Vṛndāvana is one of the most sacred forests of Bhārata. It lies near the Govardhana mountain in the Mathurā region. The Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells how it got its name from Vṛndā, the pativratā (devoted wife) of the asura king Jalandhara. The Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the same Purāṇa describes Vṛndāvana as the highest and eternal home of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa.

According to the Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Vṛndāvana lies beyond all the universes and above even Goloka. It is not different from the body of Kṛshṇa himself. Vaikuṇṭha is only a part of its portion, and on earth Vṛndāvana itself shows itself. Whatever glory is in Goloka is settled in Gokula, and whatever glory is in Vaikuṇṭha is in Dvārakā. The whole forest, together with the Yamunā (Kālindī), the Govardhana mountain, and the cowherds and cowherdesses, is eternal. Śiva tells Pārvatī that Vṛndāvana is the complete Brahman, happiness, glory, eternal, bliss and imperishable.

Origin of the name: Vṛndā, wife of Jalandhara

The Uttara Khaṇḍa says that Vṛndāvana takes its name from Vṛndā, the devoted wife of the asura king Jalandhara. While her husband fought his great war against the devas, and in the end against Śiva, Vṛndā came to this forest near the Govardhana mountain. She did intense tapas (austerity) for Jalandhara’s victory and safe return.

In this forest Bhagavān Vishṇu, disguised as the ṛshi Devaśarman, found her at her tapas. He deceived her. He first showed her a false image of Jalandhara’s severed head. Then he made a false Jalandhara who embraced her. This broke her pātivratya (faithfulness as a wife), and so the protection that she had given to Jalandhara was taken away.

When Vṛndā found out the truth, she gave Vishṇu a śāpa (curse): that a disguised ascetic would take his wife. This was fulfilled in the Rāmāyaṇa, when Rāvaṇa carried off Sītā. Then Vṛndā gave up her life in fire, together with her companion Smaradūtī. The Tulasī plant rose from Vṛndā’s sweat and grief. Her ashes were cast into the Mandākinī.

The forest took the name Vṛndāvana, “Vṛndā’s forest”, in her memory. So the most sacred of Kṛshṇa’s forests is a place made holy by a woman’s tapas, devotion, grief and the giving up of her life. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15–16)

The thousand-petalled lotus of Mathurā

The whole Mathurā region has the form of a lotus of a thousand petals. The twelve groves (dvādaśa-vanas) are its petals, set in the order of their importance:

Bhadravana
Śrīvana
Lohavana
Bhāṇḍīravana
Mahāvana
Tālavana
Khadīraka
Bakula
Kumuda
Kāmyavana
Madhuvana
Vṛndāvana

Seven of these lie to the west of the Kālindī. The five on the east are together called Pañcavana. There is also the great secret grove called Gokula-Vṛndāvana, the place of Kṛshṇa’s play and delight. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 69)

Gokula as the pericarp

The great place called Gokula is the pericarp (the seed-centre) of the thousand-petalled lotus. Within it, the pericarp itself is the highest home of Govinda: a golden pavilion on a golden seat. The petals spread in all eight directions and the directions between them, and each has its own nature and meaning:

The southern petal is the best and most secret. A great seat is there, which the Vedas and sacred texts cannot reach. It is hard to reach even for the masters of the meditating munis.
The south-eastern petal is the Saṁketa, the Dvipada region, where two huts stand.
The eastern petal is a hundred times more meritorious than contact with all holy places, the Gaṅgā included.
The north-eastern petal is the seat of the inspired ṛshis. Here the cowherdesses won Kṛshṇa as their husband through their pūjā of Devī Kātyāyanī.
The north-western petal is Kālihrada.
The western petal gives the wished-for varas (boons) to the wives of Vishṇu. Here even an asura gained moksha (liberation) that the devas find hard to reach.
The south-western petal is Vyomaghaṭana, the place where Śaṅkhacūḍa was slain.
The sixteenth petal, outside, is glorious and full of beauty. Its name is Svadhamādhava.

Kṛshṇa became a cowkeeper at the Govardhana mountain, which is the pericarp in the sense of the karṇikā. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 69)

The divine assembly in Vṛndāvana

In the eternal Vṛndāvana, Govinda is seen seated with Rādhā on a golden throne. He stands in his tribhaṅga posture (the body bent at three points, as he plays the flute). Around the Yogapīṭha the eight chief sakhīs (companions of Rādhā) are placed: Lalitā in front, Śrīharipriyā in the north-west, Viśākhā in the east, Śaibya in the south-east, Padmā in the south, and Candrāvatī in the south-west, before the bakula tree. These eight are the chief natural forms dear to Kṛshṇa.

The sixteen original forms dear to Kṛshṇa are: Rādhā, Candrāvatī, Citrekhā, Candrā, Madanasundarī, Priyā, Śrī, Madhumatī, Candrarekhā, Haripriyā, and others. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 70)

In the outer zones of the divine assembly:

On the right are the Śrutikanyās (daughters of the sacred scriptures), gathered in thousands. They sing the hidden secrets, overcome with love.
On the left are divine young women skilled in many arts.
At the four gates stand Śrīdāma in the west, Vasudāma in the north, Sudāma in the east and Kiṅkiṇī in the south.

(Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 70)

The eternal nature of Vṛndāvana

Kṛshṇa himself spoke to Vedavyāsa at Badarīkāśrama: “Know my Mathurā to be eternal, so also Vṛndāvana; so also know to be eternal the Yamunā, the cowherdesses and the cowherds. This avatāra of mine is eternal. Do not have any doubt about it. Rādhā is always dear to me.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 73)

Vṛndāvana is not different from the body of Govinda. Govinda never leaves Vṛndāvana, and his body anywhere else is artificial. Merely to touch the dust of Vṛndāvana gives moksha. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 75)

The Kālindī as Sushumnā

In Vṛndāvana the river Kālindī is described as Sushumnā, the great central channel in the human body that lies between Iḍā and Piṅgalā. In Vṛndāvana’s eternal side, devas and other beings live in a subtle form within this river of nectar. On both banks of the Kālindī lies a pericarp made of pure gold, said to be a crore of times more meritorious than the Gaṅgā. Kālindī, Karṇikā and Kṛshṇa are declared to be one and the same, sharing one body. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 69, 75)

Arjuna’s vision of Vṛndāvana

At Kṛshṇa’s direction, Arjuna pleased Devī Tripurasundarī, and by her grace he was let into the eternal Vṛndāvana. By the devī’s instruction he bathed in the Amṛta lake. He became a woman, Arjunī, and saw the forest in its secret form.

He saw the great festival of Kṛshṇa’s dance with the cowherds going on without end, and the whole company of cowherdesses. At last he saw Kṛshṇa himself in the divine grove. After this vision Kṛshṇa bathed him in the western lake and gave him back his male form. Arjuna returned to the world knowing the daily play of Kṛshṇa, and made his home at the Badarī-Nārāyaṇa āśrama. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 74)

Nārada at the Amṛta lake

At the order of Vishṇu, Nārada also entered the Amṛta lake and came out as a woman. He knew the inner side of Vṛndāvana as Lalitā, one of Rādhā’s chief sakhīs, and spent a year with Kṛshṇa there. Rādhā led him back to the Amṛta lake and he was given back his male form. When he came out he held his lute and was lost in singing the great secret of Vṛndāvana. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 75)

Rādhā and Kṛshṇa as Prakṛti and Purusha

The Pātāla Khaṇḍa says: “Rādhā and Kṛshṇa are the first Prakṛti and Purusha. Except Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, the master of Vṛndāvana, everything is the product of Prakṛti. Because they appear, this world appears, and it breaks when they disappear. As gold does not perish even though things made from it may perish, so Kṛshṇa does not fall even if his avatāras perish.”

Kṛshṇa alone is the man in all creation. Brahmā and the others are women only. This means that the masculine principle, Purusha, is one alone. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 77)

Vraja after Kṛshṇa’s departure

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya in the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa gives a separate account of Vṛndāvana in the time after Kṛshṇa left. Vajranābha, the great-grandson of Kṛshṇa, was crowned king of Mathurā after Yudhishṭhira’s Mahāprasthāna. He found the countryside of Vraja empty. All its divine people were unseen, and the ordinary people had gone away.

The ṛshi Śāṇḍilya, the family priest of Nanda, explained why. The emptiness was the natural drawing back of the unseen side of Vraja after Kṛshṇa stopped showing himself. The Nityas (his eternal companions), the Tallipsus (devotees raised to the rank of Nityas) and the Devādyas (divine beings born to take part in the Līlā, the divine play) had all become unseen or had been taken back into Kṛshṇa. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapter 1)

Kusumasaras, the Flower Lake

Near the Govardhana mountain, at the place called Sakhīsthala in the Vṛndāvana forest, lies Kusumasaras, the Flower Lake. Here Kālindī told the queens of Kṛshṇa to hold a festival of praise. Here Uddhava came out from a cluster of grasses and creepers in the form of Kṛshṇa himself, as he was seen in the world.

The festival at Kusumasaras was held with recitation, song, lutes, flutes and mṛdaṅga drums. It brought back the power of Kṛshṇa’s Rāsa dance. All who were there gained complete knowledge at once when they saw Uddhava. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapter 2)

Uddhava in the creepers of Vṛndāvana

Uddhava received Kṛshṇa’s innermost secret at the root of the Aśvattha tree before Kṛshṇa left, and settled at Badarikāśrama to pass on that knowledge. But he also lives unseen in Vṛndāvana, in the form of sprouts and creepers near the Govardhana mountain at Sakhīsthala. He is eager to receive the dust of the feet of the gopīs. He also stays at Nārada Kuṇḍa in the Vraja region.

Because he is present in the creepers of Vṛndāvana, the forest itself carries Kṛshṇa’s teaching. Those who hold festivals of praise there meet him. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 2–3)

Vajranābha’s re-establishment

After Śāṇḍilya’s counsel, Vajranābha, with the support of Emperor Parīkshit, made the Vraja region holy again, step by step. He found each place of Govinda’s play and gave it its name. He founded villages and settlements, built public works, set up mūrtis of Govinda and of Śiva, and spread devotion to Kṛshṇa.

The named places, groves and tīrthas of Vraja known in the devotional tradition were all found in this way by Vajranābha, working on Śāṇḍilya’s hidden knowledge. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–2)

The month-long Bhāgavata kathā at Vṛndāvana

Uddhava began a month-long telling of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata at Vṛndāvana near Govardhana. This is the very forest that forms the highest, pāramārthika side of the holy land. During this kathā (narration), Kṛshṇa’s Līlā, made of existence, knowledge and bliss, showed itself everywhere.

Vajranābha reached liberation at the right foot of Kṛshṇa. The queens of Kṛshṇa saw themselves as the shining of his sixteen digits and rose to their eternal region. Others who were present entered the unseen eternal Līlā. They go on rejoicing with Kṛshṇa in the bowers of Govardhana, among the cows, in Vṛndāvana. Only those who love them and are devoted to them can see them. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapter 3)

Sources

Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15–16
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 77
Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–3