shri Radhika felt before the rasa dance. It also describes the most intimate pastime of the Divine Couple of Shri Radha Madhav. During Lord Chaitanya’s daily Gambhira Lila in Puri, Mahaprabhu would thoroughly relish hearing the Gita Govinda sung daily by Swarup Damodar and Mukunda.”

Presiding over the function Acharya Nirmal Chandra Goswami, the Chief sevait of the Radha Damodar Temple said, “Once Jaidev felt inspired to write, Krishna bows down to Radha Rani to touch her feet. But he was hesitant to write it as it would challenge the Lord being the Supreme power of the Universe. He went to take bath in The Ganga to refresh his thought. When he came back from the Ganga he found that someone completed the sentence in his work of ‘Geet Govindam’, by writing ‘dehi pada pallava udaram’.

Hinduism is a religion that is not limited to one God. In fact, we have a great pantheon of Gods. Every part of India worships a different deity. Having said that however, the presence of certain figures in our pantheon who unite this diverse nation also cannot be denied. Lord Krishna is one such deity. People from all over the country unite in showering him with love and devotion. Those who have given themselves over to the ecstasy of Krishna worship believe that the Universe is based on the concept of ‘lila’ or ‘divine play’.  It is widely known that both Krishna and Rama are avatars of Vishnu. However, while Krishna always believed in expressing his personal love by rising above the boundaries of formal reverence, Rama was known as the epitome of ‘maryada’.

The Bhakti Movement emerged in the medieval period of Hinduism. The point of origin was 7^th century Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the 15^th century, this movement started moving towards the east and the north. It peaked between the 15^th and the 17^th century.

The Bhakti movement encompassed many gods and goddesses. One of these gods was Vishnu. Although Vishnu has many avatars, the believers of the bhakti movement who believed in Vishnu, or the vaishnavas, as they are called, believed Krishna to be the most superior manifestation of Vishnu.

Due to the Bhakti movement, many devotees started feeling like they had an individualistic and personal relationship with Lord Krishna. Perhaps the most cherished Bhakti saint is Meerbai, who considered Lord Krishna to be her lover and husband. Meerabai’s poetry that accentuates her relationship with Krishna and sometimes even hearkens to the relationship that existed between Krishna and Radha, are popular even today.

Vrindavan and Mathura have always been favorite places for people to visit. However, one cannot deny the amount of difficulty experienced in actually getting there. This problem was solved by the inauguration of the Yamuna Expressway. Thanks to this expressway, commuting to Vrindavan has become really easy. Now that people do not hesitate to take a trip to Vrindavan, real estate has also started booming in and around the city. Lower commuting time and a comfortable drive on the six lane expressway means that more and more customers are regarding Vrindavan as a site for their second home. For devout people this is a real treat. What better than to escape to the city of temples for a quiet weekend?

About a dozen residential projections are in the construction phase right now, many of them slated to become integrated townships. ‘Krishnabhumi’ happens to be one of those projects. Though to only call Krishnabhumi a residential project would be understating the entire idea by a large margin. When completed, Krishnabhumi will not be just a housing project, but home to a 700 feet tall Krishna mandir and a Krishna leela theme park.

Majority of the buyers are found to be from Delhi and the NCR region. People from Uttar Pradesh have also shown a considerable amount of interest. Non residential Indians are also a part of this make-up but they constitute only about 15-20% of the total number of buyers. It cannot be denied that the real estate market is booming. Infinity group has realized this and invested 1000 crores in Krishnabhumi. The project will have villas and apartments.