Govardhana Retreat—The Best Servants of Lord Hari

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. We began the retreat a week ago on the roof beholding the splendid beauty of Govardhana Hill. And as arranged by the higher authorities, I spoke on Govardhana as hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, as the best servant of the Lord Hare, and I focused mainly on the mood of the gopīs who uttered the verse. How they had heard from Gargi, that it is only by the mercy of great souls that one’s desires can be fulfilled. And Govardhana Hill is the greatest of all great souls, and so, they decided they should go to Govardhana Hill to get Govardhana’s mercy to fulfill their desire. And what was their desire? Who can say?

Devotee: To meet Krishna

Giriraj Swami: Yes, to meet Krishna. They had not yet met Krishna, they were in the state of [Unintelligible 00:02:10], but they wanted to be able to meet Him in person and serve Him. Now, why is Govardhana Hill considered hari-dāsa-varyaḥ? We can discuss that today. I will recite the verse. First, please repeat after me.

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

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Twenty-One, “The Gopīs Glorify Kṛṣṇa’s Flute.”

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.

COMMENT

So, the first word is hanta. The synonym given here is ‘oh.’ It is an exclamation. The gopīs were exclaiming ‘Oh!’ Ayam adriḥ, this hill. The gopīs were actually at home in the village of Vrindavan, and Govardhana Hill was some distance away, but they were so wrapped in thoughts of Krishna and Govardhana Hill, so absorbed in meditation on Krishna and Govardhana Hill, they felt as if they were there. And therefore, they said ayam adriḥ, this hill. If something is very near, we say ‘this’ like, ‘this wristwatch,’ not ‘that clock,’ but ‘this wristwatch.’ Abalāḥ is translated as friends. Balāḥ means strength, and abalāḥ means weak. This also has a meaning. Because Krishna’s pastimes, as we know, are nara-līlā, they are human-like pastimes, and the residents of Vrindavan consider themselves to be ordinary human beings. And so, they were all chaste young ladies under the protection of their parents or husbands or in-laws. And so, they felt themselves to be very weak. They were trying to be good chaste young ladies, but they didn’t have the strength to resist the attraction of Krishna. So, they consider themselves weak. We may have the opposite problem. [laughter] We don’t have the strength always to withhold the attraction of maya, so we have that weakness. Their weakness was for Krishna; we pray to have that weakness.

Hari-dāsa-varyaḥ; Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura mentions that in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Yudhisthira Maharaja is described as Haridasa, and Uddhava is described as Haridasa. But none of them is described as hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, that is reserved for Govardhana Hill. Now, why is Govardhana Hill considered the best servant of Lord Hari? Yat, because, rāma-kṛṣṇa-caraṇa-sparaśa-pramodaḥ, he is jubilant, being touched by the lotus feet of Krishna and Balarama. Now, this is a very important factor in service, in pleasing the Lord and the devotees. And that is, that one should be happy in the service, pramodaḥ, jubilant, exceedingly happy. And when the master sees that the servant is happy, then the master becomes happy because that is the nature of Krishna and the devotees, they want others to be happy. And, ara-dukha-dukhī, they feel unhappy when others are unhappy. So, if you see that someone is really taking pleasure in serving you, being with you and serving you, that makes you happy.

So, Govardhana Hill was in such ecstasy, that his ecstasy made Krishna and Balarama and Their associates feel more happiness. And when Govardhana saw Their increased happiness, he felt increased happiness. And when they saw Govardhana’s still further increased happiness, they felt further increased happiness. So, everyone’s jubilation expanded without limits. And how did Govardhana exhibit his happiness? Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says, and of course, this is based on the idea that we have heard repeatedly that Govardhana Hill is alive, he is fully conscious, or he is actually Krishna Himself but in the mood of a devotee. So, how does Govardhana Hill show his jubilation? The trees on Govardhana are his hair standing on end in ecstasy. And his waterfalls are his tears of ecstasy, flowing from his eyes. And the moisture seeping through his rocks are his ecstatic perspiration. So, Govardhana Hill is just bursting with ecstasy. And we heard in Bhurijana Prabhu’s beautiful description of Krishna’s lotus feet how soft they are, how when Krishna would be taking the cows to pasture, the gopīs would be at home filled with anxiety that Krishna’s lotus feet are so soft, that we handle them only with the utmost care, but when He is walking on the paths of Vrindavan, there may be pebbles and thorns that might prick His soft lotus feet and did Him pain. And thinking like that, they would cry.

