Sri Vraja-Mandal Tattva

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Govardhan Puja Adhivas day
Kolkata—Worldwide, 15 November 2020, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Vrinda Devi, Tulasi Devi, Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay
Sri Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay
Sri Mayapur Dham, Sri Nabadwip Dham, Sri Vrindavan Mathura ki jay
Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay
Baladev, Subhadra, Jagannathjiu ki jay
Akar Math-raj Sri Chaitanya Math ki jay
Mayapur Yogapith ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
All the branches of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Krishnanusilana Sangha ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math all Mission ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
Sri Srila Sridhar Seva-Ashram Govardhan ki jay
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay
Suddha-bhaktir-vighnar vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay
Sri Sada-Siva Gangadharjiu ki jay
Giriraj Govardhan ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay!
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Almost every year, at this time of Govardhan Puja, we are in Sri Vrindavan parikrama, but due to the pandemic situation we could not go to Govardhan to arrange the festival this year. Yet by the mercy of Govardhan, we are doing puja from here, and I think if it is Govardhan's wish, He will receive our puja even if we do it here.

Today, everybody says, "Happy Diwali," "Happy Dipavali." Diwali means a 'festival of lights'. Formally, we are placing some lights in front of the temple and in front of the Deities today, and I am praying to Gurudev, praying to the Lord for everybody so that light may come to our hearts, our minds and all our darkness will be removed from our hearts and minds. We pray to Gurudev, to the Lord, to Govardhan for everybody. People are suffering so much all over the world because of their life in darkness, please remove darkness from their hearts and minds and always keep light in their hearts and minds. This is the main thing today.

Now is also the go-puja, or go-krida, days. Basically, we keep cows in all our temples, wherever it is possible, and we every day worship and try to satisfy cows. And today is a special day for feeding cows, it is also a very auspicious day in general. Anyhow, tomorrow is Sri Govardhan Puja that is arranged by Sri Nanda Maharaj. Actually, it is arranged by Lord Krishna because nothing can happen without the will of Lord Krishna. You know, even if somebody becomes a guru, an acharya or a servant of the Lord in this world, it is also the will of the Lord. Nothing can happen in this world without the will of the Lord.

So, as it is Sri Govardhan Giriraj Puja tomorrow, we want to tell something about Sri Vraja-mandal and Govardhan today.

Sri Vraja-mandal has five hills—(1)Govardhan Hill (Govardhan Parvat), (2) Varshana Hill (where the house of Vrisabhanu, the house of Radharani is), (3) Nandishwar Hill (where the house of Nanda Maharaj is), (4) Big Charan Pahari (Bathain), and (5) Small (Chhota) Charan Pahari. There is also a hill in Uchagaon, but it is not included in the five hills of Sri Vraja-mandal.

You all know something about the history of Sri Giriraj Govardhan, and I would like to tell something about it today. Sri Giriraj Govardhan is non-different from Vrajendra-nandan Sri Krishna (He is Lord Krishna Himself). Giriraj Govardhan spreads His hands and takes all food with His hands. Outwardly, we also see that Sri Krishna Himself worships Govardhan—when Gopal Krishna lifted Govardhan with His little finger, at that time He also paid obeisance to Govardhan. So, Krishna is Govardhan, and Krishna also worships Govardhan—He does the parikrama of Govardhan.

It is said in the scriptures that no one can criticise or say anything bad about Govardhan—if somebody criticises Govardhan, then Giriraj Himself becomes a snake and destroys the offender. It is important to remember this.

If you read the Govardhan-Khanda in Sri Garga-samhita (we have this book published in Bengali), you can see there how Govardhan came to this world, how he got this name 'Giriraj.' Everything is written in Sri Garga-samhita.

So, when Sri Krishna Himself wanted to appear in this world, He appears for several causes,

যদা যদা হি ধর্ম্মস্য গ্লানির্ভবতি ভারত ।
অভ্যুত্থানমধর্ম্মস্য তদাত্মানং সৃজাম্যহম্ ॥

yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya, tadatmanam srjamy aham

"O Bharata, whenever there is a decline of religion and an uprising of irreligion, I personally make My advent."

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.7

When Krishna wanted to appear in this world, He ordered Srimati Radharani to also come to this world, but Srimati Radharani said, "I cannot come to a place where there is no Vrindavan, no Yamuna, no Giri Govardhan! I cannot." So, to fulfil Her desire, Sri Krishna personally brought some land from His own abode, from Sri Goloka Vrindavan—He brought some land and placed that land as the eighty-four krosh of Vrindavan. In this way, Sri Vraja-mandal—Vrindavan, Govardhan, the Yamuna, etc.—do not come from this mundane world, they are not a part of this world; they are a part of the transcendental world. That is why it is said that Sri Vraja-mandal is non-different from Goloka Vrindavan.

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