SB 10.21.18 – Sri Govardhana-puja

Giriraj Swami: Today, I have been here on Govardhana-puja, been fortunate enough to be here on Govardhana-puja for many years, and I have spoken about the pastime of Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill. But today, I thought I would read a verse that describes the glories of Govardhana Hill. The verse was spoken by the gopīs, it is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Twenty-One, “The Gopīs Glorify Kṛṣṇa’s Flute,” also known as veṇu-gīta. And in one particular verse, they glorify Govardhana Hill. And our acharyas have commented on this verse, and some of them say that the verse was spoken by none other than Srimati Radharani herself. So, please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 18

hantāyam adrir abalā hari-dāsa-varyo

yad rāma-kṛṣṇa-caraṇa-sparaśa-pramodaḥ

mānaṁ tanoti saha-go-gaṇayos tayor yat

pānīya-sūyavasa-kandara-kandamūlaiḥ

TRANSLATION

Of all the devotees, this Govardhana Hill is the best! O my friends, this hill supplies Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, along with Their calves, cows and cowherd friends, with all kinds of necessities — water for drinking, very soft grass, caves, fruits, flowers and vegetables. In this way the hill offers respects to the Lord. Being touched by the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, Govardhana Hill appears very jubilant.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This translation is quoted from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 18.34).

COMMENT

So, I will discuss this verse with reference to some of the specific words. Hanta, it is translated ‘Oh.’ It is an exclamation, it can have different meanings, all, alas. Ayam, this. Adriḥ, this hill. Now, this verse was spoken by the gopīs before they had met with Krishna. They had love for Krishna like all the residents of Vrindavan, but in terms of the pastimes, the younger gopīs had not yet met Krishna. This verse is spoken in Chapter Twenty-one, the pastimes of Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill come later, about Chapter Twenty-four. And at that time also, Krishna was just seven years old. And then later, a year after the govardhana-līlā, Krishna played upon His flute and called the gopīs to meet Him.

So, the gopīs had not yet met Krishna, they were at home, but out of an intense desire to be with Krishna, they felt as if they were at Govardhana Hill, where Krishna would go to tend His cows. And so, they say ayam, this. If something is very nearby, we say ‘this,’ like, ‘this boy here is sitting very attentively and listening to every word.’ [laughter] If you were far away, we would say ‘that boy,’ but we are talking about this boy, he is very near. So, even though the gopīs were at home in the village of Vrindavan, out of their intense desire to be with Krishna, it is as if they are at Govardhana Hill. And so, they say ayam adriḥ, this hill. Abalāḥ. Abalāḥ is translated as friends, but it has a more literal meaning. Balāḥ means strong, so abalāḥ means weak. So, we are all weak, we need support, we need strength in separation from Krishna, in order to make progress, to meet Krishna. Hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, the best among the servants of the Lord. Of course, Hari means Krishna, hari means literally one who takes away, Krishna takes away the miseries of His devotees, including the agony of separation from Him. And varyaḥ means the best, or the greatest.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mentions two other great devotees as Haridasa. One is Maharaja Yudhisthira. He was such a wonderful servant of Lord Hari, that Lord Hari Krishna used to live with him in his own household, and he used to serve him and the other Pandava brothers. Sometimes He would be their advisor, sometimes He would act as their friend, sometimes He would even act as their messenger. In the case of Arjuna, He acted as his chariot driver. So, what a great family of devotees are the Pandavas. And Maharaja Yudhisthira was the head of the family. So, he is called Haridasa, the servant of Lord Hari Krishna. The second Haridasa mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Uddhava. Uddhava was so close to Lord Krishna, he was, from the material point of view, not really material but from the familial point of view, he was Lord Krishna’s cousin, and he looked just like Lord Krishna, he had the same features as Lord Krishna. He was extremely intelligent, he acted as Lord Krishna’s advisor as a service, and it was Uddhava whom Lord Krishna sent to Vrindavan to deliver His message to the residents, especially to the young gopīs, and to console them in their separation from Him. And for two months, Uddhava remained in Vrindavan and spoke about the pastimes of Krishna, and brought great joy and consolation to the vrajavāsīs. And he is called Haridasa, second Haridasa.

