0 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,001 Story 33 Saksi-Gopala 1 00:00:00,002 --> 00:00:04,028 I’ll cite one story. 2 00:00:04,029 --> 00:00:06,670 It is very interesting story. 3 00:00:06,671 --> 00:00:13,376 If you go to India, you’ll find one nice temple in Orissa. 4 00:00:13,377 --> 00:00:17,687 It is called the temple of “Witness-Gopāla.” 5 00:00:17,688 --> 00:00:22,603 Sākṣī-Gopāla: Witness-Gopāla. 6 00:00:22,604 --> 00:00:29,578 This Gopāla was situated in a temple at Vṛndāvana. 7 00:00:29,579 --> 00:00:36,665 Now, two brāhmaṇas, one young and one old, they went to visit Vṛndāvana, 8 00:00:36,666 --> 00:00:41,092 the place of pilgrimage, and the old man… 9 00:00:41,093 --> 00:00:47,361 Because at that time there was no railway, the journey was very hardship. 10 00:00:47,362 --> 00:00:54,028 The old man felt very obliged, and he began to say to the young man, 11 00:00:54,029 --> 00:00:59,991 “My dear boy, you have done so much nice service to me. 12 00:00:59,992 --> 00:01:01,841 I am obliged to you. 13 00:01:01,842 --> 00:01:07,131 So, I must return that service. 14 00:01:07,132 --> 00:01:10,095 I must give you some reward.” 15 00:01:10,096 --> 00:01:15,418 So, the young man said, “Oh, my dear sir, you are old man. 16 00:01:15,419 --> 00:01:17,318 You are just like my father. 17 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,645 So it is my duty to serve you, to give you all comforts. 18 00:01:20,646 --> 00:01:22,625 I don’t require any reward.” 19 00:01:22,626 --> 00:01:25,259 Formerly, the boys were so gentle. 20 00:01:25,260 --> 00:01:28,200 And still, there are many boys like that. 21 00:01:28,201 --> 00:01:32,897 So the old man also thought that “No, I am obliged to you. 22 00:01:32,898 --> 00:01:34,705 I must reward you.” 23 00:01:34,706 --> 00:01:41,721 So he promised that “I shall get you married with my youngest daughter.” 24 00:01:41,722 --> 00:01:46,146 Now, the old man was very rich man, and the young man was not rich. 25 00:01:46,147 --> 00:01:46,946 He was poor. 26 00:01:46,947 --> 00:01:49,857 Although he was brāhmaṇa, learned. 27 00:01:49,858 --> 00:01:53,055 So he said that “You are promising. 28 00:01:53,056 --> 00:01:57,805 You don’t promise this because your kinsmen, your family men will not agree. 29 00:01:57,806 --> 00:02:01,144 I am poor man, and you are rich man. 30 00:02:01,145 --> 00:02:02,627 You are aristocratic. 31 00:02:02,628 --> 00:02:03,771 So it will be not. 32 00:02:03,772 --> 00:02:05,485 This marriage will not take place. 33 00:02:05,486 --> 00:02:08,484 Don’t promise in that way before the Deity. 34 00:02:08,485 --> 00:02:12,054 It is not good because Deity is there.” 35 00:02:12,055 --> 00:02:16,902 But he was firm faith that “Kṛṣṇa is hearing,” 36 00:02:16,903 --> 00:02:19,989 because the talks were going on in the temple. 37 00:02:19,990 --> 00:02:22,790 “So it will not be fulfilled.” 38 00:02:22,791 --> 00:02:27,839 “No,” because the old man became still more persistent [indistinct]. 39 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:29,513 “My daughter I shall offer you. 40 00:02:29,514 --> 00:02:31,818 Who can forbid me?” 41 00:02:31,819 --> 00:02:35,216 So in this way, when they came back, 42 00:02:35,217 --> 00:02:39,146 one day the old man proposed to his eldest son that, 43 00:02:39,147 --> 00:02:42,452 “Your youngest sister should be married with that boy. 44 00:02:42,453 --> 00:02:44,736 That I have promised.” 45 00:02:44,737 --> 00:02:48,837 Ah, the eldest son of that old man become very angry: 46 00:02:48,838 --> 00:02:53,042 “Oh, how you have selected that boy to be husband of my sister? 47 00:02:53,043 --> 00:02:56,291 He’s unfit; he’s poor man; he’s not so educated. 48 00:02:56,292 --> 00:02:59,265 Oh, this cannot take place.” 