I have come from Mathura – Srila Gurudeva, 08 June 1995 [The following is a translation of a hindi lecture by Srila Gurudeva given on 08 June 1995 in Bombay in Uttarayan Society - Latest post on Bhaktabandhav] I have come from Mathurā, Vṛndāvana. Earlier also I used to come to the temple of this school and people used to come hear harikathā. Today, I am very pleased that we present here. I am also very happy to see the enthusiasm in all these small children. Today is a very special day. On this day, Gaṅgā Devī herself came to this world. Gaṅgā Devī comes to Gaṅgotrī, to Prayāga, and then on to other places. I also went to these places and was very happy to see these places. I went around 45 years ago. We were around 400 to 500 people and we went on foot. And when the day ended we used to camp someplace. We used to go to villages and preach there. But now I see that there is not so much taste in this traveling and preaching. Gaṅgā Devī is coming from so many different sources such as Gaṅgotrī, Alakānanda, and so on. Gaṅgājī comes from Brahmaloka to the kamaṇḍalu of Lord Brahma and then to the hair of Lord Shiva. Also, on this day a very special Vaiṣṇavi was born. She was born approximately 350 years ago in Bengal. She was the daughter of a King. She was very beautiful and had all good qualities. She had bhakti for God. One-time her father gave a deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa to her. Instead of dolls, she used to play with this ‘doll’. Subsequently, she even married this deity. She studied Sanskrit, Bhāgavata and so forth. When she grew up, the king wanted to marry her but she refused. Everyone tried to persuade her to marry some wealthy prince but she said that Kṛṣṇa is her only husband. In the end because of repeated pleas, her father sent her to Vṛndāvana. She went to Govindadeva. She was only 16 years old but had deep renunciation. She used to hear Bhāgavata from the senior devotees staying in Govindadeva temple. She liked to hear the Bhāgavatam and whenever she heard it she used to cry. Later on, she also took initiation from a priest there known as Haridāsa Prabhu Her Guru ordered her to beg from house to house. He knew that she was a princess, yet he gave her this order. When she used to go for begging, instead of getting one small morsel, she used to get the whole meal. People were awed by her beauty and by her sweet voice. They used to think that how much the renunciation this woman has and how nicely she speaks the narrations of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Everyone was enchanted. She never used to take anything more than what she required. She used to take one morsel from one house and some other morsel from four other houses, and then used to eat. In this way she maintained herself. Even though she was a princess, she used to wear ordinary clothes, and stay like an ordinary person. She was able to explain the Bhāgavatam very nicely as in previous times Jayadeva Gosvāmī had done so. When she spoke, everyone was enchanted. Then her Guru told her to go to Rādhā-kuṇḍa. She stayed there due to his order and now she was 40 years old. Somehow she stayed at Rādhā-kuṇḍa and did austerity. In the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam, there are 12 cantos. In the first nine cantos, there’s nothing much about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. In those cantos, there are narrations of the devotees of the Lord, about some kings, and so on. They have been narrated so as to develop knowledge and renunciation. And then in the 10th Canto, the pastimes of the Lord beginning from His birth up to His disappearance are narrated. In this 10th Canto, there is Rāsa-pañcādhyāya, Veṇu-gīta, Yugala-gīta, Bhramara-gīta, and so on. These are very wonderful topics and the people who are qualified to listen to these topics are also very rare. These are the topmost devotees. How much is anurāga of the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa, how much is anurāga of Yaśodā Mātā for Kṛṣṇa? How much is anurāga of the gopīs, especially Lalitā and Viśākhā? It cannot be compared to anything in this world. That love is without any motive of sense gratification. She used to meditate on these pastimes. When she became 50 years old, her Guru told her to go to Jagannātha Purī, “Now you go there and preach bhakti.” Then she went to Jagannātha Purī. There she used to sit in an open ground and very nicely speak the explanations of the ślokas of Śrīmad-bhāgavatam. Now many big people started coming to listen to her. Many devotees also started to come; even the king started coming in disguise. She became very famous. In Jaipur, there was a very beautiful deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Brahmin who was in charge of worshiping this deity was not doing his services very nicely. He had no time. All his time was spent in collecting donations. Nowadays also, many Brahmans are like this: they are not concerned with worship, rather they are concerned with donations. One day, the Lord told this Brahmin that in Jagannātha