Vamsivata Area and Temple

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In the Srimad Bhagavatam it is said that the rasa dance started from this place on the full moon night of the Sarat (autumn) season. At this place is the Vamsivata-Bihari Temple. There are two marble murtis built into the compound walls. One is of Lord Brahma, in the mood of the pastime of stealing Krishna’s cows. Another is of Lord Siva as Gopisvara Mahadeva, in the form of a cowherd girl in order to witness the pastimes of Krishna and the gopis. You can tell that it is Lord Siva because he has a snake around his neck.

“In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that the rasa dance took place on the full moon night of the sarat season. Immediately upon hearing the vibration of the flute, the gopis all left their respective engagements and proceeded to the spot where Krishna was standing. While they ran very swiftly, all their earrings swung back and forth. They all rushed to the place known as Vamsivata.” (Krishna Book)

There used to be a tree here known as Vamsivata, that had been here since the time of Lord Krishna, about 5,000 years ago. It is said that Krishna would play his flute under this tree. About 450 years ago the Yamuna River washed this tree away. Paramananda Bhatta Acarya (some say it was Madhu Pandita Gosvami) took a branch of the tree and replanted it. While he was replanting the branch, he discovered the Radha Gopinatha Deity. He gave this Deity to Madhu Pandita to worship.

How To Get Here This temple is in the Vamsivata area of Vrindavana, not far from the Gopisvara Temple. If you make a right after coming out of the Gopisvara temple, you walk a few minutes down the road. The road bears to the right and this temple is straight ahead, when the road turns to the right.

Temple Timings This temple is open from 6 to 11 am and 5 to 9 pm in the summer and 8 am to 1 pm and 5 to 7.30 in the winter.

Rasa Dance
“Krishna’s rasa dance should never be compared with any kind of mundane dance, such as a ball dance or a society dance. The rasa dance is a completely spiritual performance. In order to establish this fact, Krishna the supreme mystic, expanded Himself in many forms and stood beside each gopi. Placing His hands on the shoulders of the gopis on both sides of Him, He began to dance in their midst. The mystic expansions of Krishna were not perceived by the gopis because Krishna appeared alone to each of them. Each gopi thought that Krishna was dancing with her alone. Above that wonderful dance flew many airplanes carrying the denizens of the heavenly planets, who were very anxious to see the wonderful dance of Krishna and the gopis. The Gandharvas and Kinnaras began to sing, and accompanied by their respective wives, all the Gandharvas began to shower flowers on the dancers.

“As the gopis and Krishna danced together, a very blissful musical sound was produced from the tinkling of their bells, ornaments and bangles. It appeared that Krishna was a greenish sapphire locket in the midst of a golden necklace decorated with valuable stones. While Krishna and the gopis danced they displayed extraordinary bodily features. The movements of their legs, their placing their hands on one another, the movements of their eyebrows, their smiling, the movements of the breasts of the gopis and their clothes, their earrings, their cheeks, their hair with flowers, as they sang and danced these combined together to appear like clouds and thunder. The beauty of the gopis appeared to be just like lightning in the sky, and the drops of perspiration visible on their faces appeared like falling snow. In this way, both the gopis and Krishna fully engaged in dancing.

“The necks of the gopis became tinted with red due to their desire to enjoy Krishna more and more. To satisfy them, Krishna began to clap His hands in time with their singing. Actually the whole world is full of Krishna’s singing, but it is appreciated in different ways by different kinds of living entities.” (Krishna Book)

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