SRI BANKE BIHARI--- This is the most popular temple of Vrindavan. The chhaviof Bihariji is very attractive. Any person who has darshan of this jhanki even once, becomes his. His eyes are very big and shining, see it from any direction, it will seem they are looking at you. The ever smiing face and the most unique shringaar, a mixture of radhaji as well as Krishnaji gives so much joy to all the devotees who watch him without blinking.Swam Sri Haridasji the guru of Tansen the famous musician of the court of emporor Akbar, was the incarnation of Lalita sakhi, who was the most intimate sakhi of Bihari, Bihariniji in the nitya leela. Swamiji used to go in a deep cave like kunj every day and when he came out of it he ould prostrate before it many times.His disciples were curious to know where and why guru ji went there. One day swamiji made a jestre to his devotees to follo him. Inside the kunj the devotees were astonished to see Bihariji and Bihariniji siting on a beautiful throne decorated with beautiful scented flowers. They were surrounded by hundreds of sakhi’s. They also saw their guruji as Lalita sakhi who was doing their sewa. Swamiji indiated two of the disciples to lift up both of them and bring them out of the rang mahal or nikunj mahal. Outside there was a big crowd of musicians from all parts of the country. Both the divine couple were placed near the rang mahal. The blessed the gathering and then Sri Hridasji requested them to remain there so that the people of kali yuga can have their direct darshan. Bihariji agreed, but swamiji thought that the people of kali yga will not be able to see sch an iluminated vigraha of Bihariniji , so asked her to merge with Bihariji. We can have only the gaadi darshan of Biharinij. Bihariji is hence both the divine couple. That is why the shringaar is a mixture of both.Bihariji was the darling son of sriharidasji. Haridasji used to do his sewa very devotedly. Bihariji has shown many miracals to his devotees. The temple is always overcrowed but on special days like Bihari panchami, krishan janamastmi, akshay teej, haryali teej, shard poornima, radha ashtmi which coincides with sriharidasji’s appearance also there is no end to the crowd. During the summer season starting rom March to hariyali teej Bihariji is placed outside the garb graha and is decorated with flowers in a palace made with bamboo stickes covered with mogra flowers. These are called phool bangla’s.
SRI RADHA RAMAN TEMPLE-----SriGopal bhat ji was a great devotee of Krishna. He devotedly was engrossed in the sewa of his thakurji Shaligram. One day a rich seth came to Vrindavan and wanted to donate some dresses and ornaments to the deities of some of the temples. He felt oh! If my Thakurji was a little bigger in size and if he had had arms and legs he would have loved to make him wear a lovely paushaak.When he woke up in the morning he was flabbergasred to see ,his shaligramji had grown and also had legs and arms. The shaligram part was his back. Today Radha Raman ji ‘s temple is near nidhi van and his swaroop is fantastic.
SRI SHAH JI-----This temple is near nidhivan. It is a very big temple made of marble flooring and has crooked pillars. It was constructed by a rich seth of Lucknow who has made a trust for its permanent sewa of Thakuri.
SRIRANGNATH TEMPLE----This temple is of south Indian style. It is very palacial.It is believed that there was a devotee of sri rang nathji whose name was sri Godaambaa who had read about Rangnathji in the scriptures. She hadthree desires. First to get married to rang nathji, Second to offer the bhog of pysam in 1000 earthn pots and third she wanted to stay inVrindavan with sri Rang nathji..In the south Indian literature her uppasana was praisworthy. Her father was incharge of the flower garland sewa of srirangnathji. Godaambaa used to help her father in selecting the best flowers available and used to make the garland herself and then she used to put on the mala and then it was offered to srirangnathji. One day the priest noiticed a hair on the garland and got very angry at her father. He called for him but he was unaware as to how the hair came in the mala. This sewa was taken away from him. He asked his daughter Godaambaa and she told him that she used to wear the mala to se how it will look on sriranganathji. Her father got furious when he heard this. Now a new mala was offered to sriranganathji, but he refused to accept it and said that he will accept mala ofonly Godaambaa. Later he got married to Godaambaa. The second wish of Godaambaa was fulfiled by sriramanujacharya who made arrangement of offering 1000 pots of pysum as prasad to sriranganathji.The third wish that srirangnathji should come and stay in Vrindavan was fulfiled by sriranganathji himself. He gave indications that his dieties should be taken to Vrindavan. Seth Lakshmi chandra was selected to do this sewa for sriranganathji.. Today Godaambaaji is also present with sriranganthji in srirannatha temple.
There is a very big kund in the premises of this temple where the gajaa graha moksh leela is played on every sawan poornima on the day of raksha bandhan. Another unique feature of the mandir is the stupa made out of gold known as garuda stambh on which prasad is servd to 33 crore devi devta’s. The yemple has other deities such as Vishnuji in a lying pose on the shesh naag, sritirupati balaji’s temple, Ram darbaar, golden paalki’s of the lord, shish mahal.
The most striking feature is the rath made out of sandal wood. There are many jhanki’s of krishna which move with eletronic devices such as meerabai and krishna, makhan chori leela etc. The temple has carvings of south Indian style.
