{"id":133906,"date":"2022-10-26T22:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/?p=133906"},"modified":"2022-10-26T22:13:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T16:43:59","slug":"govardhan-puja-krishna-humbled-indra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/dharma-religion\/govardhan-puja-krishna-humbled-indra\/","title":{"rendered":"Govardhan puja: when Bhagwan Krishna humbled Indradev"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Govardhan Puja is an important part of Deepawali celebrations and usually falls on the day after Deepawali. The festival has its origins in Brajbhoomi where Bhagwan Krishna spent His childhood. It marks the victory of Sri Krishna over Indradev when the latter was consumed by arrogance. The puja falls<\/a> on the Shukla Paksha Pratipada tithi of Kartik month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also known as An<\/a>nakoot (Annakut) which means mountain of food. On this occasion, 56 varieties (chhappan bhog) of food items including vegetables and sweets are prepared and offered to Sri Krishna after which it is distributed as prasad among devotees. It expresses gratitude to Bhagwan for saving the residents of Gokul from the wrath of Indradev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govardhan Puja story and significance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Vishnu Puran says young Sri Krishna once questioned Yashoda maiyya why Gokulvasis worshipped Indradev. She explained that Indradev was responsible for causing the rains and hence he the villagers prayed to him. However, Sri Krishna wasn\u2019t in agreement with His mother. He asked Gokulvasis to pray to mount Govardhan instead of Indradev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reasoned with the villagers that Govardhan was worthy of their worship since it provided all the necessary resources for their survival. The villagers agreed with Bhagwan and offered prayers to Govardhan parvat. Indradev was angered by Sri Krishna\u2019s act of replacing him and honouring Govardhan. He then instructed Varundev, the deity of rains, to inundate Gokul with torrential rains for seven days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, rains began to lash Gokul whose residents turned to Sri Krishna for help. They requested Bhagwan to save their lives. Heeding to their request, Sri Krishna lifted Govardhan parvat on His little finger. Gokulvasis along with other living beings including cows took shelter under the parvat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heavy rains lashed Gokul for seven days and nights continuously but the villagers were protected by Sri Krishna. In the end, Indradev was humbled and accepted his defeat. He realised that Bhagwan Krishna was none other than Sri Hari Vishnu. This event is commemorated by Hindus by paying respect to the Govardhan parvat on this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govardhan puja usually falls the very next day after Deepawali and Sri Krishna as well as Govardhan parvat are worshipped on this day. Devotees worship Govardhan on this day by performing an eleven-mile parikrama (circumambulation) around the mountain and offering chhappan bhog to the parvat. Krishna devotees offer flowers and diyas to temples located in the region.    <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"puja\"
PC: pujayagna.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The significance of the puja is it teaches devotees the importance of respecting nature. It also shows that Bhagwan protects those who surrender to Him with unconditional bhakti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bali Pratipada<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Maharashtra, this day is celebrated as Bali Pratipada<\/a> (Bali Padva). It marks Asura Raja Bali\u2019s visit to the earth. It is associated with Sri Hari Vishnu\u2019s Vamana Avatar. Bhagwan Vishnu took birth as Upendran to keep His promise of winning back the lost kingdom for Aditi\u2019s children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahabali asked what donation he should offer Bhagwan to which the latter replied that all He wanted was a place for meditation (dhyana<\/em>) for which he required land measuring three of His footsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as Bali agreed to give what Bhagwan who had come as a\u00a0Brahmachari<\/em>\u00a0(young unmarried boy), assumed the form of\u00a0Trivikrama<\/em>\u00a0(conqueror of all the three worlds). In this form, He encompassed the entire earth with one step and the sky\/heavens with the second. Since there was no place left for the third, Mahabali offered his head and Bhagwan sent him to the\u00a0Sutala\u00a0<\/em>(part of Pataal Lok) with the third step. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bali was not just granted the boon to visit his subjects once every year for three days but Bhagwan Himself is said to have become Bali\u2019s gatekeeper in the Sutala region. \u201cIn South India, king Bali is worshipped during Onam and the concept of\u00a0Onam\u00a0is same as that of Bali Puja in North India\u201d, notes Drikpanchang<\/em>. While this event is celebrated during Onam<\/a> in Kerala, Maharashtra & North celebrate Raja Mahabali\u2019s return a day after Deepawali during Kartik Shukla Paksha Pratipada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Featured Image Source: Aaj Ki Khabar)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Govardhan Puja is an important part of Deepawali celebrations and usually falls on the day after Deepawali. The festival has its origins in Brajbhoomi where Bhagwan Krishna spent His childhood. It marks the victory of Sri Krishna over Indradev when the latter was consumed by arrogance. The puja falls on the Shukla Paksha Pratipada tithi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10881,"featured_media":133907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"koo_publish_custom_meta":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1067,5451],"tags":[16539,4359,16538,125,1988],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hindupost.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Govardhan-Puja_AajKiKhabar.jpg?fit=777%2C437&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10881"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hindupost.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}