Odyssey of the Enlightened — 38: On the Path of Parikrama — 2
The Turmoil of the Gopa Bals (Young Cowherds)
Some people blamed Krishna for this calamity and began to lament on their fate about why they listened to the words of Nanda's son and stopped worshipping Indra. Even Nanda was worried, but he was not angry with his son. But the Gopa Bals of Shri Krishna were confident that their leader would find a way out of this situation and the disaster would be averted. People left their bullock-carts and hovered around Krishna in groups. By the morning, there was water all around and even then there was no sign of the clouds thinning. It was as though they had become the soldiers of Indra and had come to punish the people of Vraj.
In spite of the deluge-like situation, there was no sign of worry on the face of Krishna. He was in a pensive mood. Time and again, he focused his eyes on Govardhan. There were cracks at several places due to the rain. During normal days, whenever Shri Krishna went to Govardhan, he used to examine these cracks closely. Once hidden in those big cracks, nobody could see that person. The moment Krishna remembered about these cracks, a smile lit up his face. He asked his Gopa Bals to follow him and went towards the mountain.
Shri Krishna led the group of enthusiastic friends and moved forward. He said, 'Indra has attacked us and we have to defend ourselves'. Krishna and Balaram together removed a big rock that had covered a huge cave. Krishna instructed that women and children be brought to the shelter first. After having sent them into the safety of the cave, Krishna and the cowherds went about looking for caves that were closed with boulders. They unraveled the caves that were sufficiently big to offer protection from the torrential rain. At the center of the mountain, there was a big cave. Shri Krishna knew about it. The door to the cave was closed by a mammoth boulder. The strong and young people could manage to jump over the boulder but not all. Krishna and his friends tried to remove this rock. Others also came in to give a helping hand.
Gopa Bals Moved Safely into the Caves
Shriram was aware that he was awake. But his consciousness was regressing back into the past. It was the same scene of the rain, about Mount Govardhan and the same Krishna-Balram. In addition to the past, the cognizance of the present was also intact. Thousands of cowherds on Govardhan were fighting against the wrath of Indra. Suddenly, the speed of the storm increased. There was ear-splitting thunder as though the clouds had exploded. Because of the lightning and the thunder, the entire mountain literally shook. People were badly shaken. They almost gave up hope of survival.
In the meantime, a miracle happened. The boulder that Krishna and others were trying to move broke into two pieces and began to roll down the mountain. But the timely intervention of the Gopa Bals prevented the mishap and let the boulder move slowly. The entrance to the cave was enabled. A huge landslide happened and a part of the mountain moved and rolled down. The cowherds felt as though Govardhan was moving up. Because of the part of the earth breaking away, the cave became more spacious so as to accommodate the entire population of Vraj. Shri Krishna signaled and the Gopa Bals happily entered the cave and took refuge. In a few moments, the atmosphere inside the cave changed from worry to relief. It was as though the worry evaporated like camphor.
The peace in the minds of the people was restored. It was raining heavily outside but the people of Vraj were not worried anymore. They were unmoved by the wrath of Indra like a mountain that is not worried with the overflowing river. Shri Krishna had managed to save them all. Slowly, festive atmosphere began to get restored in the cave.
Lifting the Govardhan in Emotional Plane
Shriram experienced this incident of lifting the Govardhan not as a witness but as a doer. He began to wonder why people should do any ritual out of fear or greed. Ritual should be to celebrate the grace of God and to express gratitude to all those who have contributed to the prosperity of our life. After completing his morning chores, Shriram's current of thoughts was flowing in this direction. He received a message from Pandit Gayaprasad, who would like to dine with him and had requested him to oblige.
Shriram came out of his night's experience. Panditji's invitation linked him up with this world. He accepted the invitation and again went towards the mountain. He observed closely those stones which he had seen during the previous day's parikrama. On the path of parikrama, Shriram saw a crippled man who was singing the glory of the Lord with great enthusiasm. A pair of crutches was kept on a stone nearby and whenever the cripple saw these crutches, he sang with redoubled enthusiasm. Shriram found this scene a bit puzzling. He did not dare to ask a question looking at the blissful demeanor of the man and quietly saw him singing the bhajans.
The Faith of the Handicapped Man
Shriram walked around in that area for about two hours and then went to Panditji. During his walk, he had seen a few other unique things. He discussed about them with Panditji. When the topic of the old handicapped man came up, Panditji said that he had the grace of the Lord. His story goes like this: He was handicapped and used to do the parikrama of the mountain with the help of crutches every year. He would do the parikrama and also express the grief of his mind to Lord Govardhan and go. This continued for five years.
One day while doing parikrama a strange incident happened. Out of nowhere a cowherd came and stopped the man in his tracks. In addition to hindering his walk, the young man snatched the crutches from the hands of the old man. The old man staggered on his feet. But before he could say anything, the young boy held the handicapped and prevented him from falling and said — 'There is no need for crutches now. Stand upright.'
The old man did not know what to do. He was in a state of mind that was a curious mixture of anger, surprise and indecision. Before he could utter something, he realized that indeed he did not need the crutches. He could stand erect on his feet. In that moment of joy and surprise, he began to look at his own hands and feet. Feeling joyous and healthy, he raised his head to look for the boy, but there was nobody.
Pandit Gayaprasad told that after this incident, the old man did not leave Govardhan. He took a vow to live there permanently. He typically did not even tell his name to anyone. Whatever food he received from people, he accepted as the Prasad of the Lord. He considered those crutches — which were touched by the Divine Lord — to be his idol of worship.
Return to the Karmabhoomi
After staying in Govardhan for five days, Shriram returned. During these five days, his requisite anushthan and sadhana could also be performed uninterruptedly. He met several sadhus and saints of Govardhan. Whoever he met, he discussed about Bhakti, Gyan and Vairagya. He developed a detached attitude towards political and social topics during this stay. On the sixth day, he returned to his Karmabhoomi (place of work).
The moment he reached Agra, he got a message that Jagan Prasad Rawat had also returned from Mumbai, where he had undergone training in revolutionary activities. The main components of the training were to teach about cutting telephone lines, removing rail lines, disrupting the transport system and the repressive plans of the Government. He called for Shriram as soon as he returned. When he reached the house at Freeganj, he saw that in addition to Rawatji, others present there were Radheshyam, Krishna Jeevan Das, Bhagwan Sahay and Ulfat Singh.
Rawatji updated them about the activities happening in other places. According to him, the media indicated that the atmosphere was apparently calm everywhere. In reality, all the revolutionaries were quietly active. They were busy in disrupting both communication and transport systems. Normally, revolutionaries worked either alone or in groups of 2–3 people. The reason was that less people would be arrested if their activities were discovered by the police.
Back in the Struggle
A team consisting of Govardhan Singh, Siroli Daddu and Shriram was formed with the responsibility of disrupting the railway services between Agra and Tundla stations. In two months, this team managed to stop trains five times. After trains were stopped three times consecutively, the administration increased patrolling in that area. Seeing this, Shriram decided that something big had to be done to stop the trains yet another time. There was constant patrolling because of which it was necessary to divert the attention of the policemen for a long time. The administration had even announced a reward for anyone who informed them about the details of the people who were disrupting the railway system.
"Aho Niranjan — O! I am taintless, Serene, The Marvelous Self." — King Janaka on hearing the teachings of Sage Ashtavakra
"Shraddha-Bhakti-Dhyana-Yogad Avaihi — Through Faith, Devotion and Meditation alone, you can know the Truth yourself." — Kaivalya Upanishad, Mantra 2
Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, "All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing." Edison replied, "Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb."