The Rainbow Gathering!

Hare Krishna! I deliberately chose the title despite the fact that this post has nothing to do with the Rainbow Gathering that happens annually, except that what i am going to be writing about is a gathering and happens outdoors. Thats about where the similarities end.

This is the month of Kartika, the month of Govardhan Puja, In his classes on Madhurya Kadambini in the month of Kartika, several years ago, Guru Maharaja encourages us to share our reflections and realizations with others in this month. I write this hoping that he will be pleased with my small offering.

 This morning, as I was reflecting on the Govardhan Puja pastime something very sweet unfolded in my thinking. Our Back to Godhead Magazine has the following motto-
"Godhead is light. Nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead there is no nescience." Elsewhere in our scriptures Sri Krishna is compared to the Sun. I was thinking how in the pastime of Krishna lifting the Govardhan hill, the Lord is like the sun. As per laws of physics when there is sunshine and rain at the same time, the rain drops act as a prism and refract the light to form a rainbow of colors ranging from Violet to Red. The famous VIBGYOR spectrum. Similarly in this pastime, the Lord is like the sun and even though there was intense rainfall, of the kind that appears at the time of Pralaya or the final devastating deluge, there was no destruction. Instead there appeared a Rainbow of colors in the form of the devotees assembled under Govardhan Hill.

In the Nectar of Devotion, different mellows are assigned different colors and different deities preside over various mellows and colors. Sri Giridhari is the reservoir of all mellows being the Akhila Rasamrta Murtih. When the entire Vraja took shelter under the expansive umbrella or the prism of Girirja Govardhana, they consisted of devotees practically of every rasa and every color of the spectrum in the rainbow. For seven days sakhas like Madhumangala and Subal, Gopis like Srimati Radharani and the Asta sakhis, servants such as Patraka, Vrajavasis in the mood of parental affection such as Nanda and Yashoda, those in fraternal mellow such as Balarama, animals and devotees in every other secondary mellow took shelter together, each relishing their own Rasa with the Reservoir of Rasa, Rasaraja Sri Krishna. It was a conglomeration of all the Rasas. A Rainbow Gathering! 

The most endearing part of this pastime was when the seven year old Lord Krishna gives freewill to the devotees, to  gather under the formidable Govardhan hill held atop the pinky of his left hand.

"O Mother, O Father, O residents of Vraja, if you wish you may now come under this hill with your cows." From the Srimad Bhagavatam,

The moral I learnt from his story was that when we endeavor to keep Krishna in the center of our universe at all times, and whole heartedly surrender to Him, even when the adversities threaten to delude us, only a lovely rainbow of colors and nectarean experiences can emerge. Trying times are very interesting because they intensify our Rasa with the Lord of our hearts. All Glories to my worshipable Gandharvika Giridhari Jiu and my Spiritual mentors for teaching me this valuable lesson.