Vraja means ‘all-pervasive’. This land is spiritual, situated beyond the three modes of material nature. It is ever-blissful, effulgent, indestructible and the abode of liberated souls.

The entire creation is divided into two parts – material and spiritual. The spiritual creation of the Lord contains innumerable Vaikuntha planets which are abodes of various incarnations of the Lord. Above all these planets is the abode of Lord Krishna called as Goloka Vrindavana. Go means cows and loka means the planet. When Lord Krishna descends on earth, He comes along with His land called Vraja. Vraja is a confidential part of Goloka Vrindavana. When Krishna was on this planet, He performed His pastimes on this land. These pastimes of the Lord are constantly being performed in the spiritual world. Lord Krishna enacts His transcendental pastimes for the benefit of the world. The primary reason for the Lord to descend to this world is to attract the suffering living entities, to His eternal abode Goloka Vrindavana. The self-realized souls constantly experience Krishna, whose form is made of bliss, eternity and knowledge in the holy land of Vraja.

“I worship that transcendental seat, where as loving consorts the Laksmis in their unalloyed spiritual essence practice the amorous service of the Supreme Lord Krsna as their only lover; where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree; where the soil is the purpose gem, all water is nectar, every word is a song, every gait is a dance, the flute is the favorite attendant, effulgence is full of transcendental bliss and the supreme spiritual entities are all enjoyable and tasty, where numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk; where there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka Vrindavana only to a very few self-realized souls in this world.” (Brahma-samhita 5.56)

Vraja Mandala, which is sometimes referred to as Vraja Bhumi, covers an area of 1453 square miles and stretches from Agra in the south to Banchari in the north. It is spread over 84 krosas, with Mathura in the centre. This Vraja Mandala, even though appearing to be the part of this world, is not destroyed at the time of universal dissolution. Even demigods cannot understand how this land manifests and is not annihilated. What to speak of us then?

After the disappearance of Lord Krishna from this world, His great-grandson Vajranabha Maharaja, identified and named every forest, lake, hill and village connected to Krishna’s pastimes within the entire area of Vraja Mandala, based on the descriptions in the puranas. It is said that Vajranabha installed at least sixteen very important Deities at various places around Vraja Mandala. He established four shiva lingas known as the dik-palas, or protectors of the holy Dhama. He also established four Deities of Krishna’s Sister Yogamaya Devi.

The Adi-varaha Purana says that there are over 600 million tirthas on this earth. The benefit of going to all these tirthas and more, is attained by going to the tirthas in Mathura. It also says that by circumambulating Mathura you attain a hundred times the same results as circumambulating all the holy places and temples in the world, the benefits of giving all charity and doing all rituals for the well-being of the world. It also says that even those who just see a person who has just returned from Mathura get cleansed of their sins.

IN the 84 kosas of Vraja Mandala, there are 48 different forests which are categorized as vanas, upavanas, prativanas and adhivanas. According to Padma Purana, there are twelve principal forests situated east and west of the Yamuna. On the east side are Madhuvana, Talavana, Kumdavana, Kamyavana, Bahulavana, Vrindavana, and Khadiravana. On the western side are Mahavana, Bhandiravana, Lohavana, Bhadravana and Baelvana.

The Varaha Purana mentions twelve upavanas. They are Brahmavana, Apsaravana, Vihvalavana, Kadambavana, Svarnavana, Surabhivana, Premavana, Mayuravana, Manengitavana, Sheshashayivana, Naradavana and Paramanandavana.

The Bhavishya Purana mentions the following twelve prativanas: Rankavana, Varttavana, Karahavana, Kamavana, Anjanavana, Karnavana, Krishnakshipanavana, Nadaprekshana Krishnavana, Indravana, Shikshavana, Chandravalivana and Lohavana.

The Vishnu Purana describes the following twelve adhivanas: Mathura, Radha-kunda, Nandagaon, Gadha, Lalita-grama, Vrishabhanupura, Gokula, Balabhadravana, Govardhana, Javata, Vrindavana and Sanketvana.

It is said that the forest of Vrindavana forms Krishna’s head, Kumudavana and Talavana form His chest, Bahulavana and Mahavana His arms, Nandagrama His fingers and Bhandiravana His feet.

Vaishnavas circumambulate the sacred Vraja-bhumi, visiting all these above mentioned vanas. The going around the land of Vraja is called as parikrama or pradakshina. The Vraja Mandala parikrama was first performed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the year 1515, when He travelled on foot to the twelve sacred forests of Vraja and visited all the important holy places where Lord Krishna had performed His transcendental pastimes five thousand years earlier. This historic parikrama, ultimately led to the rediscovery of the sacred land of Vraja by the Goswamis and other Vaishnava acharyas. This famous parikrama performed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was recorded in a number of important books, including the highly acclaimed Chaitanya-charitamrita by Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami completed in 1581. The Bhakti-ratnakara by Narahari Chakravarti Thakura, written during the same period, gives a vivid account of the Vraja Mandala Parikrama undertaken by Raghava Pandita Goswami, Shrinivasa Acharya and Narottama Dasa Thakura, who retraced the same route originally taken by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

The purpose of the Vraja Mandala parikrama is to pay homage to the holy dhama by circumambulating the twelve sacred forests of Vraja just as Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had done five hundred years ago. The goal of performing parikrama around Vraja is to increase one’s smaranam of Lord Sri Krishna, while seeing all the holy places where He performed His transcendental pastimes five thousand years ago. By performing parikrama around the sacred forests of Vraja, one’s faith in the lotus feet of the Lord automatically increases with every step.

It is said in the Mathura Mahatmya, “What is the need for any further consideration, anyone who simply hears about the glories of Vraja Mandala automatically delivers two hundered generations of both his paternal and maternal family members.”

The Mathura Mahatmya also says, “Those who with firm faith and devotion to Lord Krishna, perform the parikrama of Vraja Mandala – are freed from all sins and go back to Godhead at the time of death.”

The Adi-varaha Purana says “Those who visit the twelve sacred forests of Vrindavana will no longer suffer the pangs of hellish life.” It also says, “By bathing at any place in Vraja Mandala a person is redeemed of all his sins.”

Srila Jiva Gosvami has stated that the devotee should reside physically in Vraja. If he cannot be present there physically, he should dwell in Vraja within his mind. Residence within the mind and physical residence in Vraja both bestow the attainment of the final goal. And this is our purpose to present the glories of Vraja Mandala Parikrama to our readers. Just by reading and understanding the glories of Vraja and the pastimes of Vraja Nandana one can be liberated from the pangs of this material life.

We are eternally grateful to our beloved spiritual master His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who revealed this holy land of Vraja to us. It is only by his mercy that we all know about Vraja Mandala, the transcendental land of Krishna’s transcendental pastimes.