Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 10.16.39-40, 10.16.44-45.

These Nagpatnis are praying:-

“Namas tubhyam bhagavate
purushaya mahatmane
bhutavasaya bhutaya
paraya paramatmane

Gyan-vigyan-nidhaye
brahmane ananta-shaktaye
agunayavikaraya
namaste prakritaya cha

namah pramana-mulaya
kavaye shastra-yonaye
pravrittaya nivrittaya
nigamaya namo namah

namah krishnnaya ramaya
vasudeva-sutaya cha
pradyumnayaniruddhaya
satvatam pataye namah”

Like that they keep praying beautiful meaningful prayers, appropriate, befitting prayers they offer, I just said few, they are many more, again homework for you and they said towards the end of those prayers “apradhah,” certainly are husband has committed big big offense but you are “bharta,” you are the master, creator, you are purusa, we are your prakriti, my dear Lord, please tolerate and forgive this “mudha” (laughs), addressing the husband, he is mudha, you know he is mudha, that’s what he is , he has no brain, he is first class fool and he has committed this aparadha, but “anugrahi,” “anugrahnisva” please benedict him and he is about to lose his life, my dear Lord but being the wives, we are only begging Oh! Lord “sadhu sochanam,” have pity, pity upon us, our only request is:

“patih pranah pradiyatam.”

Please keep our husband alive, he is about to lose his prana, keep him alive.

“vidhehi kinkarinam”

We are your kinkari, we are your servants, please order us, we are ready to render service and please make us free from all anxieties.

“sarvato bhayat muchyate”

And Viswanath Chakrawarti Thakur comments that as Krishna heard these prayers, Krishna jumped, He was on the top of the hill, He came down, He was in front of Kaliya and the Nagapatnis. That means He released that Kaliya.

“pratilabdhendriya-pranah”

gave his life back or gave him strength, “shanakair harim krichrat,”and gradually he was getting his strength back and “dinah,” poor Kaliya was struggling, doing proper breathing, so gradually, gradually, he attained normal state and he has his hands folded(laughs). I don’t know what kind of hands he had? But this is:

“kritanjalih,” “kritanjalih”

Hands folded and he is also offering prayers, begging for pardon and Kaliya uvacha, Kaliya speaks yes, yes, my dear Lord, we are, you know, this is what we are, serpent species, we are always envious, we are always angry, this is our svabhava, I wish to become free from this anger but this kind of moha, this kind of conditioning is not very katham, how to get rid of this illusion and bondage and this kind of conditioning, anger, envy? We don’t know but:

“bhavam he karnanam tatra sarvagyo jagdishwara”

But you are cause of all causes, if you wish to make me free from all this lower natures, Lord, you are free
“anugraham nigrahamva,” either favour me, love me or leave me. “Anugraham nigrahamva,” anugraha, you may favour me, nigraha punish me, “manyase tat vidhi” whatever, whatever, whatever you do, “yada ecchasi tatha kuru” you do as you wish, so with this words he is fully surrendered unto the Lord:

“iti aakarnaya vacha”

Sukhdev uvacha. Sukhadev Goswami says by hearing these words He had heard the Nagapatnis, the wives of Kaliya, the Lord has just now heard Kaliya also.

Lord said: “natra stheyam tvaya sarpa samudram yahi ma chiram”

You don’t stay here, go to the ocean, “go nrabhir bhujyatam nadi.”

“I want water of this Yamuna river for my cows and my friends Braja vasis. That’s brief. Lord’s response was very brief but very clear, firm and Sukhdev Goswami is making few comments here, anyone who listens to this pastime of Krishna subduing Kaliya, one benefit, are you scared of snakes? Some of you. You will not be, fear of snakes will not brother you any more. Haribol! You may have to read this pastimes few more times, (laughter) so that’s one, other benediction is any one who takes bath in that lake, it is no more poisonous lake, you don’t have to worry and he does fasting and takes bath, where Krishna says “mad-krida” Lord’s krida had been performed and remembers this pastime:

“smarann sarva-papaih pramuchyate”

He becomes free from all the reactions of the sin, remembering this pastime, fasting, taking bath in that Kaliya, great Kaliya lake and Krishna said to Kaliya, yes, I know you had left that “ramnika dvipa” because you were afraid of Garuda but now your head has been marked with my lotus feet, so wherever you go you are safe, Garud will not bother you, the reason, its another very mysterious history why Kaliya chose to be in that particular lake? And why he had come to Vrindavan side? So Krishna knew all this, now you don’t have to worry. There is a trade mark on your head, my lotus feet and you are safe.

