S'rî
S'uka said:
'After having held the hill Govardhana to protect Vraja against
the rains came from the world of the cows mother Surabhi
[the celestial cow] to Krishna. And so did Lord
Indra.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: After Krishna had lifted
Govardhana Hill and thus protected the inhabitants of Vraja
from the terrible rainfall, Surabhi, the mother of the cows,
came from her planet to see Krishna. She was accompanied by
Indra. (Vedabase)
Text
2
In
a secluded place [*]
approached Indra Him ashamed of having been offensive and
touched he His feet with his helmet that shone like the
sun.
Indra
was very ashamed of having offended the Lord. Approaching
Him in a solitary place, Indra fell down and lay his helmet,
whose effulgence was as brilliant as the sun, upon the
Lord's lotus feet. (Vedabase)
Text
3
Having
heard of and having witnessed the power of this Lord Krishna,
whose immeasurable potency had put an end to his arrogance of
being the lord of the three worlds, spoke he with folded hands
as follows.
Indra
had now heard of and seen the transcendental power of
omnipotent Krishna, and his false pride in being the lord of
the three worlds was thus defeated. Holding his hands
together in supplication, he addressed the Lord as follows.
(Vedabase)
Text
4
Indra
said: 'Your majesty of transcendental goodness, being of peace
and the illumination of penance, destroyed the passion and
ignorance born from illusion; in You is this continuous stream
not present of the material qualities to which one is bound
when one is not in control.
King
Indra said: Your transcendental form, a manifestation of
pure goodness, is undisturbed by change, shining with
knowledge and devoid of passion and ignorance. In You does
not exist the mighty flow of the modes of material nature,
which is based on illusion and ignorance. (Vedabase)
Text
5
How,
o Lord, would there [in You, as I thought,
see
10.25:
3]
be the causes of being entangled - the greed and all of that -
that symptomize an ignorant person; still You are the Supreme
Lord who in defense of the dharma exercises Your authority to
chastise the wicked!
How,
then, could there exist in You the symptoms of an ignorant
person - such as greed, lust, anger and envy - which are
produced by one's previous involvement in material existence
and which cause one to become further entangled in material
existence? And yet as the Supreme Lord You impose punishment
to protect religious principles and curb down the wicked.
(Vedabase)
Text
6
The
father, the guru, You are of the entire universe, the Original
Controller and the insurmountable Time that of service as the
authority, with the by You assuming of transcendental forms, is
there to eradicate the self-conceit of the ones who imagine
themselves to be the lord of the universe.
You
are the father and spiritual master of this entire universe,
and also its supreme controller. You are insurmountable
time, imposing punishment upon the sinful for their own
benefit. Indeed, in Your various incarnations, selected by
Your own free will, You act decisively to remove the false
pride of those who presume themselves masters of this world.
(Vedabase)
Text
7
Fools like me
who think themselves to be the master of the universe do,
seeing You fearless at the time [of confrontation],
quickly part of their arrogance, when they as a consequence of
Your lesson for the wicked being no longer puffed up in every
respect take to the path of gentlemen.
Even
fools like me, who proudly think themselves universal lords,
quickly give up their conceit and directly take to the path
of the spiritually progressive when they see You are
fearless even in the face of time. Thus You punish the
mischievous only to instruct them. (Vedabase)
Text
8
You
as such o Master, please therefore forgive me, who, unaware of
Your influence, because of his rulership bathed in arrogance
and fell in offense with a foolish intelligence; please let my
consciousness never be that foul again o Lord.
Engrossed
in pride over my ruling power, ignorant of Your majesty, I
offended You. O Lord, may You forgive me. My intelligence
was bewildered, but let my consciousness never again be so
impure. (Vedabase)
Text
9
Your
descent into this world, o Lord of the Beyond, is there for the
existence of those who serve Your lotus feet o Godhead, and for
the nonexistence of warlords who with the many disturbances
they give rise to constitute a great burden.
