|
Hare Krsna!
Srimad Bhagawatam begins with glorifying the supreme Lord Krsna. But Sri Krsna in his topmost abode of goloka is absorbed in worship of the cows. His abode is centered and named around cows. Krsna lila cannot be separated from love of cows ( go prema).
As soon as Krsna appeared on earth in the jail, his father Vasudev decided to give 10,000 excellent payaswini cows in charity. When Krsna reached Vrndavan Nanda Maharaj gave lakhs of cows in charity. Sri Vrindavan is called gostha. Gostha means a place where atleast one crore (10 million) cows reside.
When Sri Krsna was brought down from Putana’s chest He was bathed with cow urine and tilak of cow dung was applied. Krsna’s body was cleaned with the tail of a cow. Dust of cows was applied on his body. Sri Krsna was happy seeing that his lila is meant to glorify go seva (service to cows).
Then when the Lord grew up he started moving around house. He would not like to play with toys but He would go to the goshala (cow shed). He would go to area where the cows and calves were moving around. The Lord would be very happy to cover His body with go raja (dust from lotus feet of cows). Mother Yashoda would go to pick up the Lord in anxiety fearing that a cow or calf might step on small Krsna.
There were special padmagandha cows in Nanda Maharaj’s goshala (cow shed). These cows would emit a wonderful lotus like fragrance. Even such fragrance would come from their milk, curd and butter milk. Even their dung and urine had a special fragrance like lotus. By the mixture of cow dung and urine of these cows a mixture was created and it was called vraj kardam. The Lord would go and sit in this mixture in goshala (cow shed). Krsna would take palmfulls of this mixture and put it on Balaram’s body. This is called Pankabhishek lila by saints. Seeing this mother Yashoda would call out and say, “Oh son it appears that you have taken an incarnation of a boar in Your last life. The Lord would reply, Oh! Mother you are saying that with anger but it is true that I took the form of boar.
Then Lord grew up a little and walking he would go near the calves. The calves would come near the Lord and smell Him. Getting the divine fragrance from the Lord the calves would jump up in ecstasy and start dancing. As the calves would stand again Lord Krsna would go slowly and catch their tail. Just by the divine touch of the Lord the calves would be joyfull and start running around the place with full energy. The Lord would keep hanging on to the tails of the calves and also enjoy the pastime. This is the love of cows and calves of Sri Krsna.
Sri Bilva Mangal Thakur in his book Krsna karnamrta says as follows – Oh! Lord You joyfully move around in mud of Vrindavan made up of cow urine, dung and dust from cows feet, but You feel hesitant to go to the yajna sthali of brahmanas. Hearing the mooing of the cows You answer them in the language of calves which You understand but when the great Brahma prays to You, Oh lord You keep quiet and stand without replying. But when calves make sound You quickly run towards them and embrace them. Oh! Lord I have understood that You don’t regard any other principle but only the love of cows. You are satisfied with only those who have love of cows in their heart.
Back to Articles |
