A Folk Tale on Hindola
After Krishna’s birth, the gopas and gopis of Vraj contend with all kinds of evil spirits like Putana, Kaliya, Aghasura, Trinavarta, Shataka and face Indra’s wrath too. But when they see Krishna putting an end to them all with such ease and élan the gopas and gopis know that Krishna will take good care of them all. Always.
So they enjoy their lives to the fullest. And whenever Krishna teases them, steals their butter and sweet talks his way out of their anger, they forgive Him. Life with Krishna was fun. No one ever doubted that.
Each Vrajwasi shares a unique relationship with Krishna so experiences a different emotion when they interact with Him. Yashoda’s heart brims with motherly love, the gopas and gopis think of Krishna as their sakha and the gopis confide their deepest fears in Him.
Now, the gopas of Vraj discuss Krishna’s tales endlessly with absolute love and devotion whenever they take their cows to the pastures. And the gopis do the same whenever they go to the markets to sell their milk and butter.
The plants, trees, creepers, fruits, leaves and grass are mute spectators to these leelas. They cannot speak a word or move from their places. But they too have an intense longing for Krishna’s touch and yearn to engage in His leelas.
So they do the only thing they know. They perform a tapasya to please their creator Brahma. Brahma becomes perplexed because this is the first time such creatures were performing a penance to please him.
So He quickly manifests before the plants and creepers and asks them what they want. When the plants and creepers express their desire to Brahma, he smiles with understanding.
Brahma knows none can resist the charms of Krishna. So he looks at all the plants and trees and says, “Yes, I will most certainly fulfil your wish. But in the future. So far, you have witnessed only Krishna’s Bal leela. The best is yet to come.
Krishna will engage in the mystic Raas Leela with Radha and all the gopis along the banks of the Yamuna, in Vrindavan shortly. And with my blessings, all of you will be reborn there. You all will have the good fortune of engaging in the Hindola Leela for 32 nights with Krishna and Radha.
Yes, yes, Radha is Krishna’s Ananda swaroop. I too know that. But the gopis will create all kinds of swings on huge trees like you. They will use flowers, leaves, fruits, buds, vegetables and creepers too to create different kinds of swings for Krishna. And Krishna will sit on these swings along with Radha before and after the Maha Raas. So you all will definitely get a chance to touch Krishna and feel his divine essence and closeness.
And since each Vrajwasi shares a unique relationship with Krishna each one of you will also have the good fortune of experiencing the bhaav of Chandravaliji, RadhaSahacharji and Yamunaji, the other three divine aspects of Krishna in Vrindavan.”
The essence of Hindola Leela
**The word “Hindola” means a swing. The Hindola leela begins on the first day of the Krishna Paksha of Ashadh and ends on the second day of the Krishna Paksha of Shravan.
**We seat our Nidhi Swaroops on an undecorated silver Hindola on the first and last day while blowing the conch, playing the cymbals and ringing bells. And for approximately 30 days we create beautiful designs with flowers, fruits, vegetables and leaves on top of this silver Hindola.
**The two main Stambhs of the Hindola symbolise Yashodaji’s and Swaminji’s hands that cradle Krishna with love.
**We refer to both Radhaji and Yamunaji as Swaminiji.
**The dual-layered skirt that is tied below the Hindola embodies the bhaav of Radha’s and Yashoda’s saree.
** We always tie a jhoomar or chamri above our Nidhi swaroops perhaps to recreate the ambience of Krishna’s Goloka, the highest realm of all.
**The four rods of the Hindola symbolise Krishna’s four divine aspects – Radhaji (Krishna’s Ananda swaroop), Chandravaliji (the sound of the Vedas manifest as the Shrutiroopa gopis), RadhaSahacharji (the rishis of Dandakaryana manifest as the AgniKumarika gopis) and Yamunaji, (Krishna’s Bhakti swaroop).
** Yes, we do revere Radhaji, Chandravaliji, RadhaSahacharji and Yamunaji during the Hindola leela. But the prime focus is on Krishna and His Ananda swaroop, Radha.
** During the Hindola leela, we attempt to recreate the different bhaavs that the gopas and gopis experienced in Vraj and Vrindavan.
** For the first 8 days we recreate Yashoda’s bhaav of motherly love in Nandalaya. During the next 8 days, we focus on the bhaav that the gopas and gopis experienced in and around Girirajji ( Goverdhan Parvat).
**We then recreate the bhaav of Krishna’s leelas with the gopis along the banks of the Yamuna in Vrindavan. And on the last 8 days, we recreate the bhaav of Ananda that Radha has for Krishna.
** Some people believe that for the first 16 days we focus only on the love that Krishna has for all His creations. And the remaining 16 days we focus on the love that Krishna’s creations had for Him.
** The rituals followed during the Hindola leela vary slightly from temple to temple. But the essence remains the same.
**In most Pushti Marg mandirs, we usually seat the swaroop of BalKrishnalalji or NavneetPriyaji on a Singhasan. So here we recreate the Balbhaav of Krishna in Nandalaya.
**In these temples we seat our Nidhi Swaroops on the Hindola only during the Utthapan and Sandhya Arti darshan because Krishna, the cowherd, takes his cows to the pastures and returns home after which Yashoda rocks Him to sleep on the Hindola.
**But in Nathdwara, we seat the swaroop of Madanmohanji too on the Hindola. Here we focus on creating Krishna’s Kishore (adolescent) Bhaav during the Hindola leela.
** Regardless of which swaroop we seat on the Hindola, we sing keertans only in praise of Gokulchandramaji, Vittalnathji, Madanmohanji and Goverdhannathji because these swaroops symbolise Krishna’s Kishore Bhaav, which is the prime focus of the Hindola leela.
**Usually we do not place the Venuji (the flute) alongside Madanmohanji whenever we perform our seva. Because we believe that if Madanmohanji plays the flute, even Kamadev will succumb to Moha.
**But during the Hindola leela, we make it a point to place the Venuji alongside Madanmohanji. We believe that during the 32 days of Hindola leela Krishna wishes to capture the hearts of everyone and wants them to succumb to His Moha.
**In Nathdwara we create the Hindola leela in the main chowk of the temple because we believe that Shrinathji, who is none other than Krishna, is the lord of Goloka.
**In Nathwara alone Shrinathji sits on the Hindola while partaking the bhog that we offer him. We believe that Krishna engages in all his Kishore leelas in Vraj and then returns home for lunch.
** We perform the Hindola Vijay ceremony with the same grandeur that we performed when we initiated the Hindola leela. We adorn Krishna with the same shringar, recreate the same ambience around our shrines and sing the same four padas of Govindswami that we sang on the first day.
**We then do the parikrama of the Hindola and perform the Arti. We ensure that Krishna alights from the Hindola on a good muhurat. Then we offer our gratitude to Him for blessing us with His divine essence. We then draw the curtains on Krishna’s wondrous Hindola leela which is so very symbolic. Krishna’s leelas are as mystic as Krishna Himself. Aren’t they?
Input given by Hema Ben.
Photos given by Hardevji, Amma and Purushotham Bhai.
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