By Kesava Krsna Dasa
We may read or hear some gurus say that Sri Vrndavana Dhama is the land of Sambhoga, or meeting with Lord Krishna. Devotees might think this is at odds with what Srila Prabhupada taught us in Krishna Book and Srimad Bhagavatam tenth canto. Does not Vipralambha occur in Vrndavana? Have we ever considered why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited His most elevated ecstatic emotions, not in Navadvipa or Vrndavana-dhama, but in Jagannatha-puri? One answer is that Sri Jagannatha-puri is also referred to as Vipralambha-ksetra among devotees, the place of separation from the Lord. The feelings of separation experienced by Lord Chaitanya in the mood of Srimati Radharani are replicas of those same Vipralambha events that occur in Vrndavana even now in the present. The Lord’s highest ecstasies were exhibited as “… His body was at Jaganna-tha Puri- but His mind was in Vr.nda-vana.” (CC Antya 20.123)