🙏 Puja Vidhi & Mantra

🐄 Govardhan Puja & Annakut Vidhi

Puja samagri

• Fresh cow-dung (gobar) to shape Govardhan, or clay; cotton, sticks/straw for trees and cows
• Roli, akshat, moli, haldi, flowers, kheel-batashe, jaggery
• Milk, curd, ghee, honey, Ganga jal; a small diya for the navel of Govardhan
• Annakut: as many dishes as possible — kadhi-chawal, mixed vegetables, puri, bajra, sweets (traditionally 56 dishes / chhappan bhog)
• Picture or idol of Shri Krishna (Giridhari), tulsi leaves for Krishna, lamp, dhoop, camphor
• Fodder and jaggery for cows

Step-by-step method

1. In the morning, bathe and clean the courtyard or the place of worship.
2. Shape Govardhan hill from cow-dung in the form of a reclining figure or a hill; make small cows, calves, cowherds, trees and Krishna around it. Leave a hollow at the navel.
3. Decorate with flowers, sticks and cotton; place a small diya in the navel hollow and pour milk, curd, honey and batashe in it at puja time.
4. Sankalp for the well-being of the family and cattle, then worship Shri Krishna and Govardhan with roli, akshat, flowers, dhoop and deep.
5. Offer the Annakut — all the cooked dishes — first to Shri Krishna with tulsi leaves, then to Govardhan.
6. Recite the Govardhan prayer mantra and the story of Govardhan leela.
7. Do seven parikramas (circumambulations) of the Govardhan figure, pouring a thin stream of water or milk from a lota and scattering barley/rice, while singing "Govardhan maharaj ki jai".
8. Worship cows and bullocks: bathe them if possible, apply roli-haldi, garland them and feed fodder and jaggery with the Gau mantra.
9. Perform "Aarti Kunj Bihari ki" and distribute the Annakut prasad to everyone.
10. In Maharashtra and Karnataka the day is also Bali Pratipada; many traders begin the new year and in some places Vishwakarma puja is done — follow your family custom.

Mantras