New online documentary:

 The Mercy of Radha Gopinath

Introduction:

The Mercy of Radha Gopinath from Amogha Das on Vimeo.

A new documentary is online: The Mercy of Radha Gopinath. Srila Prabhupada personally brought Radha Gopinath from Mumbai to Sydney in 1971. He left them with a prayer: "Now I am leaving you in this mleccha desh. I can take no more responsibility. You please give these boys and girls the intelligence to worship You nicely."

Read about the manifest pastimes of Lord Nrsimhadeva (Mayapur), Lord Jagannath (Rajapur) and 37 other deities at www.narasimhalila.com....

Radharani just wouldn't allow me put that hair piece on her body. It just wouldn't go on.

Around 1986 my wife Mohini Rupa regularly dressed Radha Gopinath. This was at the Kings Cross/Darlinghurst temple.

One morning she was feeling too ill to do the service, and she couldn’t get anyone by phone to replace her. She sent me at 4:00 am to dress Radha Gopinath.

I was not acquainted with where all the necessary items were kept. A Deity paraphernelia room can be quite complicated, with an order to it that only the pujaris know. There are many drawers, many shelves, and many storage boxes.

I bathed Their Lordships and dressed them, but when it came to putting their hair on I came across a problem.

One of the wigs in the hair box was in two pieces, one for each side of the head. I tried to put it on Radharani, but it kept falling off. I tried to clip it with hair pins, but even though by normal calculation it should have stayed on, it fell off. It was getting late and the curtains would soon open, so I was anxious. I tried to put it on again and it fell again. After it had happened three or four times, I gave up and put another hair piece on Radharani, and all went fine.

I was quite frantic trying to finish in time, and I was anxious becuause I am not a regular pujari. I didn’t know what devotees would think of the way I dressed Their Lordships. When the curtains opened, I was standing next to Nareshvara Prabhu. He asked “Who dressed Radha Gopinath today?” I shyly said, “Me?” “This is nice!” he said. “This is what we need.” Then I felt much better.

When I returned home, I told my wife what had happened. She laughed. “You tried to put Krishna’s hair on Radharani!” We both laughed about it for a long time.

Afterwards I had a major realization: One cannot dress Radharani unless she allows it. One can’t do anything for the Deities unless they allow it. They are not statues, but really Radha and Krishna arca-avatars. They appear in this world in these forms so we can find Them, see Them and serve Them. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, Radharani allows us to serve Krishna.

(Read how Srila Prabhupada brought Radha Gopinath to Sydney at www.narasimhalila.com under World Deity Pastimes.)

Amogha das

A similar pastime:

Another time while the pujari was dressing the Deities, he was putting necklaces on Jagannatha. He had placed three around the Lord’s neck, but the fourth fell to the ground. He picked it up and put it on Jagannatha and again it fell down. Again he picked it up and put it on, but again it fell down. When he tried again, Lord Jagannatha said, “Don’t you understand? Three is enough: I don’t want anymore!”

from Lord Jagannath, Rajapur, Chapter 3: “Don’t you understand?”

Mystery of Nrsimhadev's Missing Jewels,
                                                                        by Amogha das.
How could they reappear?

One day whilst in Malaysia I received a phone call. The lady speaking had a strong accent so I couldn't understand her, but she mentioned my wife's name and said "heart attack." I was shocked and kept asking her "Did my wife have a heart attack!?" Finally after some confusion, I could understand that she was from a store named Heart Attack where she wife had reserved a pair of jewel studded bangles for Lord Nrsimhadev. A few days later we bought the wide gold bangles, covered with pink and multi-colour reddish diamantes. They opened with a spring so you pull them open and then close them around the Lord's wrists.



When we arrived in Mayapur, she checked the bangles. She was dismayed to discover that some of the jewels had fallen out. They were in the bottom of the bag. She placed the bangles with the jewels in a small paper bag on the altar table. In our apartment, the altar is over a metre high and is situated against the wall. On the other side of the wall is our bedroom. She wanted me to get strong glue and reset the jewels.

