Govinda

My knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindism's pretty limited, but I think I've sussed out Govinda with the help of "stephen-knapp.com/standard_hare_krishna-songs" and "hindureligion.net"

Govinda Jaya Jaya Gopala Jaya Jaya

= All glories to Govinda (the Supreme Lord) All glories to Gopala (the Supreme Lord as a boy tending a herd of cows)

Radha Ramana Hari Govinda Jaya Jaya

= All glories to Radha Ramana (Lord krishna who takes away all material attatchments of devotees)

Nrsingadeva Jaya Nrsingadeva Gaura Gaura Gaura Hari

= All glories to Nrsingadeva (Krishna when he adopts a lion's head and a human's body to protect devotes from demons) and all glories to Gaura Hari (The Golden Supreme - Krishna when he appeared near Bombay in the sixteenth century as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabu)

Gaura Hari Prabhupta Govinda

=The Golden Supreme, The Hare Krishna Movement, The Supreme Lord.

Sanskrit's a fascinating language. One word can often have several different meanings which can make translation tricky. Some of the sages took advantage of these double (or quintuple :-}) meanings to make their scriptures work on several levels simultaneously.

Just to make things even more interesting, many Hindus believe in one universal force which can manifest itself as several different Gods simultaneously. Govinda, Gopola, Nrsingdeva (along with all he protects us from) and Gaura Hari are all different aspects of the same thing.

Of course, Govinda is also within and without each of us. We just have to look......

i have no idea what the lyrics mean, but i really love the song, i think its amazing. it's a sort of feel-good song.

love to your mother, love to your father. apparantly. it does make you feel goo tho doesn't it??? and kula shaker always remind me of star wars.

The song is a traditional song from India about Sri Krishna (Krsna) the 8th avatar of Vishnu. Although I cannot read/understand sanskrit i'm familiar with some of the words. Govinda and Gopala are both words relating to Krsna's childhood on a farm. I believe Govinda translates into something like the "God of Cows" and Gopala is something similar. "Jaya" means roughly "Glory be to". Radha was Krsna's partner (the most important of many).

On the version on 'Kollected', there's silence from the ending of the regular song until about the 16:33 mark, where something else fades in, it goes something like:

In the beginning was the word and the word was (something in sanskrit)

In the beginning there was nothing to be heard but (more sanskrit)

Not sure if anyone else noticed this, I was just curious why my song length was over 18 minutes and decided to listen to the whole thing one day.

Gopala is one of Krsna's names. During Krsna's childhood in Vrindavana in North India, he grew up as a cow boy/cow herder. He took care of the cows, by taking a herd of cows for grazing to forests and green pastures. He protected them from wild beasts. Gopala is actually a joint name from two words: go + pala. The meaning of go = cow, and the meaning of pala = caretaker or a person who protects and is responsible for the safety of something or someone.

Ramanhari is again one of the names of Sri Krsna. Radha was the name of Krsna’s childhood friend and beloved. She is His consort. The word Ramanhari means "the one who steals the peace of the mind" that is, in this case, of Radha. Sri Krsna enchanted Radha, all of the gopis and gopalas, animals and villagers by His flute (anandini, bansuri, murali).

Nrsingadeva is an avatar (incarnation) of Krsna/Vishnu. This form of Krsna was half lion and half man (the upper part of his body (face, chest and stomach) was of a lion, and lower part of his body was of a man). He had the fore limbs (arms) of a lion, having big paws and very sharp, long nails. Nrsingdeva, itself, is a joint name of three words as follows: nr = male/man, sing = lion, deva = god.

Prabhupada refers to the spiritual master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Praphupada ji, the founder of ISKCON. This is a common temple bhajan/song.

Govindam is one of the names given to Sri Krsna. It is a joint name from two words: gov = cows + indam = god. Govinda was the person who was the god of the cows or the person who took care of the cows, just like the One takes care of man. Cows are very sacred in Bharat (India). They are entitled respect and loyalty, because they are like mothers (read: Holy Cow by Steven J. Rosen).

Background Information: "Govinda" is a folk/devotional song and it is about Sri Krsna.

Lets see... Govinda = god, work the rest out for youre self

it's a mantra dedicated to Sri Krsna! it is recited at poojas. I love this song!

to me it sounds- golden vagina