Worshiping Govardhana Hill | 7.11.2021 | GBC-SPT Talk | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Maharaja

Hare Krishna. First, I'd like to thank the GBC SPT team for organizing The lecture series, Bhajanathana Kanto. I have a very bad throat and trouble with my voice, and I was hesitant in speaking, but since the sponsors have insisted I speak, I'm going to attempt to speak, but my voice is very low. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And this, these pastimes are being discussed in the auspicious month of Kartik. Kartik, as we all know, is very auspicious, best of the 12 months, and a little bit of service done in Kartik is magnified a million times. There was a mouse that helped the lamp not fade. So that people could see the form of the Lord in a village temple. Just for this small service, he got a human body and then went back to Godhead. In kartik, one is advised to read and chant, to do spiritual activity. So I'm very happy that I had the privilege We speak in this month. Several important nirās were placed in Karthik. The famous Druvamaraj story, pastime, also took place in Karthik. Radhakund appeared on the planet in Karthik. Our divine spiritual master also left the planet. So we are very fortunate that the Kṛṣṇa Book is being discussed. His devotees all over the world. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and in order to understand the Lord, one has to engage on the devotional path. Bhaktiyāmāmāmijjanāte. Kṛṣṇa appears why? To serve His dharma. So if we hear the Kṛṣṇa book, the Gītā-sāntaṁ, then we get purified. Then we get purified, We make spiritual advancement. In the Krishna book, there's so many wonderful pastimes. Now, if you were to read these stories in isolation, you may not understand the true impact. And when Krishna appears, He always does something superhuman. Tena makarma ca me devyam. So it is very nice and different advancement. I was speaking on the Lord's first time. I was given the assignment of speaking on Chapter 24 and Chapter 25 of the Bhāgavatam. And Prabhupāda, when he came to the West, he had the manuscript of the Ten Cantos with him, and Prabhupāda was looking for someone to publish it. In a very impressive format. So Prabhupāda wanted, was expecting to do this with the help of a donation. At that time our preachers had just gone to England to start the movement: Shyamsundar and his wife, Mukunda and his wife, and Gurudāsa and his wife. And Shyamsundar had come to New York gave Prabhupāda a report for their preaching. And Prabhupāda told him, "Why don't you ask George to help pay for the Kṛṣṇa work?" And Amsandha said, "Prabhupāda, he's a new devotee. He may not like it. He may get scared." Prabhupāda said, "No, do it." And he asked, and George immediately agreed. To print it, to pay for the printing. That's why in the introduction, that's why in the Kṛṣṇa book you read in the introduction, Om Joy. So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He displays His supreme activities from day one. He doesn't have to wait for years to start displaying His activities. Example, He was just a young child, he killed the powerful demon Pūṣana. This pastime of worshiping Gaura-līlā took place when Kṛṣṇa was 7 years old. And Kṛṣṇa and Balarama, they saw that the brāhmacāris were busy in executing some sacrifice. They were preparing for the sacrifice in a very elaborate way, and Kṛṣṇa knew what the cause was, but He pretended as if He did not know. Īśvāsara-bhūtanam, He is the Īśvāra-jñānātriṣṭhiti, I am situated in everyone's heart. So Kṛṣṇa asked His father, "My dear father, I see that you are busy engaged 'in some type of preparation. What is this preparation? I've never seen you so engrossed. What is it?' Father did not respond. The father thought, 'This boy is too young to understand all the intricacies.' And Nanmaraj, on his own, he had 900,000 cows. Imagine, 900,000 cows, who were all healthy, had silver ornaments on them., and out of these 9 lakh cows, 100 gugaws were cows that gave regular perfume milk. So Anand Maharaj was a big farmer, and he— the farmer is dependent on only one thing: rains. If there's good rain, there's good harvest. If the rain is not proper,, then you don't get a good harvest. If you have rains, then there will be prosperity. If you don't have rains, you have drought, then there will be suffering. So Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, food grains are produced due to rain. Rain comes when the yagya, performing of religious duty, We see in the present-day society, monsoons are very erratic. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't, because there is so much sinful activity going on the planet. So Krishna pleaded with Father 3 times, "Please tell me what is this sacrifice going on for?" He kept quiet. Finally the son said, My dear father, I thought we were friends. We don't keep secrets from friends. I'm your friend. Please tell me what is the sacrifice about. Because I don't understand this more. My dear son, you are very young. You will not understand the purpose of the sacrifice. You know, we are farmers. Farmer can only succeed If there is rainfall, and rainfall is controlled by whom? Indra. There are 33 crore demigods, but these demigods are not equal to the Lord. One of the 10 offenses is you consider the name of demigods to be equal to the name of the Supreme Lord. Ishvara Paramakrishna, Satchitananda Vigraha, Adanadi Adhikovina Karvakarnakarnam. There are many