But Govardhana Hill is called hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, the greatest of the Haridases. It is inconceivable, even greater than Maharaja Yudhisthira and Uddhava. And why is he considered the best of the servants of Lord Hari? Yat, because, rāma-kṛṣṇa-caraṇa-sparaśa-pramodaḥ, he gives his whole body for the service of Krishna and Balarama and their cowherd associates. He gives his whole body, they walk on him. Now, if someone. . . First of all, we probably wouldn’t offer our body to someone to walk on us. In fact, it is sort of a colloquial expression, “Don’t let him walk all over you.” [laughter] “He is taking advantage of you, don’t let him walk all over you.” But here, Govardhana Hill gives his whole body for Krishna and Balarama and the cowherd boys and even the cows and calves to walk all over him. And not only that, but pramodaḥ, he feels jubilant when they walk on him. If someone were to walk on us, even if as a service we offered, it we might not feel jubilant. But Giri-Govardhana feels jubilant, pramāda. And that is the qualification of the best servant of Lord Hari, that he takes pleasure in doing service.

Sometimes we do service as a matter of duty, and that is good, we should do our duty. Sometimes we begrudge the service we are asked to do, sometimes we complain, “I didn’t get time to take prasāda, I didn’t get enough time to take rest,” or so many complaints. But a servant who takes pleasure in his service, gives greater pleasure to his master, it is natural. If someone serves you begrudgingly, you are not going to be very happy. If someone serves you as a matter of duty, in a sort of neutral mood, well, they are doing their duty, they are doing their duty. But if someone actually takes pleasure in serving you, you feel very happy, you feel encouraged. And feeling encouraged and happy, the servant feels more happy, because the servant wants to make the master happy. So, when the master becomes happy, the servant becomes more happy. And when the master sees that the servant is more happy, he becomes more happy, and then the servant becomes more happy, and then the master becomes more happy. So, there is an ever-expanding reciprocation of love and bliss. So, this is the standard of service of Govardhana Hill, pramodah.

And in his Kṛṣṇa book, Srila Prabhupada comments. . . Krishna is the summary study of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Srila Prabhupada comments on this rāma-kṛṣṇa-caraṇa, go-gaṇayoḥ, that Govardhana Hill knew the art of pleasing Krishna by pleasing Krishna’s devotees. He didn’t give himself only for the service of Krishna and Balarama, but also for the service of go-gaṇayoḥ, cowherd boys, the cows, the calves, even the gopīs, all the cowherd folks, cows and cowherd folks. So, that is also very important instruction for us. We don’t want to serve Krishna alone, Krishna is never alone, He is always accompanied by His associates and servants. And so, we can please Krishna more by serving His associates, or serving Him with His associates, than trying to serve Him alone, without His associates. So, mānaṁ tanoti, Govardhana Hill offers respects, mānaṁ tanoti. That is also an instruction for us, amanina manadena, we should have no false prestige, we should have no desire for honor, manadena, but we should be ready to honor all others, offer respects to all others. And Govardhana Hill did that, not only to Krishna and Balarama, but to the cowherd boys, cows, calves, all the members of the cowherd community. And how did he do that? Pānīya, with drinking water. There are many ponds and lakes around Govardhana Hill. Of course, very prominent are Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda, Kusum Sarovar, Govinda-kunda, Apsara-kund, so many, the hundreds.

So, Krishna gives water. Govardhana Hill provides water for Krishna and Balarama and the cowherd boys, and even the cows and calves; they drink the water, and they use the water to wash their hands and mouths, and even to take bath. Sūyavasa, very soft grass. Govardhana has grass, which he offers as food to the cows. Actually, it is described that he has different kinds of grass. So, some grass is used to feed the cows and calves, and other grass is used for performing Vedic sacrifices. So, he provides all of that. Kandara, caves. He provides caves for Krishna and Balarama and the cowherd, the Radha and Krishna. When it is very hot, they can take shelter in the caves and feel cool, and when it rains, they can go in the caves and get shelter from the rain, and if it is a little cold, windy, they can go in the caves and get relief there. And kanda-mūlaiḥ edible roots, it means fruits, vegetables, roots, all sorts of food. So, that is the general explanation of the verse, but Sanskrit is such a wonderful language, that different words can be combined in different ways to give different meanings.

And one of our great acharyas, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, has related some of these words to pramāda, jubilant, that Govardhana Hill feels jubilant, he feels ecstasy, feels ecstasy and service to Krishna. And how is that ecstasy manifest? Pānīya, by water. The water trickling through the rocks of Govardhana Hill are like tears of ecstasy. There are also waterfalls, the moisture is like ecstatic perspiration. And the grass, the grass standing on the end is like the hairs of his body, standing on end in ecstasy. And it is described that Govardhana Hill actually melts in ecstasy, that although ordinarily the hill is made of stones and rock, which are hard, but Govardhana Hill melts in ecstasy, and therefore, his stones become as soft as butter. Wouldn’t that be fun to instead of walking on rocks to walk on soft butter? So, Govardhana Hill melts in ecstasy, being touched by the lotus feet of Krishna, and his stones become just like soft butter.

