(6/13) Power of Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bankura Temple Anniversary Festival,
26 January 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

The name of Lord Krishna’s Deity here, at the Bankura temple, is Radha-Raman. Those of you who have been to Vrindavan know that there are a lot of Deities in Vrindavan, but not all Deities there are original. When Muslims and mlechhas were breaking Hindu temples, devotees took all big Deities to Jaipur or Karauli. You can see now that all old temples’ tops in Vrindavan are broken – they would come from Agra and break the domes of all high temples. So, among all the Deities in Vrindavan, Radha-Raman is the only original Deity that stayed there.

When we go for the parikrama, we often go wearing socks not to get hurt by some stones or something sharp on the street, but when you come to the temple of Radha-Raman, it is a rule that everyone must take off not only their shoes but also their socks. You also cannot sit cross-legged (on a chair) there – they start scolding you a lot; and they do not allow anyone to take photographs also. The temple is very strict. This Radha-Raman Deity manifested Himself through the service of Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami, one of the six goswamis:

জয় রূপ সনাতন ভট্ট রঘুনাথ ।
শ্রীজীব গোপালভট্ট দাস রঘুনাথ ॥

jaya rupa sanatana bhatta raghunatha
sri-jiva gopala-bhatta dasa raghunatha

‘All glory to Sri Rup a, Sanatan, Raghunath Bhatta, Sri Jiva, Gopal Bhatta and Raghunath Das!’

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

These are the six goswamis. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is considered to be the seventh goswami.

Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami worshipped twelve salagram-silas in a very strict and determined way. He followed all the rules of Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas that nobody can follow. For example, when we observe the niyom-seva month (Kartik), we say that we should not eat certain things (eggplant, patal, and so on), but Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami said that one must eat the ‘go-gras’ way during this time. It means you must eat directly from the ground, like a cow (‘go’) – without using your hands. Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami was very strict and followed all rules. He also said that it is necessary to observe a complete fast on ekadasi (without taking any food or water).

So, one day when Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami was offering arati to his twelve silas, a man came to the temple. The man paid his obeisance and handed Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami a parcel with some Deity ornaments and clothes, saying, ‘Please take these, you can put them on your Deities.’ Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami said, ‘All right, I will do that,’ and took the parcel. When he finished the arati, he opened the parcel and saw that it was a Deity outfit (the same as offered to all Deities of human-like form). Seeing the outfit, he thought, ‘The man has given me these Deity clothes, but how will I put them on my Deity? I do not have a human-form Deity – I worship salagram-silas. How will I put it on a sila? I have taken it from the man, but I cannot use it for service! What will happen now, O Lord? I have made an offence!’ Anyhow, he took prasadam and went to rest…

The next day, he woke up, took a bath, applied tilaks, etc. and came to do the mangal-arati. Suddenly, when he came into the temple room, he saw that there was a human-form Deity standing among the salagram-silas. It was Radha-Raman. There were originally twelve salagram-silas, but when he counted them that morning he saw there were only eleven. Where did the twelfth one go? Then he saw that there was a mark in the shape of a magnet on the back of Radha-Raman’s Deity – the twelfth salagram-sila had turned into a Deity.

Do you see? Nothing is impossible in this world through the service of the Lord…

— : • : —

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Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Remembering Guru-Varga
2) Sacrifice For Preaching
3) Loving Interactions
4) A Hole In Surrender
5) Have a Heart For the Temple
6) Power of Service
7) Origin of Bhagavatam (1)
8) Origin of Bhagavatam (2)
9) Origin of Bhagavatam (3)
10) Lacking or Slacking?
11) Feeling Hungry?
12) Main Target
13) Determination and Surrender