A young sadhu campaigning to clean up Vrindavan has been shot. For some time Nandu Lal Joshi has taken on the role of activist to raise awareness about the total desecration and disrespect that is going on in the sacred Hindu heartland of Vrindavan Dham. When you first meet Nandu, his deep love and respect for Vrindavan is self-evident. His message is simple. He appeals to locals and Hindus worldwide to take pride in Vrindavana, their holy place of pilgrimage. He points out that if you visit Vatican City, Jerusalem or Mecca these holy places are kept with utmost care and detailed attention. His dream is to see the day when the Holy Land of Vrindavan will also be as revered, cherished and protected with the same reverence.
Nandu Lal Joshi has produced several short documentaries which can be viewed on the youtube page called Vrindawood studios. He has organized social media awareness campaigns against what he describes as: The selling out of Vrindavan. We are all too familiar with the commercialization of “spirituality”. Sadly, Vrindavan is no exception. One of the first sights to welcome the pilgrim that visits Vrindavan are endless rows of unsightly billboards advertising everything from spitting Gutka to all manners of gurus that have been using Vrindavan as their platform to mint money. Shortly after Nandu’s first campaign, the government took action to remove some of the billboards. Nandu has also campaigned to paint over walls that had been covered with advertisements of Vaigra-pedaling “sex doctors”. These sex doctor ads are EVERYWHERE. Any available wall will have some nasty signage advertising their wares. This is a problem through out the whole of Vraj which includes Hinduism’s heartland Vrindavan.
On the 1st of July 2018 Nandu was the victim of what appears to be a revenge shooting. The incident took place just outside the Hare Krishna temple in Vrindavan, Nandu was shot in the chest and hand. Miraculously he did not sustain any life threatening injuries. Nandu believes that the hitman was hired to silence him as to not shake up status quo thru his campaigns. The incident was captured on CCTV. Chief Officer Sadar Rakhesh Kumar said that the police is investigating the incident on the basis of the statement that Nandu made with regards to the motive of the crime which is this was in retaliation to the social awareness videos made.
Miraculously although the shooting was done from a point blank range and the bullet went through his fingers and as it did so it changed its angle by 90 degrees thereby just ricocheting of his chest, much like a pebble across a lake. Perhaps this young man despite the intention is meant to stay on the earth for a few years longer, to carry on with his valuable work, with a surprising renewed enthusiasm.
