Giridhari Swami: My dear Devotees,
I want to share with you my 2017 Vyasa Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada. As I mentioned in this offering, Giriraja Govardhana gave me some special mercy with which to glorify His Divine Grace. My realization was that Srila Prabhupada’s service mirrors the service of Sri Giriraja Govardhana. I pray you will feel the same.
Hare Krishna.
The Greatest Devotee of Lord Hari
My dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my most humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
In late February I had the great privilege of residing in Vraja, near Govardhana, for just under two weeks. Govardhana’s powerful and sweet spiritual atmosphere supported deeper hearing and chanting, association with dear godbrothers, and deeper meditation on you and my service to you.
One morning while on Govardhana parikrama, I recalled a verse very dear to your heart:
hantayam adrir abala hari-dasa-varyo
yad rama-krsna-carana-sparasa-pramodah
manam tanoti saha-go-ganayos tayor yat
paniya-suyavasa-kandara-kandamulaih
“Of all the devotees, this Govardhana Hill is the best! O my friends, this hill supplies Krsna and Balarama, along with Their calves, cows, and cowherd friends, with all kinds of necessities—water for drinking, very soft grass, caves, fruits, flowers, and vegetables. In this way, the hill offers respects to the Lord. Being touched by the lotus feet of Krsna and Balarama, Govardhana Hill appears very jubilant.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.21.18)
Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami reveals that this verse was spoken by Srimati Radharani Herself – a very significant fact, considering that She is Krsna’s feminine counterpart, His own pleasure potency (hladini-sakti). Indeed, Her love for Krsna is so great that even Krsna Himself cannot fully comprehend it. Therefore He comes as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu just to understand the depth of Radharani’s love for Him. Still, She says that Govardhana is hari-dasa-varya, the greatest devotee of Lord Hari.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains in detail what makes Govardhana the greatest of all servants. He says that Govardhana’s hard rocks become as soft as warm putty to cushion Lord Krsna’s lotus feet and to preserve their auspicious impressions. Feeling the touch of the Lord’s lotus feet, Govardhana displays symptoms of ecstasy. He perspires in the form of melting stones, his hairs stand on end as erect grass and creepers, and tears flow from His eyes as gushing waterfalls. Govardhana’s waterfalls offer cool, fragrant water for Krsna and Balarama to drink and use for washing Their feet and mouths. The Hill provides liquid refreshments such as honey, mango juice, and pilu juice to quench Their thirst; abundant durva grass for making ritualistic hand wash (arghya); soft and delicious grasses to nourish the cows and enable them to produce abundant sweet milk; many caves to provide ideal places for Krsna and His associates to stay, no matter how hot, cold, or wet the weather may be; soft edible roots; jewels to decorate the body; flat rocks for sitting; and mirrors in the form of highly polished stones. Thus Govardhana is a completely selfless servant, one who only gives and never takes. He has only Krsna’s interest in mind – never His own.
As my parikrama and meditation on this verse continued, a very strong realization came to me. Like Sri Govardhana, Srila Prabhupada, you too were a completely selfless servant. That’s what made you extraordinary. You accepted all challenges and austerities to fulfill the instructions of your spiritual master. From beginning to end, your journey was never easy. But you overcame obstacle after obstacle to establish your spiritual master’s mission.
Your teachings, whether in the form of your books, letters, recorded words, or actions, melted your followers’ stonelike hearts, which were filled with impersonalism and voidism, and made their softened hearts into a cushioned place upon which Krsna could rest His tender lotus feet, just as Sri Govardhana did with His puttylike stones.
It is absolutely essential that we, your faithful followers, study your books daily so that the purification process continues uninterrupted. If we fail to do this, the dust of impure desires will accumulate and again encase our hearts in stone.
As Krsna did with Sri Govardhana, He also touched you with His lotus feet – and you savored that ecstasy. As a true Vaisnava acarya, you generally kept that ecstasy to yourself. But sometimes it just could not be contained. On numerous occasions, as you called out the name of your Lord, your external senses became inert, your hairs stood on end, and tears filled your eyes. Krsna answered your call. Saturated with such love for Krsna, you were able to uplift the most fallen and also give them a small taste of that love.
It is absolutely essential as well that we, your faithful followers, connect others with you and your teachings so that they too can experience the sweet taste of pure devotional service.
Like Sri Govardhana, you offered Krsna and Balarama cool fragrant water from the waterfall of your devotion. And you continue to do so as you worship Their Lordships in the form of the many Deities you established around the world. Daily They receive not only honey, mango juice, and pilu juice to quench Their thirst but also six offerings of opulent foods cooked with loving devotion, all for Their Lordships pleasure and satisfaction. Beyond delicious food offerings, you also arranged for Them to be massaged with fragrant oils and pastes just prior to Their morning bath, dressing, and arati. Finally, you had Them serenaded with the sweet chanting of the holy name throughout the day.
It is absolutely essential that we, your faithful followers, maintain the standard of Deity worship you established, for our own purification and to attract the hearts and minds of the conditioned souls burning in the desert of material existence.
Like Sri Govardhana, you offered sweet, succulent grasses to nourish the cows and enable them to produce abundant milk. This you did by establishing sustainable rural communities as part of your varsnarama blueprint to re-spiritualize materialistic society.
Again, it is absolutely essential that we, your faithful followers, follow your instructions to establish varsnarama through these rural communities. The world needs to see working models of a sane, sustainable way of life, with cow protection and livelihoods that work in harmony with nature rather than against her.
Like Sri Govardhana, you offered the caves of your many temples to shelter the Lord and His devotees. These temples are like oases in the midst of Kali’s desert that provide opulent halls for holding public kirtanas, discourses, and honoring succulent prasadam. Neither the fire of passion nor the frigid cold of ignorance can penetrate these sanctuaries, provided we remain sincere sadhakas and preachers.
It is also absolutely essential that we, your faithful followers, maintain your temples for the exact purpose for which you established them—to practice, taste, and distribute Krsna consciousness. If we follow your instructions to practice serious sadhana, we will certainly relish the taste of devotional service, and that taste will create a burning desire within us to distribute Krsna consciousness to others.
Like Sri Govardhana, who offers abundant durva grass used for making religious offerings of arghya, you offered your books as the main instruments for pushing forward Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana movement. Today, throughout the world, many dedicated sankirtana men and women are dancing to the beat of your brhat-mrdanga; and by their tireless efforts millions are being introduced to Krsna consciousness through your books.
It is absolutely essential that we, your faithful followers, continue flooding the world with the books you labored so hard to write and publish, for only the brilliant light of your books will dissipate the thick darkness of Kali-yuga’s ignorance.
Like Sri Govardhana, who sheltered the vraja-vasis from the torrential rains and thunderbolts of Lord Indra’s wrath, you established ISKCON to shelter the world’s devotees from the horrors of Kali. And much like Sri Krsna, who proclaimed that He and Govardhana are one, you declared that ISKCON is your transcendental body and thus nondifferent from you.
Sri Prabhupada, it is absolutely essential that we, your faithful followers, at least maintain but better expand your glorious ISKCON. If we don’t expand your Society around the world, what hope is there for mankind? You once told us, “The Krsna consciousness movement will go down in history as having saved mankind in its darkest hour.” (Conversation, London, 1973)
On this auspicious day of your Vyasa-puja, we fervently pray to you for guidance, purity, protection, and empowerment so that we may assist you in making this prophecy of yours come true. We beg that just as Sri Govardhana offered His full blessings and mercy to the inhabitants of Vraja, you will bestow your full blessings and mercy upon us, your faithful followers.
Begging to remain your humble servant,
Giridhari Swami