SRI GANGAMATA GOSWAMINI
Sriyuta Naresh Narayana was the king of Puntiya, which was located
in the district of Rajshahi, part of the present country of Bangladesh.
His only daughter was named Saci, and she was very devoted to God from
her very childhood. In a very short time she became quite proficient in
her studies, especially in grammar and poetry. As she grew up everyone
became stunned by her blossoming youthful beauty. However, Saci was not
attracted by any earthly good-looking, well-to-do young men. She was
only interested
in Sri Madana Gopala.
The king, Naresh
Narayan began to think about his daughter's marriage. When she came to
know of this she told her father that she wouldn't marry anyone who was
subject to death. The king and queen put their hands to their heads and
sat down - their only daughter refused to marry! Thus they passed on
from this world, having no further work to do here. The responsibility
for governing the people now fell on Saci. For some days she attended
to her duties and then, after appointing her representatives she set
out to visit the holy places of pilgrimage. But she didn't feel
satisfied within herself anywhere. Thus she began to search out a guru.
She eventually came to Jagannath Puri, and after having darsana of Lord
Jagannatha there for a few days, she set out for Sri Vraja Dham. It was
here
that the benediction moon of her good fortune rose. Seeing the
spiritual prowess and renunciation of Sri Haridasa Pandita Gosvami, who
was a staunch follower of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaura, she became very happy
within herself and thought, "After so many days I have finally found
shelter." After falling at his lotus feet and offering her obeisances,
with folded hands she prayed for his mercy. "Ananta Acarya was the
disciple of Sri Gadadhar Pandit Gosvami. He was extremely munificent in
distributing love of Krsna. Who can discribe his glories. His
very dear disciple was Pandit Haridasa." [C.C. Adi] Sri Haridasa
Pandita Gosvami, in order to test Saci, told her that it wouldn't be
possible for the daughter of a king to practice the renunciation that
she required in order to serve the Lord in Vraja. Saci, however, could
understand that this was simply a pretense. Thus she began her service
in total indifference to the
material world. Gradually she completely gave up wearing any ornaments or fine cloth.
One
day Sri Haridasa told her, "If you can give up shyness, pride and fear
and beg from door to door then you'll be qualified to receive my mercy.
Hearing this Saci became very happy and covering her body with one
soiled cloth she went from door to door of the residents of Braja, to
beg something to eat. Her body became very thin and pale. But the
Vrajabasis could understand that she was not an ordinary woman because
of her bodily effulgence. The Vaisnavas were astonished by her great
austerities. Though she became quite thin, she took no notice of that
and continued to regularly bath in the Yamuna, clean the temple of the
Lord, go on parikrama, attend the arati ceremonies and hear discussions
about Krsna. Seeing her intense renunciation, Haridasa became eager to
reward her. He called her and told her, "Though you are the daughter of
a king, the exertion with which you have worshipped Sri Krsna and the
degree of renunciation you have shown have pleased me very much. Now be
pleased to accept the divine mantra." Thereafter on the thirteenth day
of the bright fortnight of the month of Caitra, Sri Saci was initiated
in Radha-Krsna mantra by Sri Haridasa Pandita Gosvami.
Having
received the eighteen syllable mantra, Saci became completely imbued
with love of Krsna. Though she was very destitute, she began to serve
Sri Guru and Govinda with intense devotion. Every day she would listen
to her guru explain the sastras. Within a short time she became quite
conversant in the literatures of the Gosvamis, and this was very
pleasing to everyone. Around this time, one other lady disciple of
Haridasa named Laksmipriya, who had a very pleasant demeanor, came to
Vrindavana. Laxmipriya used to chant three lakhas of Holy Names
every day. Haridasa instructed her to take Saci with her to Radha Kunda
and worship the Lord there. Thus the two of them came there and began
to circumambulate Govardhana hill every day. All at once Sri Haridasa
Pandita called Saci back and instructed her to go to Puri to preach the
message of Lod Gaurasundara to the pious people there. At this time
almost all of the associates of Mahaprabhu had given up their earthly
pastimes in Puri. In accordance with the order of her guru, Saci came
there and took up residence in the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. As
no one had lived there for so many days, the place was very run down.
