Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 1

Madanmohan Temple of Srila Sanatana Goswami.

The bhajan kutir and samadhi of Shrila


Prabhodanand Sarasvati lies close to Kaliya Ghat.  Bilvamangal Thakur’s bhajan place is also
nearby. Kaliya was a thousand hooded serpent out of which 101 hoods were most prominent.
He, alongwith his wives, the Nagapatnis was staying in a deep pond, called the Kaliya Daha or
the poisonous lake of the serpent Kaliya, at this place within the River Yamuna. Previously,
Kaliya Ghat was one of the ghats (series of steps leading down to a water body) on the banks of
River Yamuna but in due course of time Yamuna changed its path and currently Kaliya Ghat lies
at some distance from the Yamuna. This is also the place where Shoubhri Muni was performing
his meditation underneath the waters of Yamuna and out of pride he cursed Garuda (the Bird
Carrier of Lord Vishnu who thrives on snakes and fishes) to die if he ever came here to eat
fishes. In order to escape the wrath of Garuda, Kaliya later took shelter of this lake. Because of
the deadly poison of Kaliya all vegetation and life forms near this lake had died except
one Kadamba tree which was showered with nectar by Garuda previously. Radhanath
Swami narrating the pastime of Kaliya Daman said that once the Gopas and their cows had
innocently drunk the water of this Kaliya Daha and had fallen down unconscious. Krishna
brought them back to life just by throwing His merciful glance upon them. Then he climbed up
this Kadamba tree and elegantly jumped into the lake creating great commotion and huge
waves. Infuriated, Kaliya pounced upon Krishna and coiled around Him. Krishna expanded
Himself and slipped out of Kaliya’s coils. He dodged Kaliya and jumped over his head and
started performing a beautiful dance over the hoods of Kaliya. His graceful moves on the hoods
of Kaliya were like thunderbolts for Kaliya and all his hoods collapsed one by one with blood and
poison pouring out of his mouths.  Seeing their husband becoming remorseful, the Nagapatnis
begged Krishna to forgive Kaliya. Bhaktavatsala Krishna forgave Kaliya and told him not to
disturb the Vrajavasis any longer and immediately leave for the ocean. Thus Krishna performed
the celebrated subdual of Kaliya serpent at this place. Prayer: Radhanath Swami gave a
brilliant purport to the Kaliya Daman pastime during one of his yatras to Kaliya Ghat. He
compares the uncontrolled tongue to a snake like Kaliya, which is very venomous and envious.
The uncontrolled tongue keeps on biting and spitting the venom of harsh words and unfavorable
speech on others making everyone’s life difficult. However when Krishna appears on this tongue
in the form of His holy names: HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA  KRISHNA HARE
HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE, the tongue gets purified and
all the poison of this snake like tongue gets removed.  Radhanath Swami tells that at this place
one should make a prayer to Krishna that, “Krishna, please subdue these propensities of Kaliya
within my heart i.e. envy, lust and cruelty. Let me become humble and appreciate Your glories
and the glories of Your devotees, let me become purified.”

You might also like