“evam mukto bhagavata
krishnenadbhuta-karmana
tam pujayam asa muda
naga-patnyas cha sadaram”

Then the whole family got together, headed by Kaliya, the wives and the children and they begin worshipping the Lord, “jai jagadish hare.” (laughter)

“pujayitva jagan-natha
prasadya garuda-dhvajam”

They are praying Jaganatha, puja and they are giving gifts.

“divyambara-sran-manibhih”

Different garments, jewels, specially snakes have jewels on their hoods, they are supposed to be very very valuable, hard to get there, we can’t reach, we can’t slap a snake and snatch them. Its not that easy but so their “abhushanayi,” so many other ornaments, they are offering to Krishna and finally the family did parikrama around Krishna and they left for the ocean as they were instructed.

“tadaiva samrita-jala
yamuna nirvisha abhavat”

At that moment, immediately as Krishna had also touched, done some swimming there, Yamuna jala became no more poison, became nectarian.

“anugrahad bhagavatah
krida-manusha-rupinah”

And this was benediction of Bhagvataha, of Supreme Personality of Godhead who was playing role of some kind of manushah, human like form but He is original Supreme Personality of Godhead and with that Sukhadev Goswami ends that chapter.

Nitai Guar Premanande Hari Hari bol!

em

Krishna lifted Govardhan hill for seven days and seven nights, this is very very pleasing pastime to the residents of Vrindavan because this is one time, that they had opportunity to be with Krishna day and night, for seven days and seven nights. This is very rare. Normally, only for few hours, you get to be with Krishna and Krishna gets up and He is with his parents, Nanda, Yashoda and Rohini, only for few hours. He gets up, bathing, dressing and breakfast and He goes and then He is with the cowherd boys and the cows for few hours, then He kind of takes off. He goes to Radhakund to be with the Gopis.

Is Radhakund here? Probably you noticed. No, Radhakund can’t be in the middle, that’s not Radhakund, there should be Mansi Ganga in the middle. Radhakund and Shyamkund are like eyes of the peacock, Govardhan hill is in the shape of a peacock and this Shyamkund and Radhakund are eyes of the peacock and there is also tongue, Goswamis (continuous sounds of peacocks in the background, Maharaj says ok, bas-bas). (laughter) Too many peacocks.

They did not want to use, the Goswamis residing on the banks of Radhakund, Shyamkund they didn’t want to use the water of these kunds for washing their bodies or specially they had to go, they would go to take care of their bodies in the morning, so they didn’t want to carry that, so they had idea of digging well near Shyamkund and Radhakund and as they started digging, there was bleeding and then they realized that was the tongue of Giriraj, so the tongue and then eyes and as we start parikrama from Radhakund, Shyamkund, you begin to wonder where is Giriraj, you didn’t se him because the neck of the peacock, you know how it is goes than comes up again, it goes down and comes up again, so for miles you don’t see Giriraj, so he is underneath. Then after Kusum Sarovar, you begin to see Govardhan hill, goes higher and higher, the highest point is 88 feet tall and then there is the tail of Giriraj and there is one Baba there which is one of the cowherd boys, a friend of Krishna called Lotta Baba, so those who do parikrama, so those who do parikrama, this Lotta Baba takes note and then informs Krishna, ok, he also was here, give him some benefits, benedictions.

So Govardhan also received curse from one Muni Pulasya, Pulasya Muni if I am remembering correctly, Pulasya Muni. So that’s another story, so because of that curse he is sinking and sinking, so you better hurry up before he sinks, you should go take darshan and do parikrama before he goes all the away underneath into the ground. It is said of course it will take some more time that the Govardhan hill is keeping check on the progress of age of Kali. So when Giriraj will be fully into the ground, fully sunk, then the kaliyuga which seems like after nine and a half thousand years’ period then Kali would really be in full blown action, already its bad, right!