Purī there is a devotee. You should give Me to that devotee. If you do not go and deliver me to that devotee then I will destroy you. There will be no more people in your dynasty then. You do not worship me nicely. If you cannot find her, then you put me in a forest nearby. The brahmana then took Lord Kṛṣṇa in a basket and went to Jagannātha Purī. This narration is from around three to four centuries back. At that time there were no railways. Somehow, the brahmana walked to that place. He went to this place and inquired about the female devotee whose name is Gaṅgā Mātā. Then, he took the deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa and went to her and said, “This deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa has given me an order in my dream that I should deliver Him to you and that you will worship Him. Therefore, I have come with this deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa and you should also accept and worship Him.” Gaṅgā Mātā said, “I cannot worship this deity of the Lord. I have no means to arrange for His worship. How can I arrange for very nice foodstuffs to be offered to Him? This service is not possible for me. I maintain myself by some alms given by other people. How can I maintain Him?” In the end, the brahmana put the deity of the Lord in a garden of Tulasī nearby. At night, Gaṅgā Mātā had a dream. The Lord Himself came in the dream and said to her, “I have come from so far away and you are neglecting me? Look, I have been staying here for so many days in this garden of Tulasī. I have not eaten for so many days. You will not give me anything or bathe me?” Gaṅgā Mātā’s heart melted and when she went to this garden of Tulasī she saw the deity there in reality. It was a very small deity. She took the deity of the Lord to the temple, and bathed Him there. Then she cooked herself and offered to the Lord. Since then, His worship is continued even now. Today, on the day of appearance of Gaṅgā Devī, she had a desire to bathe in the Gaṅgā. Gaṅgā is not present in Jagannātha Purī, and therefore, she thought that she should go to Bengal. Many people from that area went to take bath in the Gaṅgā. but, how can she leave? Who will serve her beloved Kṛṣṇa? Actually, water from the lotus feet of the Lord is Gaṅgā. At night, a huge flow of water that appeared in that place. There is a kuṇḍa there, which is now known as Śveta Gaṅgā kuṇḍa. Anyone who goes to Purī first of all bathes in this water and then has the darśana of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā. Just see how wonderful the līlā of Lord Kṛṣṇa is. Now, Gaṅgā emanated from the Lord’s lotus feet and reached that kuṇḍa and then from there this flow of water reached the temple of Jagannātha Purī. Now, Gaṅgā Mātā was very much happy that today Gaṅgā has appeared in her place. While she was bathing in her waters, she was swept away and she reached right inside Jagannātha temple. The door of the temple of the deity was closed but somehow it opened at that time. In Jagannātha temple, there is a rule that the door of the temple is bolted and then a seal is put on top. And in the morning those who bolted the door come back and open the door. Nobody else can open this door. So much security is there. Although the door was closed, somehow it opened and Gaṅgā Mātā went inside with the flow of the water. In the morning, when the door was opened, everyone saw that she was there. Everyone wondered how she got there and calculated that she had entered the deity room when the door was closed. Now they decided to put her behind bars and punish her. They thought that she had come to the deity room to steal the priceless ornaments of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Gaṅgā Mātā replied that she stays nearby and everyone around knows her. She said that she was bathing in the Gaṅgā and somehow reached there. But nobody believed. They took her and put her behind bars. Now the king was to decide her fate. At night, the king had a dream of Lord Jagannātha who said, “Don’t consider her ordinary. I have manifested Gaṅgā only for her. I have called her for Myself. You should give her royal honor and send her back to her ashram respectfully. Also, you and all the other paṅḍās should go and become her disciples. Whatever she says, you should follow.” When the king woke up, he executed the command of the Lord and sent her to her asrama very respectfully with royal honor. The next day everyone went to her for dīkṣā. She said, “I don’t give dīkṣā to anybody. This is not my work. There are so many saints and devotees. You should go there.” But the king repeatedly pleaded and said that it was the will of Lord Jagannātha Himself. In the end, she relented and gave him gopāla-mantra. This gopāla-mantra has been coming in the disciplic succession. This Gopāla is our prāṇa-vallabha, the Lord of our lives. Link: bhaktabandhav/2013/09/i-have-come-from-mathura-srila-gurudeva-08-june-1995/
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:19:03 +0000
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