Pastimes of Sri Saksi Gopal

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, near Saksi Gopal temple
4 July 2016

There were once two brahmans, an old and a young one. They both went on pilgrimage to many holy places and met in Vrindavan. The old brahman was very happy with the young brahman, although he was not very educated, and promised in front of the Deity of Gopal to give his daughter to him.

When the family of the old brahman (his wife, son and others) got to know about this, they were against it. They threatened him, "If you give her to this brahman, we will commit suicide," "We will disown you!" "I will divorce you," and so on. The brahman said that he had promised it in front of the Deity of Gopal, but his son did not believe in the Lord, did not believe in the Deity of the Lord. He thought that the Deity could not bear witness, so he said that only if Gopal Himself came to give witness they would give the girl to that brahman.

Both the old brahman and the young brahman had faith in Gopal, and the Deity actually came to Vidyanagar, Tamilnadu, from Vrindavan to give witness. When the young brahman told Gopal what had happened, Gopal said to him, "How am I to come there from Vrindavan?... All right, cook a kilo of rice today, I will eat and go, but I will go behind you and you must not look behind. I will wear ankle-bells, and you will hear their sound." They set off, but when they were near Vidyanagar, the brahman thought, "I want to see Gopal, is He really walking behind me?" As soon as he turned round and looked behind, he saw Gopal turning into the Deity, standing there and smiling, "I have come to give witness." This is how it happened, and in the end the brahman got married to that girl.

After that, king Indradyumna king conquered Tamilnadu and brought Saksi Gopal here ('saksi' means 'witness'). They made a big festival for Him... But the king's wife, the queen, thought once in a dream, "I would like to give a nose ring to Gopal, but Gopal has no hole in His nose..." The next day she saw Gopal had a big hole in His nose! She made a big, one-kilo gold nose ring for the Deity and arranged a festival.

This is Saksi Gopal, and this is the place where His pastime happened. I am telling only some small details, there are so many pastimes of Gopal, you can read Chaitanya-charitamrita and see also how Khirachora Gopinath stole kheer for Madhavendra Puri... Also, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to this place and heard this pastime of Saksi Gopal from Nityananda Prabhu who had come here before with Madhavendra Puri...

Jay Saksi Gopal ki jay!

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