Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
This famous pond is situated about four-hundred metres south-west of the village of Kāma. The following deities preside around Vimala-kuṇḍa in this order: (1) Dāūjī, (2) Sūryadeva, (3) Śrī Nīlakaṇṭheśvara Mahādeva, (4) Śrī Govardhana-nātha, (5) Śrī Madana-mohana and Kāmyavana-bihārī, (6) Śrī Vimala- bihārī, (7) Vimalā-devī, (8) Śrī Muralī-manohara, (9) Bhagavatī Gaṅgā and (10) Śrī Gopālajī.
According to the Garga-saṁhitā, in ancient times a glorious king named Vimala lived in Campaka Nagarī in the country of Sindhu. At first, none of his six thousand queens bore him any children, but, by the mercy of Śrī Yājñavalkya Ṛṣi, many beautiful girls took birth from the wombs of those queens. In their previous births, all these girls had been the women of Janakapurī who had desired to obtain Śrī Rāmacandra as their husband. The girls who took birth in King Vimala’s home eventually reached a marriageable age. On the advice of Maharṣi Yājñavalkya, the king sent his emissary to Mathurāpurī to search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whom he deemed to be the suitable husband for his daughters. While on his way, the emissary was fortunate to meet Grandfather Bhīṣma, who sent him to Śrī Vṛndāvana, since Śrī Kṛṣṇa was there at that time. Upon arriving in Vṛndāvana, the royal emissary gave Śrī Kṛṣṇa King Vimala’s letter of invitation, which requested Kṛṣṇa to come to Campaka Nagarī to marry the princesses. After receiving Mahārāja Vimala’s invitation, Śrī Kṛṣṇa went to Campaka Nagarī and brought the princesses back with Him to this pleasing Kāmyavana, situated within Vraja-maṇḍala. He assumed as many forms as there were princesses and accepted them all. He performed rāsa and other playful pastimes with these teenage girls, thus fulfilling their long-cherished desire. The tears of happiness that flowed from their eyes filled a pond, which became known as Vimala-kuṇḍa. By bathing in this kuṇḍa, all kinds of desires – both worldly and transcendental – are fulfilled and one’s heart becomes pure and instilled with vraja-bhakti.
It is generally said that all the holy places of the universe come to Vraja during Cāturmāsya. Once, Tīrtharāja Puṣkara did not to come. Śrī Kṛṣṇa remembered Yogamāyā, and merely by His recollection, a very strong current of water shot out of the earth. Astonishingly, a supremely beautiful and completely pure kiśorī appeared from that sacred current, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa sported with that beautiful kiśorī in those waters. The kiśorī completely satisfied the supremely rasika Śrī Kṛṣṇa with her beauty and pure, loving service and He gave her a boon: “From today you will be known as Vimala-devī, and this kuṇḍa will be named after you. By bathing in this kuṇḍa, one will receive seven times the pious merit of bathing in Tīrtharāja Puṣkara.” Since then, this pond has become known as Vimala-kuṇḍa.
Many great sages have resided on the bank of this kuṇḍa to obtain kṛṣṇa-bhakti. It is well known that Maharṣi Durvāsā and the Pāṇḍavas resided here. Every pilgrim or group of pilgrims performing Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā stays at Vimala-kuṇḍa and begins parikramā of Kāmyavana from here only.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
When Nanda Maharaja stayed at Kamyavana, Krishna and Balarama used to graze Their herds nearby and along with Their cowherd boyfriends, They enjoyed various games as well as sporting pastimes in Vimala-kunda. This is the largest and most well maintained of the kundas at Kamyavana and also the most famous. In the Adi-Varaha Purana it is said, “By bathing in Vimala-kunda, all one’s sins are destroyed and on leaving the body will attain My eternal abode.” There are many important temples situated around this sacred kunda including those dedicated to: Dauji, Surya-narayana, Nilakanteshwara, Kamyavana-bihari, Govardhana-natha, Madana-gopala, Murli-manohara, Vimala-bihari, Vimala Devi, Ganga Devi, Yamuna Devi and Gopalaji. In the month of Kartika on the occasion of the second dvadashi day, a festival is held here and thousands flock to Vimala-kunda where ghee lamps are offered to the sacred kunda along with flowers and numerous other offerings.
