Govardhan Puja and First Day of New Vikram Samvat

Govardhan Puja and Gujarati New Year are celebrated on the first day of shukl paksh of the Kartik month, the next day of Diwali with great joy and happiness. Gujarati New Year is also called Bestu Varsh, Padvo Nutan Varsh etc in Gujarai language. Lord Shree Krishna did the Govardhan Mountain Pujan with all the vrajvasi on this day and so practice for Govardhan Puja is followed across the nation. According to the Hindu Vikram Samvatsar calendar, Diwali is the last day of the year so the next day is celebrated as New Year in Gujarat calendar. This is the auspicious day for the businessman; they reopen the account on this day for the upcoming year.

Story and Significance: All our festivals are directly and indirectly correlated with the harvest. According to Vishnu Puran, in Vraj, a tradition followed to offer food from new crops to Lord Indra, the god of rain. Lord Shree Kirshna started to oppose this tradition and convince people to start pujan of Govardhan Mountain. So Lord Indra unleashed his wrath by deluging Vraj with rain to destroy it. To save the Vrajvasi and cattle Lord Shree Krishna lifts the Govardhan Parvat on his little finger and protects all.

After this incident Govardhan Puja and Annakoot - 56 or 108 types of food (Anna means food and koot means mountain) offering the Lord has been started. Another story is related to King Bali and Lord Shree Vaman, on this day Lord Vaman demands 3 strides of land and established Dharma on earth again. This auspicious day represents happiness during the whole year so Ved Vyas told; a person who remains joyous will experience happiness during the entire year and who waste it sadly will experience the same during the year. Rather than thinking about ones self and being self-involved, all of us have to think of our culture, spirituality, our country in true sense in the new year. In Vaishnav and Swaminarayana Sampraday there is much importance of Annkoot, which means first we offered food to Lord with true dedication and then take food as Prasad, this is the spirit of all the devotees.

Celebration: People across Gujarat wake up early in the morning and visit the temple with flowers and mithai. Gujarati New Year is celebrated in a very lavish way by all. Gujarati people are known for their colorful lifestyle and it reflects in all festival celebrations as well. All homes are lighted colorfully and decorated with flowers and rangoli. On this day, people dress up nicely and visit friends, neighbor and family. Everyone wishes each other New Year wish and offering prayers to God. Some temples in Gujarat also conduct a grand Govardhan Pooja and offer the Annakoot. People take a heavy lavish meal in the evening with friends and family. Students have a Diwali vacation for 15-20 days so many families plan domestic and international trips.

In short Gujarati New Year and Govardhan Puja is the time to forget all the pain, suffering and bad memories of last year, look towards the bright future in the right direction and try to reach closer to God. The soul of Gujarati culture and religion can be felt in the New Year celebrations. Love, unity and togetherness are the non measurable assets of these celebrations.