Gopastami Festival

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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.