Gopas means the cowherd men and the cowherd boys. So Vṛndāvana is village life. It is not a town like Los Angeles. It is village. It is village, and they are always taking pleasure on the bank of Yamunā. Yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī. And there are very nice gardens on the bank of the Yamunā. And whenever there is some danger... Of course, in the original Vṛndāvana there is no question of danger. It is blissful, transcendental abode. But when Kṛṣṇa comes down to show us the replica of the original Vṛndāvana... That Vṛndāvana is there on this planet in India, about ninety miles from New Delhi. It is exactly the same Vṛndāvana, but because it is on this material world, it appears that there is sometimes danger. So when Kṛṣṇa was present on this earth, on this planet, so there was some danger. Actually there was no danger because Kṛṣṇa was present. But it appeared like that. So there was torrents of rain for seven days. The Indra, the demigod who is in charge of the watering department of this universe, he... (someone laughs) Don't laugh. It is very serious. So he became very angry. Kṛṣṇa stopped demigod worship, Indra worship, so he became very angry. So there was torrents of rain for seven days continually, and Kṛṣṇa took up a hill which is called Govardhana Hill—if sometimes you come to Vṛndāvana, you will see the Govardhana is there—as the umbrella on the, what is called finger, ring finger? No. Small finger. So jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī, gopījana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī. Immediately lifted the big mountain as umbrella like this. So when Kṛṣṇa was present, although He was playing like an ordinary human child or human being, still, when there was need, He manifested His godly power. That is God. When it was needed to protect the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, He lifted a big hill, and since then His name is Giri-vara-dhārī. Giri-vara-dhārī means that hill, and He sustained that hill. He was at that time seven years old from material calculation.
But in the original Vṛndāvana there is no such thing as the wrath of Indra, the king of heaven, and danger or torrents of rain overflood, inundation. There is no such thing. There everything is blissful, transcendental and eternal. Here we have got a little sample, because whatever you have got in this material world, that is simply imitation, a shadow of the original. Sometimes... You can understand that on the desert sometimes it appears there is a vast ocean of water, mirage. But actually there is no water. Those who are animals, they sometimes are misled. They are thirsty, and they think that there is water in the desert, and they run over, but actually there is no water. The animal runs, and the water also advances. In this way, when he becomes too much fatigued, he dies. This is the exact example of this material world. We are hankering after water, we are thirsty, and we are being misled by so-called water, mirage, Just like while I was coming here, both sides, the manifestation of material civilization, electrical wire pumping station of oil, big, big motorcars light, motel, hotel and so many things... So we are thinking that these things will give us relief; our thirst will be quenched, our hankering for water will be satisfied. But it has failed. In your country especially—not in your country, in all countries—so many young flowers of your country, they are frustrated. That's a fact. (aside:) What is that sound? They are frustrated. That is a fact. You know; I know. So this kind of mirage, showing of water—actually there is no water—a shadow of water will not help us. That is a fact. But because there is shadow of water, we can understand that there is real water. It is not that the shadow of water is all in all, finished. There is water. But we have to seek out that water elsewhere, not in the desert. In the desert the shadow of water will not quench your thirst.