Besides being an important aspect of sadhana-bhakti, by performing Vraja Mandala Parikrama, one offers one’s homage to the holy dhama by circumambulating the twelve sacred forests of Vrindavana, just as Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had done on His pilgrimage to the dhama in the year 1515. The word ‘parikrama’ is derived from the word ‘pradakshina’ which means to circumambulate or walk in a ‘circular motion to the right’ around a holy place of worship. The performance of pradakshina or parikrama is an important act of self-purification as well as an offering of devotion to the Lord.
The goal of performing parikrama around Vraja is to increase ones smaranam, or remembrance of Lord Krishna, while seeing all the holy places where the Lord performed His transcendental pastimes five thousand years earlier. By performing parikrama around the sacred forests of Vrindavana, one’s faith in the lotus feet of the Lord automatically increases with every step. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was the first to perform the circumambulation of the twelve sacred forests of Vrindavana and He chanted the holy names and danced in ecstasy in all the various holy places that He visited during His historic journey.
Circumambulating the sacred forests had a very powerful effect on Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, especially after reaching the celebrated Imli-tala, the site where Radharani experienced the ecstasy of maha-bhava. After performing the Vraja Mandala Parikrama, Lord Chaitanya’s mood drastically changed and after returning to Jagannatha Puri, He became more and more absorbed in the transcendental ecstasy of Radha-bhava, while experiencing Radharani’s own intense feelings when She herself is separated from Her beloved Krishna.
While performing the Vraja Mandala Parikrama, besides circumambulating hundreds and thousands of holy tirthas, temples and sacred shrines, one also simultaneously performs many other important parikramas including the parikramas of Vrindavana, Mathura, Radha kunda, Govardhana Hill, Kamyavana, Varsana, Nandagrama, and Gokula-Mahavana. Therefore it is said in the Vedic scriptures that those who perform the Vraja Mandala Parikrama are immediately freed from all their sins and will never take birth again in this material world.
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