Friday, November 08, 2019

Govardhara Puja and Govinda Pattabhishekam

Govardhara Puja and Govinda Pattabhishekam

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The worship of the mountain Govardhana.. the benevolent guardian angel of the cowherds and tillers of Brindavana..

Krishna was growing in all glory in Gokulam and Brindavanam, along with his powerful brother Sankarshana the Balarama..

It was the practice among the people of Vraja.. the Brindavana..gokulam.. to make a ceremonial offering of huge quantities of food etc in sacrifice to the Lord of Gods Indra
This was as a matter of thanksgiving to the leader of gods because he controlled the clouds which poured rain for the pastoral folks and kept them alive.

Indra had become arrogant, and in spite of the fact that the supreme Lord Narayana had taken birth in Gokulam acceding to his entreaties, he considered Krishna, the Lord only as an ordinary urchin

Krishna, when he came to know that the offerings were to be made to Indra, told the elders including his father Nandagopa, that Indra did not deserve any such special propitiation..

The tillers of the land, the cowherds, their hard work, the cows, the mountain Govardhana which rose high and collected the clouds and caused rainfall, the the luscious nature all around was the real source of their happiness..
And Indra, if at was pouring rain, then he was just discharging his duties..
Therefore, if at all any offerings were to be made, it should be to the huge and friendly mountain Govardhana.. and the learned men who guided them and the yajna fire..

The people in the land of Vraja, unanimously agreed with the views of Krishna

So, instead of making offering to Indra, the people of the entire Vraja bhoomi, led by Nanadagopa, carried all the offering to the valley of Govardhana Mountain and stacked huge quantities of food and sweets, curd and milk.. in front of Govardhana and offered the pooja to that attractive and benevolent mountain

The priests and learned men offered poojas and fire oblations for the mountain..
Krishna, as a citizen of the Vraja, offered prayers to the mountain..
And simultaneously he adopted a huge form matching the mountain, and declared "I am Govardhana" and gobbled up all the offerings

The pastoral people were overjoyed.. They did pradakshinam( circumambulation) to the mountain in decorated carts, the men women, old people, children, cattle, calves, pets.. all together..

Indra the Lord of gods dizzy with anger..
He controlled all the clouds on the sky..
He unleashed torrential rain with thunder and lightning with the aid of Samvartaka clouds, which were to be used only during the final deluge.
The Vraja land, the jungles, the villages, all were submerged.. The people and all living beings were left helpless and homeless.

In one voice, they sought Krishna's help so that they could save their own lives
Krishna asked them not to worry.. He lifted the mountain Govardhana in a single hand, and held it aloft.. There was now a huge area of land protected by the umbrella formed by the mountain.

Krishna told his men that they could place their faith in the mountain and their own boy, Krishna.. He asked them to take shelter under the uplifted mountain.. along with all their belongings..

The people obeyed.. and they were safe and happy.
Indra poured rains day and night for seven consecutive days..
Finally the realization dawned on him that he was playing with the wrong personage.. His arrogance subsided and he quietly withdrew.
When the rains stopped and the waters were drained to river and sea, Krishna told his folk that they could come out and be free.. He replaced the mountain in its original slot.

And all their cattle and possessions were in tact.
The jubilant cowherd fold celebrated.
Nanda, Yashodha, Rohini , Balarama, and close friends all hugged the wonder child Krishna
The people all danced around him, and sprinkled unbroken rice and milk and curd on that wonder Child.. and danced around the mountain..
That is Govardhana pooja
They returned to their homes to celebrate
Indra was remorseful for having shown disrespect to the Lord Incarnate..

