May 27, 2016
Vrindavan Sadhus of the Modern Days
She passed away 3 years ago. Her
last place of residence was a tin tent near Jagannath Mandir in Vrindavan. If
we did not know her story she would appear to be like any old lady in white
with a shaved head, whom we sometimes mistakenly call 'widows’...
"When I came to Vrindavan in
1923 there were many dangerous four legged wild animals, now there are many more
two legged ones” - Gopal Mata.
"I came to Vrindavan eighty-two
years ago when I was twenty-one, and lived in the forest for the first twelve.
A lot of people say 'crazy lady, crazy lady,' but what do I care? It is just
like an elephant who walks with dogs barking or people throwing stones at it.
But the elephant is not bothered, he continues to walk. I, too, ignore what
people say, and feel that my sins are being washed away by their insults.
One time I was standing by the bank
of the Yamuna River and I heard a voice telling me, 'Pick me up, pick me up,'
and that is how I found this Deity, this Gopala Krsna. I find Deities all the
time in the Yamuna, then I leave them at various temples."
Gopal Ma was 104 when we met her
more than five years ago. She recalled with clarity that she came to Vrindvan
in 1923, when she was 20 years old. She had chosen this life over the
conventional life of being married etc. Gopal mata's name as given by her guru
was Ananat Vallabhi Mohanto.
For many years she lived as an ascetic,
she said she had knee length jata, she slept under a tree every night from the
time she got here. Her routine was to bathe in the Yamuna and do Parikrama
around Vrindavan three times each day. A glass of milk in the evening sustained
her body. This is what she was still doing when we met her, though there were
no more free or peaceful places for her to sleep as before and often she would
stay in some one's home temporarily. It was hard for her she said, she didn't
like such continuous proximity to people very much.
We met with her once at the house of
a Brajwasi family she was staying with briefly. She showed us her beautiful
Goverdhan shilas, intricately painted by her and an exquisite and rare
shaligram shila. The next time I saw her a few months later, she said she had
moved as there was a lot of violence around the area. Gopal ma told us that she
once found an antique astha dhatu Deity in the Yamuna (she hears these Deities
talking to her and has found many and picked them up, this was confirmed by
many people who now her along Kesi Ghat).
This Deity was appropriated by the
Archaeological Survey of India and Gopal mata was taken to meet the president
of India. She told me the name, but I forget which President it was. Whilst she
was in Delhi she said Krishna scolded her and asked if this is what she had
come to Vrindavan for. So she returned immediately. Gopal ma hardly speaks we
were told and it was quite unusual that she spoke to us as much as she did. She
has been quite active in Vrindavan when she first got here with helping widows
etc but these have all been stints as ultimately she has the heart of a
solitary ascetic. She carries her little Gopal Deity (also recovered from the
Yamuna) in a basket. We heard that the pandas of Bankey Bihariji put her
Thakurji on the altar when she goes there. If we did not know her story she
would appear to be like any old lady in white with a shaved head, whom we
sometimes mistakenly call 'widows’.
Thanks to Radhika Goswami for
sharing.
Photo courtesy of Laksmi Greenberg.
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