Understand
The town stands on the original forest of Vrindavana where the Hindu deity Krishna spent his childhood, on the banks of the Yamuna river. Numerous events are documented to have occurred here: this is where Krishna did the divine dance with Gopis Maharaas, spread the message of divine love with his lover Radha, stole the clothes of the bathing maidens gopis who prayed for attaining him, and destroyed an entire succession of demons. Consequently, it is a major pilgrimage destination for Hindus, and features by some counts as many as 5000 temples.
It is believed that the essence of Vrindavan was lost over time until the 16th century, when it was rediscovered by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In the year 1515, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Vrindavana, with purpose of locating the lost holy places associated with Lord Sri Krishna's transcendent pastimes. Lord Chaitanya wandered through the different sacred forests of Vrindavana in a spiritual trance of divine love. By His divine spiritual power, He was able locate all the important places of Lord Krishna's pastimes in and around Vrindavana.
According to Vaishnavites and particularly Krishna devotees, Vrindavan on Earth is a manifestation of the original Goloka Vrindavan Dham of Lord Krishna. Rather than visiting Vrindavana as any other tourist spot, this place is best enjoyed when visited with the thoughts of Sri Krishna alone and when remembering him at every foot length of land. It will not be too inaccurate to say that all the great Hindu saints have visited Vrindavana in their lifetime atleast once. Even now most localites here always chant the names of Radha and Krishna during their day to day activities. This place is still being visited by devotees from different parts of India and the world who are very spiritual and attracted to Lord Krishna.
Vrindavan is also known as the Shelter City for Widows. By Hindu tradition, widows may not remarry but spend life towards spiritual liberation, and many of those abandon their families or having been abandoned by their families on the death of their husband make their way here. In exchange for singing bhajan hymns for 7-8 hours in bhajanashrams, they are given a meal and a little money around Rs.10-20. This enables chanting of the Lord's name and also feeding of widows who have no other means of survival. Some of them also beg on the streets. However, some of the trusts that operate the ashrams are regularly accused of skimming off vast amounts from the donations. There are an estimated 20,000 widows, some of whom are very old having spent over 30 years there.
