CC Madhya 18–34 – Learning from Govardhana Hill

Giriraj Swami:

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

[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.21.18]

TEXT 18

hantāyam adrir abalā hari-dāsa-varyo

yad rāma-kṛṣṇa-caraṇa-sparaśa-pramodaḥ

mānaṁ tanoti saha-go-gaṇayos tayor yat

pānīya-sūyavasa-kandara-kanda-mūlaiḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Of all the devotees, this Govardhana Hill is the best! O my friends, this hill supplies Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, as well as 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 respect 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).

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains the opulence of Govardhana Hill as follows: Pānīya refers to the fragrant, cool water from the Govardhana waterfalls, which Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma drink and use to wash Their feet and mouths. Govardhana also offers other beverages, such as honey, mango juice and pīlu juice. Sūyavasa indicates dūrvā grass, used to make the religious offering of arghya. Govardhana also has grass that is fragrant, soft and conducive to the strong growth of cows and increased production of milk. Thus this grass is used for feeding the transcendental herds. Kandara refers to the caves where Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and Their friends play, sit and lie down. These caves give pleasure when the weather is too hot or too cold, or when it is raining. Govardhana also features soft roots for eating, jewels for ornamenting the body, flat places for sitting, and lamps and mirrors in the form of smooth stones, glistening water and other natural substances.

COMMENT

So, in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Gosvami describes the Lord’s activities in different seasons. And we have now come to the autumn season. This verse was spoken by the gopīs, and our acharyas tell us that specifically, it was spoken by Srimati Radharani whom we often consider to be the best servant of Lord Hari. But in Her mood, She is glorifying Govardhana Hill as the best servant of Krishna.

At this stage in kṛṣṇa-līlā, the gopīs had not actually met Krishna in mādhurya-rasa, but they had heard about Krishna’s wonderful qualities. They had seen Him from a distance and had heard His flute, and they wanted to meet Him. That was their heart’s desire, just as we also want to meet Krishna. That’s why we have come here.

So, the gopīs had learned from Gargi, the daughter of Gargamuni, that one’s desires can be fulfilled only by the mercy of great souls. And they had heard from her that Govardhana Hill was such a great soul, the greatest of all great souls. And why He is the best servant of Lord Hari is described in this verse. And His qualifications are important for us to take note of, because we also want to become good servants of Krishna, so we can learn from the best servant.

But just to set the scene a little bit more, as I mentioned, the gopīs had not yet met Krishna in the way that they desired, and they were actually at home discussing among themselves. But because of their spiritual vision and deep attachment for Krishna, they spoke as if they were present at Govardhana Hill. And that also gives us an idea that even while we are away from Govardhana Hill, we can experience the presence of Govardhana Hill by intense desire.

So, they begin hantā, which is an exclamation of joy. āyam adriḥ - āyam means this, and adriḥ means hill. It’s as if they were there. For example, if I’m very near to someone, I could say this young man has come all the way from Calcutta. I say ‘this,’ because he is right here, and they are saying, ‘this hill,’ as if they were right there.

Hari-dāsa-varyaḥ, the best among the servants of Lord Hari. Why? Rāma-kṛṣṇa-caraṇa-sparaśa-pramodaḥ, because being touched by the lotus feet of Balarama and Krishna, he feels jubilant. Pramodaḥ means jubilant. This is a very important point. If we ask someone to do some service, but they do it in a begrudging mood, that will not be very pleasing. In fact, we might think, I’d rather just do it myself. If you don’t really want to do it, I’d rather just do it myself.

But Giriraj Govardhana was jubilant. And why was he jubilant? Because he was being walked on by Krishna and Balarama. Can you imagine? We might love someone, but we don’t want to be walked on by them. In fact, we have an expression someone is dealing badly with you. With a friend, we say, “That person is walking all over you, you can’t let him walk all over you like that.” But Krishna and Balarama, They were walking all over Govardhana Hill, and Govardhana Hill felt jubilant.

And not only were They walking, but saha go-gaṇayoḥ, with Their cows and calves and cowherd friends. Even then, Giriraj Govardhana was jubilant, and he offered Them respect. Mānaṁ tanoti. You know that word amāninā mānadena, one should not desire respect for oneself but should offer respect to all others. So, he offered respect not just to Krishna and Balarama, but to Them along with the cows and calves and cowherd boys.

As you know, Srila Prabhupada has written a summary of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam called the Kṛṣṇa book. And in the section that parallels this verse in the Kṛṣṇa book, Srila Prabhupada says that Govardhana Hill knew the secret of pleasing Krishna by pleasing and serving and respecting His dear associates - the cows and calves and cowherd boys and girls. And he served them in different ways. Our acharyas have elaborated in various ways on how Govardhana Hill serves them.

