GOVARDHAN REFLECTION

While doing parikrama around Govardhan Hill, I was reflecting back on all the times I have performed Govardhan parikrama in the last so many years. I reflected that each time I have performed it, it was always with different devotees at different phases in my life. My companions during the parikrama and my situation during the parikrama were all different. The only similar factor in all these parikramas was Govardhan Himself. Being an eternal form of the Lord, He is always the same. The more we realize Krishna and His various forms to be the only constant factor in this changing world, we can seek our refuge in the Lord and experience shelter and stability in a changing world.

Srila Prabhupada, one time was sharing with the devotees life lessons connected to his visits to Jagannath Puri. He explained that, he came to Jagannath Puri for the first time as a small child along with his father. He then came as a young college student. Then as a young married man. Now, he is come to Jagannath Puri as an old man. He was explaining to his disciples through his life, how times and situations keep changing but Lord Jagannath and Puri Dham, the abode of the Lord have remained as it is. In conclusion, the message is that we should try to live our life based on unchanging, eternal, absolute truths rather than living based on changing, temporary, relative truths.

- Achyut Gopal Das

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