KRSNA LIFTS GOVARDHANA HILL

Seeing the inhabitants of His Gokula rendered practically unconscious by the onslaught of hail and blasting wind, the Supreme Lord Hari understood that this was the work of angry Indra. "I must therefore protect the cowherd community by My transcendental potency, for I am their shelter, I am their master, and indeed they are My own family. After all, I have taken a vow to protect My devotees."

Having said this, Lord Krsna, who is Visnu Himself, picked up Govardhana Hill with one hand and held it aloft just as easily as a child holds up a mushroom.

The Lord then addressed the cowherd community: "O mother, O father, O residents of Vraja, if you wish you may now come under this hill with your cows. You should have no fear that this mountain will fall from My hand. And don't be afraid of the wind and rain, for your deliverance from these afflictions has already been arranged."

Their minds thus pacified by Lord Krsna, they all entered beneath the hill, where they found ample room for themselves and all their cows, wagons, servants and priests, and for all other members of the community as well.

Lord Krsna, forgetting hunger and thirst and putting aside all considerations of personal pleasure, stood there holding up the hill for seven days as the people of Vraja gazed upon Him.