Ishwaras, there is only one who is supreme. He is the cause of all causes. So Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He knows everything, past, present, and future. Bhagavad-gītā's knowledge is also eternal knowledge. So Krishna spoke a few times, his father finally agreed. Explain the reason. So the father said, "Here we are farmers, we are dependent on Lord Indra's mercy. So if we don't do the sacrifice, then we won't have rains, and then we'll starve." And Kṛṣṇa's goal was to take His father away from the mood of vṛndhākya svarga, please Indra. But Krishna said, Father, you don't have to please Indra. The Karma Vimamsa theory says according to our actions we'll get the results in any case. Whatever rain is due, we'll get it. And then Krishna explained Karma Vimamsa theory. As a result, ultimately, ultimately, his father was convinced that he could stop the sacrifice for Indra. For Indra, they had prepared very elaborate sacrifice, and the Lord said, cows, Brahmanas, will be fed. Our Vedic civilization is based on protecting the cow and the bull. The cow is one of our 7 mothers, and the milk that the cow gives nourishes the whole body. There was an advertising campaign in the West a few years ago. The campaign was, "Milk, the perfect food." So, sages, the past, You should live just on milk. So Krishna told his father, "Inshallah, I was serving Indra. Why don't you use all these facilities and serve the Brahmins and the cows, protect the cows?" So father agreed. And what happened? All the ingredients that were there to protect, to offer to Indra were used to offer it to Govardhan Hill, and we offered it to Govardhan Hill, and plus the devotees made additional items. In the end, it was a huge feast. That was offered to Govardhana Hill, the cows and the Brahmanas. When we talk about Brahmanas, we are talking about genuine Brahmanas, not show bottle Brahmanas. And Krishna says, 'Chatur varna maya shreshtha, guna-krama vibhagasah.' According to guna, it is determined whether one is Brahman or Kshatriya or Vaishyasutra. So the elaborate offering was made for Govardhan and Lord Kṛṣṇa himself said, "I am now Govardhana Hill and all this offering I will eat." And he ate all the offering. In order to convince the Vṛjapāsis that Kṛṣṇa is non-different from Govardhan. He assumed an unprecedented huge form as Giraj to convince the coward men, here is Krishna who is non-different from Giraj. So why Krishna established? There's no difference between Govardhan Hill and, and Lord Caitanya, when he went to Govardhana Parvat, he did not step on the stones, but he said, "These are non-different from Krishna." So then Govardhana Hill was satisfied, and the emperor was very satisfied by the elaborate offerings made by his devotees. So Dhanmaraj and the farmers, they made a very elaborate sacrifice. Krishna was pleased that his father and Devaki agreed to do as he said. But Indra was totally upset. He said, "These Brajasis have become proud. They think that they have become rich due to good harvesting and protection of cows. Now that's why they become proud, and they will not listen to me and listen to this foolish young boy. What does this foolish young boy know?" I should teach him a lesson. And Indra in a great anger told, said, he ordered these samudraga clouds, go over Braj. Samudraga clouds are very, very strong. They make a heavy noise when they move, and it's just like sometimes in the winter season you hear thundering and lightning. So, Madhaka cloud, the sound, the lightning and the sound is very, very heavy. If you hear it, you will get a heart attack. So, you want to listen to the cloud. "I want you to go to Vrindavan and teach this boy Krishna," his father and others. Unless it— why did they listen to this foolish young boy and shall be sacrificed. So some of the other clouds were ordered, now you go over Vrindavan and drown the whole area with water. Indra's plan was a little cruel. His plan was, we'll get the Brihasis, we'll drown in the water and the animals will also die. And he said, "Don't worry, I'm coming behind you and I'm going to come in my air as an elephant." So heavy rainfall started. Each drop of water from the Samudraga clouds was as heavy as a pillar. Normally, my experience is that the rainwater when it falls, it definitely doesn't crash through your umbrella. But some of the cloud water was so heavy, each drop of water was as heavy as a pillar. And the bridge passes were in great anxiety. They were feeling cold. Their body was shivering. They didn't know what to do. They wanted to protect the animals also. They didn't want any of the animals to get drowned. So the vrajavasis were wondering what to do. Krishna lifted the Gaudān Hill. How? With two hands? No. With one hand? No. He just used his smallest left finger to lift the mountain. Can you imagine? The smallest left finger has almost no strength in most people. Here Krishna lifted a gigantic Govardhana Hill. Govardhana Hill, as we see today, is a lot smaller than it used to be. At the time when Krishna was on the planet, the tip of Govardhana Hill would be touching the sky. Imagine how tall it would be. The tip used to touch the ceiling, and gradually Govardhana Hill started shrinking. One mushroom seed every year. So over the years, it has shrunk. So on the one hand, some of the clouds were overbrush and the rainfall was like pillars. Then there was wind. The wind was moving very fast also. And the wind was We're just wondering what to do. A devotee in pleasure and pain has only one friend. Who is that? Krishna. All the Vrājavāsīs were looking towards Krishna for a solution. Vrājavāsīs were thinking, "Oh, this 7-year-old boy." He is lifting this Govardhana Hill, but it may fall any time. Kṛṣṇa was lifting the Govardhana Hill like an elephant holds a mushroom. There was no sweat at all. He said, "Kṛṣṇa," he told the brahman, "I think you are worried thinking that this hill will drop from my hands." He said, "Don't worry, I guarantee you." 