Then its going to be worse, of course, next 10,000 yrs is the golden period, the holy name of the Lord will spread in every town, every village during this period and devotees will go and do parikrama of Giriraj during these next 9-10,000 yrs, ok. One point I was about to mention, I got distracted was that this lifting Govardhan hill pastime is very pleasing to residents because each party gets only some time to be with Krishna. So I was mentioning Nanda Maharaj, Yashoda in the morning, then cowherd boys, midday reserved for Gopis, some more time for the cowherd boys and the cows need also Krishna’s attention, time, and association. Then they return and again Lord is with the parents up until he goes to the bed. Everyone goes to bed and Krishna also kind of goes to bed but as everyone is fast sleep, he gets up and goes into the forest playing a flute and inviting Gopis to that particular forest to come and again the midnight is allocated for Gopis, vanvihar and jalavihar, rasakrida, these are the pastimes, every night these pastimes, then again Krishna has to rush to return to, Radharani also returns, Gopis also return, so like that, only few hours each party gets, however each parties preference is to be with Krishna 24 hours if that was possible but it doesn’t become possible because everyone wants Krishna , so this was very special time this Govardhan time, lifting of Govardhan.

All the residents, all the cowherd boys, cowherd girls, Gopis, elderly parents, Nanda, Yashoda, cows and peacocks and other animals, monkeys, everyone is there with Krishna 24 hours a day and they are all, as Krishna has lifted Govardhan hill, as the description, He lifted that with his left hand you could see left hand and not he hasn’t used the whole hand, he hasn’t used both hands, he is only using the left hand, which is suppose to be weaker than the right “baye hat ka khel,” we say “baye hat ka khel,” if you want to do something easily, then you just use your left hand but Krishna is not even using the whole hand.

Govardhan hill is not resting on the palm like that or he is not holding it on all the fingers. He has chosen the weakest of all the five fingers and that is this little finger and if you take close look at that scene, you will see that the Govardhan is only resting on the top of the nail, not even resting fully on the finger, so that is power and strength of the Lord, just on the top of the nail, not little finger, he kept holding and of course, some cowherd boys were doubting, you know, may be He is tired and we better help him out (laughter), so they held their sticks, they are also, who knows, just in case (laughter), Govardhan could be Samadhi for all of us right here, we will take (laughter). He was the one and nothing to worry and they were all just drinking the beauty of His lotus moon like face and again, although they had 7 days and 7 nights, they were not tired, they were not bored, they were even ready for another 7 days or even 21 days if possible.

But then unfortunately that time had come, the rains had stopped and so there are many pastimes, some pastimes while Krishna had kept Govardhan hill in lifted position. One brief thing that comes to my mind is Krishna was looking at Radharani while holding, at one point, he was looking at Radharani and Balaram caught him red handed (laughter) and Krishna felt embarrassed. Oh! My brother. So they are all not just standing, of course looking and enjoying the beauty but also, they were all singing and dancing and talking about the Lord. So they had a great time for 7 days and 7 nights. I hope you also had a great time tonight. Haribol. Followed by applause.

So then you could only imagine, how much greater, may be hundred thousand times greater, better time those residents of Vrindavan had with Krishna. But then again we also we also have right, we could also make a claim and Krishna is inviting us to come and join, what are you doing there in Los Angeles? Come join Me. He is awaiting our arrival and there in no, our spot is vacant infact, no one else could take that place. So Krishna is more anxious to have us than we are anxious to go there or have him. So He is doing His best. So this ISKCON, he has founded using Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad, making him nimittamataram and then Krishna is the one who is behind this Bhagvat festival and He is behind this Govardhan lila. Pastimes that we were experiencing. So he is making all the time endevour, to get us, win us over. So I am confident Krishna has dragged us little more closer, dragged us closer to Him.

So let us take those steps, doesn’t matter may be baby steps, but soon we will keep walking and running and as we take one step, Krishna takes how many steps? Ya, he is ready for 100 steps and His steps are bigger, if he wishes, he could be there, in two steps he had covered the entire universe, big steps he could take. So like that we have few more evenings with Krishna, with His pastimes means being with Him. So on behalf of Krishna we welcome you, invite you to continue to be with us and all of us together will be with Krishna.