S'rî
S'uka said:
'The Supreme Lord staying in that very place [of Vraja]
accompanied by Baladeva also, saw how the gopas were
very busy arranging for a sacrifice to Indra.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: While staying in that very place
with His brother Baladeva, Lord Krishna happened to see the
cowherd men busily arranging for a sacrifice to Indra.
(Vedabase)
Text
2
Even
though the Supreme Lord, the Soul of All Seeing All, knew what
that meant [see
B.G.
9: 23],
bowed He down humbly and inquired He with the elders lead by
Nanda [His stepfather]:
Being
the omniscient Supersoul, the Supreme Lord Krishna already
understood the situation, yet He still humbly inquired from
the elders, headed by His father, Nanda
Mahârâja. (Vedabase)
Text
3
'Tell
Me, dear father, what all this fuss is you're put up with, were
does it lead to, for whom is it done and by what means is this
sacrifice to be accomplished?
[Lord
Krishna said:] My dear father, kindly explain to Me what
this great endeavor of yours is all about. What is it meant
to accomplish? If this is a ritual sacrifice, then for whose
satisfaction is it intended and by what means is it going to
be executed? (Vedabase)
Text
4
Please
tell Me about it, I have this great desire to hear that from
you o father; surely can the activities found here of the
saintly equal to all - equal in what is theirs or of others or
who is a friend and enemy or neutral - not be something to be
secretive about, is it?
Please
tell Me about it, O father. I have a great desire to know
and am ready to hear in good faith. Certainly, no secrets
are to be kept by saintly personalities, who see all others
as equal to themselves, who have no conception of "mine" or
"another's" and who do not consider who is a friend, who is
an enemy and who is neutral. (Vedabase)
Text
5
An
indifferent person is just like an enemy to be avoided while an
ally is to be treated like one's own self so they
say.
One
who is neutral may be avoided like an enemy, but a friend
should be considered like one's own self. (Vedabase)
Text
6
People
perform these activities very well knowing what they do, but
also when they have no clue; for those who in wisdom know what
they do can the perfection be found with the labor one
performs, but for the foolish without any notion is that
perfection not in view.
When
people in this world perform activities, sometimes they
understand what they are doing and sometimes they don't.
Those who know what they are doing achieve success in their
work, whereas ignorant people do not. (Vedabase)
Text
7
That being so,
I ask you, whether this conjoint action of yours is something
that is prescribed [in the scriptures] or just a
custom; that you should explain clearly to Me.'
Such
being the case, this ritualistic endeavor of yours should be
clearly explained to Me. Is it a ceremony based on
scriptural injunction, or simply a custom of ordinary
society? (Vedabase)
Text
8
S'rî
Nanda said: 'The rain its great lord is Indra, the clouds are
his personal representatives, they provide the rain for all
living beings which, just like milk, is the gratifying
life-force.
Nanda
Mahârâja replied: The great Lord Indra is the
controller of the rain. The clouds are his personal
representatives, and they directly provide rainwater, which
gives happiness and sustenance to all creatures.
(Vedabase)
Text
9
For
his liquid discharged do we and other people too with various
items and fire sacrifices worship him, that master controller
of the clouds, my dear son.
Not
only we, my dear son, but also many other men worship him,
the lord and master of the rain-giving clouds. We offer him
grain and other paraphernalia of worship produced through
his own discharge in the form of rain. (Vedabase)
Text
10
With
the remnants of that sacrificing people sustain their lives the
threefold way [religiously, economically and
sensually]; he is the superhuman being bringing the fruits
to those who in their human actions are after
results.
By
accepting the remnants of sacrifices performed to Indra,
people sustain their lives and accomplish the threefold aims
of religiosity, economic development and sense
gratification. Thus Lord Indra is the agent responsible for
the fruitive success of industrious people.
(Vedabase)
Text
11
Anyone
who rejects this religious duty that was handed down by
tradition is a person who because of lust, enmity, fear and
greed for certain cannot achieve the splendor [of God, see
B.G.
10: 36].'
This
religious principle is based on sound tradition. Anyone who
rejects it out of lust, enmity, fear or greed will certainly
fail to achieve good fortune. (Vedabase)
Text
12
S'rî
S'uka said: 'Hearing Nanda's words and also what the other
residents of Vraja said, spoke Lord Kes'ava to His father in a
way that made lord Indra angry.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: When Lord Kes'ava
[Krishna] heard the statements of His father, Nanda,
and other senior residents of Vraja, He addressed His father
as follows, to arouse anger in Lord Indra. (Vedabase)
Text
13
The Supreme
Lord said: 'It is of karma that a living entity takes birth, it
is by karma alone that he meets with destruction; happiness or
unhappiness, security and fear are all the result of
karma.
