Surya Kunda, more pastimes
Surya Kunda is a few kilometers from Yavata and it has been (and still is) the place of many of Radha Krishna’s pastimes.
This pond lies to the south of Krishna-kunda, on the right-hand side of the highway. Here, Surya-narayana, the Sungod, became restless after having darsana of Sri Krishna’s exquisite threefold- bending form and forgot to move for some time.
Pastime
This is a very beautiful place where Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, spent a number of years performing bhajana on the banks Surya-kunda. While he was here he worshiped the deities of Gaura-nitai, which later became famous as ‘Sona Gauranga’, and are now being worshiped in Vrindavana near the Gopinatha Mandira.
Another famous Babaji who lived here named Madhusudana Dasa, discovered the ‘mukut-shila’ of Radharani on the bank of this kunda and kept it in his ashrama for worship. The story behind this famous shila is that one day, Radharani came to take Her bath at the kunda and taking off her mukut or tiara, placed it on a rock, subsequently the rock melted due to ecstasy leaving the impression of Radha’s mukut upon it. The word ‘mukut’ means a type of ‘crown’ or ‘tiara’ which is sometimes worn by Radharani.
This sacred kunda is one of the sites of the ashtakaliya-lila, or the eight-fold daily pastimes performed by Radha and Krishna. In the morning after cooking for Krishna in mother Yashoda’s kitchen at Nandagrama, Radha goes home to Yavata and gets ready to worship the sun god Surya. At around 10.30 AM., Radha leaves Yavata with Her girlfriends and goes to Surya-kunda to perform Her daily worship at the temple of Surya Narayana. Simultaneously, after leaving the cowherd boys and the pasturing ground with the cows, Krishna, disguised as a temple priest and accompanied by Madhumangala, also makes His way to Surya-kunda to officiate in the temple rituals during the worship of the sun-god by Radharani. Disguised as a brahmana priest, Krishna is able to associate in secret with His beloved Radharani at Surya-kunda without anyone being aware of it. Each and every day, different kinds of transcendental pastimes take place that are centered on Radha’s worship of the sun god at Surya-kunda.
In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says.
”Just see the temple of Suryadeva situated within the forest. In great happiness Radharani comes here with Her shakhis to worship the sun god Surya. Sri Krishna Himself became the priest and enjoyed performing the puja. This deity of Suryadeva is very merciful and can give love of Krishna.”
From Her youth, Radharani started worshiping Surya in order to get Krishna as Her husband. After Her betrothal to Abhimanyu, she was asked to continue the worship of Suryadeva by Her mother-in-law Jatila, to bring wealth and good fortune to Abhimanyu and his family.”
At this place, there is a temple dedicated to Surya Narayana.
Surya Kunda and Gopala Kunda are here.
The Surya Narayana temple is on the bank of Surya Kunda.
Once Radharani placed Her mukut (golden crown) on a rock while she was bathing in Surya Kunda. The rock melted and still there are the marks of Radha’s crown imprinted into the rock. This rock is located in the Gaura Nitai temple, near the samadhi of Madhusudana Dasa Babaji, on the west bank of the kunda.
The rock is embedded in the back wall.
The samadhi of Madhusudana Dasa Babaji, the guru of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, is here.
Jagannatha Dasa Babaji did bhajana here for some time.
The samadhi of Sri Bhagavat dasa Babaji, the sannyasa guru of Gaura Kishor Dasa Babaji, is also here.
Radha and Krishna would come here to enjoy their Suryapuja pastimes around 3 pm.
This was one of the few places that Krishna and Srimati Radharani could meet safely.
On Sunday, Radharani would come to this place and worship the sungod, Surya. This was the only place her mother-in-law would allow her to go. The pujaris in this temple were two respectable looking brahmacaris. One was the guru and the other was his disciple. Krishna was acting as the guru and Madhumangala was acting as His disciple. There is a full description of this story in Govindalilamrita and Krishna-bhavanamrita.
It is also said that Krishna would pick flowers here and make them into a garland for Radharani.
Getting there
Surya Kunda is near the village of Vasanti. It is on the 24 miles parikrama of Govardhana Hill.
This place can be visited when going between Vrindavana and Radha Kunda. It is about 7 km off the road between Radha Kunda and Chatikara.
To get here from Radha Kunda you drive east on the road back to the town of Vrindavana, until just before the village of Ral.
This is the first busy inter-section on your left.
You turn left at the asphalt road just before Ral.
You then go about 7 km.
The road winds through many fields. You may have to ask the local people directions to make sure you are going the right way.
After driving about 5 km, you come to the village of Konai.
You go around this village and the village of Surya Kunda is on your right, after 1½ km.
Surya Kunda, warming Krishna’s body
Surya Kunda is where the Sun God performed austerities to see and serve Lord Krishna.
His wish was fulfilled when Srimati Radharani asked him to warm the Lord’s transcendental body with his rays after Krishna came out of the water from battling the Kaliya serpent.
Surya kunda is also a place where Radha and Krishna meet regularly for Their pastimes.
This is a section of the book “Vrindavana Lila”.
To buy the complete book, click above
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