Today,
(yesterday in India) is Gopastami, a festival that is dedicated to Lord Krishna
and cows. This was the day when Nanda Maharaja seeing that Krishna had become
sufficiently grown up, gave him the responsibility of taking care of the cows.
A big festival and a ceremony was arranged by Nanda Maharaj father of Lord
Krishna, which included cleaning, decorating and worshipping of Cows and their calves. That’s
why, today is also celebrated as a Go Puja day, where even today, the cows are
beautifully decorated and worshipped. So, this was the day Krishna and his cowherd
friends are looking forward to. Go to the forests of Vrindavan and Govardhan
Mountain by themselves without any adult supervision. They are all thinking of
all the fun they can have playing in the forest while looking after the cows.
And, this is the day when Srimati Radharani is dressed as a cowherd boy.
Here
is an interesting pastime of why Radha Rani is dressed as a cowherd boy. While,
Krishna and his friends are going to the forest with cows, Radha Rani also
wanted to join the fun. And, those days as girls are not allowed to go for
grazing the cows, she joined the group of cowherd boys incognito. She requested
and borrow a Gopa - Cowherd boy dress from Subala, a friend of Krishna and
along with her girlfriends similarly disguised as boys joined the group of
cowherd boys.
The
above photo of Srimari Radha Rani is from ISKCON - Vrindavan and you can see
her dressed as a Cowherd boy. Also, today is the only special day on which the
Lotus feet of Radha Rani are not covered and can be seen.
Hare
Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare
Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
In
this Mantra, Krishna and Rama are the names of Lord and Hare refers to Radha
Rani. The mantra is most commonly translated as, "O Lord, O Energy of the
Lord, please engage me in Your service."
Wishing you all a Happy Gopastami.
