Perla: On the auspicious occasion of Gopashtami, Govardhanagiri was readied using pure dung of indigenous cow. The devotees filled their eyes with rangapooja performed to Lord Krishna amidst the light of lamps on thursday night.
Various programs including Goumatasaparya and celebration of 8th year annual Gopashtami concluded on thursday night, under the guidance of SriSamsthana, at Govardhana Dharma Mandira, Kasargodu – Bajakudlu Amrutadhara Goshala. Ganapati havana, kamadhenu havana, govardhana havana, kumkumarchane, bhajana in the morning; mahapooja during forenoon; govardhana pooja, bhajana ramayana, vishnu sahasranama parayana in the afternoon; gopooja, tulasi pooja, deepotsava in the evening were performed. Rangapooja and ashtavadhana seva was offered during mahapooja.
Vedamoorthy Keshavaprasad Bhat Kutelu from Dharmakarma branch and joint-secretary to SriSamsthana offered prayers during the auspicious moments of pooja. He said – Everything given by the Lord has to be offered back to Him. We can use only those given as prasada by the Lord, enumerates Shastra. Our ancient tradition says that the activities of entire day beginning from morning till we go to bed has to be done with a feeling of devotion to God. Only with His blessings will all our works turn out to be easy. Various activities related to God has to be performed in our everyday life. Gopooja finds a special place among them. According to traditions, which ever karma it is, attains completion only after offering gograsa. All the activities starts and ends with cow. Human life in Indian tradition is impossible without cow. The one who taught the entire world about cow protection is Lord Gopalakrishna. The day when this great deed was taught is celebrated as Gopashtami.
“In ancient days, gopalakas worshipped Devendra. When they started worshipping govardhanagiri as per the wishes of SriKrishna, angered by this, Devendra reacted with a heavy rainfall. Terrified gopalakas seeked the shelter of Krishna. Krishna protected the cows and gopalakas by literally lifting govardhana. Devendra surrendered Himself to Krishna after failing to win, despite 7 days of heavy rainfall. With this, He gave a message to the world to shed egoism. In this background, SriKrishna will be satisfied if govardhana is created using gomaya (cow dung) followed by the performance of pooja. This blesses us with all our wishes,” added he.
Later, vaidikas distributed prasada to the worshippers and everyone consumed prasada followed by dinner.
