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The main gate
Welcome to Sri Haridas Niwas at Purana Kalidah, Vṛndāvana. This ancient holy place is where Kṛṣṇa sent the serpent Kāliya away and made the waters of the Yamunā pure again, about five thousand years ago. Above the arch the name of the āśrama is written. Maharaj ji's āśrama and goshala stand here, and his go-sevā continues inside these walls every day.
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The temple
At the heart of the āśrama is the old temple of Śrī Gadādhara-Gaura and Śrī Rādhā-Govindadeva. Here you see the altar with its carved silver throne, the small vessels used in the daily worship, and the patterned tiles of the shrine. Maharaj ji served the deities here every day, along with his cows and his books, and that worship goes on today.
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The courtyard
Inside the gate opens a wide paved courtyard, with the old rooms of the āśrama all around it. In these rooms Maharaj ji lived, taught the scriptures to students for decades, and wrote. The āśrama keeps a large library of printed books and handwritten scriptures, and its own printing press, the Śrī Gadādhara-Gaurahari Press. From here around eighty of his books were published in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and English.
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View from the roof
Climb up to the roof and you can see how the āśrama sits among the temples of Vṛndāvana. Temple spires rise beyond the walls. Below are the courtyards and the long, low buildings of the cowsheds, with flat roofs where fodder can be dried and stored.
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The cow yard
This open yard, spread with soft earth and straw, is where the cows walk, rest and sit in the sun. The covered sheds and their arches give shade in summer and shelter in the cold and rain. Go-sevā here began with a single cow, Pushpa. Today hundreds of cows and bulls live here.
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Inside the cowsheds
Step inside and the cows come to the gate to greet you. The cows here are never kept for profit and their milk is never sold. Old, sick and injured cows are cared for to the end of their lives. The sheds are cleaned every day, and the cows are fed, watered, brushed and, on festival days, given special laddus.
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Śrī Hanumān
The āśrama has a small Hanumān temple. Hanumān, the great servant of Śrī Rāma, is shown here striding forward with his mace and the mountain of healing herbs. His body is covered with the holy names “Sītā Rāma”. He is the ideal of selfless service, the same spirit in which the cows are served.
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The samādhis
In this quiet area stand the small shrines and samādhis, including the samādhi of Śrīla Vinoda Vihārī Gosvāmī, Maharaj ji's guru. The cows often rest peacefully here.
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Maharaj ji's samādhi
Sri Haridas Shastri Maharaj ji left this world in 2013. His body rests in this samādhi, among the cows he served all his life. Devotees come here to offer their respects.
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The goshala at Tehra
As the cow family grew, about eleven acres of land were bought at Tehra village near Vṛndāvana for a second goshala and fields of green fodder. Here the big bulls, with their long curved horns, live together with the herd. Maharaj ji went there every day.