This is a continuation of the life story of Siddha Jaikrishna Das Babaji of Kamyavan, whose disappearance day was yesterday. Read the first part here.
Radha Kund, 2017.04.09 (Vishakha Dasi for VT): The Raja of Bharatpur heard about Jaikrishna Das Babaji and became very anxious to have his darshan. Baba, however, refused to meet the Raja. He never met with worldly-minded people.
One day while Baba was out collecting alms, the Raja came to Baba’s hut disguised as a poor farmer. He sat down in the doorway and waited for Baba to return. But as Baba was walking towards home, he suddenly stopped and turned back towards the village.
Ghat of Vimal Kund, Kamyavan (P.C. Manorama Dasi)
As he walked through the village, Baba cried, “O Brajwasis! O my friends! My hut is on fire! Please go and put it out!” The villagers quickly ran to Baba’s cottage, but they did not see any fire. They only saw the Raja sitting there, dressed like a farmer. With folded hands, the Brajwasis begged the Raja not to force himself on Baba anymore. Reluctantly, the Raja went home, and Baba washed the place where he had been sitting with water and cow dung. But Baba’s blessings were with him; his heart soon became humble and free from worldly attachment.
One day at midday, something happened in Baba’s lila meditation which made him very sad. He started weeping in deep separation from Shri Krishna.
Suddenly there was a knock at Baba’s door. He did not answer it. He could hear some children playing outside.
“Bengali Baba! Bengali Baba! Open your door!” said one boy. Baba said nothing.
“Baba, o Baba! We are very thirsty! Please give us some water!” As usual, some boys had come to disturb his meditation. He kept silent.
“Bengali Baba!! I know what kind of nice bhajan you are doing! You heartless Baba, you are as cold blooded as a butcher! Hey! Come out of your hut and give us water! We are sooo thirsty!!”
Baba burst out of the door with a stick in hand. But as soon as he opened the door, he was surprised to see the banks of Vimal kund filled with so many beautiful cows, and many cowherd boys, each surpassing the other in beauty. His anger disappeared immediately.
He said to the ringleader, “Lala! Which village do you come from?”
“I’m from Nandgaon,” the boy replied.
“What’s your name?”
“Kanhaiya.”
Bābā turned to another boy and asked “What’s your name?”
“Baldau,” the other boy replied.
Kanhaiya said, “Baba, don’t waste time. First give us water, then talk.”
Baba did not have any cups or glasses. So the boys cupped their hands and Baba poured water directly into them from his water pot.
As Baba served the water, Baba looked into Kanhaiya’s eyes, and Kanhaiya stared into Baba’s. It was like some magical spell, so absorbed they were in each other. Kanhaiya wasn’t drinking; he was only looking at Baba with so much love. The water fell like a stream on the ground, but neither of them noticed.
The boys started laughing and clapping their hands, and it was only then that Kanhaiya realised what he was doing, and started to drink.
When he was satisfied, Kanhaiya said, “Look, Baba! We come from a long ways away every single day, and we don’t get anything to eat or drink. We are going to come to you every day from now on. Keep some snacks and drinks for us.”
Baba said, “No, Lala! Don’t come and disturb me like this every day!”
Baba immediately went inside and shut the door. But there was something so mysteriously attractive about those boys. He felt the irresistible urge to have another look. But when he opened the door, all the beautiful cows and cowherd boys were gone. How could they disappear in just a moment? Was it all a dream? A hallucination? No. The water Baba had spilled was still there on the ground. And their sweet fragrance still lingered on the banks of Vimal Kund.
Suddenly Baba realized that Kanhaiya must have really been Kanhaiya… he was Krishna himself, whom Baba worshipped. A wave of bhaav flowed through his body like an electric current, and tears began to flow. He was overwhelmed with joy to think that Krishna had come… but when he remembered he told him never to come back, all his joy turned into grief. The sadness was so intense that he felt his heart would burst. Through his tears he thought he could see Kanhaiya, and Kanhaiya was saying, “Get up Baba! Don’t be sad. Tomorrow I will come back to you, and this time, I will never leave.”
The next day, an old Brajwasi woman came to Baba with a beautiful deity of Laddu Gopal. She said, “Baba, I am very old! I can’t serve my Gopal anymore. Please serve him from now on.”
Baba said, “How can I serve Him, mother? Gopal is a small baby, and needs so much care. Where will I get all the things he needs?”
“Don’t worry about that, Baba,” said the old lady. “I wil provide everything he needs.” Speaking thus, the old woman went away.
Vrinda Devi (P.C. Manorama Dasi)
That night in his dream, he saw that the old lady was actually Vrinda Devi, showering him with her blessings.
Krishna’s nature is topsy-turvy. Sometimes someone calls for him, but he does not come. Sometimes someone does not call for him, yet he comes. Sometimes he even comes to those who completely snub him. Many great ascetics call and call for him till they are worn out, and he does not even appear in their mind’s eye.
But for his accomplished devotees, he is always right behind them.
After serving Gopal for some days, Siddha Jaikrishna Das Babaji left his body on chaitra shukla dwadashi. Perhaps he heard the flute song of Shri Krishna and departed. His last words were, “Where is my shawl? Where is my blouse? Where is my beautiful skirt?”
Gopal! I want to ask you something. Will you answer? You flew just like a honeybee from Bengal in the form of Shri Radha-Madanmohan, to relish the sweetest nectar of Baba’s loving seva. So many days you drank that honey, but still your thirst was not satisfied. So you came in yet another form to his humble cottage. Baba is Radharani’s maidservant; his power to serve you is as infinite as you are. Perhaps even if you took infinite forms, and enjoyed infinite service from him, still you would not be satisfied. Tell me, what was it about him that charmed you so?
Siddha Baba’s Gopal
(These stories from the life of Siddha Jaikrishna Das Babaji are taken from Shri Haridas Das Babaji’s Gaudiya Vaishnav Jivan and Dr. OBL Kapoor’s Braj ke Bhakt and The Saints of Braj.)
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