The Glory of Braj
"Braj” the land of lord Krishna redolent with the glory of his eternal love. In braj lord Krishna daily promenades with her beloved Radha Rani(pleasureous divinity) and his cow herd mates. This promenade is eternal and infinite and in “Brajbhoomi” love and divinity are sprinkled everywhere.
In other words: “The supreme” who is beyond of “sattva” (purity), “rajas”(passion) and “tamas”(darkness) exists in every bit of the universe is called braj. Braj is the place where nand baba(foster father of Krishna) used to live with his cow, calves, family, relatives and friends. Braj means “movable” so wherever nandbaba went with his belongings it was called braj.
Gokul, golok and vrindavan are the synonyms of braj.
Lord Krishna the incarnation of lord Vishnu, an eternal entity of super conscient emerged and fascinated the brajbhoomi with his numerous fascinating “Raas-leelas”. Krishna is a super conscient which has three dimensions: multitude, beautitude and infinitude. In infancy he made braj his virtual playground of his manifestation of divinity.
Braj is also known for the undying love of Radha-Krishna. They are one. It is believed that Krishna captivated the whole world but the beauty and virtues of Radha Rani( the head gopika of “Raas”) mesmerized him. Krishna played flute and danced with her and in braj the name “Radha” is more chanted by people than Krishna because it sustains the eternal love. Radha never left Braj while Krishna did but just because of Radha’s presence everyone else like krishna’s parents, friends, cow-herd boys and girls remained in braj. So her existence is more dominant there. So Radha is the ‘praan’(soul) of braj.
Areas of braj: It is situalted in the golden triangle of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Braj starts from Kotavan(Hodal) and spread up to Runakta(near Agra) . It has 137 sacred forests,numerous hills and several kunds and holy river Yamuna. Braj can be divided in two parts, The eastern parts in the trans Yamuna span with places Gokul, Mahavan, Mat, Baldev and the western side of Yamuna that includes Mathura, Vrindavan, Goverdhan, Nandgaon and Barsana.