This led the way to Govinda pattabhishekam where Krishna was actually anointed as the Indra or suzerain of cowherd.
The coronation of Govinda was presided over by the mother of all Cows, Surabhi the Kamadhenu.
The coronation is described in Shrimad Bhagavathm in the following stanzas.
अथाह सुरभिः कृष्णमभिवन्द्य मनस्विनी।
स्वसन्तानैरुपामन्त्र्य गोपरूपिणमब्रवीत्॥१८
सुरभिरुवाच॥
कृष्ण कृष्ण महायोगिन् विश्वात्मन् विश्वसम्भव।
भवता लोकनाथेन सनाथा वयमच्युत॥१९
त्वं नः परमकं दैवं त्वं न इन्द्रो जगत्गुरो।
भवाय भव गोविप्रदेवानां ये च साधवः॥२०
इन्द्रस्त्वाभिषेक्ष्यामि ब्रह्मणा नोदिता वयम्।
अवतीर्णोऽसि विश्वात्मन् भूमेर्भारापनुत्तये॥२१
श्री शुक उवाच॥
एवं कृष्णमुपामन्त्र्य सुरभिः पयसाऽत्मनः।
जलैराकाशगङ्गायाः ऐरावतकरोद्धृतै॥२२
इन्द्रः सुरर्षिभिः साकं नोदितो देवमातृभिः।
अभ्यषिञ्चत दाशार्हं गोविन्द इति चाभ्यधात्॥२३
तत्रागतास्तुंबुरुनारददयो गन्धर्वविध्याधर सिद्धचारणाः॥
जगुर्यशो लोकमलापहं हरेः सुराङ्गनाः संननृतुर्मुदान्विता॥२४
श्रीमद्भागवते सर्ग २७
athāha surabhiḥ kṛṣṇamabhivandya manasvinī|
svasantānairupāmantrya goparūpiṇamabravīt||18
surabhiruvāca||
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahāyogin viśvātman viśvasambhava|
bhavatā lokanāthena sanāthā vayamacyuta||19
tvaṁ naḥ paramakaṁ daivaṁ tvaṁ na indro jagatguro|
bhavāya bhava govipradevānāṁ ye ca sādhavaḥ||20
indrastvābhiṣekṣyāmi brahmaṇā noditā vayam|
avatīrṇo'si viśvātman bhūmerbhārāpanuttaye||21
śrī śuka uvāca||
evaṁ kṛṣṇamupāmantrya surabhiḥ payasā'atmanaḥ|
jalairākāśagaṅgāyāḥ airāvatakaroddhṛtai||22
indraḥ surarṣibhiḥ sākaṁ nodito devamātṛbhiḥ|
abhyaṣiñcata dāśārhaṁ govinda iti cābhyadhāt||23
tatrāgatāstuṁburunāradadayo gandharvavidhyādhara siddhacāraṇāḥ||
jaguryaśo lokamalāpahaṁ hareḥ surāṅganāḥ saṁnanṛturmudānvitā||24
śrīmadbhāgavate sarga 27

Surabhi, the Mother of Cows tells Krishna, after paying her humble respects to the supreme one who had taken birth a cowherd boy. That mother of cows of generous mind had arrived in the company of her children..

Krishna, you great Yogin, you who is the soul of the whole universe, you who is the progenitor of all that is manifest, we are under the able protection of you the master of everything.

Krishna, you are our ultimate godhead, you the father of the universe is our real leader, our real Indra.
May your care and protection be directed towards us the Cows, the learned persons who serve the god, and the gods too.
You the supreme Lord Narayana has incarnated on this earth to lesser her burden of evil. As directed by Brahmadeva, I am desirous of anointing you as the Indra for the Cows, gods and good people.

Saying thus to Krishna she poured uninterruptedly her own milk from her udders on Krsihna.
Indra too, accompanied by the Sages and Gods, as directed by the mothers of Gods like Aditi,arranged for the waters of the celestial Ganga brought in by the elephant Airavatha and anointed Krishna with those waters
and Christened the Lord Krishna as GOVINDA the lord, master and protector of cows and all.

The divine musicians Tumburu and Narada gandavas, sidhas, charanas, all arrived there and celebrated the happy occasion with songs.. The damsels of the heaven arrived and danced.
Evryone praised the glory of the Supreme Being Krishna who was the only one capable of erasing all the evil from the face of earth..


May Krishna bless us.

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