Now, why are the gopīs headed by Srimati Radharani speaking this verse? This is very instructive for us, very instructive for us. As I mentioned, they were in separation from Krishna, they had a desire to meet with Krishna, but they were unable to because it is the Vedic culture, and it is correct and proper, that the ladies should be protected by some men. And so, in their younger years, they are protected by their fathers, by their parents. And then, after marriage, they are protected by their husbands. And it is considered very improper and unchaste for a lady to meet with a man to whom she is not married. And in this pastime, of course, this is very esoteric, but in this līlā, the gopīs were attracted to Krishna, and they wanted to serve Him. But they were kept at home, as they should be, by their parents, fathers, mothers, grandparents, or by their husbands and in-laws.

So, on the material platform, this is very proper according to dharma, varnashrama-dharma. But the gopīs, as pure souls, had ecstatic love for Krishna, they had an ecstatic longing and desire to serve Krishna. So, they thought, How are we going to get our desire fulfilled? So, being knowledgeable, although they were simple village girls, but still, they were pious and they were knowledgeable in scripture, they would always hear recitations of scripture from the brahmans in the community. So, they knew that the best way to have one’s desires fulfilled is by the mercy of some great soul. So, they thought, We must find some great soul who can give us his mercy, so that by his mercy, our desire to serve Krishna will be fulfilled. And in response, Srimati Radharani speaks this verse, that says that Govardhana Hill is hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, of all great souls, he is the greatest. “So, we should go to hari-dāsa-varyaḥ and get his mercy, and by his mercy, our desire to serve Krishna will be fulfilled.”

Now, there is also another layer of meaning to this, which is that at Govardhana Hill, the presiding deity is Harideva. Any of you who have been to Govardhana Hill should have seen the deity of Harideva near Mansi Ganga. It is said that before one begins Govardhana parikramā, one should first take darshan of Harideva, get blessings from Harideva. And so, the gopīs thought, “We will tell our guardians, we will tell our elders, we will tell our family members, that we are going to take darshan of Harideva, that we are going to worship Harideva.” But actually, they knew that the mercy of Haridasa, especially hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, is even greater than the mercy of Harideva. So, on the pretext of telling their superiors that they were going to Govardhana Hill to worship Harideva, they actually intended to go to Govardhana Hill to get his mercy, get the mercy of Haridasa, so that their desire to serve Krishna would be fulfilled.

Can we turn this up a little bit because there is a little bit of ambient noise? Now, there is another discussion here, which is that Govardhana Hill is Krishna Himself. In the pastime of Govardhana-puja, when Krishna and the vrajavāsīs are circumambulating Govardhana Hill, another form of Krishna, a huge form of Krishna, came out from the little Krishna, and He declared, “Govardhana Hill and I are the same.” And it is true, Govardhana Hill is actually Krishna. And if you see our Govardhana Shila on the altar here, he is worshiped with a peacock feather as Krishna. And actually, Govardhana Hill is Krishna. So, it seems to be a bit of a contradiction because Lord Krishna says, “Govardhana Hill and I are one and the same,” whereas Srimati Radharani and the gopīs are saying, “Govardhana Hill is the best servant of Krishna.” And both are true, both are correct, and it is really a matter of one’s mood. And it is not that one mood is right, and another is wrong, or one mood is better, and another is lesser. It is just a matter of one’s mood and mode of worship. But we do have another good example of Krishna being worshipped as a devotee of Krishna. Does anyone know who that is? Yes, Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Lord Chaitanya is Krishna as a devotee, He is in the mood of a devotee. And as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is considered even more merciful than Krishna in His Original form as Krishna.

So, in the same way, Govardhana Hill is Krishna, but sometimes he is in the mood of a devotee of Krishna. In fact, most of the time. If we are in the mood of worshiping of Him as Krishna, He will reciprocate and accept our worship as Krishna. But in the vision of the gopīs, he is hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, he is the best among the servants of Lord Hari, and he takes pleasure in serving Krishna and the devotees of Krishna. And when Krishna is in the mood of a devotee, He is more merciful than when He is in His original form. Of course, He is always merciful, Krishna’s most merciful. But He is even more merciful in the mood of a devotee. And therefore, especially in Kali-yuga because we are all abalāḥ, we are very weak, very weak, we need special mercy, we need extraordinary mercy, we need extreme mercy. And this type of special mercy is available to us through Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Krishna in the mood of a devotee, and through Giri Govardhana, who is also Krishna in the mood of a devotee. And Giri Govardhana is always merciful, but especially on the day of Govardhana-puja, he is especially merciful. And so, we should really pray to Him to fulfill our heart’s deepest desires to serve Krishna, Radha and Krishna, Krishna-Balarama, Krishna and His devotees. We should be careful of our desires. It is said that Govardhana Hill fulfills all desires, sarva-abhista-padata.