Lord
Krishna said: It is by the force of karma that a living
entity takes birth, and it is by karma alone that he meets
his destruction. His happiness, distress, fear and sense of
security all arise as the effects of karma.
(Vedabase)
Text
14
If there is
some controller who awards with the results of the labor
performed by others, does that ruler still depend on someone
who [out of his karma] performs that sacrifice; after
all is there no question of being the master if there is no one
who performs productive labor!
Even
if there is some supreme controller who awards all others
the results of their activities, He must also depend upon a
performer's engaging in activity. After all, there is no
question of being the bestower of fruitive results unless
fruitive activities have actually been performed.
(Vedabase)
Text
15
So what do
living beings, who each follow the path of their own karma,
have to do with Indra who himself cannot make any difference in
what for people according their natures is
ordained?
Living
beings in this world are forced to experience the
consequences of their own particular previous work. Since
Lord Indra cannot in any way change the destiny of human
beings, which is born of their own nature, why should people
worship him? (Vedabase)
Text
16
A person indeed
is under the control of his own nature - his nature he follows;
this entire world with its gods, demons and common men exists
on the basis of each his own nature.
Every
individual is under the control of his own conditioned
nature, and thus he must follow that nature. This entire
universe, with all its demigods, demons and human beings, is
based on the conditioned nature of the living entities.
(Vedabase)
Text
17
The
higher and lower evolved bodies that the living beings obtain
and give up as a consequence of their actions, prove their
karma to be their enemy, friend or impartial judge; that karma
alone is their controller, their guru [see also B.G.
8:
15 & 16,
4.29:
26-27 and
7.7:
46-47].
Because
it is karma that causes the conditioned living entity to
accept and then give up different high-and low-grade
material bodies, this karma is his enemy, friend and neutral
witness, his spiritual master and controlling lord.
(Vedabase)
Text
18
Therefore
should one, in keeping to one's duties performing effortlessly,
exercise respect for the karma of one's own nature [see
varnâs'rama];
by that karma one lives, it is that karma no doubt that is
someone's worshipable deity.
Therefore
one should seriously worship work itself. A person should
remain in the position corresponding to his nature and
should perform his own duty. Indeed, that by which we may
live nicely is really our worshipable deity.
(Vedabase)
Text
19
Like an
unfaithful woman with her lover, does one not gain any real
benefit resorting to another entity but the entity [the
worshipable deity] one derives one's life
from.
If
one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take
shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real
benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never
achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour.
(Vedabase)
Text
20
The learned
live by the Vedas, the ruling class by protecting the earth,
the vaishyas live on trade and the s'ûdras
on serving the twice-born [the former three, see also
7.11:
21-24].
The
brâhmana maintains his life by studying and
teaching the Vedas, the member of the royal order by
protecting the earth, the vais'ya by trade, and the
s'ûdra by serving the higher, twice-born
classes. (Vedabase)
Text
21
Farming,
trading, cow-protection and the fourth of banking is said to be
the fourfold occupational duty [of the vaishya];
among these is the one we are engaged in the constant care for
the cows.
The
occupational duties of the vais'ya are conceived in four
divisions: farming, commerce, cow protection and
moneylending. Out of these, we as a community are always
engaged in cow protection. (Vedabase)
Text
22
Of the
goodness, passion and ignorance as caused by maintenance,
creation and destruction [see guna]
was by the mode of passion [the moving around] this
universe generated and is there from the dyadic the world its
variety.
The
causes of creation, maintenance and destruction are the
three modes of nature - namely goodness, passion and
ignorance. In particular, the mode of passion creates this
universe and through sexual combination causes it to become
full of variety. (Vedabase)
Text
23
The clouds
impelled by that passion pour down their water everywhere and
by that water they simply maintain the population, so what
would Indra then do?
Impelled
by the material mode of passion, the clouds pour down their
rain everywhere, and by this rain all creatures gain their
sustenance. What has the great Indra to do with this
arrangement? (Vedabase)
Text
24
The cities, the
cultured lands and the villages are not the places where we are
at home, we are the forest people dear father, we always live
in the forests and on the hills.
My
dear father, our home is not in the cities or towns or
villages. Being forest dwellers, we always live in the
forest and on the hills. (Vedabase)
Text
25
Let's therefore
make a start with a sacrifice for the cows, the brahmins and
the hill [Govardhana], and may this be carried out with
the ingredients for Indra's sacrifice! [see also footnote
10.8*3]
Therefore
may a sacrifice for the pleasure of the cows, the
brâhmanas and Govardhana Hill begin! With all the
paraphernalia collected for worshiping Indra, let this
sacrifice be performed instead. (Vedabase)
Text
26
Let's cook all
sorts of preparations and soups, beginning with sweet rice,
porridge, rolls and cakes and let's have all sorts of dairy
products.