The Appearance of Vimala-kunda
Once during ‘chaturmasya’, all the sacred ‘tirthas’ or holy places in the world visited Kamyavana to pay their homage to Krishna, but the sacred lake Pushkara Tirtharaja failed to come. Therefore, in order to compensate for Pushkara Tirtha’s failure to appear, Krishna caused a very powerful jet of water to come shooting out of the ground which eventually created a large kunda. Within that flow of water, a very beautiful young girl appeared and began to serve Krishna in different ways. In no time a lake formed and after sporting and enjoying various pastimes in the lake with the beautiful young girl, Krishna blessed her saying that from this day onwards, she would be known as Vimala Devi and this sacred kunda would be named after her. Krishna also said that by bathing only once in this kunda, it would be equal to bathing seven times in the sacred lake of Pushkara. The Puranas say that the goddess Vimala Devi eternally resides here in this holy kunda.
There is another famous story related in the Bhavisya Purana as well as the Garga Samhita concerning Vimala-kunda. It is said during the advent of Lord Krishna, there was a noble and pious king from the city of Champak Nagari in Sindhu-desa named Raja Vimala, who although having many wives, had no children. On petitioning the great ascetic Yajnavalkya Rishi, the king was blessed with sixteen thousand beautiful daughters. It is said that all these girls had in their previous life been living in Ayodhya and had desired Lord Ramacandra as their husband. When the time came to select husbands for his daughters, the king was advised by Yajnavalkya to approach Lord Krishna, who was the only person who was actually qualified to accept such highly cultured and beautiful princesses. Lord Krishna immediately accepted the king’s proposal and brought all the princesses from Campak Nagari to the beautiful forest of Kamyavana. It is said that Krishna expanded Himself to be with each and every princess and enjoyed endless pastimes in Kamyavana forest, including the celebrated ‘rasa-lila’. The long-cherished desire of the beautiful princesses, to serve Lord Rama in a conjugal relationship was thus fulfilled by Lord Krishna in Kamyavana forest. The tears of happiness that flooded from the eyes of those beautiful princesses is said to have created a large kunda that became celebrated as Vimala-kunda. It is said that anyone who is fortunate enough to bathe in the tear-filled Vimala-kunda, will certainly have all their desires fulfilled.
In order to clarify the various stories about the appearance of Vimala-kunda, as well as other histories of Krishna’s pastimes here in Kamyavana, the local panditas have said that these histories of Kamyavana may relate to different time periods and cover at least five different kalpas, or days of Brahma. This is because Krishna appears on earth to perform His pastimes once in a day of Brahma, and that sacred places like Vimala-kunda may appear in each and every kalpa. As the Puranas are not recorded in any chronological order, it sometimes creates confusion for those reading the Puranic histories. The learned panditas have also ascertained that in each of the different kalpas, Krishna’s pastimes have been centered in different parts of Vrindavana Dhama and say that in a previous kalpa, Kamyavana was the focal point of Krishna’s pastimes, in another kalpa it was Chandra-sarovara, and in this present kalpa it was Seva Kunja and Vrindavana, where the maha rasa-lila took place.
It is interesting to note that before Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s parikrama of Vraja Mandala in 1515, Vrindavana and its more than two hundred holy places were completely unknown, in fact, many believed that Kamyavana was the real Vrindavana and the actual place where Krishna performed His earthly pastimes five thousand years earlier. However, the importance of Vrindavana was revealed to the world when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spent more than one month engaged in bhajana in Vrindavana and each day took darshana of such places as: Kaliya Ghata, Seva Kunja, Imli-tala, Chayana Ghata and Keshi Ghata, thus revealed the glories of Vrindavana before the whole world. After Lord Chaitanya returned to Puri, He sent His senior-most disciples Rupa and Sanatana Goswamis to complete the excavation of Vrindavana and establish the important Deities there like Madana-mohana, Govindaji and Gopinatha.