Only the Damodara sila that Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya used to worship was
remaining there. Saci resumed the regular worship of the Lord
and
recite the Srimad Bhagavatam daily. Many people were very impressed to
hear her conclusive explanations of the sastras and thus they used to
congregate there. Saci's fame as an accomplished lecturer on the
sastras began to spread far and wide. One day, the king Mukunda Deva
came to hear her class. He was very pleased to hear such authoritative
conclusions coming from the mouth of this saintly mataji, so in his
mind he wished to present something to her. That very night he had a
dream in which Lord Jagannatha told him, "You should offer the place
known as Sweta Ganga to Saci." Early the next morning, the king came to
see her, and Saci very
meekly offered him a seated and inquired as
to the purpose of the visit. The king thus related to her the order of
Lord Jagannatha and requested her to accept the piece of land adjacent
to Sweta Ganga. Saci, however, was not interested in acquiring
property. She declined the offer. But the king insisted she accept this
royal grant of land, and finally she agreed after considering that it
was after all the order of Lord Jagannatha. Most pleased he could
render her some service, the king presented her with the deed to the
parcel of land. After the royal grant of land became known to the
public, gossip that Saci was previously the daughter of a king began
to
circulate around Puri. Once, shortly before Mahavaruni (a day very
auspicious for bathing in the Ganga), Saci thought to herself how very
much she would like to leave Puri and make a pilgrimage to the Ganga
for this occasion. But after considering that it was her guru's order
to remain in Sri Ksetra, she decided to abandon the idea. But that
night, Lord Jagannath spoke to her in a dream: "Saci!
Don't
worry. On the day of Mahavaruni you should bathe in the Sweta Ganga.
Ganga Devi herself will personally come to join you there." Having seen
this dream, Saci was very jubilant. When the day of the Varuni bath
arrived, in the middle of the night Saci went to the Sweta Ganga alone.
As she entered into the water, a strong current suddenly gripped her
and carried her inside the Jagannatha Mandira, which was now flooded,
much to her amazement, by the sacred waters of the Ganges. There she
saw thousands and thousands of the residents of Sri Ksetra taking their
baths. A great uproar resounded in all directions from the recitation
of prayers and
hymns. In the midst of these festivities, Saci very
religiously performed the Varuni bath in the water of the Ganga.
Hearing the sound of what seemed to be a large crowd of people within
the temple, the watchmen outside hurried to the temple superintendent
who in turn informed the king. The king ordered them to enter the
temple to investigate. To the astonishment of everyone, they found Sri
Saci Devi, the reciter of the Bhagavatam, standing there alone. The
priests of the temple surmised that she must have smuggled herself into
the building in order to steal the ornaments of Lord Jagannatha. But
others present felt it was impossible for her to have done this. "There
must be some mystery behind it all," they said. So it was decided
to confine her for trial and judgement. Sacidevi didn't mind and very
blissfully continued to chant the Holy Name. Meanwhile, the King had a
dream in which Lord Jagannatha very angrily told
him, "You should
immediately release Saci. I personally caused the Ganga to flow from My
own foot; it was this that brought her into the temple so that she
could take bath on this auspicious day. If you are concerned for the
welfare of your subjects and your own good fortune, then along with the
temple priests you had better go and beg forgiveness at her feet and
request to become her disciples." After seeing this dream, the king
awoke in very worried state. He quickly completed his morning bath and
immediately called for the priests. They went to the place of Saci's
confinement. The king opened the door and fell down at her lotus feet
to offer his obeisances. He very humbly begged her forgiveness and
submitted Lord Jagannatha's instruction that he become her disciple.
Seeing
the wonderful behavior of the king, she placed her hand on his head
that he might be benedicted. On the next auspicious day she initiated
the king with Radha-Krsna mantra. Many of the priests also accepted the
shelter of her lotus feet at this time. From that day she became
known as Sri Ganga Mata Gosvamini. The king wanted to donate some land
to Sri Ganga Mata as guru- daksina, but she declined, saying that she
only wanted the king should attain loving devotion to Lord Krsna's
lotus feet. "I am not qualified to accept anything more then this," she
told him. But the king repeatedly entreated her to accept something
from him as guru daksina.
Finally - for the purpose of serving the
Vaisnavas - she agreed. Thereafter, daily two pots of Mahaprasad, one
pot of vegetables, one
remnant of Lord Jagannatha's cloth and one
hundred sixty kauris (small conchshells) were sent to the asrama each
day. That service is still observed to this day, the articles are
offered first to her samadhi. On one occasion a pandita of the name
Mahidhara Sarma came to the banks of the Sweta Ganga to offer oblations
to his forefathers. He happened to hear of the wonderful qualities of
Sri Ganga Mata and thus was inspired to have darsana of her lotus feet.
He approached her and in turn Ganga Mata very respectfully received
him, offered him a seat and inquired as to the purpose of his visit.
