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WORLD September 5, 1999 VNN4661 Comment on this story Play The Flute And Remember Mahaprabhu BY SWAMI BV PARIVRAJAK VRINDAVAN, INDIA, Sep 5 (VNN) — Flute, mridanga, harmonium, tabla and vocals resound daily at the new Musical Academy of Yamuna Kunj in Vrindavan. Vaishnavas and all lovers of music can learn how to play these classical Indian instruments in a pure sattvic environment. The courses are completely free of charge. About three weeks go, a team of teachers has begun imparting lessons and the number of students increases day by day. The musical academy is just one of the multifarious activities of the new Yamuna Kunj project. Affiliated to the renown Braj Sangit Vidyapith of Mathura, the Yamuna Kunj Academy aims to provide free education. Raghunath das, who is the coordinator of the project, told me that the Academy is meant to fulfill the new demands of the Vaishnava community. In his words, "When someone is accomplished, he should use the musical and artistic talents in the service of the Lord." For those who do not yet know, Yamuna Kunj stands beautifully on the banks of the Yamuna just beside the Imli Tala of Sriman Mahaprabhu. It is a red sandstone building of around 250 years. A new building, just behind the old one, has been constructed recently to provide all kinds of facilities for the students. The walls, 'painted' with cow dung mixed with Yamuna sand, are enriched with folk motives from the Braj area, cows, gopis, peacocks and lotuses. In this way either if your attention is on the old building or on the new one, you get the same warm feeling and a very relaxing sense of peace. So it is a very quiet place and only since three weeks or so a current of new life has been injected into it. Lovers of Vaishnava culture, art, music and literature are now coming to know about this sacred spot. Yamuna Kunj is not a temple in the sense that there is not any traditional Deity worship there (at least up to now). The Yamuna, just in front of it, is the Deity available for all. Everyone can offer incense, flowers, a lamp or just a prayer with love and devotion and remember the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. At the entrance of the Kunj a wooden trunk from the Imli Tala has been put on a marble basement. Some take this trunk as a murti and bow down to it or go around it as in a parikrama. And they are not wrong. It is a divine remnant and as such can be honored. That piece of tamarind tree is in remembrance of Mahaprabhu. Sri Chaitanya came in that area, sat down on the banks of the river and took the name of Krishna maddened by divine love. Mahaprabhu was all alone at that time and Vrindavan was quite different from our modern Vrindavan. Five hundred years ago there was no plastic, motor traffic, tourist guides, cinema and loudspeakers. Nothing of the sort. Some may say that there was also not any musical academy. Times are changing and with them the needs of the people. Over the years Vrindavan has surely grown in its capacity to handle visitors, even if basically the sacred complex remains the same as it was after the initial development of the Bengali Vaishnavas. The difference is that previously only those who renounced the world used to go and settle in Vrindavan. It was not a place for householders. But times have changed that too. As the city developed, also ordinary people have come to reside in Vrindavan. Of course whoever visits Vrindavan is not an ordinary human being, but what I mean is that nobody minds if you are running a land business, making sweets or learning karate (there are indeed also karate schools and Gym in Vrindavan) Pilgrims are thronging here from all parts of India and particularly now during the rainy season when the weather becomes a little cool with the arrival of the monsoon. We are now in the month of Shravan (July/August) and the lilas of Krishna and Mahaprabhu are staged in the big halls of Ram Jivai, Jai Singh-ghera, Sudama Kuti and other places. The parikrama of the holy Vrindavan is flooded with an endless stream of pilgrims, who have come here to receive the blessings of the holy dham. I have been said that so many of them stop now at Yamuna Kunj to have a little rest, shelter from the rain or attracted by the captivating notes of the flute players. In case you are one of those pilgrims, please, do not hesitate and have a look at this place, sing and play with the devotees there and remember the Yamuna and Mahaprabhu. For more information about the courses of the musical academy please contact the Principal of the Academy, Dinanath Das at the following number: 0091/565/443 664 Yamuna Kunj 165 Man Gali, Seva Kunj Vrindavan UP 281121 INDIA E-mail: vrindak@nde.vsnl.net.in subject: Musical Academy Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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