Giri Govardhan

Location: 35 km from the city of Vrindavan, which is 25 km north of Mathura and 140 km south of New Delhi (the capital of India).

Size: The altitude is around fifty meters high, about 15 kilometers long and 1km wide.

Giri Govardhan is the most emblematic mountain within vedic cosmology, also known as Giriraj (the king of the mountains). Giri Govardhan is related to important lilas or pastimes of Lord Krishna, he rises it like an umbrella with the finger of his left hand to protect the town from the storm caused by the demigod Indra who is furious about over not benefitting from traditional offers. In order to demonstrate the transcendental teachings of dharma (duty), Krishna carries out this beautiful pastime which is recorded in the Srimad Bhagavatam, chapters 24 t0 27. Govardhan is considered as Krishna himself. Many spiritual practitioners, monks and devotees participate in pilgrimages, purification rituals and austerities on this sacred territory where the king of the mountains resides.

“Where there is no Vrindavan, the Yamuna river and Giri-Govardhan, I will not feel inspired to appear because I won’t feel very happy”. Therefore, to please his beloved Radha, Krishna himself personally sent his Dharma (spiritual residence) to Earth, made up of over 250 km of land including Govardhan hill and the Yamuna river. The transcendental Sri Vraja Mandala that we can observe today in India is nothing more than a portion of transformation of that land. It’s the same spiritual territory or Dham where the Lord was sent to this material world.

Even so, Vraja Dham is not a part of this material world nor is it made up of the five elements, fire, air, water, earth and ether. In addition, it’s an exact replica of the spiritual Goloka and it’s eternal. It will always remain even if the universe is destroyed. When Govardhan appeared in Salmali Dvipa (an island west of India), born from the wife of the great mountain Dronacala. The Devas were happy and brought rain and flowers to the majestic mountains headed by the Himalaya, mount Sumeru and others who worshipped them by singing the glories of Govardhan. They would sing “Govardhan is the place of Goloka, perfectly complete where Krishna Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality develops his pastimes, Govardhan is the kingdom of all mountains and the crown of Gokula, Krishna umbrella and Vrindavan rests in his lap, from now on the name Giriraj (the king of the mountains) will be famous, he was fascinated by the wonderful trees and splendid flowers, fruits and gardens that Giriraj Govardhan possesses, the wonderful son of Dronacala.