So, what about Govardhana Hill? What about his rocks and pebbles and thorns and stickers or prickers? Govardhana Hill feels so ecstatic being touched by the lotus feet of Krishna and Balarama and Their friends and Radha and Krishna and Their associates, that he softens in ecstasy, and he becomes just like soft butter. And when Krishna and Balarama and Their associates walk on Govardhana, it is as if they are walking through soft butter, which is very pleasing to their lotus feet. Now, Govardhana served not only Krishna and Balarama, but Their associates, Their friends, Their cows. And that is go-gaṇayoḥ, the cows, calves, and cowherd boys or girls. And he offered them respect, mānam, this is a very important word. Amanina manadena, we don’t want respect for ourselves, but we are eager to offer respect to others.

So, Govardhana Hill exemplified this principle, mānaṁ tanoti, he offered respect to Krishna and His friends. And how? By serving them. It is not just formal respect, but he showed his respect for them by serving them, and he did that by offering his water for them to drink. Krishna, Balarama, the cowherd boys, the cows, the calves, everyone could drink the water of Govardhana Hill, they could wash their hands in the water. He provided caves, so if it was too hot, they could take shelter in the caves and enjoy their pastimes in the caves, and if it was cold, they could take shelter in the caves, and if it was raining, they could take shelter in the caves and enjoy pastimes in the caves. And he would also offer them sitting places, flat rocks that were like thrones for them to sit on. So, he offered his whole body, every part of his body, he offered in the service of Krishna and Krishna’s devotees. So, that is very rare.

And amanina manadena, not desiring respect but ready to offer respect for all others. They were walking on him, he was jubilant. If someone were to walk on us, we might not feel so jubilant. In fact, if someone takes advantage of us, sometimes we use that phrase, some friend will say, “Oh, he is walking all over you, you can’t let him do that, you have to protest, you have to do something.” But Govardhana was jubilant if Krishna, Balarama, the cowherd boys, and cows were walking all over him. So, this is hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, the best servant, and we can learn from him how to be servants. And, while reading this verse and speaking about the verse, I thought of Srila Prabhupada. Once he was, not sure exactly why it was that he was lying down, but a devotee had to step over him to do some service, and then immediately, the devotee was very apologetic, very remorseful and apologetic that she had to step over him. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “For Krishna’s service, I don’t mind if you step on top of me.” And Srila Prabhupada really had that mood. As we mentioned, go-gaṇayoḥ, that Govardhana served not only Krishna and Balarama, but Their servants, Their associates. And in Kṛṣṇa book, Srila Prabhupada comments that Govardhana knew the secret of how to please Krishna by pleasing his associates.

We say gopi-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhari. Srila Prabhupada said, “If you become a gopi-jana, Krishna will be so affectionate to you, that to protect you, He will even lift a mountain.” So, we have been hearing about Krishna’s affection for His devotees and how we can be recipients of the same type of dealings if we become pure, like the great devotees we have been hearing about, if we become gopi-jana. Srila Jiva Gosvami says that there are many reasons why one should surrender to Krishna and engage in service to Krishna. One is that we are part and parcel of Krishna. And so, it is natural for the part to serve the whole. Another is related, is that it is our constitutional position, jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa, it is our constitutional position to serve Krishna. But Jiva Gosvami says that of all the reasons, the best reason, or the most compelling reason, is Krishna’s affection for His devotees, bhakta-vatsala. And this was demonstrated in the govardhana-līlā. As Prabhupada said, “If you become a gopi-jana, to protect you, Krishna will lift a mountain if He has to.” So, we want that type of loving reciprocation, merciful protection.

So, Srila Prabhupada, he also was serving Krishna, and he was taking pleasure in his service to Krishna. Of course, he took pleasure in chanting and hearing about Krishna. Sruti Kirti Prabhu says that when he was Prabhupada’s servant in Los Angeles for example, when Prabhupada had free time, very few of us saw Prabhupada when he had free time, our very presence meant he didn’t have free time, we were engaging him. But Srutakirti would hear through the wall, through the closed door, Srila Prabhupada just playing on the harmonium and singing songs in glorification of Krishna, in supplication to Krishna. Sometimes he would go in Prabhupada’s room, and Prabhupada was reading a book, his own books. This is proof that Srila Prabhupada’s books are transcendental. A mundane author doesn’t spend his time reading his books. Once the book is published, that is it, he goes on to the next one. But Prabhupada would read his own books because actually, they weren’t his. As he said, Krishna wrote his books and the books are about Krishna, so they are Krishna, and they are ever fresh.

