Many of our first time visitors don’t know what to expect when they first arrive here, where there is to see, what programs are worth participating in, or what Krishna Valley actually has to offer. Well, we would like to offer some help with this. When someone somes to visit us, the first thing they see is the reception. If the weather permits, you should definitely park your car there, because on sun filled days it is best to start your journey on foot.
Starting on the road, we first encounter the Yamuna river, which will accompany us on the rest of our journey. Behind the river, you will encounter a building that recently functioned as a guesthouse, but has now transformed into a high school for boys. You are welcome to take some rest in the small pavilion in front of the small pond.
One of the most unique things about Krishna Valley, in our opinion, is the miniature version of the Vrindavan’s map. Each important location is marked by a pavilion, just like the ones you can see the bank of the river. These pavilions have been constructed sin order to provide the visiting pilgrims or even the monks who live an oppertunity to tour the holy places of Vrindavan with comfort.
If we continue along the road, we will come across many more such pavilions. The next major stop is about a five minute walk from the starting point. This location is also occupied by two pavilions and a larger structure with white columns. The pavilions hang into the waters of the Yamuna, providing a very special view of the landscape. While in the middle of the white, larger pavilion an image of Srila Prabhupada is located. Srila Prabhupada was the spiritual teacher who brought Krishna consciousness to the West, therefore an image of his is present in every temple.
Continuing on our journey, we will soon reach the first fork. Now we will continue on our journey to the left, but even if you were to continue straight on the road, you would also come across wonderful natural landscapes, a bamboo tunnel and finally the temple.
As we turn to the left, we will first climb a small hill on which summit we will find ourselves facing the two main buildings of the school. The first one, a two story building, is the original building (it can also be seen in the picture). This is currently the girls’ building, and the school opposite it, built around 2016-2017, is for junior boys.
Passing the school, we can already see the cow barn, which will be our next stop. Around 70 animals live here, a mix of cows and oxen, who are just waiting to be petted. The cow barn is a very special place, but we will not speak at length about it here as it will make this post way too long. We will simply mention that which is most important about the barn and that is that it is not just a barn, but a cow protection center where the animals can live a full life.
Walking pss the barn, we can see pastures where cows and oxen graze from time to time. We will soon arrive at the temple, but before that let’s stop at the beautiful organic garden, where a lot of plants grow, even some that may be completely unknown to us. An example is karella, which can be used to make divine chips, although it has a slightly sour taste. There will be several green houses in the horticulture so that as many vegetables and fruits can be grown as possible all year round.
The temple is located opposite the horticulture, but we will detail it in the next post.