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EDITORIAL January 23, 2000 VNN5327 Comment on this story Gopal Jiu, The Deity Of Gour Govinda Maharaj BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI EDITORIAL, Jan 23 (VNN) — Dear assembled Vaisnavas, Please accept my fallen obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and to our Guru Varga. For the pleasure of the assembled Vaisnavas, I would like to submit the following: Gopal Jiu is the beautiful and beloved Deity of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj. Before Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj undertook any endeavor or came back from any travelling preaching engagements, he ALWAYS went to his beloved Deity of Gopal Jiu, who he has worshipped since his childhood. "Gopal Jiu The Beloved Deity of Srila Gour Govinda Swami" is a book that MUST be read. Tear of ALL types, laughter, joy, sadness, will FILL and fall from one's eyes on practically EVERY page. This is a VERY EASY, fast reading, and WONDERFUL book that EVERY devotee should read to see how wonderful is Krsna in His Deity Form, and the intimate and personal relationship that He exhibits with His devotees, and what Krsna will do out of love for His devotees. Just to give a little background on Gopal Jiu, we can go back to how He came to Gour Govinda Maharaj, which is explained in the book: Gadai Giri, in whose family Gopal Jiu came, built a house and temple for his Deity of Lord Jagannath. Later, other people came to settle in that area which came to be known as Gadei Giri, named after the original settler on this land. Gadai Giri was known for his kirtan, and he had one son, Gopal, who, also became very famous for his kirtan as well. Gopal Giri had one cherished desire; He wanted to worship a Deity of Gopal. In his desire, he would approach so many devotees who would come to Puri for the Rathayatra from Vrndavan, and he would ask them if they could bring him a Deity of Gopal. Everyone would agree to bring him a Deity, yet no Deity ever came. At one point one Vaisnava sanyasi in Vrndavan who always carried a Deity of Gopal in a piece of cloth tied as a bag, had a dream. His Gopal Deity came in dream and told him, "You take Me to Gopal Giri, the son of Gadai Giri. He wants to worship Me and I want to go there." But the sanyasi, thinking that this was only a dream, neglected the words of Gopal. Several days later, Gopal appeared again in dream, and this time severely chastized the sanyasi, beating him on the legs with a cane. When the sanyasi woke up, he begged Gopal's apology, and seeing his legs so badly bruised, asked Gopal, "With my legs beaten so badly, how can I go to Gopal Giri?" Gopal then answered him, When Gopal Giri touches you, your legs will be healed. Otherwise, not." So the sanyasi immediately left by foot to walk from Vrndavan to Jagannath Puri to look for Gopal Giri, where Gopal Giri rendered service as a cashier in the temple of Lord Jagannath. Upon reaching Jagannath Puri, the sanyasi asked around for Gopal Giri, who was well known by the people there. "Who is Gopal Giri? I want to meet him." So Gopal Giri was brought before the sanyasi who explained why he had come, and Gopal Jiu was installed along with a brass Deity of Srimati Radharani, Who Gopal Giri had gotten someone to cast. The sanyasi was asked by Gopal Giri to stay there to be Gopal Jiu's pujari. He agreed to stay, and remained there for 20 years until he left his body, which was put into samadhi next to Gopal's temple. For years Gopal Jiu's service was directly being taken care of by Gopal Giri's direct descendents. In 1964 Ghanasyam Giri took charge of Gopal Jiu's service, but he had very little assistance. Concerned with this factor, Ghanasyam prabhu thought about his cousin brother Braja-bandhu, who had since taken sanyas and became Gour Govinda Maharaj. Gour Govinda Maharaj was regularly coming to Gadei Giri to see his beloved Gopal, and thus Ghanasyam Giri thought about his cousin's devotion and felt that he would be the most perfect person to see to Gopal Jiu's service. In 1989, Gour Govinda Maharaj started bringing devotees from the Bhubanesvara temple to celebrate Radhastami at Gadeigiri with a very grand festival. Again Ghanasyam thought about asking his cousin to take charge of Gopal Jiu's worship, and when he did so, Gour Govinda Maharaj gladly agreed to do so. Shortly after that though, Ghanasyam started having second thoughts about the matter. Ghanasyam explains his dream which finally made him make his decision to give Gopal Jiu to Gour Govinda Maharaj, and on Nov 15 1993, Gopal Jiu officially came to ISKCON, under the care of His beloved servant, Gour Govinda Maharaj. So many wonderful stories of Gopal Jiu are related in this book, and as Krsna is never without His pure devotees and is fully connected with them, there are so many wonderful stories of the interactions between Gopal Jiu and Gour Govinda Maharaj. Here are a few samples: Ghanasyam prabhu, Gour Govinda Maharaja's cousin who gave Gopal Jiu to Gour Govinda Swami, relates the following: "About 2:30 one morning I had a dream. Gopal came and was standing near my head. He said, 'Why are you sleeping? Wake up! So many troubles have come to you, but have you felt any difficulty? No, because I am always behind you. Now you are alone. How can you arrange all types of festivals for Me? I am always very interested to hear nama-sankirtan. Gour Govinda Swami is your