In the Brihad-gautamiya-tantra it says, “The forest of Vrindavana consists of five yojanas.” Five yojanas is equal to twenty kosas or forty miles and this five yojana area is called the greater Vrindavana forest and it forms the central-core of Vraja Mandala, also referred to in Sanatana Goswami’s Brhad-bhagavatamrita and other Gaudiya literatures as being ‘Nanda’s Vraja’ as well as Vatsa-krida.
The term ‘vatsa-krida’ means ‘children’s playground’ or ‘playground of the cowherd boys and their calves’ and Nanda’s Vraja is the place where the majority of Krishna’s transcendental pastimes take place, especially those pastimes enacted during Krishna’s pauganda-lila when He was residing at Sakatikara between the age of two and five years and taking the calves out in the pastures for grazing. With reference to the greater Vrindavana forest or Nanda’s Vraja, in the Brihad gautamiya-tantra Lord Krishna tells Narada Muni, “The five yojanas of Vrindavana forest are like My body and the spinal cord of the body is the Kalindi River, which flows with nectarine water.
Deities and other spirits live here in invisible bodies. And I, living within every being, never leave this place.” Lord Krishna’s pauganda-lila pastimes took place during the period He was staying at Sakatikara when He was taking out the calves for grazing in the region known as Nanda’s Vraja or Vatsa-krida. This five yojanas inner-core of Vraja Mandala covers an area stretching from Seva Kunja to Nandagrama and it encompasses the entire region on the western bank of the Yamuna as far north as Kelanvana; as far eastward as Nandagrama and Varsana, and as far south as Govardhana.
In the tenth-canto of Shrimad-Bhagavatam, this five yojana area is always described as being Vrindavana, consequently, whether Krishna was returning to Sakatikara or Nandagram in the evening from the pasturing grounds, the Bhagavatam says that Krishna was returning to Vrindavana.
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