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Story 33 Saksi-Gopala
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I’ll cite one story.
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It is very interesting story.
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If you go to India, you’ll find
one nice temple in Orissa.
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It is called the temple
of “Witness-Gopāla.”
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Sākṣī-Gopāla: Witness-Gopāla.
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This Gopāla was situated
in a temple at Vṛndāvana.
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Now, two brāhmaṇas, one young and
one old, they went to visit Vṛndāvana,
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the place of pilgrimage,
and the old man…
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Because at that time there was no
railway, the journey was very hardship.
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The old man felt very obliged, and
he began to say to the young man,
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“My dear boy, you have done
so much nice service to me.
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I am obliged to you.
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So, I must return that service.
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I must give you some reward.”
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So, the young man said, “Oh,
my dear sir, you are old man.
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You are just like my father.
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So it is my duty to serve you,
to give you all comforts.
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I don’t require any reward.”
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Formerly, the boys were so gentle.
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And still, there are
many boys like that.
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So the old man also thought
that “No, I am obliged to you.
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I must reward you.”
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So he promised that “I shall get you
married with my youngest daughter.”
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Now, the old man was very rich man,
and the young man was not rich.
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He was poor.
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Although he was
brāhmaṇa, learned.
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So he said that “You are promising.
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You don’t promise this because your
kinsmen, your family men will not agree.
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I am poor man, and
you are rich man.
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You are aristocratic.
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So it will be not.
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This marriage will not take place.
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Don’t promise in that
way before the Deity.
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It is not good because
Deity is there.”
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But he was firm faith
that “Kṛṣṇa is hearing,”
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because the talks were
going on in the temple.
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“So it will not be fulfilled.”
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“No,” because the old man became
still more persistent [indistinct].
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“My daughter I shall offer you.
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Who can forbid me?”
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So in this way, when
they came back,
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one day the old man proposed
to his eldest son that,
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“Your youngest sister should
be married with that boy.
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That I have promised.”
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Ah, the eldest son of that
old man become very angry:
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“Oh, how you have selected that
boy to be husband of my sister?
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He’s unfit; he’s poor man;
he’s not so educated.
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Oh, this cannot take place.”
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So you see, he did not agree.
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Then the mother of the girl…
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[She] came to the old man:
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“Oh, if you get my daughter married with
that boy, then I shall commit suicide.”
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Now the old man is perplexed.
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Then, one day, the
boy was anxious that,
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“The old man promised
before the Deity.
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Now he is not coming.”
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So he… One day he
came to his house:
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“Well, my dear sir,
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you promised before the Lord, Kṛṣṇa,
and you are not fulfilling your promise?
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How is that?”
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The old man was silent because he was
praying to Kṛṣṇa that “I am now perplexed.
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If I persist in offering this
daughter to this boy,
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now there will be great
trouble in my family.”
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So he was silent.
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So in the meantime, the eldest son
came out and he began to quarrel with:
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“Oh, you, you plundered my
father in the place of pilgrimage.
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You gave him some LSD or
something, intoxication; you…
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You took all the
money from my father.
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Now you say that he has promised to
offer you my youngest sister; you fool!”
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He began to say like that.
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Then all the neighboring
gentlemen, they:
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“Oh, what is the trouble?
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Here there is so much howling.”
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“This is the… Do you think, sir,
that this boy is fit for my sister?
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We are aristocratic family
and this and that…,” so on.
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So, the young man said… Young man could
understand the old man is still agreeable,
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but these, his sons and family members,
as he suggested, they are not agreeable.
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So he explained the whole thing
before all the gentlemen who came,
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that “This is the fact.
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Now, he promised.
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Now, for the sake of his son and
wife, he cannot fulfill his promise.
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This was a promise
before the Lord.”
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In the meantime, the old man’s
eldest son… He was atheist.
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He voluntarily says,
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“Well, if your God comes and gives
witness, then I shall offer my sister to you.”
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But he was confident
that God will come.
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He said, “Yes.
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I shall ask God.
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I shall ask Kṛṣṇa to
come and give witness.”
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So… Now, before all
gentlemen this was done.
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Then the young man said,
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“All right, let us now
come to agreement
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that I shall call Kṛṣṇa from Vṛndāvana
to give witness in this matter,
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and when He comes,
you’ll have to.”
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Ah the all the other
gentlemen, they also persisted.
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So there was some agreement.
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So this boy went again to
Vṛndāvana to his Gopāla,
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and he prayed that “Sir,
You have to go with me.”
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He was so staunch devotee,
just like talking with friend.
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He did not think that
He’s a statue; it is image.
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He knew God.
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That was his conviction.
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So God said, “How do you think
that a statue can go with you?
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I am a statue.
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I cannot go.”
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Then this boy replied, “Well, if a
statue can speak, He can go also.”
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Oh… Then Kṛṣṇa said, “All
right, I shall go with you.”
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Then there was some arrangement that
“You will not see Me, but I will go with you.
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I’ll go with you, and you’ll hear
the sound of My nūpura.”
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A nūpura is an instrument which
is fixed up in the leg of Kṛṣṇa.
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It sounds like “Ching, ching,
ching, ching;” just like that.
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So, He was going with him,
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and daily he was
offering some foodstuff.
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Taking alms from the village.
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In this way he was coming,
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but when he came in the
precincts of the village—
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of his own village—he could not
hear the sound of the nūpura.
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So he saw back: “Oh,
where is Kṛṣṇa?”
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He saw that statue there.
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The statue standing.
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So he informed all the villagers
that Lord has come to be witness,
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and in the… It is about some thousands
yards before this thing happened.
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People are convincing:
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“Yes.
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There was no… Such a big
statue, this boy could not bring.”
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So they believed, and there was a temple
constructed by the king of that country.
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And still that temple is there,
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and it is named… The Lord
is named, as Sākṣī-Gopāla.
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Sākṣī-Gopāla; Gopāla means… Gopāla
is the name of Kṛṣṇa’s boyhood.
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So, because He came to give
witness in that controversy,
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so that temple is still there.
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So the whole idea is the statue…
Statue… Because God is everywhere.
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So He’s also in statue.
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God is everywhere.
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How can you say that
He’s not in statue?
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He is also in statue.
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So it is my devotion.
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It is my qualification, that I can
induce that statue to speak with me.
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Just like the same
way—if I am electrician,
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then I can fit any electrical
instrument [indistict]
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machine or light from the
electric energy, which is all over.
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Similarly, God’s energy:
He is present everywhere.
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Subtitles by Pratyatoṣa Dāsa, Causelessmercy.com