This brahmana, though a pandita, was a very simple
and
straight?forward man, so he honestly stated that he'd come to have her
darsana and to receive spiritual knowledge from her. She was very
pleased with his simplicity and mercifully began to speak the
philosophy of the Srimad Bhagavatam to him. The panditji listened very
intently to her wonderful elucidation and thereafter accepted shelter
at her lotus feet. On an auspicious day she initiated him with Radha
Krsna mantra. Mahindhara Sarma's birthplace was Dhananjaypur. On the
order of Sri Ganga Mata he preached the glories of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaura
at various localities in the district of Ganjam. In the town of Jaipur
within Rajasthan lived one
devoted and religious minded brahmana of
the name Sri Candra Sarma. In his house was a deity of Krsna called Sri
Rasika Raya. The brahmana however, was very poor and thus could
not offer foodstuffs properly to the Deity. One night Lord Jagannath
appeared to the brahmana in a dream and told him, "The swervice of Sri
Rasika Raya, Who is present in your house is not being conducted
properly. You should straightaway bring Him here to Sri Ksetra and
deliver Him to Sri Ganga Mata, who resides on the banks of Sweta Ganga.
Otherwise some misfortune will befall you." Having received this order
from Lord Jagannatha, the brahmana didn't delay but immediately set cut
for Sri Ksetra. Arriving there, he inquired as to the whereabouts of
Sri Ganga Mata and thus presented himself before her. Seeing the Deity
of Sri Krsna, Ganga Mata became very happy. But when the brahmana
explained to her the reason why he had come she replied, "But I am
simply a beggar. I eat by begging at a few houses each day. How will I
be able to serve this Deity? You had better take your Deity with you.
Please don't make me an offender." The brahman didn't know what to do.
He thought
deeply about it and finally saw no other recourse for him
than to place the Deity of Sri Rasika Raya in the tulasi garden of Sri
Ganga Mata and flee away. Sri Rasika Raya appeared that night in a
dream to Ganga Mata and informed her, "I have come here to accept your
service. That brahmana put Me in your tulasi garden and then left this
place. I haven't eaten anything for a whole day. Please feed Me." Sri
Ganga Mata was struck with wonder. "The Supreme Lord Hari Himself is
asking me to feed Him."
Meditating on this, she became filled with
ecstatic love. The hairs on her body stood on end. She quickly took
bath and entered into the tulasi garden. There she saw Sri Rasika Raya,
shining in His own effulgence. With her eyes full of tears, she fell
down and offered her prostrated obeisances. "Here He is," she thought
joyfully, "still hungry." She picked Him up and carried Him into her
room, feeling very doubtful as to what she should do. Finally she
bathed him and made a simple offering of foodstuffs. Sri Rasika Raya
immediately ate everything. Ganga Mata was floating in an ocean of
happiness. She spread out a new piece of cloth and laid Him down to
rest. In the morning, when the devotees came to Ganga Mata's house,
they were astonished to see Sri Rasika Raya. When they heard
the
details of what had happened they all cheered and chanted "Hari! Hari!"
Every day, Sri Ganga Mata would lovingly prepare many varieties of
vegetables and cakes to offer to Sri Rasika Raya. She would spend at
least twelve hours every day serving her Deity. For some days she
served Sri Rasika Raya by begging at peoples' houses but as she got on
in years this became somewhat difficult for her. Noting this, Sri
Rasika Raya by some trick or other would collect the necessary
ingredients and paraphernalia from some rich merchants. But when Ganga
Mata saw that there were many deficiencies in the worship due to her
advanced age, she went before Sri
Rasika Raya to pray for His
forgiveness and to inform Him that she was unable to serve Him nicely
now. For this reason she didn't want to remain alive any longer. Sri
Rasika Raya told her in a dream: "I am very pleased with your service.
You shouldn't lament. For a few more days you should continue to
serve Me." Some days passed, but again she told Him that she didn't
want to remain any longer.
Her only request was that she might
leave this world while chanting His Holy Name. Sri Rasika Raya replied:
"All right, don't worry any more. After handing over My service to one
of your qualified disciples, you should come join Me in My eternal
abode." Thereafter, she entrusted the worship of Sri Rasika Raya to one
very peaceful and self-controlled disciple of hers called Vanamali
Dasa. At the age of one hundred and twenty years, in the Christian year
1721, on the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of the month of
Aswin, Sri Ganga Mata Gosvamini, while while seeing the graceful three
fold bending form of Sri Rasika Raya and meditating upon His lotus
feet, entered into His eternal pastimes. Her appearance was in the
Christian year 1601. The Deity of Sri Rasika Raya is still present in
the house of Sarvabhauma Bhatacarya, next to the Sweta Ganga.