You
descend into this world, O transcendent Lord, to destroy the
warlords who burden the earth and create many terrible
disturbances. O Lord, you simultaneously act for the welfare
of those who faithfully serve Your lotus feet.
(Vedabase)
Text
10
My obeisances
unto You, the Supreme Lord and Original Personality, the great
Soul S'rî Krishna, the son of Vasudeva; my reverence for
the Master of the Servants of the Absolute
Truth.
Obeisances
unto You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the great
Soul, who are all-pervading and who reside in the hearts of
all. My obeisances unto You, Krishna, the chief of the Yadu
dynasty. (Vedabase)
Text
11
For
Him my obeisances who to the desires of the ones belonging to
Him assumes bodies, whose form is the purest spiritual
knowledge and who is the seed of all and everything and the
indwelling Soul of all living beings.
Unto
Him who assumes transcendental bodies according to the
desires of His devotees, unto Him whose form is itself pure
consciousness, unto Him who is everything, who is the seed
of everything and who is the Soul of all creatures, I offer
my obeisances. (Vedabase)
Text
12
O
Lord when the sacrifice was frustrated was I fiercely arrogant
and angry and wanted I with rain and wind to destroy the
cowherd community, o Supreme Lord.
My
dear Lord, when my sacrifice was disrupted I became fiercely
angry because of false pride. Thus I tried to destroy Your
cowherd community with severe rain and wind.
(Vedabase)
Text
13
You, o
Controller showing Your mercy have shattered my rigidity and
rendered my attempt fruitless; I came to You, the True Self and
spiritual master, in order to take shelter.'
O
Lord, You have shown mercy to me by shattering my false
pride and defeating my attempt [to punish
Vrindâvana]. To You, the Supreme Lord, spiritual
master and Supreme Soul, I have now come for shelter.
(Vedabase)
Text
14
S'rî
S'uka said: 'With Krishna this way glorified by the munificent
Indra smiled the Supreme Lord at him and spoke He, as grave as
the clouds, the following words:
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: Thus glorified by Indra, Lord
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, smiled and then
spoke to him as follows in a voice resonant like the clouds.
(Vedabase)
Text
15
The Supreme
Lord said: 'The arresting by Me of your sacrifice I engaged in
to show you My mercy so that you, as the king of heaven so
greatly intoxicated with the opulence, would remember me
forever.
The
Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Indra, it was
out of mercy that I stopped the sacrifice meant for you. You
were greatly intoxicated by your opulence as King of heaven,
and I wanted you to always remember Me. (Vedabase)
Text
16
Him, who
blinded because of his power and wealth is conceited and does
not see Me with the rod in My hand, will I, desirous to promote
him, prepare a fall from his affluent position [see also
B.G.
9: 22].
A
man blinded by intoxication with his power and opulence
cannot see Me nearby with the rod of punishment in My hand.
If I desire his real welfare, I drag him down from his
materially fortunate position. (Vedabase)
Text
17
O you all of
might, o Indra, all fortune to you, may you, executing My
order, void of pretense soberly remain engaged in your
responsibilities.'
Indra,
you may now go. Execute My order and remain in your
appointed position as King of heaven. But be sober, without
false pride. (Vedabase)
Text
18
Then spoke
mother Surabhi to Krishna who, peaceful of mind along with her
cows begging His attention, offered her respects to the Lord
who had appeared as a cowherd boy.
Mother
Surabhi, along with her progeny, the cows, then offered her
obeisances to Lord Krishna. Respectfully requesting His
attention, the gentle lady addressed the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, who was present before her as a cowherd boy.
(Vedabase)
Text
19
Surabhi said:
'Krishna, o Krishna, o Greatest Mystic, o Soul and Origin of
the Universe, with You, o director of the world, we have found
our master, o Infallible One.
