Gopi Talab (Gopi Pond) - Dwarka

 It is 21 km from Dwarka and 5 km from Nageshwar Jyotirlinga temple. 

Story is related with Arjuna. After the battle at Kurukshetra, Arjuna thought himself to be the best warrior of the world. To show him his place, Lord Krishna asked him to escort his queens to Bet Dwarka. On the way, just near this pond, Arjuna was attacked by people of Kaba community, and Arjuna was defeated. The queens were shocked at this and died in this pond. So it is called Gopi Talav. The famous phrase ‘Kabe Arjun luntiyo,vohi dhanush vohi ban’ reflects this incident.

Gopi Talab is a small pond and the sandal like yellow sand is known as Gopi Chandan. The devotees take Gopi Chandan, believing it to be very good for skin diseases. 

According to Vaishnava tradition, gopi-chandana, or the sacred soil from Dwaraka or Vrnadavan, is applied on the body in twelve places while reciting mantras to Lord Vishnu. This process purifies one's body, designating it as a temple of the Lord. Besides purification, the tilak also offers the wearer protection from ghosts, evil influences, bad dreams, accidents and many other things. It keeps one's mind calm and allows one to constantly remember Lord Krishna. The sacred dust of vrndavan is said to have touched the lotus feet of Sri Krishna's exclusive devotees and is worship able even by Sri Krishna himself. 

The following story from the Garga Samhita describes the wonderful glories of the sacred mud known as gopi-chandana.

(From Garga Samhita, Canto Six, Chapter Fifteen ) 

Simply by hearing about Gopi-bhumi, which is so named because the gopis resided there, one become free from the bondage of karma.In Gopi-bhumi gopi-chandana was manifested from the gopis' cosmetics. A person who marks his limbs with gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of bathing in the Ganga. 

A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the pious result of daily bathing in all sacred rivers.A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of performing a thousand asvamedha-yajnas and a hundred rajasuya-yajnas. He attains the reusult of giving charity and following vows at all holy places. He attains the goal of life. Of this there is no doubt. 

Twice as sacred as the mud of the Ganga is the dust of Chitrakuta. Ten times more sacred than that is the dust of Panchavati-tirtha.A hundred times more sacred is the dust of gopi-chandana. Please know that gopi-chandana is equal to the dust of Vrindavana. 

Even if in the past he has committed hundreds of sins, if a person wears gopi-chandana tilaka, then Yamaraja cannot take him away. How, then, can Yamaraja's messengers touch him?

A sinner who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka goes to Lord Krishna supreme abode, Goloka, which is beyond the world of matter.

In Sindhu-desa there was a king named Dirghabahu. He was cruel and sinful and he was addicted to visiting prostitutes.While he was on the earth this cruel sinner murdered a hundred brahmanas and ten pregnant women.One day he mounted a sindhu horse and went hunting. With a flood of arrows he accidentally killed with a brown cow in that hunt.One day, greedy to get his kingdom, with a sharp sword his angry minister killed him in the forest.

Seeing him fallen to the ground and dead, the Yamadutas came, bound him, and, joking as they went, took him to the city of Yamaraja.Seeing this sinner brought before him, powerful Yamaraja said to his scribe Chitragupta, "What is the proper punishment for him?"

Sri Chitragupta said: O great king, he should be thrown into eight million four hundred thousand hells for as long as the sun and the moon shine in the sky.On the earth he did not perform a single pious deed. He killed ten pregnant women. He killed a brown cow.

He killed thousands of deer in the forest. He offended the demigods and the brahmanas. He is a great sinner.Sri Narada said: Then, by Yamaraja's order, the Yamadutas took that sinner and threw him into a terrible, eight-thousand mile wide cauldron of bubbling boiling oil in the hell of Kumbhipaka. The moment that sinner came to it, the boiling oil, which was as hot as the great fires at the time of cosmic devastation, suddenly became cool.

O king of Videha, as Prahlada was unhurt in the same situation, that sinner was not hurt by the boiling oil. Then the Yamadutas described that great wonder to noble-hearted Yamaraja.

Yamaraja and Chitragupta carefully reviewed the sinner's case and concluded that while he was on the earth the sinner had not for a moment performed even a single pious deed.Then Vyasadeva arrived in that assembly. Bowing down before Him, and carefully worshiping Him, saintly and noble-hearted Yamaraja asked Vyasadeva the following question.

Sri Yamaraja said: When a certain sinner, who had never performed even a single pious deed, was thrown into the terrible boiling oil of Kumbhipaka, the oil suddenly became cool. Because of this my mind is now tortured with doubts.

Sri Vyasadeva said: O great king, the intelligent sages, who have studied all the scriptures, know that the ways of piety, sin, and spiritual progress are very subtle and difficult to understand.Somehow or other, by destiny, this sinner did perform a pious deed, and by that deed he became purified. O noble-hearted one, please hear the story of this.That sinner died in a place where from someone's hand some gopi-chandana from Dvaraka had accidentally fallen. Dying in gopi-chandana, that sinner became purified.