And what we say that Govardhana Hill felt jubilant, but what is the evidence? What are the symptoms? So, our acharyas tell us that the tall grasses, because with our covered vision, we see what we see, but actually, Govardhana Hill and all of vraja is bhagavad-svarūpe, it’s actually Krishna, it’s sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, but we don’t have the eyes yet to see that. But our acharyas help us and they say that the tall grasses on Govardhana Hill are his hairs standing up on ecstasy, and the moisture that trickles through his rocks is his ecstatic perspiration. And the waterfalls are his tears of ecstasy.

And it’s described that when Krishna and Balarama walk on Govardhana Hill, he melts in ecstasy, in love, and his stones become as soft as butter. That’s his service to Krishna and Balarama, and not just to Them, but to Their associates. And even though he was attacked by the fury of Indra, the thunderbolts and ferocious winds, we have heard the descriptions; columns of rain, huge hail, but he still felt jubilant. He still felt jubilant because of the touch of Krishna’s hand. And in his ecstasy, he expanded in size. That’s also a symptom of extreme ecstasy, that one’s body becomes elongated. And thus, he was able to accommodate all the vrajavāsīs and their animals underneath him.

So, there are two very important points, I think, that are especially relevant to us. One is pramodaḥ, that we should be happy in devotional service. As Prema dasa so nicely said yesterday, “Our Lord is always smiling, and so we, His servants, should also always be smiling.” And mānaṁ tanoti, that he offered respect not only to Krishna and Balarama, but to all the cowherd boys and girls, and even the cows and calves.

I will share some examples from my experience with Srila Prabhupada because one of the themes of this retreat is that we should know what the goal is. We should know what the ideal is, but at the same time, we should understand where we are and what practical systematic steps we can take to move from where we are now to where we want to be.

So, on this point of pramodaḥ, being jubilant, there is a little background. But in 1972, Srila Prabhupada entered an agreement with Mr. A.B. Nair to acquire some land at Juhu Beach in Bombay. I don’t have time to say much about Mr. Nair, but it’s good that you have been attending Bhurijana Prabhu’s classes in the evening because Tamal Krishna Goswami compared Mr. Nair to Kaṁsa, even to the point that people who would approach him to give him good advice would end up becoming his followers.

So, anyway, in 1972, Srila Prabhupada was looking for someone to take care of the project, and from the beginning, well, even in Boston, but certainly in India, I would meet people and speak about Krishna. I didn’t consider myself a manager and I didn’t have any desire to be a manager.

So, initially, Srila Prabhupada had put one devotee in charge, but that devotee was needed back in Africa again. So, Srila Prabhupada called the devotees together, a few, maybe we were twelve devotees then, “Who will take charge now?” And I was a small fry. Anyway, there was some talk who would. . . then Prabhupada looked around the room, and he looked at me and he said, “So, Giriraj, you will take charge?” And I did not experience pramodaḥ, as described in the verse.

I probably physically winced, and I was so bewildered, I didn’t know what to say. And Prabhupada looked at me. But I knew that the secret of success in spiritual life is to follow the instructions of the spiritual master, so I said yes. And then, Srila Prabhupada looked at me some more, very penetrating gaze, and said, “Now the whole responsibility is on you.” And my mind, not my intelligence but my mind, reacted, “How could he say that? Doesn’t he know how I’m feeling?” But with my intelligence, I considered whatever he does is perfect, and the best for all concerned.

So, that’s one example. And later, I heard that Srila Prabhupada had said that he actually likes to see his disciples struggle. So, this pramodaḥ, that’s where we want to end up, that’s our goal. And we can experience it even now, but there may be temporary periods of struggle. But that’s also part of the process of purification and qualification to come to that stage of being jubilant in all circumstances.

I’ll tell one little story where I did feel that pramodaḥ, and this is just to be instructive, for you to derive a lesson from. But I had gone to far North Calcutta on some work, and there came a terrible rainstorm. And in Calcutta, they didn’t have drains. Some parts of the city that were a little more sophisticated had a drainage system that didn’t work very well, but I think large parts of the city had no drainage system at all.

So, the rain was just accumulating, it was far north and wasn’t very populated, and even under the best of circumstances, there wouldn’t be many rickshaws or taxis. And as Prabhupada sometimes said, “The Indian people, by nature, they are not very materially motivated.” I mean, that might have changed, although spiritually, they can be very motivated. I saw it at the Khumba-mela. A lot of the rickshaw drivers, they just sort of lie down and go to sleep in their rickshaws. And if you ask them to take you somewhere, they might not even bother because they don’t even care that much. But when it was time to take bath in that freezing cold water early in the morning, they were there with everyone else.