I needed to get epoxy glue, and it wasn't until we went overseas again and came back that I acquired it. When she asked me again to glue the jewels, I picked up the paper bag. I carefully looked inside, knowing there were loose jewels and bangles inside. I could only see very few jewels at the bottom and she immediately said, "Oh no! You have dropped Lord Nrsimhadev's jewels!"

"I didn't drop anything" I replied. "I just looked inside the bag."

"You've dropped the jewels," she continued. "They were in this bag. We went overseas. No one has been here. You must have dropped them.

My wife really wanted to offer those bangles to Lord Nrsimhadev, so she started searching for the jewels. She looked all around the altar, on the floor around the altar. Then, finding nothing, she expanded the search around the floor further away from the altar. The wall behind the altar is three metres, and to the right side there is a doorway leading to the bedroom. There is no way anything could fall from the altar, go sideways that far, then turn the corner and enter the bedroom. However, since it was adjacent, she started searching the floor of the bedroom.

To allow for storage space the bed was built with high legs. Underneath we keep about ten suitcases and travel bags. My wife started pulling the suitcases out from under the bed. In the middle of the floor under the bed, only accessible after removing suitcases, she found some of the missing jewels.

We were both astonished, because if you see the situation, there is no way you could, for example, drop a child's marble from the altar, and make it roll 1.5 metres, turn left, enter the doorway, roll left again 1.5 metres, then move right 1.5 metres after crossing over some suitcases blocking the way. We had no idea what to think of this. If you look at the jewels on the bangles, they are unique in colour and cut. It's not that you could find just any diamante and it would look like this.



So, I mixed up the epoxy glue, and set the jewels we found back in the bangles. But there were not enough to fill the empty spaces, which are like little craters in the surface.

Somewhat exasperated, my wife went to the temple to see Lord Nrsimhadeva and prayed "My dear Lord, do You want these bangles? I can't find the missing jewels. We can't offer them to You with crystals missing." Every time she swept the bedroom floor, she carefully looked for crystals. She swept that floor, mopped it and wiped it many times over a few months. During her sweeps, she found two more crystals, but there was still one missing.



Two days before Nrsimha Caturdasi, 4th May 2012, she decided to start another search. She pulled all the chairs and the table and cane lounge chair away from the wall near the altar. I was just letting the glue dry after resetting the other crystals when she called out, "I found a pink crystal! I found a pink crystal!" I immediately rushed over. She reached out to give it to me. "Oh NO!" she cried. "I DROPPED IT!!" Now we both got down on the floor with our daughter Sakhi, moved all the furniture, and with a light we looked and looked, but we couldn't find it.

What a tragedy that after all that effort we couldn't offer the bangles to Lord Nrsimhadev. Anyway, that crystal seemed too small. Then, and she said she does not know why, the idea came into her mind to look in the bedroom again. She entered the bedroom, turned left and walked to the windows and there on the floor, right in the middle of the space between the wall and the bed, was a single pink crystal. It was a perfect match with the other crystals on the bangles.



"I have swept this floor many times! she exclaimed. "How could this happen?"

We just could not understand how this could happen. I mixed up the glue and as I waited for it to thicken, I snapped a photo of the last crystal on my finger. On Nrsimha Caturdasi she presented the bangles to the pujari who was attending the altar just after midday. She asked him to accept them, but he said, "No, you have to give them to Jananivas Prabhu first." She pleaded with him but he insisted that she give them to Jananivas Prabhu. Together we went up the stairs to his quarters and told Jananivas Prabhu all that had happened.

.

He smiled at our daughter (8 years old) and said, "Sakhi. Have you got anything to do with this?" She just giggled and said "No."