Mother
Surabhi said: O Krishna, Krishna, greatest of mystics! O
Soul and origin of the universe! You are the master of the
world, and by Your grace, O infallible Lord, we have You as
our master. (Vedabase)
Text
20
You are our
Supreme Godhead, You are our Indra, o Lord of the Universe,
please be there for the welfare of the cows, the brahmins and
those who are godly and saintly.
You
are our worshipable Deity. Therefore, O Lord of the
universe, for the benefit of the cows, the brâhmanas,
the demigods and all other saintly persons, please become
our Indra. (Vedabase)
Text
21
For You as our
Indra we shall perform a bathing ceremony to the directions of
Lord Brahmâ, o Soul of the Universe who descended to
alleviate the burden of the earth.'
As
ordered by Lord Brahmâ, we shall perform Your bathing
ceremony to coronate You as Indra. O Soul of the universe,
You descend to this world to relieve the burden of the
earth. (Vedabase)
Text
22-23
S'rî
S'uka said: 'Thus pleading was Lord Krishna by Surabhi with her
own milk and the Ganges water flowing from heaven as carried by
Airâvata's trunk, by Indra bathed in the company of the
enlightened and the seers and by the inspired mothers of the
gods [the daughters of Aditi] and was the descendent of
Das'arha named Lord Govinda.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: Having thus appealed to Lord
Krishna, mother Surabhi performed His bathing ceremony with
her own milk, and Indra, ordered by Aditi and other mothers
of the demigods, anointed the Lord with heavenly Gangâ
water from the trunk of Indra's elephant carrier,
Airâvata. Thus, in the company of the demigods and
great sages, Indra coronated Lord Krishna, the descendant of
Das'ârha, and gave Him the name Govinda.
(Vedabase)
Text
24
To that place
came Tumburu, Nârada and the others, the singers of
heaven, the scholars, the perfected and the venerable ones who
sang the glories of the Lord that remove the contamination from
the world while the wives of the demigods filled with joy
danced together.
Tumburu,
Nârada and other Gandharvas, along with the
Vidyâdharas, Siddhas and Câranas, came there to
sing the glories of Lord Hari, which purify the entire
world. And the wives of the demigods, filled with joy,
danced together in the Lord's honor. (Vedabase)
Text
25
He as the
emblem of all the gods was praised and covered with wonderful
showers of flowers, after which the three worlds experienced a
supreme satisfaction with the cows overflowing the earth with
their milk.
The
most eminent demigods chanted the praises of the Lord and
scattered wonderful showers of flowers all around Him. All
three worlds felt supreme satisfaction, and the cows
drenched the surface of the earth with their milk.
(Vedabase)
Text
26
The rivers
flooded with all kinds of liquids, the trees exuded honey, the
plants ripened without cultivation and the mountains produced
jewels.
Rivers
flowed with various kinds of tasty liquids, trees exuded
honey, edible plants came to maturity without cultivation,
and hills gave forth jewels formerly hidden in their
interiors. (Vedabase)
Text
27
O beloved of
the Kuru dynasty, when Lord Krishna had been bathed became all
those [predators, dishonest people] free from enmity,
they, my best, who, be it by nature, were
vicious.
O
Parîkshit, beloved of the Kuru dynasty, upon the
ceremonial bathing of Lord Krishna, all living creatures,
even those cruel by nature, became entirely free of enmity.
(Vedabase)
Text
28
Thus having
bathed Govinda, the master of the cows and the cowherd
community was he [Indra] permitted to take leave and
returned he to heaven surrounded by the gods and the
others.'
After
he had ceremonially bathed Lord Govinda, who is the master
of the cows and the cowherd community, King Indra took the
Lord's permission and, surrounded by the demigods and other
higher beings, returned to his heavenly abode.
(Vedabase)
*
The
specific "solitary place" where Indra approached S'rî
Krishna is mentioned by the sage S'rî Vais'ampâyana
in the Hari-vams'a (Vishnu-parva 19.3): sa
dadars'opavishtham vai govardhana-s'ilâ-tale. "He saw
Him [Krishna] sitting at the base of Govardhana
Hill".