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EDITORIAL  McDonalds In Braja BY TARA DEVI  EDITORIAL, Feb 9 (VNN) — Aunty and I had been in Shree Brindavan for about five days when we decided to visit some relatives in Agra.What we saw on the way to Agra, early that January morning just eleven kilometers outside of Mathura has haunted my dreams for several weeks - McDonald's in the Braja! There it was, a McDonald's family restaurant, bigger than one could imagine ÷ the infamous golden arches, a car-park for one hundred cars, a colourful deity' of Ronald McDonald, and bright advertisements for the popular Rs 51, Drooling' Berger. My heart sank and I thought that Aunty and I were back in Dallas, Texas.  But sadly we were not. We were in Shree Braja Dham the most Holy Abode of Shree Shree Radha Govindajiu but we had come face to face with the demon, McDonald's.How has this happened and why hasn't anyone done or even said anything about or against such an evil establishment as McDonald's coming to the Braja? We learned later from devotees in Brindavan that the McDonald's has been in the Braja for about three years. Is the Holy Braja destined to become like Texas, or California due to the growing western influence in India? Isn't there any place in the world where a devotee can go and not have to witness the eating of animal flesh, and especially McDonald's? Isn't it time that the devotees in India recognized that demons are currently living in Braja and that great offences are being committed in the most Holy of Holy Places? Apparently not because no Mahant, Swamiji, Guru, Goswami, Pandit, or Sadhu in Braja is doing or saying anything about it! McDonald's seems to be in the Braja to stay! I am very sad to say it but all the Temples, Maths and Missions in Braja seem to be self-absorbed in their own successes and popularity and do not seem to care about what is happening in Krishna's Holy Land. I have heard that a few years ago some western devotees raised a big fuss because a pop star named Madonna appeared on television wearing Gaudiya Vaishnava tilok, but no one has raised a single word of protest since McDonald's appeared in Braja three years ago. Isn't there at least one big society like ISKCON or a big guru from Gaudiya Math or a world wide preacher or a group of devotees like the WVA who is willing to use their influence, their disciples, their money, and their personal energy to save the Braja from Corporate America' (McDonald's)? Or is this simply to be accepted as another liberality of our modern' times such as women's sannyas, third gender, etc? What is the difference between Braja today and the Braja of one hundred years ago? We found a stone inscription at Kusum Sarovar near Gobardhan Hill dated 1865, written in three languages: English. Urdu, and Hindi, that prohibits the shooting of a gun, or hunting in the Braja. This surely shows us the difference between the Braja then and now. STATION ORDERS  by Col. W.T. Teey Now C'B' Commanding Mathura 7. March 1865The inhabitants of Mathura and Brindavan having memoralized His Excellency the Commander-in-chief of the effect that soldiers and the country global humour deserve thatimacy bederly understood that he will not fail to very severely punish any man so doing both the bonds of the five nation or between mathura and Vrindaban and equally joinded to the Hindus its heritage positionaly forbidden to fire at or between or in the virmity of those:- Places:- Neither fernence jojolation order n'bol the February 1866 the village and Gokul and its vanity about a mile and a half from Naurangabad and on the other side of the river is to be included as a prohibit place in which the men of the regimen are not allowed shoot:- BY ORDER Gen. Allen Deaneleut Hation Ball Mathura" Even during British Raj in India they had the sense and dignity to help preserve what which was Holy to the Hindus. But the days of the Raj are long gone and India now suffers under the rule of a secular state that turns its eye away from the sins being performed in the Braja. What are we to do? What will happen next in the Braja? Will it be a McDonald's at Radha Kunda?!!! Oh Krishna please save us! Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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