I asked whether we should offer them on Gaura Purnima. He replied that we could, but we could also offer them now. I was happy with "now." With a big smile on his face, he took the bangles down the stairs as we followed. He approached Lord Nrsimhadev, and to our great happiness, he removed the bangles the Lord was wearing, and placed our bangles on His powerful arms. Then he brought some Tulasi leaves and a mango from Lord Nrsimhadev and put them in Sakhi's hand. It was an unforgettable moment for us to see the gloriously beautiful, lavishly decorated Supreme Lord Nrsimhadev wearing our bangles with a huge smile.

Thank you Lord Nrsimhadev for accepting our little offerings. Thank you for appearing in Mayapur and allowing us to serve You. Thank you Jananivas Prabhu for encouraging our service. Thank you Srila Prabhupada for revealing that the spiritual world is manifest here in the material world. By your mercy alone we can come here. Without you we would be lost in the darkness of the Kali age.

10,000 enemy soldiers poised--The King ordered kirtan.

from a lecture by HH Jayapataka Swami, Los Angeles April 17, 2010

There's the deity at Bankura in Bishnupur established by Srinivas Acharya. He is different than Srivas Thakur. After Jiva Goswami he was the next to protect the sampradaya.

About 300 years after Lord Caitanya there was one atheistic so called pandit. He was called Bhaskara Pandit.

At that time the Moghul ruler was a bit weaker. He amassed an army and he was attacking different villages. He had taken control of a large part of Bengal. Many times he attacked Bankura kingdom, but he was not successful.

This time he had amassed ten thousand soldiers, and he was going to lay siege.

The king (Gopal Singh, 1730-45) who is in the line of disciples of Srinivas Acharya, said everyone chant Hare Krishna for one day, to give us a blessing for going out and fighting this huge horde that this man has made.

Bhaskara Pandit, he used to rob the devotees and loot the temples. He was terrible. At that time the Muslims, apart from Aurangzeb, were quite respectful to the Deities, generally speaking.

But he wasn't. When he heard that the king has ordered "No one raise any weapons for one day. Do kirtan." he laughed.

"HA HA HA! I will attack them now! They won't even resist. I'll kill them all! HA HA HA!

I, Bhaskara Pandit, will be the ruler!"

But the king heard, "POW POW POW"--heard the firing of canons, going off one after another like a machine gun. "POW POW POW POW POW." He came out.

The whole ten thousand army of Bhaskara Pandit was killed. And the canons were hot, smoking.

"Who did it? I gave the order that no one should fire."

Well, none of his kingdom did it.

One old man was there, and said, "The Deity came out. The Deity did it. The Deity took one canon in each arm, POW POW POW POW. He shot."

"The Deity?!" asked the king.

So they went in the Deity room and there was smell like gunshot powder. I think the Deity's name was Radha Madan Mohan. Jaya Radha Madan Mohan ki jai!

So interesting, all these pastimes of the Deities.

That canon is still there and the Deity is still there.

Read how Vishnupur became a Vaishnava Kingdom by the mercy of Srinivasa Acharya. www.narasimhalila.com, click World Deity Pastimes, find Bankura Kingdom Saved.

Last year before Nrsimha Caturdasi we received several incredible stories of Mayapur Lord Nrsimhadeva saving devotees. He cancelled devotees' cancer, and provided a couple with a baby. In a disciple's dream He showed that He was protecting Jayapataka Swami, and when a huge bush fire raged towards a devotee's home, upon her prayers He blew the flames away. (narasimhalila.com/ newpastimes. html)

This year coming up to the time of Nrsimha Caturdasi I have had no new stories. When I went to Mayapur, I prayed to Lord Nrsimhadev for new pastimes, but I didn't receive any.

I was surprized, however, to receive more and more pastimes of Gaura Nitai and Radha Krsna Deities during this time. I had started World Deity Pastimes as a new part of narasimhalila.com to present pastimes of many Deities. Now there are thirty four.

I received the story of Narottam's Gaura, wherein Lord Gauranga revealed to him in a dream where the only Deity of Gauranga made by Himself was hidden. I couldn't imagine where this Deity is until a week later my daughter and her husband arrived from Vrindavan with a photo of the Deity they had taken!

