“Bring your faith and your devotion. That will be your two shoes to walk on.” – Sri Swami Vishwananda
Parikrama:
Day 3 was an early start. After a quick breakfast we made
our way to Govardhan Hill which is located about 45 minutes from Vrindavan to
do a parikrama around the hill.
Parikrama means "the path surrounding something"
in Sanskrit. It is a circumambulation around a certain object. The word
parikrama is mostly used in the context of religious deities in a temple,
sacred rivers, and sacred hills. Performing a parikrama as a symbol of prayer
is an integral part of Hindu worship.
Govardhan Parikrama (going 21 kilometres
around the hill) is a sacred ritual performed by many believers for spiritual
purification. The walk is done without shoes. The quote at the beginning of
the blog was the answer given by Swami about wearing shoes on the parikrama.
Story of Govardhan
Hill:
According to the Srimad Bhagavatam, when Krishna was seven years old he
saw the people making preparations for a yagna to Indra. On seeing this Shri
Krishna advised the villagers not to do the yagna but rather a puja to Shri
Girirajji (Govardhan hill) who not only protected them, but also gave their
cattle grass and pure water for everyone to drink, and also small caves in which
they could relax.
This made Indra very angry and he decided to punish the
people for listening to a child (Lord Krishna) and not him. Suddenly it started
raining very heavily in Vrindavan and the rain and storm accompanying it were
so strong that the people started trembling with fear and they approached
Krishna to protect them.
Krishna went to Govardhan and lifted it with His little
finger in such a way that it formed a huge umbrella around the people. The rain
continued for 7 days non-stop and Krishna used Govardhan for 7 days to protect
the people. On seeing this Indra realised that this little child is no ordinary
child but is an incarnation of the Lord. Indra accepted defeat and approached
Krishna to seek His shelter. Since then Krishna was named Giridhari (bearer of
Govardhan hill) and worship of Govardhan hill started instead of Indra in the
entire region.
The parikrama started with Swamiji doing puja in front of
Govardhan hill before the walk. It was very calm and serene. Swami and the rest
of the group had our mala bags and we were doing japa throughout the walk. By
Swami’s grace everyone was able to manage the walk without problems and rather
than completing the entire parikirma we decided to go to Radha Kund and finish
our journey there.
Radha Kund:
It is said that when Krishna slayed a demon in the form of a
bull, Radha “worried” about the karma associated with killing the animal, which is normally very sacred to Hindus, so She asked Krishna to
wash His sins by taking dips in various holy rivers. Krishna being amused by
Radha’s naivety simply struck the ground with His foot whereupon a mighty river
came gushing out and formed into a kund (a small water body). In this place
Krishna took a dip to please Radha.
Radha in her child-like attitude became mad that Krishna used His powers to perform such an act and decided that Her and Her attendants
would dig out a kund with their bare hands and bangles. Once the kund was
created they filled it with the holy rivers around the area. The kund is known
today has "Radha Kund" where people come from all over to take a dip.
After Radha Kund was filled with holy water, Krishna told
Radha that He would bathe daily in Her kund.
He declared that Radha Kund is as dear to Him as Radha Herself and
anyone who bathes in it will receive Her love. Radha Kund is the personified Love
of Srimati Radharani.
Conclusion:
After a long day’s walk around Govardhan Hill we ended the
day by venerating Radha Kund, singing kirtan and doing puja to Giridhari.