Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva!
Few weeks ago we had the festival of Gopashtami. Gopashtami is the day when Vrajavasis consider Lord Sri Krishna to have become a qualified cowherd. Before this day, He was a keeper of the calves and Srimad Bhagavatam refers to Krishna as vatsapala. Srila Prabhupada writes in the book Krishna – Supreme Personality of Godhead in Chapter 15.
"Thus Sri Krishna, along with His elder brother Balarama, passed the childhood age known as kaumara and stepped into the age of pauganda, from the sixth year up to the tenth. At that time, all the cowherd men conferred and agreed to give those boys who had passed their fifth year, charge of the cows in the pasturing ground. Given charge of the cows, Krishna and Balarama traversed Vrindavana, purifying the land with Their lotus footprints."
Srimad Bhagavatam very beautifully describes the way Krishna takes care of the cows in 10.35.18:
maṇi-dharaḥ kvacid āgaṇayan gā
mālayā dayita-gandha-tulasyāḥ
praṇayino ’nucarasya kadāṁse
prakṣipan bhujam agāyata yatra
Now Krishna is standing somewhere counting His cows on a string of gems. He wears a garland of Tulasi flowers that bear the fragrance of His beloved, and He has thrown His arm over the shoulder of an affectionate cowherd boyfriend.
It is said that Nanda Maharaj was having 9 lakh cows and we may wonder how all of them were being taken care without being missed. Here we see that Krishna is holding a chanting bead in His hands and is calling out the names of the cows. How fortunate are the cows! Aho Bhāgyam! Aho Bhāgyam! Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti gives the following information about the transcendental cows of Vrndavana: "For each of the four colors of cows—white, red, black and yellow—there are twenty-five subdivisions, making a total of one hundred colors. And such qualities as being colored like sandalwood-pulp tilaka [speckled] or having a head shaped like a mrdanga drum create eight further groups. To count these 108 groups of cows, distinguished by color and form, Krishna is using a string of 108 jewel-beads. And when Krishna calls the cows by their names, all the cows run towards Him accordingly.
Our desire and prayer should be that one day we should become one of these cows so that our names can be called out by our dear Lord. The step towards achieving this is to hold the chanting beads in our hands and call out to the Lord
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
The Lord assures in Adi Purana :
śraddhayā helayā nāma ratanti mama jantavaḥ
teṣāṁ nāma sadā pārtha vartate hrdaye mama
O Arjuna, listen attentively! When the living entity chants My name, whether out of devotion or indifference, then his name will remain forever in My heart. I will never forget such a soul.
Gopashtami is also the day on which the Lord was conferred the title "Govinda" by Lord Indra and Surabhi cow who performed Abhisheka for the Lord and is famously referred to as Govinda Pattabhisheka and Lord Indra sought forgiveness for his offences. Thus on this confession day, we also seek forgiveness from the Lord for all the offences committed at the lotus feet of the Lord and His devotees by feelingly chanting the following verse spoken by Lord Indra in Srimad Bhagavatam 10.27.8:
sa tvaṁ mamaiśvarya-mada-plutasya
kṛtāgasas te ’viduṣaḥ prabhāvam
kṣantuṁ prabho ’thārhasi mūḍha-cetaso
maivaṁ punar bhūn matir īśa me ’satī
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.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Vaijayantimala devi dasi
Abu Dhabi.
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