I found the story of the fight for the Juhu temple (posted on dandavats.com). I already had the photo of PL Sethi with Srila Prabhupada sent by Braja Hari Prabhu earlier, but I didn't have the written story.

I posted photographs of Radha Madhava during the first days of candan yatra, when Radharani wore peacock feathers and all the gopies were dressed as dancing peacocks.

With my daughter and son-in-law came the fabulous story of Radha Shyamasundar, manifest by Radharani from her heart, and given to Shyamananda. Photography was not allowed, but I found photos of this Deity on the temple website.

Then I found the incredible story of Gauridas Pandit's Gaura Nitai Deities, given to Gauridas by Nitai Gauranga personally. They ran off the altar to join in the kirtan by the Ganga. Even today the curtains are only open briefly then closed, to keep the Deities on the altar. I haven't found photos of Them yet.

Pondering how the lack of stories about saving lives, and these other most amazing Deity pastimes, I remembered the prayer by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur:

“In my heart reside duplicity, insincerity, the desire for fame, and the six enemies: lust, anger, envy, fear, illusion and intoxication. Therefore I will pray at the feet of Lord Nrsimha to purify my heart and give me the desire to serve Krishna.

“Weeping I will beg Lord Nrsimha that I may worship Radha-Madhava in Navadvip, free from obstacles. Although this form of the Lord is terrible for the evil, He is exceedingly auspicious for the devotees headed by Prahlada. When will Lord Nrsimha become pleased to mercifully speak to me, a worthless fool, and remove my fears?

'Dear child, stay here happily in Gaura Dham. Worship Radha-Madhava, and develop attraction for the holy name. By the mercy of My devotees, all obstacles are transcended.' After speaking like this, when will that Lord joyfully place His feet upon my head? At that moment, by Lord Nrsimha's mercy, I will exhibit symptoms of ecstatic love for Radha and Krishna, and will roll on the ground by the door of Lord Nrsimha's temple.”

--Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur (Navadvipa-bhava-taranga)

So it seems this year Lord Nrsimhadeva revealed more of Nitai Gauranga and Radha Krsna Deity pastimes than His other types of miracles.

His Divine Grace arrives, Melbourne 1974

Dear Devotees,

I recorded memories of times I was with Srila Prabhupada, including audio clips of him speaking on various topics during morning walks when I was present. I love to hear him blast the scientists so effectively, and set our minds right about everything. Apologies if the kirtan lead seems a bit sentimental. I kept this recording for a long time and recently decided to release it.

The link is at www.narasimhalila.com/prabhupada.html. It is in mp3 format.

your servant, Amogha das

Deity Dreams

In the modern day many pastimes between devotees and the Lord in His Arca Avatar, or Deity forms are happening. There are many stories....

Dreams have long been a feature of exchanges between the Lord and His devotees.

In Remuna, Kshirachora Gopinath (photo above) told His pujari in a dream to take the pot of

sweet Kshira the Lord had hidden under his dress, and bring it to His beloved

devotee Mahdavendra Puri. Madhavendra Puri, who was outside under a Banyon

tree, had left the temple, feeling he had offended the Lord by desiring to

taste the Kshira so he could offer it to his own Deity. (narasimhalila.com/

remuna.html)

When Govinda Gosh, one of Lord Caitanya's dear associates, abandoned all of his

service in frustration after his wife and son died, Lord Gopinath (photo above) appeared to

him in a dream masssaged his legs. "I don't understand your intelligence," the

Lord Said. "One of your sons dies, and you decide,

'Whats the point in feeding the other one let him die also.'" The Lord agreed

to perform the last rites and yearly pinda ceremony for Govinda, who was then

very happy and got up to prepare an offering. Every year this Deity is taken to

the place where He performs the annual pinda ceremony, but Pankajanghri Prabhu

told me the Deity actually went there Himself at the time of Govinda's

departure. (narasimhalila.com/govindagosh.html)

Dreams of Krishna or Guru are a great insiration for the devotee. In the cases

above, they are also a great inspiration to us and future devotees, because the

dreams are revealed to us through literature or verbal tradition. The devotees

involved spoke about their dreams, or wrote about them, so that we could share

in the ecstatic inspiration, and feel greater faith in Guru and Krishna. If

they kept the pastimes to themselves, we would no know about them.

