The story of Mādhavendra Purī and Śrī Gopāla

Once Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s grand spiritual master, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī travelled to Vṛndāvana. In the course of his journey, he came to Govardhana Hill and became submerged in love of God (prema-āveśa). In that prema, he did not know whether it was day or night. Sometimes he would stand, and sometimes he would fall to the ground. In such a state, he was completely unconscious of his external surroundings. He could not discriminate whether he was in a proper place or not.

He somehow completed the parikramā of Śrī Govardhana and then proceeded towards Govinda-kuṇḍa, where he took bath in its sacred water. Mādhavendra Purī would never ask anyone for food, and if no one offered it, he would simply fast. Near this place, he sat under a tree without any food, and absorbed in his bhajana, chanted continuously with his eyes closed.

A young cowherd boy came with a pot of milk, placed it before him and smilingly said, “Mādhavendra Purī, please drink the milk I have brought. Why don’t you ask for some food to eat? What kind of meditation are you doing?”

Hearing the boy’s sweet speech, Mādhavendra Puripāda completely forgot his hunger and had no desire to eat or drink anything. He gently inquired from the boy, “Who are You? Where do You live and how did you know that I was fasting?”

“I am a resident here in this village of Govardhana and I take care of cows,” the boy answered. “In my jurisdiction, no one remains hungry without food. Here, people can easily beg food from others. The village women who came here to fetch water saw you perfroming bhajana without eating, so they sent me with this milk for you. I must go quickly for milking, but I will come back to collect the milk pot from you.”

After saying this, the boy suddenly left. Mādhavendra Purī’s heart was filled with astonishment. He could only think of the boy’s sweet words; nothing had broken his meditation like this before. He drank the milk in great jubilation, and ecstatic symptoms appeared on his body. Washing the pot, he set it aside, waiting for the young boy to return to take it. He could only think of this sweet boy and what he had said to him and nothing else. The boy had said that he would return. So this time, he did not want to close his eyes, and kept looking in the direction where the boy left, but the boy never returned.

Mādhavendra Purī was unable to sleep and the whole night he chanted the holy names of Śrī Kṛṣṇa under that same tree–waiting . Finally, at the end of the night, he dozed off. As he slept, that very same cowherd boy came back to him in a dream and took him by the hand to a place in the jungle that was heavily covered with thick creepers and plants.

“I live in this bush without adequate shelter,” said the boy. “As a result, I suffer terribly from the bitter cold of winter, the downpours of the rainy season, the scorching heat of the summer, and the severe winds. Quickly gather the villagers. Have them take Me out of this bush and place Me very nicely on the crest of the hill. Build a temple on the hill and establish Me there. When you install Me, please bathe Me with plenty of cold water, so that My body may be thoroughly cleansed.” The young cowherd boy continued in the same sweet voice, “For a long time, I have been observing you and thinking, ‘When will Mādhavendra Purī come here to serve Me? I will be revealed according to his loving service, and I shall deliver from saṃsāra^[1] those who take My darśana.’”

“My name is Gopāla, the lifter of Govardhana. I was installed formerly by King Vajranābha^[2] _, and here in this region I am the prime authority. When the Muslims invaded, the pūjārī was afraid of those barbarians, so he hid Me in these bushes and fled. I have remained here ever since, so it is very good that you have now come. Please take Me out of here with care.”

After speaking thus, the boy disappeared. Mādhavendra Purī woke up and began to ponder on his dream.

“Earlier I saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa directly, but I could not distinguish who He was at the time.” Saying this, he cried and fell to the ground in the ecstasy of prema-āveśa. After his deep lamentation, he peacefully fixed his mind on carrying out the order of Gopāla, who out of His own mercy revealed Himself to him. Mādhavendra Purī took his morning bath and came into the village. He called all the people and addressed them:

“The proprietor of the village, Govardhana-dhārī, is situated in the thick bushes in the jungle. Come, let’s all go there and carefully excavate Him. The jungle there is very dense and we will need hatchets and spades to make our way.”

Hearing this, all the villagers enthusiastically assembled, and with pleasure followed Mādhavendra Purī, who directed them in clearing a path through the dense jungle. After carefully digging at the place mentioned in the dream, they finally found Śrī Gopālajī. Awestruck and jubilant, they beheld the deity of Gopāla, all covered in dirt and grass.

The deity was so heavy that the villagers could not lift Him. After gently cleaning Him, Mādhavendra Purī, accompanied by the strongest men, carried the deity to the crest of the hill. The deity was carefully placed on a big throne of stone. Another large stone was placed at the back to give Him support.

