Haridev Temple

When Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to this temple, He chanted the holy names of
Krishna and danced for hours in ecstasy in front of the deity. Large crowds gathered to see Lord Chaitanya and everyone was amazed at His ecstatic love for Krishna. This deity of Lord Harideva is one of the four Deva-murtis of Vraja and was originally established by Vajranabha Maharaja, who installed a total of four Deva-vigrahas in Vraja including; Harideva at Govardhana, Govindadeva at Vrindavana, Keshavadeva at Mathura, and Baladeva at Mahavana It is said that this deity of Lord Harideva was established here because of the pastime where Radharani and the gopis had been waiting for Krishna to meet them at Manasi-ganga and began to feel great anxiety because Krishna had not arrived. Hoping that Krishna would soon arrive there, the gopis began chanting over and over again, ‘Harideva! Harideva! Harideva!’ Suddenly, a beautiful deity of Lord
Harideva holding Govardhana Hill in his left hand and a flute in His right hand appeared there before them. The gopis were ecstatic and immediately began worshiping that transcendental form of Lord Harideva, the lifter of Govardhana Hill.
The temple of Harideva that can be seen today was built by Maharaja Bhagavana Singh,
a former king of jaipura and Raja Man Singh’s father. During the despotic rule of the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb, the deity of Lord Harideva was moved elsewhere for safety and presently the pratibhu-murti can be seen in this temple. The original deity of Lord Harideva is presently being worshiped at Badhauli village near the town of Rasadhan in the Kanpur District of Uttar Pradesh.

Çré Harideva, the presiding deity of Giriräja-Govardhana, is present on the southern bank of Mänasé-gaìgä. Çré Kåñëa took one form as Giridhäré (the lifter of Govardhana hill) and held His second form, Giriräjajé, on His palm. The pastime of lifting Govardhana (govardhana-dhäraëa) will be described later, when we come to Änyora-gaon.

This temple is just a three-minute walk from the southern bank of Manasi Ganga. Lord Harideva is the presiding deity of the western petal of the lotus of Braja Dhama and He is the lifter of Govardhana Hill.
Shrila RUpa Gosvami has described in his Dana-keli-kaumudhi that Radha and Her girl-friends would come and take darsana every day of Harideva.
The mantra for offering our obeisance’s to Harideva is:
karod dritan agenda ya
gopananrt rakso kaya te
saptabda rupine tubyam
hari-devaya te namah
(Skanda Parana) -Once Shri Radhika and Her beloved girlfriends (sakhi’s) were sitting on the bank of Harideva kupda waiting for their Lord, Shri Krshna. At that time the Gopi’s feeling intense separation from Krishna, started to call out His name over and over, “Haridev, Haridev, Haridev.” Their mood of separation became deeper and deeper until it reached such intensity that it appeared that they were about to give up their very life.At that time Krishna appeared there in His seven year old form, holding Govardhana on one hand and His flute in His other.
When Radhika and Her friends saw that beautiful form of Krsna, their ecstasy knew no bounds and they performed all kinds of service to that deity of Krishna to their hearts content. After the appearance of Haridev they would come daily to worship him.
Shrila RUpa Gosvami has written the following wonderful prayer in praise of Govardhana Nath, Haridev.
Visesatah Kascit
“Someone Special”
jhamajjham iti varshati stanita-cakra-vikridaya
vimushta-ravi-mandale ghana-ghatabhir akhandale
raraksa dharanidharoddhrti-patuh kutumbani yah
sa daraytu darunarh vraja-purandaras te daram

“May the Lord of VrindUvana, Sri Krishna, who protected his relatives from the devastating rain of Indra’s cruel clouds, that eclipsed the sun complete¬ly, by expertly lifting the best of mountains (Govardhana), protect us from all fear.”

maha-hetu-vadair vidirnendra-yagarh
giri-brahmanopasti-vistlrna-ragam
sapady eka-yukti-kritabhlra-vargam
puro datta-govardhana-kshmabhrid-argham

“Krishna stopped the worship of Indra with great logical arguments, and at once engaged all the Govardhana brahmana’s in offering service to Govardhana Hill.”

priyashamsinibhir dalottarrisinibhir
virajat-patabhih kumarl-ghatabhih
stavadbhih kumarair api sphara-taraih
saha vyakirantam prasunair dharam tam

“All the cowherd-girls of Vraja, dressed in the best of silk, went along with the cowherd-boys and they showered Govardhana with flowers, saying, “O Govardhana! Kindly be satisfied with us, and please fulfill all our desires.”
giri-sthula-dehena bhuktopaharahi
vara-shreni-santositabhlra-daram
samuttu hga -shrnga vah-baddha-cailam
kramat priyamanam parikramya shailam

“After Krishna, in the form of Govardhana, had eaten all the food-offerings (annakuta), and had affectionately granted them all kinds of benedictions, the Brajabasis gradually began to circumambulate Govardhana hill with its high peaks and big boulders.”

makha-dhvarhsa-samrambhatah svarga-nathe
samantat kilarabdha-goshtha-pramathe
muhur varsati cchanna-dik-cakravale
sa-dambholi-nirghosham ambhoda-ja

Just as Krshna is a person with transcendental qualities, His associ¬ates. abode, paraphernalia, in fact – everyone in Vraja, whatever form they may have, a hill, or a kupda, all have a personality, and they are never affected by the qualities of material nature.

