Govindadwipa Parikrama Development, Krishna Island

We've all heard that the temple is non-different from Vrndavan. Many devotees have been to Vrndavan, but lots have never been too far beyond our ISKCON temple.

The twelve forests are where all Krsna's pastimes took place. We are extra-fortunate to already have in our vision the forests and the lake, so it's easier to see Govindadwipa in this way.

In August 2003, Dina Bandhu prabhu officially opened our parikrama with sixty signposts and twenty-five four foot tall sets of figures under roofs. The signposts now need to be replaced and Manu prabhu has already applied for a grant for eco-friendly signposts in twenty-five places, with short explanations of the pastimes.

In July 2005, our addition to the parikrama path was the Giriraja gazebo. This is a beautiful summer house which has information and pictures of Krsna's pastimes around Govardhana hill. This cost £2,500 and there could be more of them around the parikrama path. For example, in the forest of Mahavan, we could have one which displays all of Krsna's baby pastimes that happen there.

Last Kartikka I got the help of a devotee who lives in Vrndavan and we hired some transport and we went around interviewing five different sculptors and seeing their work. The one who impressed me the most can make the most beautiful four foot tall figures in ten days from cement. He can either make them there and we can ship them, or he can come here to do them. The cost is £200 per figure.

 At Krsna's birthplace in Mathura there is a new display which was made by him. It is life-size figures of Krsna with cowherd boys, gopis and cows and it takes up an area about the size of our temple room. I'd never seen anything so beautiful, people are completely captivated by it. I also went to see a fountain which this man has made. It is a gopi holding a water-pot out of which the water is coming. Five years ago, I had taken photographs of a figure of Krsna with a cow, it is at a hotel in Mathura. It is made of cement but looks like marble. It was also made by this same man. Really exquisite.

One of my ideas is to turn our pond "Radha Kund" into a work of art. In the middle of the pond for example could be a big lotus flower, Krsna and Radha on top, or just one gopi with water-pot out of which the water flows. An ornate canopy over Their Heads and around the pond is 108 stone slabs. Visitors and devotees can circumambulate Radha Kund and chant one Hare Krsna mantra on each step and so complete one round.

We don't go back to Krsna without first becoming attached to His abode. By going around this parikrama of twelve forests and hearing about Krsna's extraordinary pastimes that happened there, this attachment can develop.

Lokanatha Swami, who organises the ISKCON Vraja Mandala parikrama tells us that the more one goes around the twelve forests of Vraja, the less one has to go around the cycle of birth, old age, disease and death.

Devotees and visitors can derive enormous benefit by completing this easy walk around Govindadwipa. In India, it takes 30 days of walking 20 km a day in the hot sun in bare feet to complete the same parikrama.

In the future I can see this parikrama growing more and more with devotees and sanyassis coming from other countries to avail of our wonderful unique temple and our new guest facilities. 

Hare Krsna