Category: Krishna

Once Srila Madhavendra Puri (a devotee of Sree Krishna) was on the way to Sridham Puri. On the way he arrived at Remuna. In Remuna, he went to have darshan of Lord Gopinath. Seeing the beautiful image of Sree Gopinath in Remuna, Srila Madhavendra Puri was overwhelmed with love, and started singing His Holy Names and danced for some time in ecstasy. He asked one of Sree Gopinath’s Brahmin servants what foods were offered to the deity. The Brahmin answered: “In the evening we give Sree Gopinath twelve bowls of amrita-keli, a thickened milk preparation that is like the nectar of the gods. It is famous everywhere as Sree Gopinath’s kheera, and no offering anywhere in the world is its equal.”

As the Brahmin spoke, other servants of Sree Gopinath started to make the amrita-keli offering to their deity. Srila Madhavendra thought that if he could just get a taste of this preparation, he would be able to one day make it himself and offer it to his own Lord Gopal deity. However, this very thought shamed him, as it is improper to desire the food intended for the Lord. After watching the arati ceremony, Srila Madhavendra went outside and sat in the empty market-place, chanting the Holy Names. Srila Madhavendra followed ayachaka-vritti, which means that he would never ask for food from anyone and only accept the food that was spontaneously offered him. He was able to do this because he never felt hunger or thirst, as he was constantly engaged in drinking the nectar of Sri Krishna-prema and that kept him satisfied. 

In the meantime, the pujari had finished his duties and was taking rest when he had a vision of the deity in a dream telling him, “Get up! Open the door. I have put a bowl of kheera aside for the sannyasi. It is hidden behind the pleats of My dhoti. You did not see Me put it there because of My maya. The sannyasi, whose name is Madhava Puri, is sitting in the marketplace. Quickly take this kheera to him.” 

The pujari was startled by the dream and immediately got up. He bathed, opened the door to the altar and found a bowl of the kheera behind the deity’s cloth, just as he had been told. He took the bowl and went to find Srila Madhavendra Puri. He wandered through the market, shouting, “I have kheera here for Madhava Puri. Gopinath has stolen it for you. Take it and eat it with joy, for there is no person as fortunate as you in the three worlds.”

When Srila Madhavendra heard the pujari shouting in this way, he approached him and identified himself. The pujari gave him the kheera and then fell at his feet.. He recounted the whole story to Srila Madhavendra puri, sending him into paroxysms of divine love for Sree Krishna. He respectfully ate the prasad and then, after washing the clay bowl, broke it into many small pieces and wrapped them up in his outer garment. Each day thereafter, he would eat a piece of the clay bowl and once again feel the same ecstatic love. Knowing that word of this miracle would spread by morning, Srila Madhavendra Puri became fearful of the celebrity that would inevitably befall him and the crowd of people that would then surround him. So, he paid his obeisance to Sree Gopinath and left for Puri before dawn.

When Srila Madhavendra arrived in Sree Jagannath Puri, he visited Lord Jagannath and became ecstatic with love at seeing Him. News of the miracle at Remuna had reached Puri even before he had and countless people came to see him and pay him their respects. “The nature of fame in this world is well known: even if one does not seek, it comes anyway as a result of one’s destiny. Though Srila Madhavendra Puri was afraid of being distracted by celebrity and ran away from it, when one has love for Supreme Personality of Godhead, then celebrity comes flowing to him without being sought.”