In the modern day many pastimes between devotees and the Lord in His Arca

Avatar, or Deity forms are happening. There are many stories in regard to Lord

Nrsimhadeva in Mayapur and Lord Jagannath in Rajpur. (narasimhalila. com/

jagraj1.html) Many devotees have given their realizations, dreams and miracles

they have witnessed. His Grace Pankajanghri Prabhu released them in book form..

World Deity Pastimes is a new section aimed at revealing histories of other

Deities, pastimes, and personal accounts Deities manifesting Their mercy.

Here we have some ancient histories, as well as some from the present. One

obstacle we face is that many devotees who have had experiences with Deities,

don't want to talk about it.

It is more convincing to read the experiences of someone who gives their name

and tells who they are, as in Mayapur Lord Nrsimhadeva's pastimes. But if

devotees won't reveal who they are, at least they could spare us some mercy to

know what happened, even if they don't give their name.

Seva Priya devi dasi, who tells of how her daughter Jagannath Lila was born by

the mercy of Lord Jagannath at Rajpur, said she promised Lord Jagannath to

always speak of His glories, so she has to tell everyone. She adds that

devotees who read her story say their faith has been increased.

(www.narsimhalila.com/jagraj11.html)

We have the chance to serve the devotees by inspiring their faith in the Lord

by revealing any pastimes we have seen or experienced. If our life ends without

sharing the mercy we miss that opportunity.

Below are some personal accounts of dream related experiences from present-day

devotees.

Pujari's Dream Come True

One of the pujaris from Soho temple visited our family in Mayapur in 2009. She

told us a very interesting story about Lord Jagannath in Soho.

The pujaris were preparing to offer a flower set to Sri Sri Radha London

Isvara. A donor had offered the funds required.

During her sleep, Lord Jagannath appeared in a dream. He said, "I am God just

as much as He is! I want a flower set also."

"But Lord Jagannath," she pleaded nervously, "Someone donated the money for the

flower set. We don't have the money to buy a flower set for You."

"Don't worry," Lord Jagannath said. "Radharani will arrange everything."

The next day someone came to the temple and donated the money needed to buy

Lord Jagannath's flowers, and the devotees enthusiastically prepared a flower

set to Lord Jagannath also.

Most Wonderful Dream
as told by Kaisori devi dasi

This is the most wonderful dream I have ever had of a Deity of Krishna. We were

living at St. Augustine, so we would drive to Alachua temple .

This was during a time when I was going through a lot of tests, in spiritual

life, in life in general. I dreamt that I was in the car driving to the temple

with my husband and my mother was also there. We were driving and then we

arrived at the temple.

As soon as we saw the temple I see this mataji coming out of the temple room,

and she says to me, "Take advantage. Krishna is still outside." And I said to

her, "What do you mean Krishna is still outside?"

She said, "The Deity, Shyam, He's right in the center of the temple room. He

came out!"

I said "Ok. I have to go see that." So I rushed to the temple, and there He

was! The Deity of Shyam was right in the middle of the temple room!"

I offered my obeisances and I started walking close to Him. Then once I was

really--literally this close--suddenly He became Himself. He was no longer a

Deity, He was Shyam. And then He smiled at me.

And He said, "Kaisori, don't worry so much about things. It's not good for

you."

He said, "Whenever you have a problem, or anything that worries you, just come

and tell me and I will take care about it."

It was very very beautiful. That's the most beautfiul dream I have every had.

Lord Balaram's Appearance Day, New Mayapur

As told by Vaiyasaki Prabhu.

