Navaneetham - Guruvayoor / Guruvayur

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us and our cattle. Is it not true,
therefore, that this mountain, as I said, is
our clan’s God ? Did not all of you see
the mountain consuming in person, all
the articles offered to it as sacrificial
oblation ? Discarding the food available
at hand, the fool goes a-begging.
Following this dictum, why should one
serve the invisible Indra disregarding the
mountain, our visible God? Even if
Indra, angered by the stoppage of his
worship, were to come to harass us, this
mountain is capable of protecting us.
That it is consuming all our offerings is
proof enough to dispel all our doubts in
the matter.’ Hearing these words of The
Lord, the Gopas became very happy; and
thus reassured, they attained a sense of
fulfilment which was much more than
what they used to get in previous years
by performance of the Yajna to Indra.”
The Gopas performed the Yajna
properly according to Krishna’s
instructions. Led by Krishna, they
happily returned to Gokulam.
Meanwhile, Indra came to know that the
sacrifice due to him had been stopped at
Krishna’s bidding and that the sacrificial
oblation had been offered to the
Govardhana mountain. Though aware
that he owed his exalted position to
Krishna’s limitless grace alone, and that
Krishna was really Lord Narayana who
had incarnated on Earth to destroy
Asuras like Kamsa and protect the three
worlds, he was blinded by his anger due
to the stoppage of the offering that was
his due. He lost his head and dared to
confront the Lord and succeed, and
thereby establish for all time, his power
of protection and destruction. Alas! Who
will not wonder at the inability of the
thousand eyed God to see reason ?”
Indra thought, ‘Even Vishnu, destroyer
of demons, generates disrespect towards
the Devas when he assumes human
form. What, then, will be the position of
the Devas? It is risky not to adopt
appropriate punitive measures now
itself. Therefore, I shall destroy all the
wealth of that lowly cowherd and make
him taste the fruit of his lack of respect
for me.’ It appears that with this
arrogant determination, Indra set out
with the (false) hope of subduing the
Lord! Alas! Indra’s prowess before the
Lord’s splendour is but like the insolent
twinkling of the firefly before the
midday sun!”
With a view to destroying the Lord’s
dwelling place (Gokulam) without
leaving a trace, Indra deployed the wellknown
clouds, ‘Pushkala-vartakas’
(name of the clouds producing copious
rain) which are active during the time of
Pralaya, the Great Deluge, enveloping
the world in a vast ocean of water.
Thereafter, he mounted his vehicle
Airavata, the four-tusked white-coloured
elephant, armed with his weapon, the
Vajrayudha (the thunderbolt), and set out
arrogantly. Seeing this, other Gods like
Agni, Vayu and Varuna laughed
inwardly with derision. ‘Alas! The
false hope of Indra! O Krishna! Master
of the three worlds! Who do not fall
prey to Your all-conquering Maya which
makes them blind with ignorance and
lack of wisdom and leads them to rash
actions ?’, they thought.
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