Zitat von Vedanta am 28. Oktober 2019, 8:04 Uhr

Govardhan Puja

Shri Krishna is also called Rasaraja or the "king of flavours/tastes". He is a master at confronting His devotees (such as King Indra) with surprising (extreme) situations, time and again. He often wants to teach us a benevolent lesson so that we can see things and open our hearts even more for Bhakti and let our hearts soften. It is inevitable and even desirable that our material ego is scratched, hurt and ultimately destroyed. Frightening? 🙂 Don't worry, Krishna is very sensitive and knows exactly which experiences we need at which time for our spiritual progress and in which dosage. And Krishna loves His devotees above all else and therefore only wants the very best for them that they are happy.

This is what happened in the case of King Indra, the enraged god of heaven. You all already know the main story, so here is just a short summary:

Every year the villagers of Vrindavan traditionally organised a kind of harvest festival in honour of the god of heaven Indra, who harmonises rain, wind and sunshine into favourable climate, so that the people can reap a good harvest and do not have to suffer hunger. But little Krishna, with his irresistible charm and eloquence, convinced all the villagers that it was better to worship Govardhan Mountain than Indra, because it was the basis of life in the village, for example in the form of lush grass pastures for the cows. Said, done. So the inhabitants of Vrindavan celebrated a cheerful and grandiose Govardhan Puja, according to the wishes of Shri Krishna. Only King Indra was not amused. He was furious and drummed up his largest clouds and organized an inferno of heavy rainfalls and hailstorms over Vrindavan. When Krishna saw His devotees and cows in such distress and full of fear, he simply lifted the whole Govardhan mountain with the little finger of his left hand as an "umbrella". For seven days little Krishna remained in this protective position and the thunderstorms of Indra lasted just as long until he finally realized his mistake and ordered the clouds back again. Afterwards the following is reported in the Shri Bhagavata Purana (10.27.1 - 2, translation into English by H.H. Bhanu Swami):

śrī-śuka uvāca
govardhane dhṛte śaile āsārād rakṣite vraje
go-lokād āvrajat kṛṣṇaṁ surabhiḥ śakra eva ca

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After Kṛṣṇa had lifted Govardhana Hill and thus protected the inhabitants of Vraja from the terrible rainfall, Surabhi, the mother of the cows, came from her planet to see Kṛṣṇa. She was accompanied by Indra.

vivikta upasaṅgamya vrīḍītaḥ kṛta-helanaḥ
pasparśa pādayor enaṁ kirīṭenārka-varcasā

Indra was very ashamed of having offended the Lord. Approaching Him in a solitary place, Indra fell down and lay his helmet, whose effulgence was as brilliant as the sun, upon the Lord's lotus feet.

Commentary by Shri Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur:

One morning Krishna went alone to see to what extent the lightning bolts of Indra had broken the back of Govardhan. This gave Indra the opportunity to meet Krishna in a solitary place (vivikta). The specific solitary place where Indra approached Shri Krishna is mentioned by the sage Vaishampayana in the Hari Vamsha (Vishnu Purana 19.3): sa dadarshopavishtam vai govardhana-shila-tale, Indra saw Krishna sitting at the base of Govardhana Hill.

Surabhi had sent Indra with a suggestion: "Go alone without your elephant carrier, and in a humble mood offer obeisances at Krishna's lotus feet to get relieve from your offense."

By His glance, Krishna said, "O king of the demigods! I see that you have unprecedented affection for Me. You have come to show mercy to Me, who have offended you by stopping your worship." Thus Indra became ashamed (vriditah).

***

King Indra then offered Shri Krishna very beautiful prayers. Then he lovingly bathed Shri Krishna in a beautiful ceremony with the milk from the Surabhi cow.

Jai Shri Govardhan!
Jai Shri Krishna!
Jai all of His devotees!