The Govardhan Puja is also among the five days festival of Diwali and is celebrated with all the happiness and devotion. In the year of 2024, this festival will be celebrated on Saturday, 02nd November. The Govardhan Puja is done after the day of Diwali festival. This day is celebrated as it is related to one of the legend history of India. This story is related to Lord Krishna leela. In the Yuga of Dwapar the Lord Vishnu came to earth in the incarnation of Lord Krishna as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. But afterwards he was brought up by Yashoda and Nandji. One day, the Lord Krishna saw in his village that his father Nandji and other villagers were sacrificing lot of things in order to please Lord Indra because of the fear of Indra. The Krishna was very excited to know about the reason and therefore he asked about it from his father and came to know that this is the ritual that they have been performing from past some years because if this ritual is not performed the Lord Indra will get angry. Once the Lord gets angry there will be no rain in the village and the crops will not grow and we will be destroyed financially and will have nothing to eat. A drought may occur due to which there will be lot of scarcity.
By listening this story, Lord Krishna asked his father to forget the Lord Indra and not to perform the ritual for him. Instead, must do the puja of hill named as Govardhan so that the rain can occur and the crops can grow in good condition. He asked everyone not to just follow the tradition blindly but should do the right thing in right manner so that the proper blessings can be received. Everyone got convinced from Lord Krishna and started doing Puja of the Hill. The Lord Indra gets to know about this and this made him very angry from the citizens of Vrindavan. His anger made him to bring flood in the village and he challenged Lord Krishna. As a challenge acceptance Lord Krishna lifted up the hill on his one finger of left hand. All the people of Vrindavan got accommodated under the hill and were saved from the heavy rain. Lord Krishna holds this hill for seven days and seven nights therefore his name was addressed as Giridhar and Govardhandhari. After watching this dedication and support Lord Indra gave up and accepted Lord Krishna as the Supreme power. Due to this story, the significance and puja of Govardhan is done in order to commemorate Lord Krishna.
On this day the Govardhan Maharaj is created from the cow dung in morning and in the evening the puja is performed. The Prasad is being distributed among the family members and neighbors so that the blessings can be seek from God.