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SRI RADHA VALLABHA TEMPLE---The thakurji of this temple appeared from nidhivan by swami sriharivansh. The chhavi of Radh vallabha is so wonderful that one will liketo go on looking at it withot a blink of the eye. The sewa of this deity is also very delicate. Like banke bihariji, this thakurji is also bent from three places and has lovely eyes that are always stealing the hearts of the devotees.Srimahaprabhu hith harivansh came to Vrindavan when he had a dream where Radhaji instructed him to go there. She also told him that a brahamin willoffer you to get married to two of his daughters and he should not refuse this offer. The same brahamin has a vigraha of thakurji which he should take from him and go to Vrindavan. Harivansh took both the sisters with him along with thakurji and reached Vrindavan. He came to the yamuna bank and placed thakurji on a high elevation, near the madan temple. The brijvasi’s started respecting him and he was donated some land in that area. Later thakurji was taken to sewa kunj. The sewa of sriji is gaadhi seva.
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Sri krishna Balram temple------ This temple is also called ISKCON or thetemple of english people because sri Bhakti Vetant sril Prabhu Paad ji had gone to the west and propgated krishna bhakti there. Therefore many foreigners visit this temple dressed in the ancient Indian style.There are three vigrahas namely srigaur Nitayee, Balram krishna and Sri Radha Krishna along with sakhi’s Lalita and vishakha. There is also the samaadhi of this great acharya srilPrabhu padji. The temple is fullof beautifulpaintings of krishna leela on the walls of the temple. It is made of marble flooring and cleanliness is always maintained.The shrinaar of the deites is breath taking.
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SRI RADHA SHYAM SUNDAR TEMPLE----- This temple is in loee bazar. Its vigraha is very beautiful.The shringaar is also very magificant. There is a special attraction of this temple on akshay tritya
ASHAT SAKHI TEMPLE----This temple is near sri Madanmohan temple. It was built by emperor Ram ranjan of district Virbhum. Sri RadhaRasvihari is surrounded by the eight intimate sakhis of Radha Krishna
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SHIRI AKHANDANAND JI’S TEMPLE----It is situated on the chhatikara vrindavan road. It is a very big temple. The staues of sri Hanumanji and Ganesh ji can be seen from a distance as they are very big in size. The temple is newly constructed with marble all over. The deities of Radha Krishna, Sita Ram darbar and durga are very attractive.
SRI RADHA DAMODR TEMPLE----This temple is near sewa kunj and jhadu mandle near vanshivat. There are four pairs of radha krishna deities. First is the deity of sri Radhavrindavan chandra worshipped by sri Krishnadas kaviraj goswami, Second is of sri Radha Damodar worshipped by sri jeev goswami, third is of sri RadhaMadhav worshipped by sri Jaidev goswami and the fourth is of sri Radha chhail chikinia worshipped by sri Bhugharbh swami. There is also a shila of goverdhan in this temple and there is a brief story about it that ever day swami paad sanatan goswami used to circumbate around goverdhan, and then only he would break his fast by eating. When he grew very old Govrdhanji gave him darshan and told him to stop such tough penance as he had become too weak, but he refused saying he can not leave his niyam. Goverdhan ji then took a stone or shilla and stood on it and playing the flute. His right foot dug in the shilla which got melted, a small calf came dancing on the shilla and he kept is flut and lakuti which got stuck on it. He then told goswamiji to cirumbate four times around this shilla and it will be counted as a full circumbation of goverdhan. For the people of kaliyuga this shilla is a great boon. Hundredsof devotees do parikrama of this shilla and are benifited as though they have walked the 21 kilo meters parikarma of Goverdhani.
SRI GOPINATH JI TEMPLE---- This temple is near Sri Radha Raman temple. Gopinathji appeared for the sake of devotion ofsri paramanand Bhattacharyaji. After that the sewa went to a pandit whose name was sri Madhu. A devotee named Janhavi came to Vrindavan and came for his darshan. It occurred to her that sri Radhaji was quite short in size compared to Krishna. When she went to sleep that night Gopinath ji came in her dream and asked her to make arrangements to bring Radha ji according to his size. It is believed that Jahnvi maa herself menifested a deity of Radhaji and entered that vigraha. She the told hr devotees to place this vigraha next toThakurji.Hence sh was placd on the left side of Thakurji. The original deities were taken to Jaipur and new ones have been installed in this temple.
SRI GOVIND DEVJI TEMPLE----This temple has also been shifted to Jaipur due to yavan’s attackon all popular temples of Vrindavan. The importance of this temple is that sri Roop goswamiji maharaj who was a great disciple of sri mahaprabhu Chaitanya was responsible for its appearance. Govind devji told him in a dream that he would like to taken out from the goma teela where every day a cow used to come and do his abhishekam every day with the flow of her milk. Swamiji himself saw this happening every day and with the helpof king Man singh the vigraha was taken out and a temple was built where Govind dev ji was placed. The chhavo of Govinddev ji is breath taking and is still attracting millions of devotees who go for its darshan ti Jaipur.
SRI VANKHANDI MAHADEV TEMPLE------Sri Snatan goswamiji used to visit sri Gopeshwar temple every day which was quite far from where he was staying..He used to loose his way very often.One night sri Gopeshwar nath ji came in his dream and told him to have his darshan at vankhandi. Now he stared going there every day for Mahadevji’s darshan.
SRI GODA VIHAR TEMPLE---- This templeis close to Ranganathji temple.It consists of more than 300 deities of different gods, demigods, rishi’s and maharishi’s. In the front side of the temple near the entry there is a beautiful temple of veda’s. There is also a vaikunta duwaar, navgraha , the sun chariot, shiv lok, brahma lok and the ten avtaars of incarnations of vishnu.
Jai Shri Radhe Krishna
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