A person who wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains a spiritual form like that of Lord Narayana. Simply by seeing him one becomes free of the sin of killing a brahmana.Sri Narada said: Hearing this, Yamaraja, who understands the glories of gopi-chandana, took the sinner, placed him a an airplane that goes anywhere one wishes, and sent him to Vaikuntha, which is above the worlds of matter. O king, thus I have described to you the glories of gopi-chandana.

One who hears this account of gopi-chandana's glories becomes exalted. He goes to the supreme abode of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
 

Sant Kabir - Death is a Bliss!

 

जिस मरने से जग डरे, मेरे मन में आनंद |
कब मरू कब पाऊ, पूरण परमानन्द

The whole world fears death, but death will be full of bliss for me
I am waiting for death which will merge me, into absolute bliss

Sant Kabir

How Lucky Peacock Feathers are!

Lord Krishna always wear a peacock feather on his head!

There are many stories behind this but I am just amazed ;How Lucky Peacock Feathers are!

The first reason is the belief that, the peacock is the only creature in nature that observes complete chastity in life. When he is happy, he dances with his wings and his eyes are filled with tears, Peahen drink these tears & conceives. Peacock does not have, even a tinge of lust in his heart.

The peacock feather contains all the seven colors in it. The entire universe is covered by akasha(ether) which appears blue in day times and black in night. So lord Krishna is identified by both the colors 'Blue' (neela) & 'Black' (shyaama). Krishna paksha in Indian calender means the days that follow after Full-moon day till the New-moon day i.e, the darker phase of 14 days of the moon. Further, he wears the peacock feather which signifies that the entire range of colors (we mortal beings) is in him. In virtue he is colorless but in the day he appears blue, black in the night to our vision and in between make us discuss all this mulch-coloured multi-perceptional views. 

The peacock feather signifies the exuberance of nature. Sri Krishna wears a peacock feather that reminds us of his play with the gopas and gopis of Sri Vrindavana. The male peacock especially has long been a symbol of romantic love, and the rasalila episode of Sri Krishna's life teaches us how this kind of love may be directed to God.

Poem by Sant Surdas: Krishna Approaches Radha

Krishna Approaches Radha

 

Krishna said, 'O fair beauty, who are you?
Where do you live? Whose daughter are you?
I never yet saw you in the lanes of Braj.'

Radha said, 'What need have I to come this way?
I keep playing by my door.
But I hear that some son of Nanda
is in the habit of stealing butter and curds.'

Krishna said, 'Look, why should I appropriate
anything that's yours? Come, let's play together.'

Suradasa says: By his honied words,
Krishna, the crafty prince of amorists,
beguiled Radha and put her at ease.

 

Sant Surdas

My all time favorite Surdas bhajan with its meaning in English!

 Deenan dukh haran dev santan hitkari

ajamil geedh byadh inme kah kaun saadh
panchhi ko pad padhaat ganika si taari
deenan dukh haran dev ...
dhruva ke sar chhatra det
prahalad ko ubari det
bhakta hetu bandhyo setu
lankpuri jaayi
deenan dukh haran dev .....
gaj ko jab grah grasyo
duhshashan cheer khasyo
sabha beech krishna krishna draupati pukari
deenan dukh haran dev .....
itne hari aaye gaye
basnan aaroorh bhaye
surdas dware khado aanadhro bhikhari
deenan dukh haran dev santan hitkari
deenan dukh haran dev .....

Meaning :

 

The Lord who removes the pain of the sufferers and is well doer of the saints
Azamil , the vulture , the hunter ,, say who was perfect among them ,
Who gave a higher destination to a bird and made the Ganika (a man who lives with a prostitute. -here Azamil )to move accross this bhavasagar...
Who versed Druva's head with canopy, and saved Prahalad
For the sake of devotee who constructed the bridge by going to Lanka puri .
When the alligator grabbed the Gajraj (the elephant) in his jaws ...who came to save him ..
When Duhshashan unwinded the clothes (of Draupadi) ,
Draupadi called up "Krihsna Krishna " in the Hall ..
Just then ,( you) Hari reached there and adjointed Himself in the clothes .
Surdas , a blind begger , is standing on Your doorsteps -
When You can do so much and show your grace upon these people ,
Please be kind towards me too .

Life In The World- Mirabai

                        Life In The World

Life in the world is short,
Why shoulder an unnecessary load
Of worldly relationships?
Thy parents gave thee birth in the world,
But the Lord ordained thy fate.
Life passes in getting and spending,
No merit is earned by virtuous deeds.

I will sing the praises of Hari
In the company of the holy men,
Nothing else concerns me.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara,
She says: Only by Thy power
Have I crossed to the further shore.

                                                                           

                                                                          Mirabai