Sri Govardhan Puja

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Govardhan Puja Adhivas day
Kolkata—Worldwide, 15 November 2020, part 3

So many things happened at Govardhan in this world... One day, Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj were arranging Indra puja. At that time, all Vraja-basis did Indra puja every year to please Devaraj Indra (the king of all demigods). Mother Yasoda had arranged some paraphernalia, some fruit, etc. and had cooked many items (laddus and many other sweets). At that time, Gopal was a very little boy, so He came to the place where all sweets were kept and wanted to take one sweet from there.

Gopal's mother (Mother Yasoda) saw it and chastised Him, "Do You not know? Today is Indradev's puja! I have arranged all this for Indra, why are You taking sweets?!"

"What puja did you say it was?" asked Gopal.

"Indra's puja."

"All right, but I see that My mother has made so many laddus and other sweets—Indra's mother did not make these sweets, My mother made them! I will take it! If Indra's mother makes sweets, Indra can take them, but when My mother has made the sweets, why will Indra take them?!"

"Hey, go away from here!" said Mother Yasoda finally getting angry.

Gopal began to cry and went to complain to Nanda Maharaj, "Father, do you see? My mother is not giving Me any sweets! She says she is doing Indra's puja and has arranged everything for Indra. She is not giving anything to Me!"

Nanda Maharaj tried to console his son, and then Gopal said, "Father, you must stop Indradev's puja! Worship Giriraj Govardhan! Giriraj Govardhan is the Lord Himself! Do Govardhan's puja."

In the end, Nanda Maharaj agreed and when Indra saw that all his offerings were being offered to Govardhan instead of to him, he became very angry. Using his powers, Indra sent torrential rain and hailstorm to Vrindavan. Fearful, all the Vraja-basis came to Sri Krishna and prayed to Him, "Look what is happening! Where will our cows stay? Where will they graze? So much rain is falling! Everything will be flood. What are we to do now?" Then, Sri Krishna reassured all Vraja-basis and lifted Govardhan with the little finger of His left hand. All the Vraja-basis, all cows, etc. came under the shelter of Govardhan, and Anantadev made something like a boundary wall around Govardhan so that water could not come inside. In this way, Lord Krishna protected everyone.

When Indradev stopped the rains, he saw that Vrindavan was just like before—that no damage had been done whatsoever, then he understood that he had committed a grave mistake. Indra came to Surabhi cow and with her help asked Lord Krishna for forgiveness of his offence.

Such is the glory of Sri Giriraj Govardhan. Govardhan is the Lord Himself, that is why Gaura Hari Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told everybody not to climb on top of Govardhan Hill to have the darshan of Gopal. Krishna understood the heart of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so later Gopal Himself came from Annakut village to Ganthuli village where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu could see Him. There are so many pastimes that happened at Govardhan.

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu prayed to Govardhan, "Nija-nikata-nivasam dehi Govardhana tvam: please give me a dwelling near you, O Govardhan! I have no capacity to stay on the bank of the Radha Kunda, please keep me near you, O Govardhan"....

We pray to Giriraj for His mercy. We will make the annakut festival tomorrow. 'Anna' means 'rice' and 'kut' means 'a hill' (parvat)—we are going to offer Lord Giriraj bhog in the form of a hill (a big amount of rice). We also do abhisekh of Giriraj tomorrow. It is very special day for us.

Tomorrow is the day when Nanda Maharaj made Govardhan puja, and after that, in Kali-yuga, this annakut utsav was arranged by Sriman Madhavendra Puri. When Madhavendra Puri found Giriraj-Govardhan-dhari Gopal established by Vajranabha (Krishna's great-grandson), he also made an annakut festival. So, Nanda Maharaj made this festival in Dvapar-yuga, and Sripad Madhavendra Puripad made this festival in Kali-yuga.

You know the history how Sri Madhavendra Puripad found Gopal. I do not want to explain it again now in detail. In short, Sripad Madhavendra Puri was ayachita-vritti (he did not ask anyone for anything—if something came to him, he would take it, and if nothing came, he would take nothing and fast), and one day Gopal Himself came to him with some milk. After that, Madhavendra Puri saw a dream where Gopal explained to him, "I am Govardhan-dhari Gopal. Vajranabha estalbished me, but when some mlechhas broke My temple, the pujari hid Me in the forest. Please rescue Me." When Madhavendra Puri woke up after this dream, he was deeply shocked and very shy because Krishna Himself had come to him to give him milk but he could not recognise the Lord, he cried thinking he was very unfortunate and a great sinner. In the morning, he went to that forest with some villagers, found that Gopal and again established His worship. That day, there was a great festival—Annakut Mahotsav. There was Giriraj Govardhan puja on that day again.

So, everybody must worship Govardhan to the best of your capacity.

mayura-mukuta pitambara-dhari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"He wears a peacock feather crown and yellow garments. He holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

sri-radha-vara kunja-vihari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"He is the beloved of Sri Radha and enjoys in the forest groves. He holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

jaya yasoda-nandana krsna murari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"All glory to the son of Yasoda, Krishna, Murari. Glory to He who holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

jaya gopijana-vallabha vamsi-vihari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"All glory to the beloved of the gopis, to He who enjoys playing His vamsi flute. Glory to He who holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

We always sing this song during Vrindavan parikrama and also during the abhisekh of Sri Govardhan. It is a very nice song.

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