Once Srila Madhavendra Puri ji, a devotee of Supreme Lord Sree Krishna was on the way to Sreedham Puri. While on his way to the South, Sree Madhavendra Puri arrived at Remuna. Seeing the beautiful Sree Gopinath deity in Remuna, Srila Madhavendra Puri was overwhelmed with love, and started singing His Names and danced for some time in ecstasy. Being extremely satisfied with the exquisite offerings to Lord Sree Gopinath, he asked one of the Brahmin servitors what foods were offered to the deity. The brahmin answered: “In the evening we offer to Sree Gopinath twelve bowls of Amrita-keli, a thickened milk preparation that is like the nectar of the gods. This kheer is famous everywhere as Sri Gopinath’s kheer and no offering anywhere in the world is its equal.”
As the brahmin spoke, other servants of Lord Gopinath started to make the Amrita-keli offering to the deity. Srila Madhavendra Puri thought that if he could just get a taste of this preparation unsolicited, he would be able to one day make it himself and offer this kheer to his own Sree Gopal deity. However, this very thought of eating the kheer shamed him. After watching the arati ceremony, Srila Madhavendra Puri went outside and sat in the empty market-place, chanting the Holy Names. Srila Madhavendra Puri followed ayachaka-vritti, which means that he would never ask for food from anyone, only accepting the food that was spontaneously offered to him. He was able to do this because he never felt hunger or thirst, as he was constantly engaged in drinking the nectar of prema and that kept him satisfied.
In the meantime, the pujari had finished his duties and was taking a 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 kheer aside for the sannyasi. It is hidden behind the pleats of My dhoti. You did not see Me hide the bowl there because of My maya. The sannyasi, whose name is Madhava Puri, is sitting in the marketplace. Quickly take this kheer 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 kheer behind the deity’s cloth, just as he had been told. He took the bowl and went to find Srila Madhavendra Purī. He wandered through the market, shouting, “I have kheer here for Madhava Purī. Sree 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 Puri heard the pujari shouting in this way, he approached him and identified himself. The pujari gave him the kheer and then fell at his feet. He recounted the whole story to Srila Madhavendra Puri, sending him into paroxysms of divine love for Lord Sree Krishna. He respectfully ate the prasada 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 obeisances to Lord Sree Gopinath from that very place and left for Puri before dawn.