So, once, Srutakirti Prabhu went in the room, and Srila Prabhupada was reading Kṛṣṇa book. And Prabhupada looked up and he said, “This book is so wonderful. Just by reading this book, you can become perfect.” And then, he said, “Not even the whole book, if you just read one chapter, you can become perfect.” And then, he said, “Not even one chapter, if you just read one paragraph, you can become perfect.” And then, he said, “Not even one paragraph, if you just read one word, you can become perfect, because each and every word is Krishna, you are associating with Krishna.” So, Srila Prabhupada took pleasure in chanting and hearing about Krishna. But then, what about the mission? Prosecuting a mission is a very difficult job, a very difficult job. Once, Sripada Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja said to Srila Prabhupada, “I have just one department, the Bhakti Vedanta Institute, and there are so many difficulties in just this one department. And you have the whole worldwide movement. How do you deal with all the difficulties?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Difficulties? I don’t see difficulties; I only see service to my Guru Maharaja.” So, that is the mood of the best servant, he only sees service, and that is all he wants, service. He doesn’t want to enjoy, relax and enjoy, he wants service.

Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati, who has written so many beautiful books, verses and praise of Vraja, but in Caitanya-candrāmṛta, there is one verse in which he says viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate, that one who has been blessed by the merciful glance of Gaura, viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate, he sees the whole world as full of happiness. And Srila Prabhupada raises the question, “How is that possible?” In the Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, that the material world is a place of misery, and temporary. So, how is it that the devotee is seeing the material world full of happiness? And Srila Prabhupada answered that the devotee wants only to render service, and he sees the whole world as full of opportunities to render service. So, he sees it full of happy opportunities to render service. And Srila Prabhupada was like that, he saw the whole world is full of opportunities to preach. And if there was no opportunity to preach, he would preach anyway. [laughter] As his Guru Maharaja had told him, “If there is no one there to hear, preach to the walls.” Or he would just be happy chanting and hearing and remembering Krishna. And he extended his mood of service to even us, beginning devotees.

For years, I never thought of this incident, it was a small incident in a way, but later I thought about it. Srila Prabhupada was giving an outdoor program, it was actually a street. They blocked off the street, and they erected a stage, and Prabhupada and the devotees were on the stage. But probably about a thousand people lined that whole area. And as usual, the program began with kirtan, and after the kirtan, the devotees were setting up the table with the book and arranging the microphone. And somehow, it was in my mind at that time, the verse of Dhruva Maharaja when he saw the Lord. He said Svāmin kṛtārtho'smi varaṁ na yāce, “My Lord, I am fully satisfied, I do not want any benediction.” Somehow, this was rattling around in my teeny brain. So, the thought occurred to me, “Where is that from? Where is that from?” So, in that little gap between the kirtan and the talk, in front of a thousand or more people, I came up to Prabhupada’s vyāsāsana and stood up on my knees and said in his ear, “That verse, you know that verse? Where is that from?” And Srila Prabhupada just looked at me with great affection and smiled and said, maybe Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya.” And then later, some years later, when we had more books, it was true, that verse is from Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya.

And I am the type, I don’t like to be disturbed. I focus on something, and if someone comes in the room or makes noise or something, and then I think of Srila Prabhupada. Right in the middle of the program, that two-minute gap between the kirtan and the talk, this is so blissful, just smile, looked at me with great affection and went back to his business. And of course, there were other incidents. One, it was very subtle. I was preaching in Bombay, going out and meeting people, and I met someone, he is a very wealthy businessman and a very good devotee of Srinathji in the Vallabha sampradāya. So, he had a very big house near Haji Ali, and somehow, he had a very nice talk. He was very, very happy to talk about Krishna. And he called my attention to four verses that I hadn’t really taken note of. And like I said, in those days, when I came to India, I think, really, only the First and Second Cantos were out. And then, in India, we didn’t have much time to read. So, he read these verses, I will read one or two because they are really beautiful. And afterwards, I looked them up. For the sake of time, I will just read one or two translations. These are actually sung by Vṛtrāsura to Lord Krishna.

TEXT 24

O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, will I again be able to be a servant of Your eternal servants who find shelter only at Your lotus feet?

COMMENT

He is praying, his longing.

TEXT 24

O Lord of my life, may I again become their servant so that my mind may always think of Your transcendental attributes, my words always glorify those attributes, and my body always engage in the loving service of Your Lordship?

COMMENT

There are four of them. One other.

