Page 2: Excerpt, 'Lord of The Cows.'

Indra commanded the wind, the clouds, and the rain to go and devastate the whole area of Gokula Vrindavan. "The residents of Vrindavan have insulted me!" He said. "They have rejected me, have stopped worshipping me, and are instead worshipping that mountain, that hill of Govarddhan. I can't tolerate this insult! Go and devastate them."

By the order and wrath of Indra, the master of all the higher subtle elements, heavy rain began to fall. And so thunder, hail, and rain simultaneously attacked the whole of Vraja Mandal.

Consequently, all the residents of Vrindavan were thrown into a great disaster. Misery, pain, and sorrow afflicted the animals and the protectors of the animals, the gopalas. So the helpless - the women, children, and animals of Vrindavan - had no alternative but to take refuge of Krishna. They all came to Krishna for relief. They cried, "O Krishna! Now what are we to do? You influenced us to stop the sacrifice meant for Indra, and now Indra, being vindictive, has begun to afflict us in this very heavy way. How can we live? Please save us!" They all came to Krishna for protection. Seeing this, Krishna had much pity for them. Being merciful upon them, He smiled a little, thinking, "They have all come to Me for relief."

At that time, with only one hand Krishna lifted up the Govarddhan mountain. For Him, it was a very easy thing; with only one hand, He uprooted the hill and lifted it up as a child lifts a toy ball.

And holding up that great mountain, Krishna gave protection to all those who were living in Gokula. The men, women, and children of Vrindavan brought the cows and all their worldly goods and took shelter beneath Govarddhan Hill.

The whole cowherd society was given shelter under that hill. In this way, by lifting Govarddhan Hill, Krishna gave protection to the residents of Vrindavan, and crushed the pride of the lord of heaven, Indra himself.

And so Nanda Maharaj prays in this verse, "May that lord of the cows be satisfied by us. Who is Indra when compared to Krishna? Krishna is the master of Indra. And yet He has appeared as the master of cows; the Supreme Absolute Truth has accepted a simple position as the keeper of cows. Superficially, He is a mere cowherd boy. But let that cowherd boy, who holds within Him the power of controlling the whole universe, be satisfied with us. We want to worship that Lord who has taken the humble position of the king of the cows."

From this verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam, we can understand the position of the Lord's Pastime at Govarddhan. It is also described here that when the Vraja-vasis worshipped Him and engaged in sacrifice for His satisfaction, they saw Govarddhan Hill as the Supreme Person, extending His hands, accepting the things offered to Him, and feeding Himself.