49 00:02:59,266 --> 00:03:02,209 So you see, he did not agree. 50 00:03:02,210 --> 00:03:04,362 Then the mother of the girl… 51 00:03:04,363 --> 00:03:06,220 [She] came to the old man: 52 00:03:06,221 --> 00:03:12,258 “Oh, if you get my daughter married with that boy, then I shall commit suicide.” 53 00:03:12,259 --> 00:03:14,474 Now the old man is perplexed. 54 00:03:14,475 --> 00:03:18,434 Then, one day, the boy was anxious that, 55 00:03:18,435 --> 00:03:21,856 “The old man promised before the Deity. 56 00:03:21,857 --> 00:03:24,186 Now he is not coming.” 57 00:03:24,187 --> 00:03:26,472 So he… One day he came to his house: 58 00:03:26,473 --> 00:03:27,361 “Well, my dear sir, 59 00:03:27,362 --> 00:03:34,296 you promised before the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, and you are not fulfilling your promise? 60 00:03:34,297 --> 00:03:35,240 How is that?” 61 00:03:35,241 --> 00:03:41,237 The old man was silent because he was praying to Kṛṣṇa that “I am now perplexed. 62 00:03:41,238 --> 00:03:45,714 If I persist in offering this daughter to this boy, 63 00:03:45,715 --> 00:03:48,712 now there will be great trouble in my family.” 64 00:03:48,713 --> 00:03:50,658 So he was silent. 65 00:03:50,659 --> 00:03:56,427 So in the meantime, the eldest son came out and he began to quarrel with: 66 00:03:56,428 --> 00:04:02,132 “Oh, you, you plundered my father in the place of pilgrimage. 67 00:04:02,133 --> 00:04:06,976 You gave him some LSD or something, intoxication; you… 68 00:04:06,977 --> 00:04:09,971 You took all the money from my father. 69 00:04:09,972 --> 00:04:16,249 Now you say that he has promised to offer you my youngest sister; you fool!” 70 00:04:16,250 --> 00:04:17,759 He began to say like that. 71 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:19,997 Then all the neighboring gentlemen, they: 72 00:04:19,998 --> 00:04:21,331 “Oh, what is the trouble? 73 00:04:21,332 --> 00:04:23,188 Here there is so much howling.” 74 00:04:23,189 --> 00:04:27,489 “This is the… Do you think, sir, that this boy is fit for my sister? 75 00:04:27,490 --> 00:04:30,905 We are aristocratic family and this and that…,” so on. 76 00:04:30,906 --> 00:04:38,011 So, the young man said… Young man could understand the old man is still agreeable, 77 00:04:38,012 --> 00:04:43,430 but these, his sons and family members, as he suggested, they are not agreeable. 78 00:04:43,431 --> 00:04:48,412 So he explained the whole thing before all the gentlemen who came, 79 00:04:48,413 --> 00:04:49,995 that “This is the fact. 80 00:04:49,996 --> 00:04:51,598 Now, he promised. 81 00:04:51,599 --> 00:04:57,363 Now, for the sake of his son and wife, he cannot fulfill his promise. 82 00:04:57,364 --> 00:05:00,002 This was a promise before the Lord.” 83 00:05:00,003 --> 00:05:05,409 In the meantime, the old man’s eldest son… He was atheist. 84 00:05:05,410 --> 00:05:07,375 He voluntarily says, 85 00:05:07,376 --> 00:05:14,351 “Well, if your God comes and gives witness, then I shall offer my sister to you.” 86 00:05:14,352 --> 00:05:17,512 But he was confident that God will come. 87 00:05:17,513 --> 00:05:18,725 He said, “Yes. 88 00:05:18,726 --> 00:05:19,908 I shall ask God. 89 00:05:19,909 --> 00:05:23,403 I shall ask Kṛṣṇa to come and give witness.” 90 00:05:23,404 --> 00:05:27,457 So… Now, before all gentlemen this was done. 91 00:05:27,458 --> 00:05:28,786 Then the young man said, 92 00:05:28,787 --> 00:05:31,425 “All right, let us now come to agreement 93 00:05:31,426 --> 00:05:38,874 that I shall call Kṛṣṇa from Vṛndāvana to give witness in this matter, 94 00:05:38,875 --> 00:05:40,619 and when He comes, you’ll have to.” 95 00:05:40,620 --> 00:05:43,027 Ah the all the other gentlemen, they also persisted. 