TEXT 26

O lotus-eyed Lord, as baby birds that have not yet developed their wings always look for their mother to return and feed them, as small calves tied with ropes await anxiously the time of milking, or as a morose wife whose husband is away from home always longs for him to return and satisfy her in all respects, I always yearn for the opportunity to render direct service unto You.

COMMENT

So, Prabhupada liked me to come and give him the report about the preaching, more so earlier and less so later, but still. I was very happy with this meeting, and I was very excited about these verses that I had discovered. And so, I mentioned them to Srila Prabhupada, and he said, “Well, why don’t you read them?” So, I went and got the book from his shelf, I said, “Should I read the Sanskrit too?” He said, “Yes,” which I didn’t do just now. And so, I read the four verses, and it was a very sweet, pleasing interaction. And then, at the end, I was ready to take leave, and I don’t know exactly what it was, some slight gesture of Srila Prabhupada’s, or maybe it was Krishna that put the idea in my mind. But somehow, I got the idea that because I had come to him in that mood, to interact with him, he reciprocated and fulfilled my desire. But somehow, it just became apparent to me, in a way, that I had actually just wasted his time. He indulged me, he fulfilled my desire, but actually, there was no need for that. And that he had other things that he could have done in the same time. So, like I said, to me it looked like just a very slight indication that he just wanted to wind it up and go back to his business, but maybe not, maybe it was Krishna that put the idea in my mind that I shouldn’t take advantage of Prabhupada’s generosity but I should be very respectful of his time and not want to take his time for myself unnecessarily.

And then, one last incident, and this also shows, I guess you could say, Prabhupada was so vast and he is like an ocean, you can’t comprehend. There is that statement, “No one can understand the mind and activities of a pure devotee.” But I will just recount this very small incident. It was in Los Angeles, he was sitting behind his desk, his low table in his room, which is still there. I had gotten sick in India, and eventually, Srila Prabhupada said that as long as I stay in Bombay, I won’t get better. So, I went to Los Angeles, and I was just starting to feel well enough to be able to come out of my room and see Srila Prabhupada in his quarters. So, one afternoon, after dealing with various managerial problems, he leaned back on the bolsters of his asana, you see it in some videos then, and he quoted a verse from Narottama dasa Thakura, viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha habe mana kabe hāma heraba śrī-vṛndāvana. The general translation is “When my mind will be free from the contamination of this material enjoyment and I am purified, then it will be possible for me to see Vrindavan.” So, that was the verse that Prabhupada quoted. Then he said, “When will I give up material sense objects? When will my mind become purified? When will I be able to behold Vrindavan?” And then he said, “Of course, it is not viṣaya,” which means sense objects or material enjoyment. He said, “Of course, it is not viṣaya, material, it is Krishna’s service. But still, I wish to be freed. I am hankering for Vrindavan.”

So, this was one of those relatively rare moments when Srila Prabhupada revealed that internal side of him, that he was hankering for Vrindavan, that he wished to be free so that he could enter Vrindavan. And then, as we heard at the end of his manifest pastimes, he specifically wanted to come to Govardhana Hill. So, we have these examples, hari-dāsa-varyo, Govardhana Hill, which we can appreciate by being close to him, but mainly through hearing about him from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from the gopīs, from our previous acharyas, sadhu and sastra. And we have the example of Srila Prabhupada, which is more immediate. Some of us were fortunate to have received his merciful glance in person, to have been blessed by the dust of his lotus feet in person. But even otherwise, we are all very close to him, at most just one generation away from him. And many, even though they didn’t meet him, they were on the planet when he was on the planet. So, we should try to imbibe that mood of service, that mood of giving and being happy. That means realizing our true nature as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. Otherwise, if we have false ego, then we won’t always take pleasure in people walking all over us.

And if we could take with us that mood of service, the mood of all the vrajavāsīs, the mood of Govardhana Hill, the mood of Srila Prabhupada who is also an eternal vrajavāsī, that will keep us in Vrindavan, that will keep us in the mood of Vrindavan, that will keep us in Vrindavan while we are away. But even then, as Prabhupada revealed, we can hanker for Vrindavan and come back for more nourishment in the mood of selfless service, blissful service, selfless service.

So, we have two minutes. Well, maybe we better end now because we have a lot of good programs yet to come today. And so, thank you all for coming and listening so patiently. And as other speakers have said, it is very encouraging to sit before such a serious and eager and attentive audience. And it does inspire us, it gives us new thoughts and realizations. And as Srila Prabhupada said, “This is how we are meant to spend our time.” Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Sri Giri-Govardhana ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! [applause]