{"id":175,"date":"2008-07-31T20:36:16","date_gmt":"2008-07-31T20:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2013-10-08T20:38:20","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T20:38:20","slug":"govardhana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/govardhana\/","title":{"rendered":"Govardhana"},"content":{"rendered":"

=== Govardhan – July 31, 2008 ====<\/span><\/p>\n

Today was my next to the last day in Govardhan. As I was looking at my Silas
\ntoday I felt the intense desire to get more and more Silas, because each one
\nexpresses a different mood of Govardhan. Of course I restrained myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually I would like to take the whole hill back with me! That can be done
\npractically if I enter into the proper mood of service. Govardhan is also
\nknown as the servant of Krishna in addition to being Krishna! So, if I can
\nlearn to always be engaged in serving the servants of Krishna, I will never
\nbe separated from Govardhan.<\/span><\/p>\n

This serving the servants has to be done internally as well as externally.
\nIt is not simply some ritual but rather a consciousness than accompanies the
\nexternal action. Then the internal absorption will get deeper and deeper and
\ndeeper.<\/span><\/p>\n

This morning after taking care of Govardhan where I am staying (by the mercy
\nof Padma), I decided to walk to the place of the Ratna Simhasana (jeweled
\nthrone), which is a wonderful quiet place in the midst of Govardhan
\n(Govardhan is mostly underground at this point). It is a place for
\nmeditation on the Divine Couple.
\nWhen doing my visits to these places, I make it a point to give charity to
\nthe Vaisnavas who are lining the path. One may see these Vaisnavas with
\nmaterialistic vision and hence be unable to enter into the spirit of the
\ndhama. These are all Krishna’s dear devotees, many of whom are executing
\nsevere austerities to please the Radha and Krishna. I feel that if I can get
\ntheir mercy, then my heart will soon be awakened to Krishna consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking to the Ratna Simhasana area from where I am means to go in the
\nopposite direction from the normal pilgrims (I finished my parikrama
\nyesterday), passing through the town of Govardhan with all of its shops and
\nmyriad sounds and sights. Most pilgrims do not know of this place in the
\nmidst of Govardhan.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is so isolated that during the rainy hot season (which it is now) one has
\nto pick their way through thorns, and avoid stepping in puddles and of
\ncourse avoid stepping in any of the mounds of manure! It is on a dirt road
\nthat is some distance from the main pilgrimage site.<\/span><\/p>\n

This road was covered with ants who are also devotees of the Lord. So, I
\nremembered the pastimes of Mrgrari the hunter as he hopped and skipped in
\norder to greet his guru Narada because he wanted to avoid stepping on the
\nants. I hopped and skipped too and begged Krishna to forgive me for
\ninadvertently causing pain to some of His dear devotees.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my heart I felt great love for these ants and felt that they were
\nextremely fortunate having been born in the dust of the holiest of the
\ndhams. They were rolling in the same dust that Krishna and His associates
\nwalked through. They are certainly heading for the spiritual world.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was in for a further surprise as I came close to the entrance to the
\ntemple at the Ratna Simhasana. A few meters before the entrance was a stone
\nwith Krishna’s footprint and the footprint of a calf. I had seen this many
\ntimes before, but this time Krishna’s footprint was filled with maggots! At
\nfirst I was shocked and disgusted by this, then I felt great happiness for
\nthe maggots that had taken shelter for the night (it was early morning) in
\nKrishna’s foot print. Wow! I wish that I could sleep in Krishna’s footprint!<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to enter the Ratna Simhasana area I had to pick the lock on the
\ngate. In India this is not a big problem. This gives the idea of how
\nisolated this wonderful place is. Upon entering I went immediately to the
\nRasa mandala and offered obeisances. When one sees a Rasa mandala it
\nindicates a place where Radha and Krishna performed Their pastimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I went to the location where Govardhan was just coming out of the
\nground and offered my respects to Him embracing Him (of course not allowing
\nmy feet to touch Him). I was so grateful to get these few moments of quality
\nassociation in this secluded place.<\/span><\/p>\n

I then headed back through the town of Govardhan chanting my rounds loudly.
\nWhen I first came here I was in the habit (due to living in the west and
\ngoing on japa walks where there are many people who don’t understand about
\nKrishna consciousness) of chanting softly when I went on japa walks. Now I
\nwas able to chant with abandon! And people responded with smiles as they
\nheard my chanting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in the house I prepared breakfast for Radha Giridhari, took their
\nremnants, rested a bit and then answered some emails.<\/span><\/p>\n

One may question as to why I did not take a break from emails. My answer is
\nthat my exchanging emails is part of my service to Govardhan, just as
\nwriting this blog is. I am helping many people worldwide come closer to
\nKrishna. I look at the emails as Vaisnava seva and therefore I don’t want or
\nneed a break. It is wonderful to associate with Vaisnavas around the world
\nin a service mood.<\/span><\/p>\n

I even had to make some phone calls to different Vaisnava’s in Fiji and
\nAustralia today. I was so happy that Govardhan was giving me the opportunity
\nto serve Him by serving His devotees.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of our service should be approached like this in a joyous mood. If we
\nfeel we need a break from our service, we should seriously contemplate our
\ninternal mood. Maybe some change is needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the correspondence, I delved into the Sri Caitanya Siksamrta by
\nBhaktivinode Thakura. I am preparing a course on this literature, so I am
\nengaged in studying and outlining it. It is such an inspiring literature
\nthat describes all the aspects of Krishna consciousness in a very practical
\nway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I am preparing dinner for Radha Giridhari. After that I will study the
\nVraja Mandal parikrama so that in the future I can lead devotees around the
\nVraja area. Then before sleeping I read the Caitanya Bhagavat. Krishna is
\nvery kind to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

================================================<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

=== Govardhan – July 31, 2008 ==== Today was my next to the last day in Govardhan. As I was looking at my Silas today I felt the intense desire to get more and more Silas, because each one expresses a different mood of Govardhan. Of course I restrained myself. Actually I would like to read more>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[6,3082,52,47,36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11942,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/11942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}