![[Govardhana Puja]](https://i0.wp.com/krishnasmercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Govardhana_Puja_2000x1400.jpg?resize=119%2C112&ssl=1 "[Govardhana Puja]")
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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
It is a tradition that Krishna created. He personally established the parameters for the inaugural worship. He directly probed the father, Nanda, with insightful and intentional questions. It was Krishna who gave the perfect response to every justification, as if He were a lawyer expertly presenting their case in front of a judge in a courtroom. The very first Govardhana Puja was because of Krishna, and it is because of allegiance to the same Krishna that Govardhana Puja continues as an annual tradition to this day.
Anyone familiar with the Vedic tradition, either through family affiliation or taking instruction from a spiritual master, understands that respect is at the foundation of practically everything that is done. To deviate from what authority figures have established is an egregious violation of etiquette. People tend to follow what great men do.
यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्ततेyad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas
tat tad evetaro janaḥ
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute
lokas tad anuvartate“Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.21)
The attitude of defiance indicates a lack of respect. If there is one test that the individual must pass in order to achieve elevation to the imperishable realm, it is showing full respect for the one who has taught them everything, who has brought them out of the darkness and into the light.
तद् विद्धि प्रणिपातेन
परिप्रश्नेन सेवया
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं
ज्ञानिनस् तत्त्व-दर्शिनःtad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)
If ever we should think that we are smarter than the guru, that we have discovered flaws in the techniques, the justifications, and the timings that the authority figures follow as part of their sadhana, we are essentially doomed. In foolishness we consider ourselves to be wiser than those whose association we desperately required in order to even see the basic distinction between matter and spirit. This distinction is the first instruction in what is known as the science of self-realization, in the vidya component of sanatana-dharma.
To that end, there are some potential contradictions evident in the story involving the first Govardhana Puja. Shri Krishna, who is an avatara of Hari, the Supreme Lord, was but a child at the time. He did not know better, supposedly. He was the very embodiment of a dependent, under the care of the loving foster parents, Nanda and Yashoda.
![[Krishna and Yashoda]](https://i0.wp.com/krishnasmercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/308f_1.jpg?resize=204%2C253&ssl=1 "[Krishna and Yashoda]")
Nanda Maharaja replied that it was more or less tradition. The people were paying respect to the king of heaven for providing sufficient rainfall. The process of worshiping a higher authority in return for benedictions was nothing groundbreaking. It is not earthshattering to feel a sense of appreciation towards a benefactor who facilitates the continuation of life at the deepest level, which is food production.
Krishna had other ideas. He was asking the questions with an intent to shift things around. Krishna suggested that the people worship Govardhana, instead. This was a nearby hill dear to the cows. The cows were everything to the community. Well-protected and well-fed, they were essentially taken care of by that local hill.
Krishna succeeded with His presentation. He not only convinced the people to worship Govardhana, but they simultaneously scrapped the plans for worshiping Indra. It was a trade of sorts. Would it be worth it? Was it not a risk? A person familiar with the teachings of Bhagavad-gita might raise objections along the following lines:
“Does it not say that a person should avoid making up religious functions? They should not fast, for instance, with the intent of pushing a political cause. If they make up their own injunctions, they are essentially following the way of the demon, the asura. Their only fate is a hellish existence. Why did not the same apply to the first Govardhana Puja? Krishna essentially made up a new kind of worship. It was not even an additional activity; it took the place of longstanding tradition.”
This is a legitimate argument. The explanation is that scriptural injunctions facilitate gradual elevation. From a lower mode of living to a higher one. Out of ignorance and into knowledge. Sattva-guna is the platform from which a person can reach the heavenly planets in the afterlife. This platform simultaneously brings knowledge of the material and spiritual worlds. It also lays out, in the absence of ambiguity, what should be done and what should not be done, karya and akarya.
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धि: सा पार्थ सात्त्विकीpravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca
kāryākārye bhayābhaye
bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti
buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī“O son of Pritha, that understanding by which one knows what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, what is to be feared and what is not to be feared, what is binding and what is liberating, that understanding is established in the mode of goodness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.30)
Shri Krishna is not bound by the modes of nature. He is not material in any way. Only He can create a new kind of worship. This is one of the reasons Govardhana Puja is so dear to devotees. It is an instance of God acting like an atheist or an iconoclastic rebel. He can withstand the punishment directed by those who are strict to the letter of the law that is dharma in practice.
The people worshiped Govardhan and their immediate reward was a devastating rainstorm that was intentionally sent their way by a perturbed king of heaven. The people were essentially seeing the consequences to their flagrant violation of the rules. It was like they were flaunting their satisfaction in the process, in receiving direct validation from the hill. The punishment subsequently received appeared to align with the principle from Bhagavad-gita, which is taught directly by Krishna.
य: शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य वर्तते कामकारत:
न स सिद्धिमवाप्नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम्yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya
vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti
na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim“But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 16.23)
![[Govardhana Puja]](https://i0.wp.com/krishnasmercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Govardhana_Puja_2000x1400-1.jpg?resize=304%2C286&ssl=1 "[Govardhana Puja]")
हरि माया कृत दोष गुन बिनु हरि भजन न जाहिं
भजिअ राम सब काम तजि अस बिचारि मन माहिंhari māyā kṛta doṣa guna binu hari bhajana na jāhiṃ
bhajia rāma saba kāma taji asa bicāri mana māhiṃ“Good and bad, which are part of the illusion created by Hari, cannot be removed without worshiping Hari. Keeping this in mind, worship Rama and renounce all desires.” (Dohavali, 127)
In Closing:
Shastra seriously should take,
New traditions should not make.
Because way of the asura found,
To negative consequences bound.
How then Govardhana Puja to explain?
When from worship of Indra to refrain.
Good and bad illusion of Hari created,
Only by His will negated.