Jai Gou Mata
Kamdhenu is the cow
goddess in which 330 million kinds of Gods stay.Some other names of Goddess Kaamdhenu are Surabhi, Shaval, Aditi and Kamudh. She was one of the nine divine
blessings which came out during the Samudra Manthan and was gifted to Rishi Vashisht.
It is believed that during the reign of King Vishwamitra the whole land was
cursed with drought. He went to Rishi Vashisht Ashram for the solution. On arriving in the sacred place King Vishvamitra observed that Rishi Vashisht had
prayed to Kamdhenu Goddess for arranging the food for all the persons that came
along with the king. In turn to his surprise he saw that Goddess Kamdhenu had
blessed all of them with delicious variety of food and drinks. Greed arose in
the king’s heart and he tried to take the Goddess Kamdhenu to his palace by
force. To which Rishi Vashisht showed resistance and pleaded him that if he
really wished to have Goddess Kamdhenu for himself he would have to become a
saint by heart and soul. Kamdhenu Goddess has two daughters known as ‘Nandni’
and ‘Patti’. Both were great worshipers of Lord Shiva. The place where ‘Patti’
worshipped Lord Shiva and attained salvation is known as ‘Pattishwar’ in
Southern India. It is said that the river named after ‘Nandni’ use to flow with
milk before the era of Kalyuga, which henceforth turned into water.
Kamdhenu and Krishna-
‘Govinda’ and festival of 'Gopashtami':
Sri Krishna from His
childhood has been always cherished by cows. After the episode of ‘Goverdhan
Dharan’ Lord Indra came to Sri Krishna for mercy for his wrong deeds. You are
the Lord of Trinity and savior of every creature, Today I am very honored in having
you as my protector and savior. Lord Indra is just the chief of his kingdom, I
believe you to be the Indra of our domain. Hence please become the Lord and
savior of the Cows, Sages, Chief Gods and Saints. Thus we all cows idolizing
Brahma will perform your Abhisheka ritual to honor you with throne of our
Indra.’ It is then that Kamdhenu Goddess and Lord Indra with his elephant
Aeravat performed the Abhisheka. They honored Sri Krishna with the name of
‘Govinda’. Every soul danced with joy, the whole land was filled with blossoms
of flora and fauna.
Gopashtami:
On the eigth day of
kartik shukla paksh is celebrated as 'Gopashatami'.Sri Radhvallabh is dressed
as 'gwala' or the cowhered boy .Adorened with flower and golden jewelry,the
attire has yellow shades in combination of various other shades .The sandal
paste applied to god in magnificent style along with a staff cmmonly known as
'lakuti or chadd' .Some call Sri Krishna Thakurji or Govinda while chanting and
sing his lilas devotees specially serve special offerings to the cows.On
Gopashtami all the cows in the cowshed are decorated with sandal paste, haldi,
ornaments, bells, garlands and embroidered clothes.
The Significance of Gosewa and Goshala:-
Cows are the most sacred
animal and offering them prayers can bless one all desires. Cows are worshipped
as mother of all gods. Their cow dung known as 'Gobar' is use as substance to
clean and purify unclean places and the urine known as 'Go-mutra' is used in
ayurvedic medicines. The 'go-sewa' means taking care of cows and 'goshala'
other name for cowsheds in vrindavan. In all Lord RadhaKrishna temples only
cow's milk is used to make and offer white butter or 'Makhan', in making sweet
porridges like 'rabri', 'kheer' and 'barfi'. It is believed one who takes care
of cows or 'Go palan' is blessed by Sri Krishna's eternal abode known as
'Golokadhama'.
