Japa – Gopaler Ma
When bhakti of God is true and surrender to Him is to the fullest, Divinity manifests and rewards in ways beyond human comprehension. It is hard to believe how the Infinite One assumes a form and enacts the play of love with his devotee. These are true life incidents of a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa who followed the path of bhakti and japa yoga which ultimately lead her to self realisation. Gopaler Ma practised the Vatsalya Bhava or the attitude that the Lord was her child and she attained the vision of Bal Krishna and self realisation.
Gopaler Ma was born as Agohermani Devi in a Brahmin family in 1822 in Kamarhati in Calcutta. She was married when she was a child and became a widow even before her marriage was consummated. Her husband’s family Guru initiated her into spiritual life and gave her the mantra of Gopala as the form of child Krishna was her ishta or favoured deity. The Hindu widows of those days did not remarry and Agohermani lavished all her time and energy and one pointed devotion on her spiritual practices. After the death of her parents, she went to live in the estate of Sri Govind’s widow who was the owner of Sri Radha-Krishna Temple which was on the banks of the holy Ganges.
Agohermani was short, well built and had brown skin. Her face shone with her inner purity. As per practices of those days her head was shaved. Later in life she donned ochre robes. She sold her jewellery and husband’s property for five hundred rupees and invested it. She got four rupees as interest per month and she lived on that. She lived in a small outhouse with very few possessions. She slept on the floor. She had a Ramayan and a pair of glasses. She had her mala in a white cotton bag. She spent hour after hour doing japa of the Gopala Mantra, absorbed in her love for Him. She ate simple food and lived a simple life without any comforts and luxuries, with intense longing for God. She woke up at 2 am, washed her face and hands and sat for japa till 8 am. She did cleaning work and other jobs at the Temple. She bathed twice. She used to meditate in morning after bath. Then she would collect dry wood and cook a simple meal and offer the food to Bala Gopala. She would place a plantain leaf and a wooden seat and ask Him to come and be seated for food and then serve the food on the leaf and offer Him the food. Then she would have the food as prasad. After resting for a while she would do japa again in the evening and attend the Temple services. She would have a simple supper of prasad of coconut balls and milk. Again she would do japa till midnight. She followed this routine for over 30 years.
By 1880s, Sri Ramakrishna had become well-known and Aghoremani and her landlady visited him. He recognised her spiritual stature and praised her. She visited him after that and every time he would ask her for some simple food and she would carry it for him and he would eat with relish. Then she had an extraordinary experience where BalaGopala (child Krishna) came Himself and helped her when the wind blew away the leaf on which she placed the food for her God. She realised the Lord had come and became crazy for His Darshan again. In 1885, one morning at 3 am, she saw Sri Ramakrishna sitting near her with his right fist clenched. She gathered courage and took his left hand and Sri Ramakrishna’s form disappeared and it was her beloved Bala Gopala, a ten month baby, sitting there. The baby Krishna was sweet and naughty and would play with her at all times and not allow her to do japa or other work. Wherever she turned she saw Him. Modern science cannot understand or accept such experiences. But she had entered into the super state of consciousness, a realm of mystical experience where logic, thinking, intellect are unable to explain convincingly and there is direct communion with God. She was named Gopaler Ma because of the great grace granted to her.
This form of Sri Krishna stayed with her till her end. Her experiences have been verified as true by Sri Ramakrishna. He told her that she was fully realised and Swami Vivekananda who was a jnani was greatly inspired by her bhakti for Bala Gopala.