'This hill is not going to collapse and all of you will be protected.' Once they got that assurance from Krishna, all the Brajvasis came under the umbrella of Govardhana Hill, all of them. And at the same time when they came in, their cows and animals, they all, everything expanded and they each had enough space. Tuo kvaai. Now this went on for how many days? It went on for 7 days. For 7 days the samudra clouds were pouring every day and forth, and Lord Sri Krishna, by divine potency, the water would at once get wiped off. So on the surface there wasn't any water. This went on for 7 days, and the Vrijapāsis, during this 7-day period, were all just meditating at Kṛṣṇa's mouth, face, and they were just thinking of Kṛṣṇa even more deeply. All the scriptures recommend that we should train our minds in such a manner that we think of Kṛṣṇa all the time. And that is a guaranteed path to success. For 7 days it was heavy pouring and the Vrindasis were fully protected in the name of Giridhari. Guruji, Vanu carried the Giridhari mountain. So 7 days went by, the Vrindasis did not feel any hunger or thirst. Why did they not feel any hunger or thirst? Because they were totally absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa and meditating at His Lotus Feet. So similarly, if we remain absorbed in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, then we will also be saved from the anātṭhas, lust and greed, envy, hatred. The anarthas are always trying to tempt us to material life, and we have to struggle. And what is the process for controlling the anarthas? What's the process? Bhajanakriya. Following the process of chanting and hearing. So for 7 days, Indra was, was like a cloud. Pouring heavy rainfall, and Krishna protected the Brihābāsīs. And the Brihābāsīs did not feel any hunger at that time. But then Indra realized, "I have made a mistake. I have underestimated the young boy. The young boy is Krishna, the Supreme Lord." He realized he made a mistake, and what did he do? He apologized to Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and the demigods sometimes get illusioned. What does the Lord do? He rectifies the situation for our benefit. So we see in the Bhāgavad-gītā, or Śiva, He was also tested, and then he glorified the Lord. And Lord Indra, he was tested now in this Gauranga Mila, and he realized he made a mistake on Brahma. All the demigods recognized that Krishna is the Supreme Lord. Eka Ishvara Krishna, aṣa vṛte. So Krishna, Indra came to Krishna to apologize for the offensive attitude, and then Kṛṣṇa pardoned him and reduced his pride. The Lord wants us to be humble. Nepaloche dena saḥ, tilālabhisa jena purabhisa iṣvara. Aum nama nārāyaṇa kadāna te asvārāri. We want to share the Holy Name of the Lord all the time. What should we do? We should be in a humble state of mind. So Indra, a powerful demigod, in Chaldiramayan, recognized that in front of Krishna he is nothing. Our four-headed Brahma had gone to Dwarka once and he told the doorkeeper, 'Tell Krishna that Brahma has come.' So the doorkeeper told the Lord, 'Brahma has come waiting for you. Can he have your audience?' 'Which Brahma?' he said. The doorkeeper, when he came to Brahma, said, 'The Lord wants to know which Brahma are you?' So four-headed Brahma was shocked. 'You mean there are other Brahmas besides me?' So he went to see the Lord, offered his obeisances, and then he said, "Before I ask you anything, I want to know, are there any other Brahmas besides me?" He could not even complete his question when he saw instantly unlimited Brahmas manifesting themselves. Some had million heads, trillion heads. And our four-headed Brahma was looking like small mouse in the midst of elephants. So then the four-headed Brahma realized that he's very small. So demigods sometimes get puffed up and they think that they're equal to the Supreme Lord. One of the ten offenses is consider names of demigods to be equal to or independent of the holy name of the Lord Vishnu. So Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he performs superhuman activities. Once I was in an interfaith dialogue with some Indian groups, and one of the prominent speakers there said, "You Hare Krishnas, you believe there's only one Krishna. We're all Krishna." So I said, "We're all Krishna? Can you duplicate?" the activity that he performed. And he said, "If I can't today, I'll do it tomorrow." So I said, "Krishna lifted a Gola Hill just with the help of smallest finger of his left hand. We'll give you a discount. You can use both your hands. You lift a fraction of the hill." He said, "Not today." But that doesn't mean I won't be able to do it tomorrow. So they just gave 4 different checks. So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. This is not some imagination. Perfection. And these parasyms of the Lord are for what? Our purification. We see that the Lord performed a superhuman activity just for the feeling. Then the Vaiṣṇava saw The Brihadvasis are just amazed at what his son can do. Prior to this, the son had killed many Asuras, and the Brihadvasis wondered, "Is he God, or is he a devta, or is he an expansion of an expansion?" How come this child performs so many superhuman actions? Krishna already killed Putana in Amrutha and so many other demons. And Krishna, when he was questioned by his mother, "Have you eaten dirt?" And the son opened his mouth and said, "No, this is a false complaint." 