Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The Bhakti-ratnakara says that this is where the boy-saint Dhruva Maharaja took bath and where he performed penance on a nearby hillock. It is said that anyone who bathes here will at the time of death achieve the pole-star known as Dhruvaloka, where Dhruva now resides. The pole-star is also referred to as Swetadwipa and is mentioned in the Shrimad-Bhagavatam to be a localized Vaikuntha planet within the material universe and the residence of Lord Kshiradakashayi Vishnu. It is also said that whatever austerities and sadhanas are performed at Dhruva Ghata, they will be magnified one hundred times. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Shrila Narada Muni gave the following instructions to Dhruva. “My dear boy, you should go to the bank of the Yamuna, where there is a virtuous forest named Madhuvana, and there be purified. Just by going there, one draws nearer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who always lives there. In the waters of the Yamuna River, you should take bath three times daily because the water is very auspicious, sacred, and clear. After bathing you should perform the necessary regulative principles for ashtanga-yoga and then sit down on your asana in a calm and quiet position.” It is also mentioned in the Puranas that Dhruva Maharaja had also performed penance on a hill deep within the Madhuvana forest near Krishna-kunda, where he eventually received the darshana of Lord Vishnu in His divine form of Lord Prishnigarbha.
