(5/8) Advent of Govardhan

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Radhapur (Howrah district),
17 November 2020, noon, part 5
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

'The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

It is written in the calendar that it is Bhratri-dvitiya krityam and the disappearance day of Sri Vasu Ghosh Thakur today, and yesterday was Sri Govardhan-puja. Some call this day Dipavali also. It is necessary to place lights at the temple on this day, but the main thing is to wipe all darkness from our heart and let light come into it. What is the use placing lights outside? If our heart and mind are in darkness, what will external light do? Our hearts must be clean. Anyway, it was Govardhan-puja day yesterday. I spoke yesterday in English, so I will tell you now something about Giriraj Govardhan in Bengali. Please listen about Giriraj Govardhan and the annakut mahotsav, it will bring supreme benefit to you.

Govardhan-puja was observed yesterday in the morning. Every year, we usually do Sri Govardhan parikrama at this time. Taking the darshan of Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda, Giriraj Govardhan and other places, we then go to Vrindavan.

Who worshipped Govardhan in Dvapar-yuga? Nanda Maharaj. He was first to arrange annakut mahotsav and the worship of Govardhan. Later, in this Kali-yuga, Sri Madhavendra Puripad also made annakut mahotsav. Following the line of Sri Madhavendra Puri, we continue to observe this festival. The name of our sampradaya is Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, and Madhavendra Puripad is the main root of this line. Gopal personally came to him in a dream, after which Madhavendra Puri found the Deity of Govardhan-dhari Gopal.

There are five famous hills within Sri Vraja-mandal: Govardhan Hill, Varshana Hill, Nandishwar Hill, Uchagaon Hill and Bathain. I do not know anything about Bathain, we do not go there. Among these hills, Govardhan Hill holds the highest position. Krishna Himself said, 'I am Govardhan. Worship Me.'

It is described in Srimad Bhagavad-gita when Krishna appears in this world:

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 there is a decline of religion and an uprising of irreligion, the Lord personally appears to protect His devotees and vanquish the miscreants. So, when Lord Krishna prepared His advent, He ordered Srimati Radharani, 'You must come too,' but Srimati Radharani refused, 'I will not come. There is no Vrindavan, there is no Yamuna, there is no Govardhan – I will not go there!' Then, Krishna came to this world bringing Yamuna, Vrindavan and all other paraphernalia to make sure that Radharani would come too. But all this happened later actually.

In ancient times, there was a western kingdom on an island called Salmalidwip. Govardhan Hill appeared on that island as the son of Dronachal (Drona Parvat). One day, a great sage called Pulastya Muni set out from Benares to travel to many holy places. When he reached Salmalidwip, he met Dronachal, who tried his best to serve him as his guest. In the end, Pulastya Muni said to Drona Parvat, 'There is something I like very much here. I like your son very much. I want to take him with me.' Hearing this, Dronachal was mortified, thinking, 'He wants to take away my dear boy, my only son... but if I refuse him, he can curse me...' Fearing this, he replied, 'All right... I will give you my son...' Pulastya Muni had a plan. He thought, 'I will take him to Kashi. Many people come to Kashi to bathe in the Ganges and get liberation. If Giriraj Govardhan stays there, then many people can become purified by getting his darshan.'

'You can take Me, but I have one condition,' Govardhan told Pulastya Muni.

'What is Your condition?'

'You will carry Me to Kashi in your hands and you must not put Me down anywhere on the way. No bathing, no worship – you cannot do all that. If you make some excuse and put Me down, I will stay wherever you put Me down. Do you accept My condition?'

'Yes, I do,' answered Pulastya Muni.

Then, Govardhan climbed on Pulastya Muni's hand, and they started out. Originally, it is written in the scriptures that Govardhan's size is eighty-four yojanas (approx. 670 miles, or 1,100 km), but now the path around Govardhan has become much smaller, about fourteen miles (22.5 km).

So, Pulastya Muni took Govardhan in his hand and started walking. When they came to the place where there would be Vrindavan in the future and where Krishna would appear. The eighty-four crores of land where Vrindavan stands is the soil that Krishna personally brought down from Goloka. Seeing the beautiful environment of Vrindavan's land and becoming charmed by its environment and sweet breeze, Govardhan decided that He had to stay there, 'My Lord Krishna will appear here and perform His pastimes with Radharani and all the Vraja-basis. I could not leave this place and go anywhere else.' As soon as Govardhan thought this, Pulastya Muni suddenly felt so much pressure on his hand that he could no longer hold Govardhan on his hand. He put Govardhan down. Then, Pulastya Muni went to the bathroom, took a bath, did all his worship and rituals, and when he came back to pick Govardhan up again, 'Come, let us go now,' Govardhan did not budge – Pulastya Muni could not lift Him again. 'Get up! Get up!' said Pulastya Muni, but Govardhan replied, 'No, Prabhu, I will not go. You have promised not to put Me down, and I told you that wherever you put Me down, I will stay in that place. I will not go with you.' Then, Pulastya Muni cursed Govardhan, 'You will be decreasing in size by the size of a sesame seed every day!' We all know that Govardhan is gradually becoming smaller. For as long as there is Ganga, Yamuna and Govardhan in this world, there will be sadhu-sanga in this world. Once they are gone, this world will be engulfed by misconception and wrong behaviour.

This is how Giriraj Govardhan appeared.

— : • : —

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Size: 26.6 Mb
Length: 63 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Satiating Hunger for Hari-Katha
2) Service Arrangement
3) Humble Service Mood
4) Attaining Unattainable
5) Advent of Govardhan
6) Worship of Govardhan
7) Govardhan-Dhari Gopal
8) Search and Surrender