'But if you don't believe me, I'll open my mouth.' And when Krishna opened the mouth, what did the mother see? The whole universe, etc. So Krishna is the Supreme Lord. So Nand Maharaj was very surprised when he saw his son lifting the Govardhana Hill. But he was already exposed to Krishna's leelas, and he was a poor— he had already heard from Karkamuni 'Your son has appeared before in Teya ages in different colors, and he will always perform superhuman activities.' So Nan Maharaj was suspicious. 'Is my son a demigod or an expansion of Nānā-nārāyaṇa?' He knew his son was special. When Nan Maharaj revealed what Gāgāmuni said, all the inhabitants of Vraja. And then the inhabitants of Vraja knew Krishna is not ordinary. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One thing that Prabhupada emphasized often is the Supreme Lord can only be understood how? Through the path of devotional service. So the path of bhakti purifies our heart and it says that and makes us realize our real constitutional duty to serve the Supreme Lord. So Kṛṣṇa performs many superhuman activities. The Gauḍa-nīla pastime is one of the most popular pastimes of the Lord. If we were to do a survey with devotees, here's a list of Lord's pastimes. Which one are you familiar with the most? There's a very good chance that the top score would be by, would be occupied by, would be given to the Gaudāṇī-lapāsaṣṭhaṇa. In the Gaudāṇī-lapāsaṣṭhaṇa, the Lord has been shown that He does His activities as per Your will. Therefore He is God. And we should read the Krishna book. Many devotees have a habit of reading the Krishna book before sleeping. The Krishna book contains many wonderful pastimes, and by reading the Krishna book we get to understand how great God is. Just saying God is great is not enough. We need to know How great God is, and that is Kṛṣṇa. And the Lord is so kind, He appears in various incarnations, various forms, and performs superhuman activities. In the material world, people find it hard to read, to accept these superhuman activities. They think that this is imaginary or mythology. It's not mythology, it's a reality. But to understand this, we need to purify ourselves, and that purification is obtained in the process of practicing devotional service. I want to thank all of you for inviting me to speak at this conference. Unfortunately, I have a bad throat, and so to speak too long becomes a little difficult. And we hope that we can absorb ourselves more and more Krishna's prasadam and activities. You never get tired when you read about Krishna again and again. You never get tired when you chant the Holy Name again and again. Just like the vrajavasis didn't have any hunger or thirst when Krishna was protecting them. Nothing goes on here. Similarly, we absorb ourselves in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then our appetite for material activities also go down. This is the safest path for perfecting your life. So please absorb yourself in this wonderful pastime, love of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda was very keen that Krishna book will be presented as soon as possible. Prabhupāda said, I wasn't sure how long I would live. So in order to make sure that Krishna was properly represented in his pastime, Prabhupāda, ahead of other books, he worked on the Krishna book and presented it in a wonderful story form. So thank you very much, Gopal Bhatta and your team. For inviting me. I'm sorry if my voice wasn't strong enough to communicate. And this is a wonderful opportunity to remember Kṛṣṇa and to get immersed in Kṛṣṇa's activity, nīlā. That should be our goal. Āma-arūpa. We should take interest in the Holy Name. We should meditate on the form of the Lord. We should meditate on a different item of the Lord. And as I said earlier, this month of Kartik is extremely auspicious. So many wonderful pastimes take place this month. And as I said in the beginning, one of the pastimes which is very famous is the Damodar Lila. We sing the Damodar Ashoka every day. The Damodar Lila— they are also very unique. His mother, Yashoda, was trying her best to tie the son down. She was tired of receiving regular complaints, "Your son is coming and stealing our butter," and so she was unhappy with that. So she knew her son was also very mischievous, so she wanted to punish him. And she said, "Okay, at least I'll tie him with a rope. That is safer than by beating him with a stick." So she tried to tie the son down with a rope. She took all the ropes of Rajapurkha, and they were still two fingers short. This two fingers short, according to Acharya, has a powerful message. If you want to make spiritual progress, Then you have to make an effort, and if you make the effort, then by the mercy of the Lord and Yajnaya, you will get, you will be able to make spiritual advancement. So we should constantly be endeavoring to make spiritual advancement, and this process of hearing the pastimes of the Lord is the safest process. For purification. So thank you once again. Hare Krishna.