All the brāhmaṇas in the village assembled to perform a bathing ceremony (abhiṣeka). Nine hundred pots of water were carried from Govinda-kuṇḍa and filtered. All the women and children also came, and there was a great festival with singing and dancing, musical instruments, and the tumultuous sounds of bugles and drums. People brought their entire stocks of rice, milk, yoghurt, ghee and many other ingredients. There was such a huge quantity of foodstuff that the entire hilltop was covered. There were so many sweets and other preparations that it is difficult to describe them all. The villagers also brought large amounts of tulasī leaves, flowers and a variety of garments.

All inauspiciousness was driven away by the continuous chanting of the holy name. Śrī Mādhavendra Purī personally began the bathing ceremony of the deity. Śrī Gopālajī was lovingly massaged with scented oil again and again till His body became very shiny and sparkling. After this, further bathings were given with pañcagavya^[3] and pañcāmṛta^[4]. Then, the mahā-snāna^[5] was performed with ghee and water, using one hundred water pots. After the mahā-snāna, the deity was again massaged with scented oil, and the final bathing ceremony was performed with scented water and flowers poured from a conchshell.

After the transcendental body of the deity was thus cleansed and dried, He was exquisitely dressed in new cloth. Sandalwood pulp, tulasī leaves, and flower garlands were then placed upon His beautiful form. Incense, ghee lamps, as well as a bountiful variety of foodstuffs such as yoghurt, milk and many kinds of delicious sweets were offered to the Lord.

Bhoga-ārati was performed. everyone fully surrendered themselves at the lotus feet of Śrī Gopāla, offering prayers and daṇḍavat-praṇāma.

Śrī Gopāla, who had been intensely hungry for many days, ate everything they offered. Although Śrī Gopāla ate all the foodstuffs offered to Him, by His transcendental touch, all the food remained exactly as before His hands touched it. How Gopāla consumed the food while at the same time the food remained there was understood transcendentally by Mādhavendra Purī Gosvāmī. Nothing is unknown to the unalloyed devotee.

The wonderful festivities and the installation of Śrī Gopālajī were organised in one day. There is no doubt that all this was done by the potency of Gopāla, but only a devotee can realise this. All the people, from the children to the elderly, sat down to honour the prasāda, and eventually everyone was fed.

It was proclaimed throughout the countryside that Śrī Gopāla had appeared on top of Govardhana Hill, and everyone from neighbouring villages came to see Him. All people who came from Govardhana and other villages took darśana of the Gopāla deity and were offered prasāda. All this was happening by the mercy of Mādhavendra Purī. They were all wonderstruck by his influence. All the brāhmaṇas who were there were initiated into the Vaiṣṇava tradition and engaged them in different services by Mādhavendra Purī. Day after day, Mādhavendra Purī did not take anything to eat throughout the day, but at night he would have a milk preparation after he had laid the deity down to rest.

The most conducive place to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness is Vṛndāvana, where the people are naturally inclined to love Kṛṣṇa, and He is naturally inclined to love them. Following the Vedic process, each morning the rendering of service to the deity would begin again and people from one of the nearby villages would arrive with profuse quantities of food. Day after day, more came with their offerings. Again and again the brāhmaṇas cooked the foodstuffs; again and again Gopāla accepted them; and again and again the prasāda was lavishly distributed, so that all, including old people and children, were sumptuously fed.

Not only the neighbouring villages, but all the other districts in the entire country heard of Gopāla’s appearance. Whoever came there offered as much as they could afford. Bringing various presentations, people flocked from all over the land to see the deity of Gopāla and took His mahā-prasāda with relish. When they saw the wonderful form of Lord Gopāla, all their anxiety and lamentation went away.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Saṃsāra is the entanglement in the ocean of material existence or the repetition of different bodies that continually suffer in this material world.

[2]:

King Vajranābha is the great-grandson of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Aniruddha and grandson of Pradyumna. He established many villages and installed many deities on the precise locations of Śrī Śrī rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s various pastimes.

[3]:

Pañca-gavya—five substances that are from the sacred cow: milk, yogurt, ghee, urine and dung.

[4]:

Pañcāmṛta—five kinds of nectar used for bathing the deity: yogurt, milk, ghee, honey and sugarwater.

[5]:

Mahā-snāna—an expanded bathing ceremony using various ingredients; for this, an immense quantity of water is poured over the deity.