“Prabhu, you need to meet my father,” a colleague at the temple told me. “You need to hear his story, a true Krishna magic.”
Devotees who know me closely, know that I’m eager to hear Krishna magic stories.
We organised the meeting at the temple. Srinath, a man in his late seventies, dressed in a white dhoti and kurta, waited for me outside the temple room. After our initial exchange of greetings, he began his story.
Many years ago, in 1995, he went on pilgrimage to Tirupati, a holy place for devotees of Lord Krishna. While taking the darshan of Balaji, he heard the voice in his heart: “You should build a temple in your village for Me so everyone can have My darshan.”
The voice in the heart kept repeating the same message throughout his stay in the temple. He knew he needed to take the instruction seriously, but how to begin? He didn’t have any resources or knowledge of how to build the temple, and more worrying to him was that he didn’t know much about Balaji either.
He began researching how to construct the temple while simultaneously thinking of ways to accumulate the necessary funds for the project. To educate himself more about Lord Venkateswara, he spoke to the leaders of the Tirupati temple.
One of the leaders offered him his assistant engineer who helped with the temple design, and he also organised the priests who guided Srinath on the details for the most auspicious time as to when to begin the construction.
Ten years after the first visit to Tirupati and receiving the instruction to build the temple, the land was acquired, and soon after the construction began. The family couldn’t understand why their father suddenly became so absorbed in spirituality, and friends found it strange that such an intelligent and materially successful man was dedicating all his energy and wealth to building the temple.
After years of hard work, the temple was finally built. In 2011, he invited Brahmins from South India to perform the prana pratistha ceremony, inviting the Lord to reside in the temple. It was a historical moment for the whole village and the surrounding area.
The worship of the Lord began, and subsequently, devotees and sadhus began visiting the temple. It took a few years before villagers began participating, but slowly, due to hard work and the strong desire of Srinath, the temple became a landmark of that area. In addition to the temple, Goshala, a place for cow protection, was constructed, and later on, Gurukul, a Vedic education centre for young children, was built as well.
A few years later, Srinath accepted initiation from a Gaudiya Vaisnava Guru and was given the spiritual name Syamala das. Day and night, Syamala Das thinks only about Balaji. First thing in the morning, he calls a priest to ensure the Lord is woken up and worship is performed, and throughout the day he constantly looks for opportunities to improve the standard of worship.
I noticed the tears in his eyes as he described the history to me. His soft heart and surrender to Balaji touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.
The story of Syamala Das is a story of devotion, a story of a person who fell in love with God. It reminded me of a beautiful prayer from Madhavendra Puri:
“Let the sharp moralist accuse me of being illusioned; I do not mind. Experts in Vedic activities may slander me as being misled, friends and relatives may call me frustrated, my brothers may call me a fool, the wealthy mammonites may point me out as mad, and the learned philosophers may assert that I am much too proud; still my mind does not budge an inch from the determination to serve the lotus feet of Govinda, though I be unable to do.
Ananta Gopal Das
24.07.2024
Bhakti Wisdom 