Vishram Ghat
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Vishram Ghat / विश्राम घाट
The famous Vishram Ghat is the principal Ghat of Mathura. According to the Saura Purana, this sacred place is named Vishranti tirth for the following reason:
tato vishranti tirthakhyam tirthamaho vinashanam
sansara maru sancara klesa vishrantidam nrnam
"Wandering throughout the desert of material existence, living entities suffer the threefold miseries of life. They are without shelter in all respects, and become thoroughly exhausted by many kinds of afflictions. When they bathe in the waters of this eminent place of pilgrimage, which have bathed Shri Krishna's lotus feet, they experience tranquillity (vishram). For this reason, the name of this sacred place is Vishranti or Vishram Ghat."
It is said that after the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna killed the mighty Kans, He had Kansa's funeral rites performed at Dhruv Ghat. Shri Krishna, as well as His relatives and friends, then bathed at this holy Ghat, and rested here. In His human-like pastimes, Shri Krishna may need to rest, but that Shri Krishna who is the Supreme Lord, who has an eternal form, full of knowledge and bliss, who is full of all the six opulences and who is endowed with all potencies that can make the impossible possible, never needs any rest. This Vishram Ghat serves as a place of rest for the distressed living entities who have strayed from the Lord and are immersed in the endless and bottomless ocean of birth and death.
Every year, before starting Braj Mandal parikrama, hundreds of thousands of devout pilgrims bathe, perform achamana and then take vows at this eminent place of pilgrimage. They also complete their parikrama here. On the day of Yam dwitiya (or Bhaiyaduj), the second day after the night of the new moon (Amavasya) in Kartika, many faithful and pious people from far-off places come to bathe at this place. According to the Puranas, Yam (Dharmaraja) and Yami (Yamuna) are twins. Soft-hearted Yamuna could not endure seeing the various suffering of the living beings, and wished for a way to alleviate them. On her birthday she invited her brother to a meal of many delicious preparations and sweetmeats. Pleased and fully satisfied, Yam told her to ask for a boon. Yamuna said, "Brother, please grant those who bathe in my waters with faith on this day, relief from the clutches of birth and death and from the variegated threefold miseries." Hearing this, Yam replied, "So be it!" Although it is very glorious to bathe anywhere in Yamuna, it is especially glorious to do so in Braj, and even more so at Vishram Ghat on the day of Yama dwitiya. Therefore, every year on this day, thousands of brothers and sisters come here to bath.