A Walk of the Heart - My Govardhan Parikrama

I did Govardhan Parikrama recently, during Kartik, and it is difficult to say what happened in words. It was not just a walk around a hill, it was a walk through the landscape of my own heart.

We started the walk at night around 4 am. The air was breezy, the path was dark, and the calls of peacocks and monkeys echoed around us. I was a little afraid at first, but somehow, step by step, I kept walking. It felt like faith was guiding my feet more than sight. There were moments when I could not see more than a few steps ahead, but somehow I knew I was held, guided, and protected. Here, you don’t walk alone. You walk with surrender.

I kept seeing footprints - small ones and large ones, some fresh and some fading. Footprints of those who came with innocence, with prayer, with age, with longing. The path felt full of lives and stories I would never know, but could still feel. Every footprint felt like a memory left in the dust. I felt like every step I took was joining the steps of millions who have walked before me, saints, seekers, unsure souls, tired souls, hopeful souls, all drawn to the same mysterious center of love.

And yet, in the middle of all of this beauty, a deep emotion kept rising: “I am unqualified to be here.”

How can someone with so many imperfections walk where Radharani walks? How can someone who forgets Krishna so easily take steps on his sacred body?

But the answer came quietly, from dear Govardhan itself:

No one walks Parikrama because they are worthy. We walk because we are longing.

Govardhan accepts longing.

I saw devotees doing dandavats parikrama, offering their full bodies to the dust, again and again, for miles. One prostration. Stand. Step forward. Bow again. Some moved so slowly, it looked like time had stopped around them. Their bodies were tired, but their hearts were steady. And I realized love does not always look powerful. Sometimes love is just not giving up.

As I continued to walk, something softened inside. I did not need to be qualified. I only needed to keep walking. I only needed to remember that every step is a prayer, every breath is a chant, every grain of dust is mercy.

Govardhan is not climbed. Govardhan is not conquered. Govardhan is accepted when the heart becomes sincere.

I thought I was completing the parikrama, but really, it was the parikrama that completed me.

It left me quieter, gentler, and a little more aware that the path back to Krishna is walked one small, honest step at a time.