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.              

Gopastami Festival

Lord Krishna and Radha Rani on Gopastami

Two days ago, was the day on which, about 5000 years ago lord Sri Krishna became a qualified cowherd man, which was marked by a ceremonial festival and worship of Cows. Nanda Maharaj, father of Lord Krishna organised a festive celabrations which included decorating, worshipping  the cows and confer Lord Krishna and Balarama, the honor of herding or looking after the cows. Up until then, Lord Krishna was looking after the calves and Nanda Maharaj decided that his son reached the right age of six years and is able to look after the cows.

As stated in the Karttika-mahatmya section of the Padma Purana:

suklastami karttike tu
smrtagopasṭami budhaih
tad-dinad vasudevo bhud
gopaḥ purvam tu vatsapaḥ

"The eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Karttika is known by authorities as Gopasṭami. From that day, Lord Vasudeva served as a cowherd, whereas previously He had tended the calves."

Gopastami - Worshiping the Holy Cow

Some of my friends shared these beautiful photos from Krishna Balaram temple and Goshala in Vrindan.The speciality of Gopastami is that Radharani is dressed as a Cowherd boy. Again, an interesting pastime is that, on Gopastami where it was only a Boys and men only event, Srimathi Radha Rani wanted attend the event. So, she and her girl friends dressed as boys, wearing Dhoti, Kurta and silently joined the group to have some fun.

There is one more story that Mother Yashoda was concerned about Krishna going to the forest with the cows and getting his tender feet hurt. She offered Krishna, a nice pair of footwear. But, Krishna refused to wear them saying that, Mother I will wear these only when you give footwear to all my cows.

Thus Gopastami is the day, the Cows are given a bath and beautifully decorated and are worshipped. Krsna said that the cows are worshiped even by the demigods, and He practically demonstrated how to protect the cows. That’s why he is called Gopal and the well wisher of Cows. A Cow is also considered as one of the Mothers. As per Vedic literature,

atma-mata guroḥ patni

brahmani raja-patnika

dhenur dhatri tathaprthvi

saptaita matarah smrtah

Gopastami - Worshiping the Holy Cow

The seven mothers are - the original mother, the wife of the teacher or spiritual master, the wife of a brahmaṇa, the king's wife, the cow, the nurse and the earth.

Not only the Milk of Cow is so nourishing and so many milk products can be prepared from it, its dung is used for fire, when sprinkled with water acts as an antiseptic, its urine has numerous benefits to the health and it is used in Ayurveda medicines and it is said that all the demi-gods reside in the body of a Cow. That is why, Cow is considered as the most holiest of animals and respected in the Hindu culture.