Extreme Bhakti – Bhama Khepa
Bhakti is love for God. It is not pale or diluted love. It is not love felt for the one hour we sit in japa or meditation. Nor is it a single day of love as in the Sunday or Friday or Saturday we go to the place of worship and offer prayers to God. It is love beyond reason or logic. It is illogical love and surrender to the Power of the Universe. The bhakta or lover of God sees nothing but his favourite form of God and calls out to Him in mad love. Only when man has such depths of love for God, he can go near to God. Love has to be unfathomable and deep. God seeks undivided love from us. When we are able to give ourselves to Him in such depths of surrender and love, He becomes ours at all times! Only extreme love is the means of bringing God to us.
The lives of all saints of India and the world tell us of such extreme love and devotion to God. Meera sang and danced in front of her Giridhar, Tukaram walked on roads calling out to Vitthala, Gora Kumbha danced in his clay and made pots invoking Panduranga and with every strand of thread that Kabir wove, he called out to Rama. We see today, an incident in the life of Bhama Khepa and his extreme love for Maa Tara of Tarapith.
Bhama Khepa was a great siddha who lived in west Bengal. He was a devout child of Maa Tara. He learnt the basics of tantra worship of Maa Tara from his father and became the temple priest after the death of his father. Though a great siddha, he used to live alone and act, talk and behave like an insane person. He was treated as a mad man by most and thought of as eccentric by those who cared for him. His devotion to Mother Tara was so much that She manifested before him and talked to him and took care of him. But because of his strange habits and behaviour, he was replaced by other priests. He left the temple and had no grudge against the priests who replaced him.
Once Bhama Khepa was at the temple of Maa Tara at night calling out to Her in love and worship. The priest could not stand the sight of the dirty man in tatters babbling out in front of the deity. He told Bhama Khepa to leave the temple but Bhama Khepa did not obey him. This enraged the priest as his authority was questioned. In those days none dared to question or disobey a Brahmin. The priest picked up a long stick and whacked Bhama Khepa’s backside very hard. Bhama Khepa yelped and jumped in pain. He was enraged. He looked at the Mother with anger. He said: You are the force behind the Universe. You are the doer of all actions. You give inspiration to people to think and act. This priest here is your puppet. He has no capacity to earn and eat. You give him food. You are the one who inspired him to act in this manner and hit me. I hold YOU responsible Maa Tara. You made him hit me. I was hit as if by a bolt of lightning. I curse You for what You did to me for no fault of mine. May Your temple be hit by lightning and may You know what it is to be hit by lightning like I did now!
The Mother smiled and took upon Herself the curse of Her son. She was playing games with Her son. He understood Her play and took Her to task for it. It takes extreme bhakti to play with the Mother of the Universe and curse Her in this way and for Her to accept the curse joyfully. Even now, once each year, that temple is hit directly by a bolt of lightning. This is an illogical phenomenon and has no rational explanation. No one can understand or fathom the Play of God or Her love for Her devotees! It is only when we develop such love for the Mother, that we can play with Her and She can play with us. The joy and bliss of such a love and play are of another plane altogether. And how easy it is to develop and increase love for Her. She has given us this body, this life, this marvelous earth to live!
