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Om Vishnupad 108 Tridandi Swami Sri Srimat Bhakti Sravan Tirtha Goswami Maharaj ki Jai !!

 

 

When Krishna requested Srimati Radharani to descend with Him to Earth, She replied, “I do not feel happiness anywhere where Yamuna, the forests of Vrindavan and Gokul dham are not there. So, I won’t go there without them.”

Therefore Yamuna descended from the eternal spiritual world, Golok Vrindavan to the material world in the form of a river, originating in the Kalinda glacier and emerging from Yamunotri in the Himalayas in Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand. Flowing through parts of Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh she enters Braj mandal and goes on to join Ganga Devi at Prayag.

According to legend, Yama and Yami (Yamuna) are the twin offspring of the Sun God Suryadev and Sanjana.  Yami was a great favourite of her father Suryanarayan. Her mother Sanjana could not withstand the intensely brilliant and dazzling face of Surya-dev. It is said, as she looked upon him with “samyama” (meaning restraint in Sanskrit) their son was called Yama.

In spite of Surya asking Sanjana to keep her eyes open in his presence, they sometimes flickered and so the daughter was called Yamuna. After the children were born, Sanjana left her sister Chhaaya (shadow) in her place pretending to be her and returned to her parents’ home, as she could not bear the Sun’s intense brightness and heat. When Chhaaya bore Suryadev's children, she was not very compassionate towards Yama and Yami.

One day, Yama, unable to tolerate Chhaaya’s insulting words, stomped her foot hard. Enraged by this, Chhaaya cursed him saying he would lose his foot. Yamuna his beloved sister could not bear this injustice. She performed hard penance and prayed for the curse to be revoked. In memory of this profound love between brother and sister, Yama Dwitiya or Bhai Dooj is celebrated in various parts of the country on the second day after Diwali. Sisters pray for their brothers to have a long life and brothers vow to look after and protect their sisters.

Yamaraja being very affectionate to his sister does not disturb any person who is blessed by Yamuna Devi as stated by Rupa Goswami in Yamunashtakam.

According to Srila Rupa Goswami and Baladev Vidyabhushan Yamuna Maharani is actually an expansion of Vishakha sakhi, one of the two most confidential and intimate friends of Srimati Radharani in Golok Vrindavan. In fact, Vishaka Devi is herself an expansion of Radhika. To enhance the pleasure of Krishna’s pastimes, Radharani thus expanded Herself as river Yamuna.

In a variation of this theme, yet another legend is found in Garga Samhita and in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana. This describes that Yamuna is originally the gopi Viraja in Goloka. (Viraja is the great cosmic “river” or space that separates the spiritual universe from the material universe).

Once in Goloka, Krishna was engaged in conjugal play with Viraja in a secluded nikunja when Srimati ji (who had been waiting in vain for Krishna the whole night) appeared there unexpectedly. Sri Radha angrily cursed Viraja to turn into water and flow as a river in the material world. Krishna hid from Radha and escaped being cursed.

Thereafter Krishna comforted Viraja and asked her to go as the river Yamuna in earthly Vrindavan. He said He would perform His transcendental pastimes in her waters and along her banks in the Dwapara Yuga and also marry her as one of His chief queens.

By the transcendental arrangement of Sri Krishna, Viraja devi was cursed to become a river and to descend into the material world. All this was part of a greater plan of Krishna to save the conditioned souls in the material world and for this purpose, He had arranged through His transcendental illusory potency (Yogamaya) for this pastime to take place.

Yamuna is key to Krishna’s leelas in Mathura, Vrindavan and Indraprastha (modern New Delhi). Krishna was born in Mathura on the banks of the river. Vasudev carried baby Krishna from Mathura and crossed the Yamuna to Gokul on the other side. Mother Yashomati would bathe Krishna and Balarama in the Yamuna. The brothers Krishna and Balarama would herd their cows and calves to the river to drink the sweet water. They would frolic and play in the cool waters of Yamuna with all their friends. Krishna jumped into the Yamuna and defeated Kalia. He would prank the gopis who bathed in the Yamuna and steal their clothes. Krishna and the gopis would enjoy boat riding pastimes in the Yamuna. The Rasaleela took place along the sandy banks of the Yamuna. So many of the sweetest nectarian pastimes took place in or around the Yamuna. Yamuna was thus the lifeline of the Brijvasis.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, 10th Canto, the story of how Krishna and Kalindi – another name for Yamuna – got married is given. The river goddess performed penance for long to obtain Sri Krishna as her husband. Surya dev had a beautiful abode constructed within the Yamuna waters for her to stay. Once Krishna and Arjuna were perambulating in the latter’s chariot by the banks of Yamuna river in the Khandava forest. Shortly they came upon a dark complexioned young maiden with a lustrous face who was dressed in the garments of a sadhvi. Arjuna descended from the chariot and approached her to find out who she was. She gave her name as Kalindi and said that she was the Goddess Yamuna personified and had been praying to have Sri Krishna as her husband. Arjuna then took her to Krishna and united them in wedlock. After some time, Krishna took Kalindi with Him to Dwaraka and married her formally with great pomp and ceremony.

Yamuna Devi is the Ishta Devi of Pushti Marg. Where there is Krishna there is Yamunaji. She is like Krishna. Krishna is black as is Yamunaji. Krishna is King of Kings. So Yamunaji is Queen of Queens. Yamunaji is beloved of Krishna. Krishna is Lord of Yamuna and Yamunaji is the Pattarani of Krishna. That is why both are loved by Vaishnavas.

Jiva Goswami quotes from the Shastras that how Ganga is the charanamrita of the Supreme Personality of Godhead emerging as she does from the big toe of Sri Hari in His Vaman and Virat avatar. But the power of purification of bathing in the Ganges when multiplied by hundred is the effect of bathing once in Yamuna. The Yamuna is the eternal charanamrita of Shri Shri Radha Krishna jugal, the Gopas and the Gopis.

When we bathe in Yamuna, we are bathing in that nectar. And most of all it is Yamuna mayi’s love in the form of water. Therefore, bathing in Yamuna is one of the most important aspects of worshipping the holy land of Vrindavan.


Yamuna Maharani ki Jai !!

 

 

Jai Gurudev!

Jai Jai Shri Radhey !