Goverdhan puja is a Hindu festival which is celebrated with immense gratitude and great enthusiasm by Hindu people on the fourth day of Diwali festivities or the next day after the observance of main Diwali or Deepawali in the month of Kartik according to the Hindu calendar. Goverdhan Parvat is a small hillock at Braj which was lifted by Lord Krishna to save the lives of Gokul people by the curse of Lord Indra. Goverdhan puja acknowledges the victory of Lord Krishna over arrogant Lord Indra. On this auspicious day food, sweets are being offered to Lord Krishna including 56 varieties of items (pulses, types of sweets, dry fruits).
You are newly married bride and wants to be in the good books of your in-laws and dear husband. So, don’t stop after Diwali celebration. There is much more to the festivity of Diwali. Celebrate the Goverdhan puja as described with pure devotion and zeal.
How to do Goverdhan Puja
Goverdhan Puja is widely celebrated by north Indian people in the regions of Mathura, Vrindavan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. People make the image of Krishan Ji lifting Goverdhan Parvat, and cows by the heaps of cow dung. People decorate the made image with flowers and offer milk, Kheel, and batasha and other food items as Bhog. They offer new clothes to the idol made with great devotion. They do parikrama (5 or 7 times or 108 times depending too the wish). By doing this, they believe they are doing parikrama of Goverdhan Parvat situated at Braj. Later they sing bhajans (devotional songs), perform aarti and pray for blessing with enough food and shelter to live by touching feets of the idol.
On this people use to prepare rice, puri, halwa, kheer and curry (made by gram flour and mixing other vegetables) and other edibles. The bhog is called annkut and the naivedya referred as 56 Bhog.
Significance of Goverdhan Puja
We all are aware of the fact that Hinduism is a great believer of worshipping natural resources, i.e., Earth (Prithvi), water (Jal), Air (Vayu), Space (Akash) and fire (Agni). The Goverdhan puja is also important as it spreads the beautiful message of acknowledging nature, the source of our living. The significant reason behind praying the goverdhan parvat is for the preservance of precious natural resources. Lord Krishna wanted to convey the message that nature is what nurturing us and one should be always grateful to the natural environment.
Myth behind the Celebration
As stated in Hindu mythology, people of Gokul were in a practice to worship Lord Indra as they used to consider that Lord Indra was the prime source of showering rain. They believed if lord Indra would get angry, there will be no rain which might result in the insufficiency of grains but Lord Krishna made them understand and convinced that it was Goverdhan Parvat (the real God) who is nurturing their life and giving food by bringing rain and hence, should start worshipping Goverdhan Parvat (hill) instead of pleasing Lord Indra. Indra got angry seeing that people were not paying any respect to him now and vented his anger upon the lives of Gokul by starting heavy rain and thunder and did not stop for many days. Therefore, Lord Krishna protected the villagers of Gokul by lifting the Govardhan mountain on his little finger. All the people of Gokul reside under the mountain to take shelter from the storm. Lord Indra gave up after the causing heavy downpour for seven days and bowed to Lord Krishna’s superiority. Lord Krishna defeated the ego of Indra and since that day people offer varieties of food to pay homage to Lord Krishna.
So, on this Goverdhan puja, worship the Goverdhan puja in the traditional manner. Offer the prayer to be protected by Lord Krishna throughout the life for giving enough food. Happy Goverdhan Puja. Pay homage to the green environment and plant a seed or a sapling of the plant in the surrounding as Lord Krishna wanted to teach the lesson of conserving the natural resources.