So, during this huge inundation where we hear the descriptions you couldn’t tell the difference between highland and lowland, it was just all covered with water, nobody wanted to go anywhere. But I actually felt jubilant because there was only one reason I was there, and that was to serve Srila Prabhupada. And just that thought that I was there to serve Srila Prabhupada brought me great joy.

Sometimes when we are in a materially pleasing situation, well, we could be there for the sake of service, but we could be there for other reasons. It’s a nice house with nice furniture, with good prasāda, a lot of affection and respect, but here there was nothing. There was absolutely no reason why I. . . And as the water rose, I was wading. I had to pull up my dhoti, I was wading through the water, and I didn’t think of it at the time, fortunately. Later, it occurred to me maybe it wasn’t just water. But at the time, I was just wading through the water, hoping some taxi or something would stop, and eventually, it happened.

So, that does happen, even in an early stage, we can feel jubilant. Even in adverse circumstances, because we are only there for one reason, to serve guru and Krishna. And just that thought brings joy.

The other mānaṁ tanoti, he offered respects not only to Krishna and Balarama, but to all Their associates, even Their animals. And here I quote another instance. This is from 1977 in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada had moved into his new quarters. How many of you have seen the ISKCON Juhu temple at Hare Krishna land?

So, Srila Prabhupada had moved to the top floor of the tower facing the ocean, but he was very sick in 1977 and he wasn’t coming out of his quarters. It was devastating for the devotees, and he was deep inside his quarters, and then the idea was not to disturb him for any reason. And so, there was a set of doors between his room and sort of the waiting room, and then another set of doors between that and the secretary’s desk. The secretary was Tamal Krishna Goswami.

So, I came up, there was no chance of seeing Srila Prabhupada, but I came up to see Tamal Krishna Goswami because he was the GBC and Prabhupada’s secretary. I was the temple president. So, he gave me some cash and checks and he told me, “I want you to go to the bank and deliver these, let’s deposit them.” And I said, “I’m the temple president, can’t you find someone else to do this work?”

Now, I think there was some false ego there, “I am the president,” and there was also maybe a little calculation, “I can do so many other things that others can’t do, why should I do something that anyone can do?” And we were speaking in very hushed tones so as not to disturb Srila Prabhupada.

And just then, Srila Prabhupada rang his buzzer, and we were both so excited because we were getting to see Srila Prabhupada, which for me was very difficult. So, we went rushing in and we sat down at his lotus feet, and he looked at me and he said, “If I tell you to go to the bank and make a deposit and you refuse, where is the surrender?”

So, at the time, I thought Srila Prabhupada must have read my mind, because we were speaking so quietly and there were two large rooms and two sets of closed doors in between, although later, one very perceptive godbrother, Tejas dasa, he said, “Prabhupada could have heard you,” because he felt Prabhupada had very, you could say, supernaturally acute sense of perception. He thought he actually could have heard it.

So, when Prabhupada said that, I realized that there was a defect in my consciousness, that I was thinking, Tamal Krishna Goswami is telling me to do this. But Srila Prabhupada said, “If the spiritual master asks you to go to the bank and you refuse, where is the surrender?” He wanted me to see Tamal Krishna Goswami as his representative, as his servant.

And I think this is what we are learning about hari-dāsa-varya, dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, the servant of the servants of the servants of the servants; try to be directly the servant. So, that was also an important instruction. And as we hear so many times, one can please Krishna more by serving His devotees, by serving His servants, than by trying to serve Him directly.

Now, there is another point here about Giri Govardhana, which I feel is important to consider, and that is that he is Krishna. As we know from the govardhana-līlā, Krishna expanded Himself into a gigantic form and declared that He was Govardhana Hill, but here, the gopīs are not seeing him as Krishna, but as hari-dāsa-varya, because one can get more mercy from the devotee of Krishna than from Krishna directly. Of course, it’s all Krishna’s mercy ultimately. And they were thinking, We are stuck at home, we want to meet Krishna, but how can we get out? We need some excuse.

So, they were all girls from pious families, so they said, “We will tell our elders that we are going to Manasi Ganga to take our bath and go to the temple of Hari deva.” Hari deva is the presiding Deity in the area of Govardhana. It is actually a four-handed form of Narayana. “We will tell our elders that we are going to Manasi Ganga to take our holy dip and to worship Hari deva.”

