From the descriptions found in the Shrimad-Bhagavatam and other scriptures like the Adi-Varaha Purana, it can be understood that Krishna travelled to every part of the twenty four kosa Vraja Mandala while performing His daily pastimes of herding the cows. Thus the distance covered in just one day while taking the cows for grazing could be up to fifty miles and the same distance would be covered while returning home to Nandagrama. Therefore it is sometimes asked how could Krishna possibly travel such a long distance on foot in just a short time; from around 8am in the morning till around 6pm in the evening.
This question was once asked by a disciple to the ISKCON founder-acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who replied by saying, “Krishna’s walking and your walking is very different”. The local brahmana panditas in reply to this same question have said that the holy dhama is like a lotus flower which opens and closes at various times during the day. When the lotus flower is closed all the petals are bunched together in close proximity to one another, but when the lotus flower opens the petals are situated at some distance from one-another.
It is also important to realize that Krishna’s transcendental pastimes are conducted under the agency of the all-powerful Yogamaya Devi and it is her responsibility to supervise the movements of all the participants in the transcendental lilas. In the Govinda-lilamrta there is a wonderful description of Krishna’s going from Nandagrama to meet the gopis at Vamsi Vata which is a distance of around forty miles. “As soon as Krishna started walking, Vrajabhumi lifted Him on the lotus of her heart and whisked Krishna to the rendezvous place with the speed of the wind.
It seemed that Krishna arrived there just by thinking of it.” Similarly the Govinda lilamrita also describes Radharani going from Yavata to Vamsi Vata to meet Krishna. “It appeared that Vrajabhumi personified had placed Radha on the lotus of her heart and carried Her swiftly across the large distance to Vamsi Vata. It seemed as if Radha was conveyed there in an instant.” Although the Vedic scriptures like the Garga Samhita, Brihad-gautamiya-tantra, Skanda Purana and Adi-Varaha Purana provide us with particular dimensions of the holy dhama, the scriptures also warn us that we should not think that the holy dhama can be measured by mundane mechanical means.
Such measurements are mentioned simply to provide a guide to pilgrims visiting the various tirthas scattered around the holy dhama. The scriptures say that the holy dhama is a completely transcendental realm and non-different from the spiritual world of Vaikuntha, simply because the holy dhama appears on the earthly plain we should not think it to be a mundane place similar to other places in India. The sixth offence towards the holy dhama states, ”To think that the holy dhama belongs to some mundane country or province, or to think that the holy dhama is equal to other holy places connected to the demigods, or to try to estimate the area of the dhama by some mundane mechanism.”
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