Worshiping
the Govardhan Mountain is a tradition started by Lord Krishna
himself, 5000 years ago. This festival is celebrated to commemorate the lifting
of Govardhan Mountain by Krishna. This is an age old tradition
followed in Mathura, Vrindavan and all the Krishna temples
across the world by preparing a replica of the Govardhan mountain
with sweets. I visited the local ISKCON temple to take part in the
celebrations. The atmosphere was electrifying,jubilant,fun and that of a devotional
fervour.All the devotees circumambulated the
sacred Govardhana Mountain, offered their obeisances to the
Giriraj and other deities in the temple.Of Course, after that there
was a sumptuous feast with varieties of items and the
sweets from the Govardhan Mountain.Everyone was served with sweets of their choice.
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| Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne |
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| Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne |
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| Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne |
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| Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne |
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| Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne |
The
pastime of baby Krishna lifting the Mountain is quite interesting.The
demigod Indra forgets that Lord Krishna is the Supreme God, enacting the
pastimes of a cowherd boy in Vrindavan.He thought that, Krishna is an ordinary
village boy with some mystical powers.Indra on
certain occasion became angry that Lord
Krishna persuaded his family and the residents of vrindavan
to stop worshiping him and instead worship a Mountain called Govardhan.The
whole pastime is beautifully described in
Srimad Bhagavatam.Lord Krishna decides to teach Indra a lesson
and instigates the festival of Indrostav. Indra king of demigods gets furious
and out of pride and false prestige he fails to recognise the
Supremacy of Lord Krishna, who at that time was acting as a 7 year
old village boy. He sends all the clouds to inundate the whole of Vrindavan
with torrents of rain. Seeing this, Lord Krishna lifts the mountain
of Govardhan like a Mushroom from the ground and keeps it
floating on his small finger. All the villagers, the cows,calves including the
family of Krishna takes refuge under the mountain for seven days.
Krishna assures them of safety and for seven day, all the people remained
there without any hunger or thirst.Indra finally, realises his
mistake and along with Surabhi the celestial Cow and Airavata, comes to
Krishna and begs for forgiveness. He bathes Lord Krishna with the Milk
from Surabhi Cow and Airavata – Indra’s elephant carrier, who had the
water from holy rivers holding in its trunk.
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