(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 06 April 2015, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture: The secret of spiritual advancement)
I do a puja every day to my sila from Govardhan. Taking Govardhan silas, or the sacred stones of Govardhan, is not a cheap thing and if everybody takes a stone of Govardhan then one day, I wonder what will be left in Vrindavan so I am in two minds about it but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave a Govardhan sila to Raghunatha Das Goswami who was a renunciant, so our claim is first.
When it comes to Govardhan worship, our claim as renunciants is first, not that everybody and his aunty must have Govardhan because when you are a householder, you can have deities. We have Govardhan because we are on the road, we are moving, we do not have a house and we do not have a big altar so we have a small sila because we can move that way. For householders, it is deity worship and you can dress them nicely.
Anyway, I have my Govardhan sila and it is very nice because I am living with Krsna and he is tolerating me. I am staying in the same room as Krsna; that is something. I am sorry for Krsna but what to do, he tolerates me and I am his servant. I awaken the Lord in the morning and later, I offer him a bath, I offer him scented oil, I offer him decorations with dots on his face, I offer him sandalwood and tulasi leaves, then I put him on a silver throne and I will make arrangements to decorate his altar in various ways. Then I will offer him arati and various paraphernalia and finally, I will offer him bhoga – different preparations; and I do this every day and that is a sacred element in my life and nothing can change that!
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