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.
Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne
Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne
Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne
Giri Govardhan @ Iskcon Melbourne
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.
