Akrura-ghata

Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami

From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:

“Akrūra remained in the water to chant the mantra of his worship ful Lord, Sanātana Brahma (four-armed Viṣṇu), and meditate upon Him. On this day, however, instead of having darśana of his worship ful Sanātana Brahma in his meditation, he saw the forms of Śrī Rāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa.”

Akrūra-ghāṭa is situated four miles north of Mathurā and one mile south of Vṛndāvana. Nearby is Akrūra-gaon.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva were seated on Akrūra’s chariot as Akrūra was bringing Them from Nandagaon to Mathurā. Akrūra stopped the chariot at this place and, leaving Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva on it, went alone to bathe in a deep pool in the Yamunā and perform his other regular morning duties. Akrūra remained in the water to chant the mantra of his worshipful Lord, Sanātana Brahma (four-armed Viṣṇu), and meditate upon Him. On this day, however, instead of having darśana of his worshipful Sanātana Brahma in his meditation, he saw the forms of Śrī Rāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Akrūra became confused. He came out of the water, and looked towards the chariot, where he saw Rāma and Kṛṣṇa sitting. Again, when he went into the water, dipped in it and he saw Them there also. He was now fully confident that Śrī Rāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa were truly the complete Sanātana Brahma.

The Gauḍīya gosvāmīs have given an excellent philosophical conclusion in explanation of this incident. Nanda-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rohiṇī-nandana Śrī Rāma never leave Vṛndāvana to go elsewhere. Therefore, Nanda-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rohiṇī- nandana Śrī Rāma only came with Akrūra as far as Akrūra-ghāṭa, which marks the line of demarcation between Mathurā and Vṛndāvana. Thereafter, They both remained in Vṛndāvana in Their unmanifest (aprakaṭa) forms. It was Devakī-nandana or Vasudeva- nandana Śrī Balarāma, and Devakī-nandana or Vasudeva-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa, that travelled on the chariot with Akrūra from Akrūra- ghāṭa to Mathurā and performed pastimes there.

According to tattva, Yaśodā-nandana and Devakī-nandana are actually one, but from the viewpoint of rasa there is a difference between Them.

Once, Nanda Bābā was observing Ekādaśī without even drinking water. That very night also saw the start of Dvādaśī. Nanda Bābā entered the water of the Yamunā to take bath but, because on that day this was an inauspicious time the servants of Varuṇadeva captured him and brought him to Varuṇaloka. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa went to Varuṇaloka, where Śrī Varuṇadeva worshipped Him with gifts, and returned Śrī Nanda Bābā to Him with honour.

This incident surprised Śrī Nanda Bābā, who narrated it to the Vrajavāsīs the next day. They requested Śrī Kṛṣṇa to give them darśana of His supreme abode. At that very place where the most merciful Bhagavān later gave Akrūra darśana of his worshipful deity, He now gave the Vrajavāsīs darśana of His eternal Brahma- loka. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.28.14, 16) describes this as follows:

Millions of sacred places (tīrthas) are present at Akrūra-ghāṭa. There is a sacred injunction to take a bath here at the time of a solar eclipse.

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to Vṛndāvana from Jagannātha Purī via the Jhārakhaṇḍa path, there was no settlement in Vṛndāvana, only a deep forest. At night, Mahāprabhu would reside at Akrūra-ghāṭa, and at dawn He would sit at Imlītalā-ghāṭa on the bank of the Yamunā in Vṛndāvana. Being overwhelmed with prema, Mahāprabhu would chant harināma there until the afternoon. An uninterrupted stream of tears flowed from His eyes, and brightly shining aṣṭa-sāttvika transformations were evident on the limbs of His body. Śrī Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya was the only person with Him at that time. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta’s narration of this melts the heart.

In ancient times, Śānta Ṛṣi performed a sacrifice for King Bṛhadsena here. Another name of Akrūra-ghāṭa is Brahma-hrada, because here Kṛṣṇa gave the cowherd men darśana of Brahma- dhāma. Akrūra also received darśana of the complete Sanātana Brahma here.

Rajashekhara Dasa

From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:

Akrura Ghata is named after Krishna’s great devotee Akrura Mahasaya and it is considered one of the most important riverside ghatas in Vrindavana Dhama. Although the channel of the Yamuna River has now moved more than one kilometer away from here, one can still visit the ancient ghata and the Akrura Krishna-Balarama Mandira that is situated next to the famous ghata. In this temple one can see the Deity of Akrura standing in the center with Krishna and Balarama standing on either side of him. Until the year 2012, there was also an ornate sandstone shrine in the temple compound known as Shri Chaitan ya Mahaprabhu’s baitakha and vishram-sthali, but this shrine was destroyed by the temple management due to previous enmity with the Gaudiya Matha over rights to the shrine.

The Bhakti-ratnakara says, “O Srinivasa, see the best of all holy places Shri Akrura-tirtha. This well-known place is very dear to Krishna. By taking bath here on purnima, especially during Kartika, one is liberated from this material world. Whatever result one can achieve by bathing in all the holy places can be attained by taking bath here. Whoever takes bath at this place on the day of the solar eclipse gets the benefit of performing a rajasuya or ashvamedha-yajna.” In the Saura Purana it says, “Among the residences of Lord Ananta, the holy place called Akrura-tirtha is topmost. It destroys all one’s sinful reactions and is extremely dear to Shri Hari.”