Thursday, April 24, 2014

Saints of Braj - Shri Nand Kishore Das Goswami Pad

Shri Nandkishore Das belonged to the seventh generation of Nityanand Prabhu. His father used to make a living by giving Diksha to people and accept their offerings. His parents wanted him to do the same but Nandkishore was hungry to realize Krishna.

His parents started planning his marriage and Nandkishore became extremely uncomfortable. He
slipped away from home and accepted Shri Vishwanath Chakravarti as his Guru in Vrindavan. People from his village came searching him there and disclosed to Shri Vishwanath how grieved were the parents of Nandkishore. Shri Vishwanath could not bear it and asked Nandkishore to go back and get married.

Nandkishore agreed. He returned, married and had a son. A few years went by. But Nandkishore
again slipped away and came to Vrindavan. He installed the images of Gaurang and Nitai under a banyan tree in Sringarvat and started worshiping them day and night. The Raja of Jodhpur came for a pilgrimage to Vrindavan and saw this. The Raja was so impressed that he imparted some surrounding land, a few cows and a servant to him. The servant's name was Bhondu. He was not so smart in the worldly sense but was a clean minded boy. He started learning about Krishna and devotion from Nandkishore and treated him like a Guru.

Every morning Bhondu would take the cows to the other side of Yamuna in Bhandiravan and graze them. There were other cow-herds who would come there to graze their cows. Since Bhondu was hearing about Krishna from his Guru, he started making a desire to meet Krishna some day in Bhandiravan.


In a matter of days, Bhondu became extremely anxious to see Krishna and started crying and sobbing for Him. Krishna could not bear it for long and appeared before him with His cows. The two became friends. Bhondu started bringing food for Krishna and his friends and everyone started having a party at lunch everyday.

Once Nandkishore noticed that Bhondu was taking so much food with him to graze cows. And so he asked him why? Bhondu was simple and told him that it was for Krishna and His friends. Just to ensure who Bhondu was talking about, Nandkishore asked him how he looked. Bhondu said that Krishna had a blue body, yellow clothes and was extremely handsome. Now, Nandkishore was pretty sure that it was his Krishna and he also wanted to meet Him. So he asked Bhondu to invite Krishna to Sringarvat for a feast with Him. Bhondu agreed.

That day when he met Krishna, he invited Him for a feast with His Guru. Krishna refused. Bhondu started crying. He did not expect Krishna to say No to him. And he started walking away. Krishna could not bear it and ran after Bhondu. Krishna said - Listen Bhondu! I said No because Sringarvat is where Radha Rani resides, so Balram will not go there. So, ask your Guru to come here alone and we would eat together.

Bhondu was very simple. He was convinced that he was not able to understand Krishna and should have heard the full story. And he thanked Krishna and went back.

Next day, he and his guru Nandkishore came to Bhandiravan with a lot of food. Krishna appeared with His friends and everyone ate together.  Nandkishore could not believe that he was eating with Krishna and watching Him play. After a while, Krishna said good bye to Bhondu and Nandkishore and disappeared.

Bhondu was used to the disappearance of Krishna but Nandkishore was not. So he fell unconscious. Krishna appeared in his dream and asked him to write about his Leelas and His Dham. And so Nandkishore Das spent the rest of His life remembering and writing about Krishna in his two books - Shri Vrindavan Leela Amrit and Shri Shri Rasakalik.

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