We were in New Mayapur in France for Lord Balaram's Appearance Day. Sri Sri

Krishna Balaram are the main Deities of the temple, and Lord Balaram is the

only Lord Balaram Deity in Europe. It is a big festival. Every temple has their

big yearly festival. That's their big one.

I gave class and there was a big kirtan. Right on the final day, in the

evening, the devotees presented a play in French. So a few of us went back to

the temple for sayana arotike rather than sit and see a play in French. There

were a few devotees there in the temple, maybe about ten. I led the kirtan, the

consch blew, but the pujari didn't close the curtains, so I just kept chanting.

Then the pujaris started putting the Deities to rest like they do after closing

the curtains. They brought in the beds, they took off all the garments. They

did everything. They put Them to rest, said all the mantras with the curtains

wide open. So I just carried on chanting. Then when the pujaris were finished

they blew the consch and closed the curtains.

This is unusual that the pujaris put the Deities to rest with the curtains

open. It's very unusual. So I said the premadvani prayers, and I said to

everbody, "We really got Lord Balaram's mercy!"

Anyway, I went home. That night I had a dream. I was walking in some temple. I

don't know where it was. I didn't recognize it. Just me and Prabhupada. We were

walking and I said to Srila Prabhupada, "I think that we got Lord Balaram's

mercy." Srila Prabhupada said, "Yes, you definitely got Lord Balaram's mercy."

Just then I woke up. I was like wide awake, and I thought "Wow!" I looked at my

clock and it was one o'clock in the morning. I thought "I've got to go back to

sleep," but I couldn't. So I just chanted sixteen rounds.

This happened about ten years ago.(year 2000)
----------------------------

To share some pastimes or Deity histories, please write to me

at amogha. acbsp @pamho.net.

When Lord Ramachandra and Sita Devi were returning to Ayodhya after Their exile, Their flower airplane flew right above this place. In those days, the area used to look magnificent. There were seven rivers flowing through it and the landscape was vibrant with lush vegetation. As Sita was mesmerized by its beauty, she inquried from Lord Rama, "Oh, my Lord, in what form will You appear on Earth when you descend in Dvapara-yuga?"

Lord Rama immediately landed the plane. At that spot there was a large black rock, and He started to carve it with the tip of an arrow to answer her question. "Just see, My dear, this is how I will look when I appear in Dvapara-yuga." Then He showed her the wonderful form of Gopinatha He had carved. Rama also carved eight gopis, four to each side of the Deity, as well as a cow that serves as a base for the lotus feet of Gopinatha. He also carved Ananta Sesa above Gopinatha's head. (That piece of stone is on the altar as well, but we couldn't see it because it was covered with cloth.)

After that, Rama and Sita continued their travel to Ayodhya, and the local brahmanas started to worship the Deity and have continued to do so to this very day. We took this unique opportunity of offer Gopinath our service through prayers and chanting and dancing in a several-hour long kirtana enthusiastically led by Prahlad Nrisimha Prabhu.

The one thing we couldn't miss for the world was tasting the special sweet made only at this place and nowhere else. Ksira is the sweet the Deity was named after. It is made from condensed milk, sugar, and cream with raisins added. Chora means a thief. Once opon a time, The Deity Himself stole a pot of that special tasty sweet to offer to His dear devotee, Madhavendra Puri, who desired in his mind to try it so that later he would know how to prepare it for his own Deity, Govinda. That transdendental pastime has made this temple, Madhavendra Puri and the sweet famous. Soon we got the chance to try it. In the courtyard, there was a room with many clay pots full of condensed milk. The sweets started to disappear when the devotees, hungry for nectar, got to them. Most of us were not satisfied with only one pot! Soon it came time for breakfast, which we took in the prasadam room within the temple complex.

for full story see

narasimhalila.com click World Deity Pastimes

Londonisvara from Amogha Das on Vimeo.

transcription and nectarean photos of Radha Londisvara

and the pastimes of many other Deities
on www.narasimhalila.com --find World Deity Pastimes page

memories from hundreds of disciples: www.itvproductions.org and www.prabhupadamemories.com