English
The Lifting of Govardhan
Source: Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, Book 10 (chapters 24–27)
Every year Vraja held a grand Indra yajna. One year Nanda Baba and all the cowherds were busy preparing it, and all kinds of food was being cooked.
Seeing this, seven-year-old Krishna asked his father, “Baba, whose worship are you preparing? What do we get from it?”
Nanda Baba said, “Son, Lord Indra sends the rain. The rain makes the grass grow, and our cows are fed. So we keep him pleased.”
Krishna replied very seriously, “Baba, every being finds joy or sorrow through its own actions. We are cowherds. Our wealth is our cows, and what gives our cows grass and water is this Govardhan hill. Why not worship the cows, the brahmanas and Govardhan?”
Everyone liked the boy's words. That year the people of Vraja worshipped Govardhan with the food made for Indra, decorated their cows and walked around the hill. Krishna himself took a huge form, declared, “I am Govardhan,” and lovingly accepted all the offerings.
But when Indra learned that his worship had stopped, he was filled with rage. He ordered the Samvartaka clouds, the clouds of the great dissolution: “Drown Vraja!”
The sky turned black. Torrential rain, hail and a terrible storm began. The cows trembled and the children cried. All the people of Vraja ran to Krishna: “Krishna, only you can save us now!”
Krishna comforted everyone: “Don't be afraid.” Then he went to the Govardhan hill and lifted it with a single hand, the way a child pulls up a mushroom at play.
The whole hill rested on his hand like an umbrella. Krishna called, “Mother, Baba, everyone, come under it with your cows and your belongings. This hill will not fall.”
All the people of Vraja, the cows, the calves and the carts came beneath the hill. Outside the deluge of rain and wind went on, but not a single drop fell inside.
Not for one day, not for two, but for a full seven days Krishna stood holding up the hill, smiling, caring nothing for hunger or thirst. The people of Vraja gazed at him, and their love grew deeper still.
Indra was astonished. His pride was broken, and he called back the clouds. The sky cleared, the sun came out, and Krishna told everyone to come out. Then he gently set Govardhan back down exactly where it had been.
Later the ashamed Indra came to Krishna in a quiet place, together with Surabhi, the wish-giving cow, fell at his feet and begged forgiveness: “Lord, I was blinded by the pride of my position.”
Krishna forgave him and taught him not to grow arrogant in power. Then Surabhi bathed Krishna with her milk, and Indra with the heavenly Ganga water brought in Airavata's trunk, and they gave him the name Govinda: the protector of the cows.
In memory of this, Govardhan Puja is held the day after Diwali, cows are adorned, and the Annakut offering is made.
What this story teaches
True worship belongs to what sustains us: nature, the cow, the earth. And for those who take refuge in him, the Lord will lift even a mountain.
Govardhan Puja falls on Kartik Shukla Pratipada, the day after Diwali. Families make a Govardhan from cow dung, worship it and walk around it, adorn their cows and offer the Annakut, a 'mountain' of many dishes. Popular tradition and art show Krishna holding the hill on the little finger of his left hand; the Bhagavata says he held it up with one hand.
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