SRI PURI DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

(6) Mahaprabhu’s Journey to Puri: Saksi-Gopal

When Mahaprabhu came to the town Katak and received Saksi-Gopal’s darshan, He listened to Gopal’s history from the holy mouth of Nityananda Prabhu.

Long-long ago there lived a kulin brahman in Vidyanagar. He decided to become a vanaprastha, so he gave all charge to his son and left home for pilgrimage. During his pilgrimage he arrived in Vrindavan and met there another, younger, brahman of a lower caste.

As soon as the young brahman saw the elderly brahman, he told him, ‘Can I help you? You are travelling with such a big bag. How do you manage it?’ The old brahman agreed, ‘All right, if you could help, it would be nice.’ So, they started to travel together. Although the young brahman was not a big scholar, he pleased the old brahman very much with his service.

Feeling satisfied with the young man, the old brahman told him, ‘I am going back to my house now, and you will also go back to your home, but I will never forget your help. I have only one daughter – I want to give her to you.’

‘No, no, how can I do that?’ the young brahman replied, ‘You are a kulin brahman, and I am of a lower caste. What are your son, wife and other relatives going to say? I do not want to inconvenience you. I did not help you on your pilgrimage to get your daughter – I did it for my own benefit, I do not want anything from you in return for that.’

‘Do not worry. The daughter is mine, so I am giving her to you. Nobody will mind it. Please accept it.’

‘All right. Do as you like, but if you have really decided to do it, then please promise it in front of Gopal.’

Then, the old brahman stood in front of Gopal and said, ‘Prabhu, I am giving my daughter to this boy. If anybody objects to it, You please be witness to it.’

After that, each of them went to their own house.

The elderly brahman assembled all his family members to tell them about his decision. He told them straight, ‘When I was on my pilgrimage, I promised my daughter to a young brahman. He is of a lower caste, but he helped me very much.’

When his wife heard it, she became angry, ‘What? How can you want to give my daughter away to a lower-caste brahman without even asking me about it? As long as I am alive, I will not let it happen. I will not allow it! I had sooner leave you than agree to this.’

His elder son also said, ‘Right, Mother! I will also leave home. Father, how can you, a kulin brahman, give my dear sister to an illiterate man who does not even know how to read or write? It is impossible. You must take your word back!’

Two months passed. The young brahman got ready for the marriage and came to old brahman’s house.

‘Namaskar, Prabhu. When you were on your pilgrimage, you promised me that you would give your daughter to me. Gopal was witness to your promise.’

The old brahman said nothing.

‘Is anything wrong?’ the young man asked. ‘Why are you keeping quiet? What has happened, Prabhu?’

At this time, the elder son of the brahman heard the boy and came charging him with a stick, ‘How can you, a mere dwarf, want to catch the moon?! Gold digger, get out of here!’

The young brahman went to the head of the village and told him, ‘Sir, please listen to me. When the brahman was on pilgrimage, he made a promise to me. Gopal is witness to it. I did not visit all the holy places to get his daughter, but if he cannot keep his word, then it will be a sin. That is why I have come to you.’ The leader of the village listened to the matter and replied, ‘All right, do not worry. I will judge the case.’ Soon after that there was a hearing, and the judgement was in favour of the boy. But the elder son of the brahman was an atheist; he thought, ‘This guy is saying that Gopal is witness, but how can Gopal give witness?’ So, he told the judge, ‘Tell him that if Gopal can come and personally give witness to this, then we will give him the girl.’ The judge told it to the young brahman. The old brahman was angry. He prayed to Gopal, ‘Gopal, surely You can give witness. Please help me keep my word.’

So, the young brahman went back to Vrindavan. He came to Gopal and told Him, ‘O Gopal! You know everything. Come with me, You must give witness.’

At first, Gopal said, ‘What is this? I am a Deity, how can I come with you?’

‘If You can speak, surely You can give witness, too!’

‘All right, I will come. But remember that first you must cook for me one kilogram of rice (I will have to walk a lot, so I get hungry on the way). After I eat, I will walk behind you, and you must not look behind – if you turn and look, I will stand still on the stop and will not move.’

The brahman asked Gopal, ‘How will I know then that You are walking behind me?’

‘You will hear My ankle bells, then you can understand it,’ Gopal said.

The young brahman offered bhoga to Gopal, and they started walking slowly. As he walked, the brahman could hear the sound of ankle bells, but when they came close to Vidyanagar, he suddenly could not contain his curiosity. He wondered, ‘Is Gopal coming or not?’ He turned round and looked behind, and then he saw that Gopal suddenly became a Deity and was standing in front of him, smiling, ‘Here I am, I have come to give witness.’

The young brahman went to the village and called everybody, ‘Come, come! Gopal has come to give witness! He is near your village.’

The leader of the village, the old brahman and all his family came and saw that Gopal was really standing there. In this way, Gopal came to give witness for His devotee. In the end, the young brahman married the old brahman’s daughter and nobody objected to it.

Later, Odian King Indradyumna conquered Tamil Nadu and brought Saksi-Gopal from Vidyanagar to a place near Bhuvaneshwar, where the Deity lives to this day. When the king won the battle, he came to Gopal and said, ‘Gopal, this gold, wealth, money, whatever I have got, everything is Yours. I have come to take You to my kingdom.’ But Gopal said to him, ‘First make a temple for Me, then I will come.’ So, the king built a big temple for Gopal.

You all know that when Bengali women wear conch bangles, it means that they are married. In the same way, in Odisha, when a girl wears a nose ring, it means that she is married, and if a girl has no nose ring, it means that either she is not married or she is a widow. So, when the king built the temple and Gopal came there, there was a big festival. The king’s wife, Queen Gundicha Rani, also came there to receive Saksi-Gopal’s darshan. She came to the Deity and said, ’If only the Lord had a hole in His nose, then I would open my nose ring and give it to Him. He is my master, my husband.’ Actually, the Lord wanted to wear a nose ring. When the festival was over and the queen went to bed that night, Gopal came to her in a dream and said, ‘O Queen Mother! My mother pierced My nose when I was little and I used to wear a nose ring. You did not notice that I had a big hole in My nose. If you want to make a nose ring for Me, it would be very nice.’ The next day, the queen woke up and ordered to make a nose ring from one kilogram of gold. She put this nose ring on the Deity, and there was another great festival arranged.

So, the Lord can accept anything from His devotee. ‘The Lord is subservient to His devotee’ – the Lord does whatever His devotees want Him to do.

bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama
govinda kahena mama vaisnava parana

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard about this pastime of Saksi-Gopal from Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Before that, Sri Nityananda Prabhu had come to the temple of Saksi-Gopal with Srila Madhavendran Puri.

After taking Saksi-Gopal’s darshan, Mahaprabhu and the devotees continued their way and went to Bhuvaneshwar.

Jay Sri Saksi-Gopal ki jay.

The temple of Saksi-Gopal.

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