Lord Caitanya’s visit to Harideva has been described in Caitanya Caritamrta as follows:
“Mad with ecstatic love, the Lord came to the village known as Govardhana. It was there that He saw the deity Harideva and offered His obeisance’s to Him. Harideva is an incarnation of Narayana, and His resi¬dence is on the western petal of the lotus of Mathura. Mad with ecsta-tic love, Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu began to dance before the Harideva deity. Hearing of the Lord’s wonderful activities, all the people came to see Him. The people were astonished when they saw Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s ecstatic love and personal beauty. The priests who served the Harideva Deity offered the Lord a good reception.”
(Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya lila, 18:17-20) Now we will walk around the temple and you will see that the temple of Harideva is very beautiful. It was built by Raja Bhagavandas, the father of Raja man Singh, who constructed the Radha-Govinda temple in Vimdavana and the ghats of Manasi Gahga.
King Bhagavandas erected Harideva Temple during the reign of Akbar in the sixteenth century. It is made of red sandstone from Bharatpur and the foundations are of local stone. Although the building is under protection there has been nothing done to really protect the temple which has thus fallen into disrepair and become a home for pigeons.
The original deity of Harideva was moved when Aurangzedb decided to impose his tyranny on Braja. It is now worshipped in the town of Rajdhani near Kanpur.
A large number of original deities of Braja Dhama have apparently gone to various places outside of Braja. But it must be understood that deities such as Govindaji, Radha Madana Mohan, Kesava and Harideva are eternal¬ly present in Braja. For the benefit of the aspiring devotees, Lord Krishna has taken these forms to look after the devotees’ advancement to perfection, and although these deities apparently appear and disappear from time to time or even go somewhere outside their original abode, this must be understood as being part of the divine pastimes of Lord Krishna.
Lord Krishna may choose to go somewhere to bless the conditioned souls, that is His causeless mercy, but simultaneously we must understand that Lord Krishna eternally resides in Vimdavana and never takes a step out of his Dhama.
Great devotees such as Vrajanabha, RUpa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami have not only revealed the importance of particular deities by establishing their worship, but also they have revealed the eternal residing places of those deities where they are worshipped eternally by Shrimati Radharani and all the intimate associates of Lord Krsna. Thus we should understand that regardless of whether the Lord is visible to our mundane eyes or not, He is ever willing to accept our service and if it appears that the presiding deity has gone somewhere else and another deity has been established, He is to be accepted as preti-bhuha (non-different). Lord Krishna is capable of expanding Himself into unlimited forms. The functional deities, such as Govinda and Harideva, certainly expand Themselves for the purpose of blessing the conditioned souls, but still Their eternal residence in Braja has a special sweetness of its own, after all, home is where the heart is.

Text 401
snatva manasa-gaìgayaà
dåñöva govardhane harim
annakuöaà parikramya
kià manaù paritapyase

snatva – having bathed; manasa-gaìgayam – in the manasa-ganga; dåñöva – having seen; govardhane – on Govardhana Hill; harim – Lord Hari; annakuöam – Annakuöa-tirtha; parikramya – circumambulating; kim – what?; manaù – heart; paritapyase – suffers.

After bathing in the Manasa-gaìga, seeing the Deity of Lord Hari on Govardhana Hill, and circumambulating Annaküöa-tirtha, what heart can remain unhappy?

Text 410

bhadre parçva-parivartinyam ekadaçyaà govardhana-yatra. adi-varahe

masi bhadra-pade ya tu
çukla caikadaçé çubha
govardhane sopavasaù
kuryat tasya pradakñinam

govardhanaà parikraman
dåñöva devaà harià prabhum
rajasuyaçvamedhabhyaà
phalam prapnoty asaàçayaù

bhadre – in Bhadra; parçva-parivartinyam ekadaçyam – on the çukla-ekädaçi; govardhana – to Govardhana; yatra – a visit; adi-varahe – in the Ädi-varäha Puräna; masi bhadra-pade – in the month of Bhadra; ya – which; tu – indeed; çukla – çukla; ca – and; ekadaçé – ekädaçi; çubha – auspicious; govardhane – on Govardhana Hill; sopavasaù – with fasting; kuryat – does; tasya – of it; pradakñiëam – circumambulation; govardhanam – Govardhana; parikraman – circumambulating; dåñöva – having seen; devaà harià prabhum – Lord Hari; rajasuya – rajasuya; açvamedhabhyam – an asvamedha sacrifices; phalam – result; prapnoti – attains; asaàçayaù – without doubt.

Visiting Govardhana Hill During Ekädaçi in the Month of Bhädra (August-September)
In the Ädi-varäha Puräëa it is said:

On the auspicious çukla-ekädaçi in the month of Bhädra (August-September) one should fast and circumambulate Govardhana Hill. After circumambulating Govardhana Hill and seeing the Deity of Lord Hari there, one attains the result of having performed an räjasüya-yajïa and an açvamedha-yajïa. Of this there is no doubt.