own relative. Why don't you give Me to him? So, now tell Me, will you give Me or not?' "In the dream I said, 'Yes. Yes. I will give.' Suddenly my wife woke up and said, 'What are you saying? What will you give? To whom will you give? You are speaking like a madman. What happened?' "I told her that Gopal had just come and asked me if I was going to give Him to Gour Govinda Swami or not and I said, 'Yes. Yes. I will give. I will give.' I told her, 'Gopal was standing near that window. He just left.' "My wife said gently, 'Go and donate Gopal to Srila Gurudeva. Whatever property you have you should also give to him. If he takes Gopal then Gopal will be happy and He will be taken care of nicely. You will be able to see Gopal here every day. Why are you hesitating?' In this way my doubts were cleared. "The next day I was preparing to go to Bhubaneswar to see Gour govinda Swami, but I heard that Gurudeva was coming to Gadeigiri. So I stayed and waited for his arrival. He came a few days later and I met with him. "He asked me, 'How are you? What about Gopal?' I said, 'I have been waiting for you to come, to give Gopal to you.' Gurudeva looked at me for a moment and laughed. He said, 'What has happened to you? What has brought about this change? Has Gopal spoken to you?' I said 'Yes, Gurudev, Gopal spoke to me.' Then Gurudeva asked me, 'What day was it that He spoke to you, and what time?' I told him, 'Twelve days before, at 2:30 in the morning.' "Gurudeva nodded his head up and down. 'Gopal came and spoke with me on the same morning at 2:00 AM, then at 2:30 He came to you. That morning I was translating the Bhagavatam in Oriya. I dozed off for a few moments. Gopal came to me and said, "You installed Radha-Gopinath here. Has Gopinath replaced Me in your life?" (Gour Govinda Swami had commissioned a sculptor to make deities of Radha and Krsna to be exactly the same height, width, standing position, etc., as Radha Gopal in Gadeigiri, and had installed Them at ISKCON Bhubaneswar, naming Them Radha-Gopinath.) "Gopal again asked Srila Gurudev, 'Is Gopinath the same for you as Me?' With folded hands Gurudeva replied, 'No.' Then Gopal said, 'You are worshipping here, but I can't come here. Gadeigiri is the house of My devotees. they have no wealth, but their mind is always on Me. Even if they only offer Me a tulasi leaf and a little water I am happy there. They are always saying, "Gopal! Gopal!" I cannot leave them and come here. You are not doing any service for Me because Ghanasyam has not give Me to you. He promised, "Unless Gopal tells me to give Him to Gour Govinda Swami I will not give Him." Gopal then said, "I will speak to Ghanasyam. first I have met with you and now I am going to Ghanasyam."' "While Gurudeva and I were speaking, one of my family members was there. They said, 'You are always talking about donating Gopal, but you are only speaking and not giving.' I said, 'No, today I must donate Gopal to Gurudeva. Bring tulasi and water and chant mantra.' Gurudeva asked, 'How will you donate to me?'" (Read the book "Gopal Jiu" and find out.) One devotee relates this story: "Gour Govinda Swami then sent two disciples to Gadeigiri. They arranged to fix the broken temple building and made nice arrangements for Gopal's worship... When he saw us, he started scolding us. He said, 'The registration was finished eight days ago, where have you been? My dear Gopal's work is not going on correctly Gopal is beating me.' He then showed us his back, which bore fresh marks from a beating. I was shocked." On Gour Govinda Maharaja's taking of sanyas, Bhagavat prabhu relates, "...Then, quite unexpectedly, Gour Govinda turned to Prabhupada and said, 'Prabhupada, I want to take sanyas.' Prabhupada looked at him. There were two or three sanyasis as well as several GBCs in the room, some big devotees...Prabhupada said, 'So you want to take sanyas. Let me tell you what it means to take sanyas.' Prabhupada explained the qualifications of a sanyasi, 'The sanyasi can never have any sex desire. He should never think of a woman even for a second. A sanyasi is fearless - he'll go anywhere to preach, no matter how dangerous it is. A sanyasi never thinks he is alone, but always knows that Krsna and guru are with him.'" (My own question: Was Srila Prabhupada talking to Gour Govinda Maharaj or was he talking to the other devotees present?) The heart-rending account of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja's disappearance is given as well, as well as the hints that Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj gave to his disciples of his leaving. Explaining to devotees the confidential reasons for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's staying in Jagannath Puri, Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj left this material realm to join his Gopal Jiu while uttering his last words, "Gopal". Gour Govinda Maharaj was looking at a picture of his beloved Deity, Gopal Jiu when he left this material realm. All glories to Srila Gour Govinda Swami, the beloved devotee of Gopal Jiu, and all glories to Gopal Jiu, the beloved Deity of Gour Govinda Maharaj. May the pastimes of Krsna and His pure devotees fill our hearts. Please read this book. It is a MUST. Humbly submitted for the pleasure of the Vaisnavas. I remain your servant, Mahavegavati Dasi Hare Krsna About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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