But within their hearts, they considered that the mercy they could get from Haridasa was greater than the mercy that they could get from Hari deva. And they thought, Maybe Krishna will be tending His cows on Govardhana Hill and we’ll also get a little peek at Him. So that was their idea, and what has struck me, I’m sure others as well, is that Govardhana is Krishna. He is Krishna, but he is in the mood of a devotee. And in that respect, He is like Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is also Krishna in the mood of a devotee. And in the mood of a devotee, He is more magnanimous than in His original mood. And the same applies to Govardhana Hill. And that original idea of the gopīs, which they heard from Gardi, that one’s desires can be fulfilled only by the mercy of great souls, that theme has been taken up by so many of our acharyas in their prayers to Govardhana Hill.

In fact, Govardhana Hill is known as sarva-iṣṭa-pradātā, He fulfills all desires. So, whatever desires we have can be fulfilled by the grace of Giriraj Govardhana. So, that raises the question of what our desires are. And as we know, we have various desires. But our heart’s deepest desire really is to love Krishna and serve Krishna and His devotees. And if we submit our desires to Giri Govardhana, he will help us.

Every day, I see hundreds, maybe thousands of pilgrims doing Govardhana parikramā, and this practice has been going on for generations. And they wouldn’t be doing it unless they were getting some results. They are getting results, that’s why they do it. And some are doing daṇḍavat parikramā, and some are doing daṇḍavat parikramā doing a hundred and eight daṇḍavats in one spot. So, nobody is so foolish that they would do that for nothing, they do it because they are getting some results.

And that in a way is also part of the message of the govardhana-līlā. Because when Krishna saw Nanda Maharaja and the other elderly cowherd men making the arrangements for the Indra yajña, He asked, “What is the purpose of this? Who is this for? What will be the result? Is it just customary, is it just something we do because our forefathers did it, or is there actually some result?”

And Srila Prabhupada says that this is an instruction, that we should not engage in rituals just because our forefathers did it or because of some social custom, we should engage in religious performances because there is some result. So, people do get results.

Yesterday, after Prema dasa’s beautiful talk, Sacinandana Swami asked us to face the hill and sing out to him. And I felt like he was saying, “Okay, now what do you want?” Well, what do we want? But anyway, I said, he said, “Anything else?” And I said some more, he said, “Everything else?” And then I sort of let it go. And in the evening, I got some news, sort of, you could say, unexpected good news, and I just took it at that. Then I thought, Oh my Gosh, that’s what I prayed for earlier in the day, it actually works.

So, as other speakers have said, I will just say the same thing, that we are in the best place at the best time. We have nothing else to do except take shelter of Krishna, the holy name, Giriraj Govardhana, the advanced devotees, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and we should absorb as much of this as we can and accept it so deeply in our hearts, that it will never leave.

At the end of the Varshana retreat, Bhurijana Prabhu described the traumatic experience of leaving Vraja, driving to Delhi, going into the airport; I mean, I don’t even want to remember it. I’m still suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome from that description of what it’s like to leave Vraja, go through the different layers of leaving India. But still, it should be so deep within us that it doesn’t come out no matter what.

And like the gopīs, we can visualize Govardhana Hill. We can place ourselves in that experience of chanting the holy names by the side of Govardhana Hill, hearing the beautiful narrations of Krishna’s loving reciprocations with His devotees; both His completely pure devotees in Vrindavan and even His struggling devotees like us, how loving and caring He is for them, and try to situate ourselves in that place spiritually, wherever we might be physically.

But it’s good to come back regularly. This is not something like, “Oh, I did that once.” I think people work and they want to have a vacation, they want to go on holiday. But no working person thinks, I’ve experienced going on a holiday once, that’s enough, I think I’ll just work and skip the holidays. No, everyone, they are just waiting, when is the next holiday, and the next holiday?

So, this is our spiritual holiday. This is our rejuvenation for our innermost being, our soul, which is really us. So, as far as possible, we should come again and again; recharge our spiritual batteries, and then go back and spread the glories of Lord Krishna and His devotees in Vrindavan and Giriraj Govardhana to people all over the world so they can also come to Vrindavan and experience this.

Yes, just to tie in the last thing that His Holiness Sacinandana Swami Prabhu read about the desires of a devotee. This was Srila Prabhupada’s desire, and therefore, at the age of seventy, he came to New York City and faced incalculable difficulties, but this was his desire that we could learn about Krishna and learn to serve Krishna and come to Vrindavan. That was his desire, that there be a temple and sevā, devotional service, and this is an extension of that same desire.

And because it was Prabhupada’s desire placed in his heart by Krishna’s glance and maintained by Krishna’s smile, it will come to pass and it will come sooner or later, depending on how we cooperate, but it will come. We are in Krishna’s hands that [unintelligible 00:48:20] bhaktas, and He will never let us go. And so, the best we can do is surrender and cooperate. The worst we can do is fight it and struggle and be overpowered in the end by Krishna’s mercy anyway. Hare Krishna.