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EDITORIAL  The Story Of Gopal Jiu BY MADHAVANANDA DAS  EDITORIAL, Jun 8 (VNN) — In the remote village of Gadeigiri, east-central Orissa, ISKCON has constructed a large temple to glorify the village deity named Gopal. The Giri family of Gadeigiri village has worshiped Gopal for more than 250 years and witnessed Gopal's many unique and amazing pastimes. Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja was born to a daughter of the Giri family, and from his early childhood rendered various services to Gopal. Throughout his life Gour Govinda Swami would always go to visit Gopal whenever possible. He left this world while gazing at a photo of Gopal. The last word he spoke was, "Gopal". The following account is adapted from the book, "Gopal Jiu: The Beloved Deity of Srila Gour Govinda Swami".The village of Gadeigiri is a quiet place much like other small villages in India, consisting mostly of mud huts with thatched roofs. The residents take their daily bath in the local pond, keep cows, and cook over cow dung fires in the same way their ancestors have done for thousands of years. The main sources of livelihood are rice cultivation and the selling of brass utensils. In front of almost every house one will find a shrine for the sacred tulasi plant, and it is common to hear the sound of the maha-mantra: "hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare" being sung. The residents of Gadeigiri are very devoted to Gopal. The long-standing tradition in the village is that the first fruit or flower that appears in any garden must be offered to the Gopal deity, and it is understood that by doing this those trees and shrubs will thus give their fruits and flowers abundantly. The village Gadeigiri is named after its founder, Gadai Giri, who migrated from the district of Midnapur in the seventeenth century. He was a businessman who regularly came to the area to sell utensils and bell-metal items. Every year Gadai Giri would come during the rainy season, stay four or five months, and then return to Midnapur. Gadai Giri was a gentle and saintly person. He would rise early each morning and perform kirtan. Then after taking some flat rice and water he would go out selling brass utensils door to door. When evening arrived he would spend the night in some village and join with the local people in their daily custom of singing kirtan and reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam. Appreciating Gadai Giri's saintly qualities, the local zamindar (feudal landlord) offered to give him some nearby land. Gadai Giri received from him a large segment of land, including area for cultivation. He cleared a small section of the jungle and built a house and a small temple wherein he established a deity of Dadhi Baman. When Lord Jagannath is worshiped without his brother Baladeva and sister Subhadra He is known as Patita Pavan or Dadhi Baman. Gadai Giri left his brass business and simply engaged himself in bhajan and kirtan. Many wandering sadhus and sannyasis came to join with Gadai Giri's kirtan. Gradually other people came to stay permanently, and a village developed in that place in Gadai Giri's name. Gadai Giri had only one son, who was named Gopal Giri. Gopal Giri was influenced by the devotional qualities of his father and was very devoted to Lord Jagannath. Every year he would go to Puri to see the Ratha-yatra festival. He was also very attached to performing sankirtan, and was expert in many different styles of kirtan. Gopal Giri had a desire to worship a deity of Gopal. Unable to find such a deity, he decided to go to Puri, thinking that if he would render service to Lord Jagannath there, then somehow Gopal would come to him. Arriving in Puri, he stayed in the area known as Kundei Benta Sahi, near Grand road. As he was very scholarly, he easily obtained service in the office of the king, where he became the poddar, or cashier for the temple of Lord Jagannath. Gopal Giri led a very regulated life. While staying in Puri he would daily go to see Lord Jagannath, and at the temple he would sit on the bais pahaca, the twenty-two steps inside the compound leading up to the main darsana area, and there he would read Srimad-Bhagavatam. In the evening he would take prasadam and go home. Every Sunday he would go to the Satalahari Math, a temple near the ocean, where he would sit and read Srimad-Bhagavatam and chant harinam. He was very attached to Srimad-Bhagavatam. During the Ratha-yatra festivals in Puri he would approach devotees and sadhus coming from Vrindavan and ask them to bring him back a deity of Gopal. They would readily agree, "Yes, yes. Next time I will bring a Gopal deity for you." But no one ever brought a deity. Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami tells this story: "Gopal Giri was serving in Puri as a government cashier. He was always thinking in his mind, "If I can get a Gopal deity I'll offer worship to Him." But he thought, "How can I go to Vrindavan?" He had a strong desire to get a deity. "At that time this deity of Gopal was in Vrindavan with a sannyasi vaisnava, a renunciate. He was doing madhukari, begging, and he was keeping that deity in his jhola, [a cloth tied as a bag]. During the day, he would go out and do madhukari, then in the evening he would cook whatever he had begged and offer it to Gopal. In this was he was leading his life. "One night this Gopal deity told the vaisnava, 'You take me to Gopal Giri, the son of Gadai Giri.' He wants to offer Me worship. I want to go there. Take me there. But the vaisnava thought that it was only a dream. He did not take it seriously. After a few days Gopal came again in a dream and beat him with a cane on his legs. It was such a severe beating that his legs were bleeding. The sannyasi vaisnava woke up and begged apology, 'Please forgive me for my offense. I did not take Your order seriously. But You have beaten me so severely, how can I go there with such wounds on my legs?" Gopal said, "When Gopal Giri touches you it will be healed, otherwise you cannot be cured. You go there at once, don't make any delay.' "So he started walking. At that time there was no communication system, no train or bus. The only way was by walking. It took him two and a half months to reach Puri. At this time Gopal Giri was staying in a rented house at Kundhei Benta Sahi in Puri. The vaisnava reached Puri in the evening and stayed near the Jagannath temple. Early the next morning he inquired, 'Who is Gopal Giri? I want to meet him.' Many people knew Gopal Giri; he was famous as the cashier of the Jagannath temple. So he quickly found Gopal Giri at his rented house. "Gopal Giri had just finished his bath and was putting on tilak. The vaisnava arrived and offered his obeisances to Gopal Giri. He then took the deity from his bag and presented Him to Gopal Giri. Gopal Giri was amazed, 'What is this? Who are you, and where has this deity come from?' "The vaisnava replied, "You wanted Gopal to worship. So Gopal has come from Vrindavan. I was in Vrindavan carrying this Gopal. He told me to hand Him over to you, and He beat me. He showed Gopal Giri his legs and said, 'If you touch it, it will be cured, otherwise it will not be cured.' So Gopal Giri immediately touched him and the injury was gone. "Gopal Giri was very happy that Gopal had fulfilled his desire. He couldn't go to Vrindavan, but Gopal had come to him. Gopal Giri went to the market and purchased rice, dal, and vegetables. He prepared prasad and gave some to the vaisnava. Then he went to the king and offered his resignation, saying, 'I don't want to serve any more." When he returned to his room he opened his bag and told that vaisnava, "You can take as much money as you want.' "The vaisnava said, 'No, I don't want any money. I only want to do service for Gopal. Wherever Gopal goes, I will go. I want to go and serve Him. I am not one to sell Gopal. I am a servant. I won't take any money.' "Later on, Gopal Giri again went to see the king. The king asked him, 'Why did you resign?' 'I have a temple in my village and I had a desire to get a deity of Gopal to worship.' "The king was very pleased and said, 'All right, your desire is very noble. I have no objection. But sometimes you must come to Puri with your kirtan party and chant in Jagannath's temple.' "Gopal Giri also had a deity made of Radha and installed Her. Their temple was a mud hut. He made all arrangements for Gopal, providing agricultural property so that in the future there would not be any difficulty for Gopal's maintenance. Gopal Giri was a wealthy person. His family had landed property and they were famous for kirtan. Every day kirtan was going on. At last that land has come to me. Now we are taking care, constructing a nice temple for Gopal." The king gave Gopal Giri some extra months' salary and allowed him to go. Gopal Giri then sent a message to Gadeigiri for a kirtan group to come to Puri to accompany Gopal to His new home. When the Gajapati king heard the kirtan of the Gadeigiri villagers he became very pleased. It is written in the madaLa-panji, the history book of the temple of Lord Jagannath, that whenever the kirtan party from Gadeigiri comes they should be allowed to perform kirtan in the temple. Gopal Giri installed the Gopal deity in Gadeigiri and requested the renunciate from Vrindavan to perform Gopal's daily worship. After serving Gopal for twenty years, the renunciate departed this world and was given samadhi, ritual burial, near Gopal's temple. After this, Gopal Giri engaged other renounced vaisnavas for the daily worship of Gopal. www.gopaljiu.org Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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