So, those of us, and we all, all of us do have a little material inclination there within our hearts. So, we might think, “Oh, He fulfills all desires? Well, this is my chance.” [laughter] But we should be careful, we should be careful. Srila Prabhupada told the story of a yogi or a person who was given a benediction, that whatever he thought, he would get, whatever he thought, he would get. So, he thought of gold, he got a huge pile of gold. He thought of jewels, he got a big mound of jewels. He is thinking, Boy, this is very interesting. He just thought, What would happen if I thought of a tiger? [laughter] And immediately, a tiger came and devoured him. So, we have to be careful about our desires because our material desires can devour us.

The Bhagavad-gītā says they are like fire, they can consume us, they are never satisfied. No matter how much fuel you put in a fire, it is never satisfied, it always wants more fuel. So, the material senses and mind are like that, they want more and more gratification, and no matter how much you give, they want more and more, and they burn like fire. So, we have to be careful. Of course, in the Govardhana-līlā, when the vrajavāsīs were feeding Govardhana Hill, he also wanted more and more. In fact, I would like to, but I can’t tell the whole story because of time constraints. But basically, the vrajavāsīs offered lakes full of kheer, sweet rice and various nectars like honey and ghee and yogurt, and they offered mountains of laddus and samosas and puris and kachoris. I hope I am not making you too hungry because we still have a little more to the program. [laughter]

So, they were offering lakes and lakes of liquids, and mountains and mountains of rice, and savories and sweets. And this huge form of Krishna was, devouring everything, just putting in His mouth and consuming everything. And he was calling out Aniyor, Aniyor, it means, “Bring more, bring more,” Aniyor, Aniyor! . So, he was also not satisfied, and they kept bringing more and more, and he kept consuming everything, and asking Aniyor, Aniyor! “Bring more, bring more, come on, come on, where is it? Come on, I am hungry.” So, it became a real predicament because the vrajavāsī , they basically emptied all their store rooms, their pantries, there was nothing left, there was no more sugar, no more rice, no more wheat, no more fruits, no more vegetables, they already cooked everything and offered it to Giri Govardhana.

So, what were they going to do? So then, one intelligent person thought, We should offer Govardhana a tulasi leaf. We have not offered him a tulasi leaf, and he is most satisfied by tulasi. So, they offered him tulasi, and then he said, “Now I am satisfied, now I am satisfied.” And then, by his causeless mercy, by his mystic powers, he made all the pools of sweet rice and kheer and yogurt and milk, and all the mountains of laddu and samosas, puris and kachoris, “Oh, here we go again,” made them all reappear again, but now they were all prasāda, they were all Govardhana’s prasāda. So, one who gives to Krishna, one who gives to Govardhana, is not the loser, but he is the gainer, by many, many times, hundreds and millions of times. So now, we will, in our own small way, reenact the festival of Govardhana-puja. We have a mountain of food to offer to Giri Govardhana, and just like Krishna and Balarama and the vrajavāsīs circumambulated Govardhana Hill, we will circumambulate this hill. And then, by the Lord’s and pray and be happy and make Krishna and Govardhana happy. And then, whatever happens will happen. But I think there will be prasāda. [laughter] Thank you all very much.

Sri Giri Govardhana ki jaya! [applause]

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Devotee: Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Janak Maharaja has raised his hand.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja. You have described about the Harideva, but you have not given the description of the Harideva. I want to hear from you.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: One time, Radharani and the sakhīs, her friends, crossing the Mansi Ganga, they are in separation of Krishna, and they try to find out Krishna, and they cannot, “Where we can meet Krishna? Where we can meet Krishna?” And the crossing the Mansi Ganga, they came little further, when they are in separation was more separation, and Krishna took the form as Harideva. He is carrying the Govardhana Hill in his left hand, and right hand He is playing on the flute. And Radharani and the sakhīs saw Him, and they are satisfied. If you know more, then I want to hear. [laughter]

Giriraj Swami: I am fully satisfied. [laughter] I am fully satisfied. I could chew and digest and swallow that for my whole life, and I would never be satiated. Thank you. [applause]