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Govardhana suditasrita-janarti-rasye ramya-cid-ghana sukha-svarupine nama

October 24th, 2000

Govardhana

suditasrita-janarti-rasye ramya-cid-ghana sukha-svarupine nama
gokula-mahotsavaya te krsna purna-vapuse namo namah

?O Hari-nama! O Krsna! You destroy the miseries of those who take Your shelter. For your devotees You are very charming and delightful. Your form is the personification of knowledge and bliss, and therefore you are a festival for the residents of Gokula. I bow down again and again before You,whose form is fully spiritual like Vaikuntha.??Rupa Goswami’s Namastaka (7)

Indrayumna Swami excitedly came to my room to tell me that one very nice sadhu named Fakir Mohan and a few of his associates are requesting to stay for the night in our ashram so that they may leave early in the morning for Govardhana parikrama. It was the same sadhu I had heard about three days ago! I immediately went to greet him.

Fakir Mohan was standing on the round marble veranda protruding over the inside courtyard, which is directly outside the small temple room on the roof. Our ashram devotees naturally surrounded him, as many of them were also Orissan and already had some acquaintance with him.

Fakir Mohan made a strong first impression on me?not by the force of a strong personality, but by his very unassuming and humble nature. He was about Srila Prabhupada’s size, near 70 years of age, toothless, unshaven (for kartik), and wearing a simple hand washed white dhoti and kurta. He was, however, very jovial, bubbling with a devotional fervor and laughter that reminded me of the sincere enthusiasm of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrother Krishna dasa Babaji.

I was introduced to him by his assistant Madhavananda dasa: “This is Dhanurdhara Swami, the Maharaja who sent a message that he was coming to Vrindaban to see you.” Fakir Mohan spontaneously responded with enthusiasm and respect. “Maharaja! Maharaja!” he said with gusto. To my embarrassment he paid dandavat-pranams (full obeisances), then stood up, a little bent at the waist and with folded palms?a classical pose of respect indicating that this body and these hands are for your service. We exchanged pleasant words until he and his party were called for prasadam. I thought, “Today I met a very nice Vaishnava sadhu.?

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