(1/1) Gokula Vrindavan

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vrindavan Dham parikrama,
2 November 2019, Translated from Bengali

GOKULA

By the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, we have come to our second stop today. This is the place where Krishna rescued two Yamalarjuna trees. Krishna was very small (He could only crawl) at that time.

One time in Goluka (we are going to go there next) Mother Yasoda was heating some milk when Gopal started nagging her for breastmilk. 'Be careful! The milk is going to boil over!' Mother Yasoda chided Him. But Gopal did not leave her alone, He kept asking her for milk. In the end, Mother Yasoda brushed Gopal aside, pushing Him away gently, 'Stop it! Do not disturb!' Gopal got very angry.

He was actually very naughty. He thought, 'Mother is making so much buttermilk, yoghurt, butter, curd, paneer, rabri, but she is keeping it all away!' She made everything for Gopal, but Gopal is very naughty and had other desires. So, what did He do? He called all His friends over and made them stand one on top of another. Then, climbing on His friends' shoulders and reaching to the ceiling, He started taking all the buttermilk, paneer, curd. He threw everything down to monkeys, saying, 'Here, take it! Take it!'

When Mother Yasoda saw the scene, she took a wooden mortar stick (it is still kept there at the temple) and tied Gopal to it with a rope. This is the Damodar pastime. 'Dam' means 'bind' and 'udar' means 'belly'. Mother Yasoda wanted to tie her son, Gopal, with a rope, but she could not do it at first. She told all the Vraja gopis serving at her house, 'Bring all ropes here!' She used all the rope she had and tried to tie Gopal, but the rope was two fingers too short. She tried to add more rope and more rope, but no matter how much rope she used, it was always two fingers too short. She could not bind Gopal.

In the 'Damodarastakam' kirtan composed by Satyavrata Muni, it is said:

রুদন্তং মুহুর্নেত্রযুগ্মং মৃজন্তং
করাম্ভোজযুগ্মেন সাতঙ্কনেত্রম্ ।
মুহুঃশ্বাসকম্প-ত্রিরেখাঙ্ককণ্ঠ
স্থিত-গ্রব-দামোদরং ভক্তিবদ্ধম্ ॥

rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam
karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram
muhuh svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha
sthita-graiva-damodaram bhakti-baddham

'I am offering my obeisance to Lord Damodar (who was tied around His belly with a rope of devotion), who is crying bitterly and wiping His fearful eyes with His lotus hands. He is sobbing again and again, which makes the necklace on His chubby neck (adorned with three sweet lines) shake.'

Seeing His mother's anger, Gopal shivered for fear and began to cry, 'Mother is going to bind Me!'

So, Mother Yasoda tried again and again, but she could not bind Gopal. In the end, Gopal thought, 'Mother is struggling so much... It is not nice...' and He allowed her to bind Him. It is not so easy to bind the Lord! What does it mean that the rope was always two fingers too short? One finger is desire and the other finger is mercy. If you make one step towards the Lord, the Lord will make ten steps towards you. We can see in this pastime that Gopal Himself accepted bondage – He allowed Himself to be tied.

Mother Yasoda tied Gopal to the mortar stick and went away thinking that Gopal was just a small baby, so He would not be able to go far with the huge mortar stick tied to His back. But Gopal crawled away. As He crawled down the street, He showed all the neighbours, 'Look! Look! Mother has tied Me!'

Then, coming to this place here, Gopal saw twin Yamalarjuna trees.

In Satya-yuga, Kuver had two sons, Nalakuvar and Manigriv. One day, the two brothers were swimming stark naked with some girls in a pond. They did nonsense in the water. Suddenly, Narad Muni was passing that place. Seeing the sage, the girls rushed to cover themselves with some clothes, but Kuver's sons were so intoxicated with their wealth that they did not care – they stayed naked as they were. Because of their pride, Narad cursed them, 'You two have no shame, so next life you will be born as trees and live naked!' Hearing Narad's curse, the brothers began to cry, 'Oh, you have cursed us! We are going to be born as trees! What will become of us? We are sorry!' Narad Muni said, 'All right, since you understand now that you have done wrong, then here is what I say. When Krishna comes in Dvapar-yuga, He will rescue you.'

So, when Krishna crawled up to the two trees, He saw a gap between the trees and wanted to go through it, but the mortar stick was quite big, so it did not go through. Then, Gopal pulled so hard that the two great trees fell down and there was a huge noise like a thunderbolt. Those huge trees were thousands and thousands of years old! Hearing the great noise, all the Vraja-basis came running to the place. Everybody wondered, 'What has happened? How did these trees fall all of a sudden?' Nanda Maharaj also ran there, 'What has happened? Is Gopal OK? Has anything happened to Him?' Mother Yasoda also came, and Nanda Maharaj quarrelled with her. 'I will not speak to you again!' Nanda Maharaj said. 'What if something has happened to my Gopal?! Why have you tried my Gopal?' Nanda Maharaj did not speak to Mother Yasoda for three months!...

So, this is the pastime that happened here. Come, we are going to take prasad now. The arrangements have been made.

BRAHMANDA GHAT

Do you know the name of this place here? Do you know what happened here? This is Brahmanda Ghat where Krishna ate soil. You can take some soil and eat it too. When Krishna ate soil, Balaram went to Mother Yasoda to complain, 'Mother, do you know what Gopal did? He ate soil!' Mother Yasoda came running to this place and made Gopal open His mouth wide to take out the soil from His mouth. When He did it, she was stunned to see the entire universe, all the demigods and the entire creation within His mouth.

Now we will go to Raman Reti where Krishna played in the dust. Because Lord Krishna ate soil here, we put some soil from here in our mouths and take it as His prasad.

SRI DAUJI MANDIR

Continuing our parikrama, we have now come to Sri Dauji Mandir. 'Dauji' means 'elder brother' (dada, দাদা). Balaram is Krishna's elder brother, so this is His home here.

One time, when King Aurangzeb and his army were conquering territories, the king asked somebody, 'How long will take to get to that palace over there?' He was told that it would take him three days. King Aurangzeb started off and he ended up getting here only in four months. Understanding the glory of Lord Baladev, Aurangzeb became a devotee of Lord Baladev.

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Size: 11 Mb
Length: 23 min
Language: Bengali