96 00:05:43,028 --> 00:05:44,962 So there was some agreement. 97 00:05:44,963 --> 00:05:50,296 So this boy went again to Vṛndāvana to his Gopāla, 98 00:05:50,297 --> 00:05:55,176 and he prayed that “Sir, You have to go with me.” 99 00:05:55,177 --> 00:06:00,417 He was so staunch devotee, just like talking with friend. 100 00:06:00,418 --> 00:06:04,104 He did not think that He’s a statue; it is image. 101 00:06:04,105 --> 00:06:05,843 He knew God. 102 00:06:05,844 --> 00:06:07,572 That was his conviction. 103 00:06:07,573 --> 00:06:13,325 So God said, “How do you think that a statue can go with you? 104 00:06:13,326 --> 00:06:14,660 I am a statue. 105 00:06:14,661 --> 00:06:17,508 I cannot go.” 106 00:06:17,509 --> 00:06:25,895 Then this boy replied, “Well, if a statue can speak, He can go also.” 107 00:06:25,896 --> 00:06:31,412 Oh… Then Kṛṣṇa said, “All right, I shall go with you.” 108 00:06:31,413 --> 00:06:37,394 Then there was some arrangement that “You will not see Me, but I will go with you. 109 00:06:37,395 --> 00:06:42,531 I’ll go with you, and you’ll hear the sound of My nūpura.” 110 00:06:42,532 --> 00:06:48,029 A nūpura is an instrument which is fixed up in the leg of Kṛṣṇa. 111 00:06:48,030 --> 00:06:51,492 It sounds like “Ching, ching, ching, ching;” just like that. 112 00:06:51,493 --> 00:06:55,467 So, He was going with him, 113 00:06:55,468 --> 00:06:59,672 and daily he was offering some foodstuff. 114 00:06:59,673 --> 00:07:01,792 Taking alms from the village. 115 00:07:01,793 --> 00:07:03,709 In this way he was coming, 116 00:07:03,710 --> 00:07:07,500 but when he came in the precincts of the village— 117 00:07:07,501 --> 00:07:12,441 of his own village—he could not hear the sound of the nūpura. 118 00:07:12,442 --> 00:07:15,702 So he saw back: “Oh, where is Kṛṣṇa?” 119 00:07:15,703 --> 00:07:18,676 He saw that statue there. 120 00:07:18,677 --> 00:07:20,113 The statue standing. 121 00:07:20,114 --> 00:07:26,642 So he informed all the villagers that Lord has come to be witness, 122 00:07:26,643 --> 00:07:32,469 and in the… It is about some thousands yards before this thing happened. 123 00:07:32,470 --> 00:07:34,672 People are convincing: 124 00:07:34,673 --> 00:07:35,669 “Yes. 125 00:07:35,670 --> 00:07:40,816 There was no… Such a big statue, this boy could not bring.” 126 00:07:40,817 --> 00:07:47,686 So they believed, and there was a temple constructed by the king of that country. 127 00:07:47,687 --> 00:07:50,740 And still that temple is there, 128 00:07:50,741 --> 00:07:55,596 and it is named… The Lord is named, as Sākṣī-Gopāla. 129 00:07:55,597 --> 00:08:01,375 Sākṣī-Gopāla; Gopāla means… Gopāla is the name of Kṛṣṇa’s boyhood. 130 00:08:01,376 --> 00:08:06,683 So, because He came to give witness in that controversy, 131 00:08:06,684 --> 00:08:09,513 so that temple is still there. 132 00:08:09,514 --> 00:08:16,748 So the whole idea is the statue… Statue… Because God is everywhere. 133 00:08:16,749 --> 00:08:20,708 So He’s also in statue. 134 00:08:20,709 --> 00:08:21,914 God is everywhere. 135 00:08:21,915 --> 00:08:24,929 How can you say that He’s not in statue? 136 00:08:24,930 --> 00:08:27,728 He is also in statue. 137 00:08:27,729 --> 00:08:31,063 So it is my devotion. 138 00:08:31,064 --> 00:08:38,210 It is my qualification, that I can induce that statue to speak with me. 139 00:08:38,211 --> 00:08:41,555 Just like the same way—if I am electrician, 140 00:08:41,556 --> 00:08:47,994 then I can fit any electrical instrument [indistict] 141 00:08:47,995 --> 00:08:53,608 machine or light from the electric energy, which is all over. 142 00:08:53,609 --> 00:09:05,831 Similarly, God’s energy: He is present everywhere. 143 00:09:05,832 --> 00:09:05,833 Subtitles by Pratyatoṣa Dāsa, Causelessmercy.com