Let
many different kinds of food be cooked, from sweet rice to
vegetable soups! Many kinds of fancy cakes, both baked and
fried, should be prepared. And all the available milk
products should be taken for this sacrifice.
(Vedabase)
Text
27
Feed the fires
properly with food well prepared by the brahmins versed in the
Vedas; them you should reward with cows.
The
brâhmanas who are learned in the Vedic mantras must
properly invoke the sacrificial fires. Then you should feed
the priests with nicely prepared food and reward them with
cows and other gifts. (Vedabase)
Text
28
As it is proper
in respect of each should also be thought of dogs and outcasts
and other fallen souls, grass must be given to the cows and the
mountain should be presented offerings.
After
giving the appropriate food to everyone else, including such
fallen souls as dogs and dog-eaters, you should give grass
to the cows and then present your respectful offerings to
Govardhana Hill. (Vedabase)
Text
29
Nicely adorned
having eaten our fill should with us in our best clothes and
smeared with sandalwood pulp the cows, the brahmins, the fires
and the hill [always kept to the right] be
circumambulated.
After
everyone has eaten to his satisfaction, you should all dress
and decorate yourselves handsomely, smear your bodies with
sandalwood paste and then circumambulate the cows, the
brâhmanas, the sacrificial fires and Govardhana Hill.
(Vedabase)
Text
30
This is what I
think o father, may that be done if you please, because doing
this for the cows, the brahmins and the hill is a festival also
to My liking.'
This
is My idea, O father, and you may carry it out if it appeals
to you. Such a sacrifice will be very dear to the cows, the
brâhmanas and Govardhana Hill, and also to Me.
(Vedabase)
Text
31
S'rî
S'uka said: 'Hearing these words by the Supreme Lord, by the
Time in person, spoken with the intent to break the pride of
Indra, accepted Nanda and the elder men them as
excellent.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: Lord Krishna, who is Himself
powerful time, desired to destroy the false pride of Lord
Indra. When Nanda and the other senior men of
Vrindâvana heard S'rî Krishna's statement, they
accepted His words as proper. (Vedabase)
Text
32-33
And so they
executed all that Madusûdhana spoke of: they settled for
the successful course of reciting with the items available; the
hill, the brahmins they all together respectfully paid tribute;
the cows, bulls and calves were presented with grass and then
was the circumambulation of the hill performed.
The
cowherd community then did all that Madhusûdana had
suggested. They arranged for the brâhmanas to recite
the auspicious Vedic mantras, and using the paraphernalia
that had been intended for Indra's sacrifice, they presented
offerings to Govardhana Hill and the brâhmanas with
reverential respect. They also gave grass to the cows. Then,
placing the cows, bulls and calves in front of them, they
circumambulated Govardhana. (Vedabase)
Text
34
The cowherd
women nicely ornamented riding wagons yoked with oxen sang,
together with the twice-born chanting their benedictions, the
glories of S'rî Krishna.
As
the beautifully ornamented cowherd ladies followed along,
riding on wagons drawn by oxen, they sang the glories of
Lord Krishna, and their songs mingled with the
brâhmanas' chanting of benedictions.
(Vedabase)
Text
35
Then, to
instill faith in the gopas, assumed Krishna another form
saying 'I am the hill' and devoured He the abundance of
offerings with the immensity of His body [see
vapu
and footnote*].
Krishna
then assumed an unprecedented, huge form to instill faith in
the cowherd men. Declaring "I am Govardhana Mountain!" He
ate the abundant offerings. (Vedabase)
Text
36
Unto Him
together with the people of Vraja brought He by Himself to
Himself His obeisances: 'Oh, just see, how this hill manifest
in person has bestowed upon us the mercy!'
Together
with the people of Vraja, the Lord bowed down to this form
of Govardhana Hill, thus in effect offering obeisances to
Himself. Then He said, "Just see how this hill has appeared
in person and bestowed mercy upon us! (Vedabase)
*
S'rîla Prabhupâda writes to this (Krishnabook
ch. 24):
"The identity of Krishna and Govardhana Hill is still honored,
and great devotees take rocks from Govardhana Hill and worship
them exactly as they worship the Deity of Krishna in the
temples. Devotees therefore collect small rocks or pebbles from
Govardhana Hill and worship them at home, because this worship
is as good as Deity worship."