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Nanda Ghata (Baigram)

This is where Nanda Maharaja was abducted by the servants of Varuna for bathing in the Yamuna at an inauspicious time. This place is also called Baigram. Bai means “fear”. Nanda Maharaja had a terrible fright here. There is a temple here with a yellow-colored deity of Nanda Maharaja. There is also a cave (gupha), where Jiva Gosvami stayed. It is said that Jiva Gosvami wrote the Satsandarbhas here

Jiva Gosvami spent some time here living in a vacant crocodile hole. He came here because Rupa Gosvami asked him to leave his association because he did not accept the corrections Vallabhacarya made to Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu. Jiva Gosvami established that what Rupa Gosvami had written was correct. Rupa Gosvami then asked him to leave because Vallabhacarya was a senior devotee and should not have been corrected. Sanatana Gosvami later came to the crocodile hole that Jiva Gosvami was living in. He took Jiva Gosvami, who was not eating or sleeping and therefore very weak, back to Vrindavana. Sanatana Gosvami then went to Rupa Gosvami and asked him to take Jiva Gosvami back, which he did.

At this place there are boats that take people to the other side of the river to Bhadravana.
How To Get Here This ghata is on the bank of the Yamuna, about 3km south of Chira Ghata and about 11km (along the Yamuna) north of the town of Vrindavana. To get here is not easy. First you go to the town of Shergarh and from there you drive to Chira Ghata. The road from Chira Ghata to Nanda Ghata is very bad, so you may have to walk or take a horse tonga. From Chira Ghata to Nanda Ghata and back will take about two hours. From Vrindavana it takes 2½ to 3 hours to reach this place. It is a good idea to take a jeep here.

Saving Nanda Maharaja at Nanda Ghata
“The Govardhana ceremony took place on the new-moon day. After this, there were torrents of rain and hailstorms imposed by King Indra for seven days. Nine days of the waxing moon having passed, on the tenth day King Indra worshiped Lord Krishna, and thus the matter was satisfactorily settled. After this, on the eleventh day of the full moon, there was Ekadasi. Maharaja Nanda observed fasting for the whole day, and just early in the morning of Dvadasi, the day after Ekadasi, he went to take bath in the river Yamuna. He entered deep into the water of the river, but he was arrested immediately by one of the servants of Varunadeva. These servants brought Nanda Maharaja before the demigod Varuna and accused him of taking bath in the river at the wrong time.

“When Nanda Maharaja was taken away by Varuna’s servants, his companions began to call loudly for Krishna and Balarama. Immediately Krishna and Balarama could understand that Nanda Maharaja was taken by Varuna, and thus They went to the abode of Varuna, for They were pledged to give protection. The demigod Varuna received Lord Krishna and Balarama with great respect and said, ‘My dear Lord, actually at this very moment, because of Your presence, my life as the demigod Varuna has become successful. Although I am the proprietor of all the treasures in the water, I know that such possessions do not make for a successful life. But this moment, as I look at You, my life is made completely successful because by seeing You I no longer have to accept a material body. Therefore, O Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, Supreme Brahman and Supersoul of everything, let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You. You are the supreme transcendental personality; there is no possibility of imposing the influence of material nature upon You. I am very sorry that my men, being foolish, by not knowing what to do or what not to do, have mistakenly arrested Your father, Nanda Maharaja. So I beg Your pardon for the offense of my servants. I think that it was Your plan to show me Your mercy by Your personal presence here. My dear Lord Krishna, Govinda, be merciful upon me. Here is Your father. You can take him back immediately.

“Actually, although Krishna was acting so wonderfully, Maharaja Nanda and mother Yasoda could not think of Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Instead, they always accepted Him as their beloved child. Thus Nanda Maharaja did not accept the fact that Varuna worshiped Krishna because Krishna was the Supreme Person; rather he took it that because Krishna was such a wonderful child He was respected even by Varuna. All the cowherd men, became eager to know if Krishna was actually the Supreme Personality and if He was going to give them salvation. When they were all thus consulting among themselves, Krishna understood their minds, and in order to assure them of their destiny in the spiritual kingdom, He showed them the spiritual sky” (Krishna Book,
28)

Copyright ©2001 John Howley and Spiritual Guides