What's Inside
Temple Hall
The most sacred space within the palace complex is the main temple room aesthetically clad in white marble and directly facing Giri Govardhan. This former assembly hall of the King is now the residence of the presiding deities, Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Giriraj Govardhan, and Srila Prabhupada.
The deeply spiritual and sanctified vibrations in the temple room helps one revive one’s dormant spiritual nature and inspires one to get immersed in Vedic rituals, holy chants and highly positive vibrations. One can either spend a quite time here in contemplative meditation, or participate in one or more of the daily sacred ceremonies.
Prasadam Hall
The prasadam serving area can easily cater to 30 devotees at a time. However, the ashram has several flexi spaces with the capacity to feed up to 2,000 guests for any meal.
The Presiding Deities and Their Story
The presiding deities of ISKCON Govardhan are Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Giriraj Govardhan and Srila Prabhupada.
When ISKCON started redeveloping the property in 1994 and the prasadam hall was being constructed, many Giriraj Shilas were found buried in the ground. All those shilas were relocated to create a replica of Giri Govardhan in the Kadamba trees grove and have been worshiped there since then. The main shila had a blackish complexion, and was worshiped by the King. This shila is now seated in our main altar as Krishna Shila. A few days later, while digging the ground to construct a water tank, the local Vrajavasi workers found a big Giriraj Shila with white complexion. This became our Balarama Shila. Our main worshipable deities are Krishna Balarama.
These Silas however, were not established immediately. Tamal Krishna Maharaj´s initial plan was to have a deity of just Srila Prabhupada on the altar. A group of visiting devotees having completed their parikrama carrying a brass deity of Srila Prabhupada, donated the deity to the ashram. This deity was placed on an asana on the main altar. However, the palace was still under extensive renovation and somehow, in the midst of large-scale worker activity, this deity got stolen.
After this incident, Sri Krishna Balaram shilas were established for their worship on the main temple altar. When Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja first saw Sri Sri Krishna Balarama present on the main altar, he immediately understood that Srila Prabhupada’s mood and desire was to always keep Krishna and Balaram in the center and not himself. After this Srila Prabhupada was established next to Sri Sri Krishna Balarama altar.
The Krishna Balaram deities in ISKCON Govardhan and known to be extremely responsive. Many resident and visiting devotees have experienced Their vivid reciprocation to their sincere service and prayers.
The Gaura Nitai deities and Srila Prabhupada´s deity were personally worshiped by Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja during his studies at Cambridge University. In accordance to his will, these deities were moved to ISKCON Govardhan after his demise.
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja Pushpa Samadhi
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja had written in his will that he desired to remain in samadhi at Srila Prabhupada’s Palace in ISKCON Govardhan. However, the will also mentioned that if he left his body near Mayapur, his samadhi should be in Mayapur and a pushpa samadhi should be set up in Govardhan. In accordance to his wishes, a pushpa samadhi was established in 2002 with bhoga offerings and worship being offered every day.
Tamal Groves
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj’s exemplary Guru nishtha and devoted service to Srila Prabhupada made him an iconic personality amongst Srila Prabhupada’s disciples. When ISKCON acquired Srila Prabhupada’s Palace, there was a grove of beautiful tamal trees in the front yard. Many years later, the shade of these tamal trees became the site of Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj’s pushpa samadhi. That his name and the site of his pushpa samadhi were both Tamal, is certainly not a coincidence for Srila Prabhupada’s dearmost disciple. Krishna makes perfect arrangements for His devotees.
Goshala
The very name Govardhan, indicates the great significance of cows. “Go” in Sanskrit means “cows or senses”, and “Vardhana” means “nourishment”.
When the first devotees came here, they did not have any cows. But by Giriraj’s divine intervention for the pleasure of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, a cow started showing up at the ashram gate. Over a period of time, she got used to the resident devotees’ affection and the devotees to her presence, until one day she moved into the ashram and decided to stay for good. Even though devotees did not have any plan to keep cows at the time, Sri Giriraj induced them to keep his cows. The Ashram goshala produces sufficient milk to provide for Sri Sri Krishna Balarams’s needs of fresh milk, yogurt, butter, and ghee.
Serving cows in Govardhan is a matter of immense piety. Because cows are especially dear to Sri Giriraj and to Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, they play a very important role in our Krishna Consciousness movement, and their presence is a boon from the Lord.
Kirtan / Katha Hall
The palace complex has multiple spaces, both indoors and in the open beneath trees, for kirtan and katha. The roof of the palace building can accommodate 300 devotees and presents an amazing unobstructed close-up view of Sri Govardhan.
The samadhi garden area carpeted with silken sands from the banks of the Yamuna and surrounded by beautiful Kadamba and Tamal trees transports one to the Vraja of the past and can seat over 500 devotees.
The temple hall also serves as a space for Kirtan and Katha. During the month of Kartika, the group of listeners is typically much bigger and classes are moved to the backyard of the palace under the shade of tall Kadamba trees.
Giriraj Gardens
The palace complex has gardens of vegetables, flowers, fruits and a collection of unique local plants, many with medicinal value, that enhance the beauty of the place. Tall Asoka trees line both sides of the road welcoming visitors. The shade of the neem trees in the front yard is especially pleasing to chant or read. Full grown Kadamba, Tamal, and Bakul trees abound all over the property. There are several varieties of fruit trees. Only cow dung produced from the ashram goshala as fertilizer in the gardens at ISKCON Govatdhan.
Tulasi Gardens
Among all the plants in the palace gardens, Tulasi holds a very special place. There are designated Tulasi gardens with beautiful green Rama Tulasi and the mysterious purple Shyama Tulasi.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Srila Ragunatha Dasa Goswami about the simple method of worshipping Govardhan Shila by bathing with Radhakund water and offering 8 soft tulasi manjaris with devotion. This gives immense pleasure to Sri Giriraj.
Organic Farming
ISKCON Govardhan strictly follows organic farming standards. Resident devotees grow sufficient agricultural produce to offer to the presiding deities throughout the year.
Flowers
Come spring and winter, the palace gardens are awash with the colors of a variety of flowers that include rose, jasmine, malati, mogra, marigolds and many other local flowers. We grow sufficient flowers to provide for our daily worship throughout the year. However, we have to buy flowers for special decorations during festivals.
Temple Ashram
The original structure of ISKCON Govardhan Palace was built by Maharaja Bhawani Singh of Chattarpur, Madhya Pradesh, to serve as a summer house for the royal family during their visits to the Holy Dham.
The architectural style of the palace is a beautiful mélange of Rajput and European themes. Built out of limestone and natural materials, the palace has vast courtyards surrounded by several smaller arched spaces. These spaces have now been converted into residential quarters, study rooms, halls and public areas for both resident and visiting devotees.
The first floor of the palace houses the temple room and 5 residential rooms, from which one can relish the beautiful view of Sri Giriraj Govardhan, the gardens and the goshala. The ground floor has a prasadam hall and living spaces including two large dormitories all of which open up to beautiful courtyards.