Sri Govardhan Puja and Pastime

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Govardhan temple at Sri Govinda Kunda, Nabadwip
31 October 2016

One day, Mother Yasoda was preparing to offer so much fruit. Gopal came there and wanted to take all the fruit, but His mother chastised Him,

"Hey, why are You taking the fruits of the Deities?"

"Ma, but who is taking so much? Which Deities' fruit is this? Which Deity's worship is this for?" Gopal asked His mother.

"Do You not know that today is Indra puja?!"

"What of it if you do Indra puja?"

"Indra gives rain; when rain comes, grass grows in the fields; and when grass grows, cows can graze there. That is why we worship Indra."

"Do you not know that if you worship Krishna, Govardhan, then all this Indra puja will be fulfilled? Worship Govardhan! I am Govardhan! If you worship Govardhan, everything will be fulfilled and there will be no need to worship anybody else," said Gopal. He thought, "My Mother has prepared all this fruit, My mother has made all these laddus—if Indra's mother makes it, then Indra can go and take from there. But Indra's mother did not make all this—My mother made it, so I will take it!"

Mother Yasoda did not give in, and Krishna went to His father, Nanda Maharaj to complain, "Father, Mother does not give Me fruit, she has beaten Me!" Nanda Maharaj explained, "Son, we must worship Indra today." Krishna argued, "No, it is not necessary to do all this worship. Worship Me instead—worship Govardhan! If you worship Govardhan, all demigods' puja will automatically be performed. Give all puja to Govardhan!" Nanda Maharaj agreed and started Govardhan puja from then. Today is that day.

When the Vraja-basis started worshipping Govardhan instead of Indra, Indradev became angry and sent so much rain to Vrindavan—everything became flooded. All Vraja-basis became afraid—they took all cows and came to Krishna, "What will happen now? You told us to do Govardhan puja, and we started doing Govardhan puja, but Indradev is so angry and sending so much rain—everything is flooded!" Krishna reassured them, "Do not be angry and annoyed, do not be anxious." Then, Krishna picked Govardhan Hill with the little finger of His left hand and everybody could take shelter under the Govardhan Hill. Everybody was surprised. From that day they started doing Govardhan puja.

I am also going to explain today what is Govardhan. We cannot go there this year, but some years we went there for Giriraj parikrama. Govardhan is twenty-eight miles in circumference and has the shape of a peacock stretching from mukhara bindu (mouth) to mayura puchchha (tail). Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda, Uddhav Kunda—everything is there inside Govardhan...

It is said that if anybody touches Giriraj (no matter whether they have faith or even if they do not have faith), if anybody even simply hears about Giriraj's glories, they will go to Vaikuntha. Sri Narad Muni said [Sri Garga-samhita, 3.10]: There was once a brahman named Vijay who stayed on the bank of the Govardhan River. Once, he came to Mathura, Govardhan, and took a piece of Giriraj sila from there. When he continued his way, he saw a raksas (a man-eating demon). Fearful to see the demon, the brahman sat down, and, when the demon came closer to eat him, he hit the demon with the sila. As soon as the sila touched the body of the demon, the demon became liberated.

Later, Pulatsya Muni wanted to take that Giriraj sila to Kashi, but Giriraj said, "I will not go from here!" Then Pulatsya Muni gave Govardhan a curse, "If you do not go, then every day you will become smaller by one sesame seed!"

This Giriraj here (in Nabadwip, Govinda Kunda) wanted to come here—when I brought this Giriraj from Govardhan, He wanted to come; but Pulatsya Muni's Giriraj did not want to go with him, so Pulatsya Muni gave that curse and it is said also that as long as Ganga stays, as long as Yamuna stays, Giriraj will be there, but when the Yamuna is gone, when the Ganga is gone, then Giriraj will also run away...

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (2.8 Mb)