“The people of Govardhan worshipped Lord Indra,” HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji shares on this sacred day of Govardhan Puja. “However, Bhagwan Krishna admonished them and said that they should worship Govardhan instead, since it was Govardhan who gave them land, water, and grass for their cows. Yet, the people were afraid. Indra threatened to wreak havoc upon their lives if they ceased his worship. As Indra pummeled the beautiful land of Govardhan with rain, hail, thunder and lightening, Lord Krishna held up the mountain of Govardhan over the heads of the people, protecting them from the violent storm. And, as He held up this mountain on the tip of His finger, for days and days as Indra grew more and more furious, He never became angry, nor frustrated, nor disheartened. No. He was always smiling, even in the midst of the torrential storm.

Wherever He went, wherever He was, He was always blissful, always joyful, always shining His divine light upon others. We, on the other hand, may get stuck in one traffic jam and our days are ruined. We have one business failure and we feel dejected and broken. We become afflicted with disease and we lose our faith in God.

“So, what is the Lord teaching us? If He chose His birth and He chose the course of His life on Earth, why did He choose a life full of obstacles, turmoil, trials and tribulations? Why, if He could have lived His entire life as a king, did He spend so many years living in the jungle?

“He did this to show us that the real palace is the palace of our heart. When our hearts are full of God, then we live constantly in the most beautiful Golden Palace, regardless of where our bodies may be. He chose this life to teach us that regardless of what insults are hurled at us or what obstacles we face, we must remain immersed in Divine Connection. Then we will not become depressed or frustrated. His life teaches us that we cannot change what happens – it happens for various reasons – but we CAN change our reaction to it.

“The message of Krishna’s life is “adapt and adjust.” Move forward. We cannot stop the wind from blowing, but we can change the direction of our sails, so that instead of capsizing our boat, we use the wind to take us to our destination.”