“My dear father, I am very respectfully and humbly inquiring. What is this arrangement? Why you are busy in making some sacrificial ceremony, what is the reason, and what is the result? For whose benefit is it and by what means will it be accomplished?” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.24.3)

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कथ्यतां मे पित: कोऽयं सम्भ्रमो व उपागत:
किं फलं कस्य वोद्देश: केन वा साध्यते मख:

kathyatāṁ me pitaḥ ko ’yaṁ
sambhramo va upāgataḥ
kiṁ phalaṁ kasya voddeśaḥ
kena vā sādhyate makhaḥ

If we are in an important position, if we consider our duties to be of utmost significance, if we feel that the people depending on us would be in trouble if not for our diligence, it would only make sense to feel a heightened sense of ego. If we remain in this kind of mindset long enough, we might think that we are the sole factor responsible for sustaining the dependents. The incident of the first Govardhana Puja highlights the need to always remember that there is only one maintainer of the people.

The Sanskrit word applying to such a position is Janardana. This is one of the names used by Arjuna to address Shri Krishna within the Bhagavad-gita conversation. Indeed, there are too many names to count for Krishna. He is also Keshava, or the one who took down the Keshi demon. He is Govinda since He gives pleasure to the cows. He is Gopala since He gives full protection to the cows.

विस्तरेणात्मनो योगं विभूतिं च जनार्दन
भूय: कथय तृप्‍तिर्हि श‍ृण्वतो नास्ति मेऽमृतम्

vistareṇātmano yogaṁ
vibhūtiṁ ca janārdana
bhūyaḥ kathaya tṛptir hi
śṛṇvato nāsti me ’mṛtam

“Tell me again in detail, O Janardana [Krishna], of Your mighty potencies and glories, for I never tire of hearing Your ambrosial words.” (Arjuna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.18)

Many years prior to that conversation, Krishna did something that earned him the name Giridhari. During that particular period of time, the king of heaven considered himself to be responsible for the welfare of the residents of Gokula. They were a farm community, after all. They indeed utilized the land, the labor of others, and the kindness of the cows and calves.

The calves are just as important as the cows, since it is their presence which stimulates the production of milk. That milk flows in such abundance that there is more than enough left over for the human population to consume. From the direct perception, from the love shown by the mother to the child, everyone else benefits.

If we go further up the chain, the entire population depends on the grass that grows. Though there are earth and sunlight within the mix, rain is a key ingredient. Indra, the leader of the celestials, provides the rainfall. Therefore, the people, fixed in knowledge, offer steady allegiance to Indra, both in thought and explicit deed.

It was this explicit deed that Shri Krishna wanted to tweak, just a bit. Since He is Janardana, Krishna is the one maintaining the people. He is kind enough, through His causeless mercy, to install deputies to manage various departments of the material creation, but those deputies never become the proprietor. Moreover, they would never assume such an important post were it not for the prior intervention of the one who owns everything.

Krishna set the wheels in motion for an abrupt change by asking some innocent questions. In the visual of a small, innocent child, Krishna asked about the fruit or reward to the upcoming Indra-yajna. Kim phalam. What was the stated objective? People work in order to fulfill some goal. They want something out of the endeavor.

Whatever answer the father, Nanda Maharaja, could produce, Krishna had sufficient justification for changing course. The same phalam could be attained by worshiping the nearby Govardhana Hill. This would be a replacement worship. Skip over Indra this one time. No harm would result. The people would still be maintained.

This held true, despite the efforts of Indra to change the situation. He falsely considered himself to be the maintainer, and so in the kindness that any business-minded leader would offer, when there is a disruption to the supply chain tied to the profit-making system, Indra proceeded to punish the people. They were something like infidels or heretics, to consider that worshiping some lovely and beautiful hill in the community, at the insistence of a child, no less, would somehow continue to maintain them.

वर्षतीन्द्रे व्रज: कोपाद्भग्नमानेऽतिविह्वल:
गोत्रलीलातपत्रेण त्रातो भद्रानुगृह्णता

varṣatīndre vrajaḥ kopād
bhagnamāne ’tivihvalaḥ
gotra-līlātapatreṇa
trāto bhadrānugṛhṇatā

“O sober Vidura, King Indra, his honor having been insulted, poured water incessantly on Vrindavana, and thus the inhabitants of Vraja, the land of cows, were greatly distressed. But the compassionate Lord Krishna saved them from danger with His pastime umbrella, the Govardhana Hill.” (Uddhava, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.2.33)

Indra attacked with a devastating rainstorm, but Krishna showed His infinite resourcefulness in saving the people. He lifted the just worshiped Govardhana. The hill maintained the devotion of the people. The hill saved them from the mighty king of heaven, of all people. The hill always sustained their community, and now it was maintaining them through steady devotion to the Supreme Lord, who is non-different from that sacred hill.

In Closing:

Satisfied from yajna gained,
Indra thought he maintained.

But Govardhana the entire time,
So as object of worship to find.

Even after attacking that place,
And imminent danger to face.

Krishna the maintainer of all,
Now as Giridhari to call.

Categories: kim phalam

Tags: dailyprompt, govardhana, poem, poems, poetry, vishnu