Govardhana-dharam vande gopalam Gopa rupinam

gokulotsavam-isanam govindam gopika priyam

 

I worship the lifter of Goverdhan, who is the maintainer and protector of the cows, Goal, who has the form of a cowherd boy. He is the festival of Gokula, the Supreme Controller of all, He is Govinda and the beloved of the gopis.

 

Garga Samhita first gives a description of how Krishna manifested Goloka in the spiritual world. After he manifested the entire Goloka, casting Her sidelong glance, Srimati Radharani made a request to Krishna, who is more charming than many millions of Kamadevas and who generously gives the sweetest nectar. She spoke to Him the following words, “O Lord of the worlds, if You are pleased with My love in this rasa dance, then there is a desire in my heart I would like to place before You.”

 

Krishna fondly replied, “You may ask for whatever your heart desires. O beloved I will lovingly give you whatever you wish, if I have not already given it.”

 

Saying “So be it”, the Lord meditated. With his lotus eyes He looked inside His heart. As the goips watched Krishna’s love, in a form of fire and water, came from His heart as a sprout comes up from the ground. Falling onto the ground of the rasa dance circle, that love grew into a great mountain filled with many caves and swiftly moving streams, beautiful with kadamba, Bakula, and Ashoka trees and a great network of flowering vines, opulent with mandala and kunda flowers and filled with graceful birds. In a single moment that mountain became eight hundred thousand miles wide and eight billion miles long. It was like another Ananta Sea. It was four billion miles tall. It was like a gigantic elephant.

 

Some called this mountain Goverdhan and others called it Satasrnga (a hundred peaks). The mountain expanded as much as its heart wished. As the mountain expanded, Goloka became filled with fear and there was a great uproar. Lord Krishna at once stood up and slapped the mountain with His hand. He chastised, “Why do you expand so much? You have covered the entire realm! Why do you not stop at once?” In this way he stopped the mountain from growing any further.

 

Gazing at this best of mountains, Lord Krishna’s beloved Radha was very pleased. She enjoyed pastimes with Krishna in a secluded place on that mountain. In this way, Goverdhan Hill, which is the best of mountains, which is dear to the Lord, which is as dark as a monsoon cloud, and which contains within itself all holy places, was manifested by Lord Krishna. This is the most ancient history of Goloka. When one hears it, all his sins are destroyed.

 

Garga Samhita also tells the story of the appearance of Goverdhan in the material world. At the end of the Dvapara Yuga, it was time for Shri Krishna to descend on the earth planet and perform his pastimes. Shri Krishna asked Sri Radha to accompany him to Earth. Sri Radha replied,

 

Yatra vrindavanam nasti

Na yatra yamnuna nadi

Yatra goverdhano nasti

Tatra me na manah sukham

 

“My heart cannot be happy in a place where there is no Vrindava forest, no Yamuna River, and no Goverdhan Hill.”

 

Sri Krishna immediately sent a portion of His Goloka to Earth, along with Yamuna and Goverdhan.