31. Shri Shri Imli Tala Temple
Radhanath Swami has taken several
pilgrimages to Imli Tala. On one such pilgrimage, he described that when Shri
Radhika disappeared from the midst of the Sharad-purnima rasa dance, Krishna
was searching for Her with intense feelings of separation. This mood of
separation increased Their anticipation for meeting, and thus very much
increased Their intensity of love. Radhanath Swami further explained that,
Krishna, in this mood of separation sat down under this Kalpavriksha Tamarind
tree at Imli Tala and became so completely absorbed in the thoughts of Shrimati
Radharani and chanting Her holy names, that His body assumed the color of
Shrimati Radharani. Just at that time, Shrimati Radharani appeared, relieving
His separation and subsequently, He again assumed His original form of
Shyamasundara. At this very place, Krishna then disclosed to Shri Radhika, “In
My intense ecstasies of separation, I assumed Your form, Your complexion and
Your ecstatic love. In the age of Kali, I will again appear like this, I will
appear with Your complexion and with Your mood of ecstatic love and I will
spread that love throughout the world, to all living beings, through the sankirtanmovement – the
loud congregational chanting of the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.”
According to His word, Lord Shri Krishna appeared in the age of
Kali, as Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, just 500 years ago, with the complexion and
the mood of ecstatic love of Shrimati Radharani. When Lord Chaitanya visited
Vrindavan, He would come to Imli Tala everyday and for hours and hours with
his japa-mala, He would
deeply absorb Himself in chanting the holy names, sitting under this Imli tree.
In the mood of Shrimati Radharani He would become so deeply immersed in the
ocean of separation from Shyamasundara that Lord Chaitanya’s golden form would
be transformed into the complexion of a dark, newly formed monsoon rain-cloud.
This is Imli Tala.
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