Gopal

“ One of those in whom Isa Dás took the deepest interest was a kahar of the name of Gopal, who was slowly dying of an inward disease. The doctor knew that he could not cure the poor man, but he could sometimes relieve his pain; and attending him gave to the Christian opportunities of dropping in words that might be as seeds of light to a Hindu dying in darkness. The tall form of Isa Dás, wrapt in his old worn blanket, was therefore often seen in the cottage of Gopal. ”

“ If theft, lying, and murder be crimes in a human being, can they be worthy of gods?'"
"The deities whom you speak of never existed; they are but the creation of men's minds, and those very wicked polluted minds," said the missionary. "He must have been deeply sunk in vice indeed who could even imagine such wickedness as your so-called religious books attribute to the false gods whom you worship."
"I only worship the one true God," replied Gopal faintly. "I cast myself, sinner as I am, at the feet of the Holy One who died for sinners." ”

“ I believe we rarely die of cholera, or typhoid fever, without his unobtrusive assistance. And all his services are performed in person, not through any underling. That stately man who walks up the garden path morning and evening, erect as a betel-nut palm, with a tiara of graduated milk-pots on his head, and driving a snorting buffalo before him, is Gopal himself. ”

“ Surama, however, did not quite like his words. She herself wanted him not to cry; otherwise it would be difficult to leave him behind. But still, strange to say, her heart yearned for a little sob, and for some troubled look in his eyes. She was going away, and Gopal kept playing the part of wounded affection with only a word or two of protest, and forthwith started a merry tune. Her heart wanted him to be a good boy, who gave no trouble when she went away; but the heart of her heart wanted him to be a bad, naughty, obstinate boy, who gave her no end of trouble when she went away. ”

“ The followers of his creed, amongst whom there are many wealthy merchants and bankers, direct their worship chiefly to Gopal Lal, the boyish Krishna of Vrindavana, whose image is sedulously attended like a revered living person eight times a day—from its early rising from its couch up to its retiring to repose at night. The sectarial mark of the adherents consists of two red perpendicular lines, meeting in a semicircle at the root of the nose, and having a round red spot painted between them. ”

“ I have led an active life, and have never spent many pice on feeding Brahmins. And, what is worse than all—" he stopped and looked anxiously around, as if afraid of being overheard.
"No one else is near, you may speak freely," said Isa Dás. As Gopal remained silent, he suggested, "Perhaps you have been tempted to steal?" ”

“ Suddenly in the middle of a story, Gopal said—"By the way, do you know why I was so late coming home to-day? Jadu Moyra (confectioner) was telling our teacher that an Arkati (a coolie-recruiter) had come to our village. I wondered what sort of a Kati (stick) it was! I had never seen one. So off we ran to the milkmen's quarter where we heard he could be found near the indigo factory. None of the fellows could beat me in running, you know. ”

“ For himself, however he was certain that as soon as he would cast off his worn out frame he was to be born once more in the country he loved, and bear all the country that may be laid on him in her service. There can be no doubt that there must be salvation for a country which can count on sons as devoted as Gopal Krishna Gokhale. ”

“ Light the large lamps," cried the chief to the attendants at the lower end of the room; "let us see what manner of man he is. Who is he, Gopal?"
"That we have to find out, father. They thought him a spy of the Emperor's, and he came from Aurungabad, by Bheer, to Kullianee, to the Gosai's. He changed some bills for gold, and he has got it. I offered escort, but was refused; so I went from Muntalla to the Burr tree at Kinny, for we heard he was going to sleep in the Mutt at Surroori. ”

“ How I wish I would have died, though born.
'You, being alone, have been put to a deal of inconvenience and trouble. Had Gopal [2] been living now, he could have kept all sides safe.
'In consequence, though you are surrounded by a numerous family, you are alone. ”

“ The Deputy Magistrate and Bepin were friends, so the case ended in a fiasco. In a few days Asimuddin was restored to his former condition. Why all this happened, he could not understand. The village people were greatly surprised also.
The news of Krishna Gopal's arrival just before the trial soon got abroad however. People began to exchange meaning glances. The pleaders in their shrewdness guessed the whole affair. One of them, Babu Ram Taran, was beholden to Krishna Gopal for his education and his start in life. ”

“ He saw his father's maternal uncle, who was pleased to give the young man his grand-daughter in marriage. The married couple with Damodar the son of the Brahmin Sriend of Hari Gopal and his family and a number of followers, came and settled down at Goppa Kudu, now an island on the Chilka Lake, where they established a temple dedicated to Siva, known as Gupteswara temple. Gopala Ballabha had three sons and a daughter. ”

“ Mountains cannot be your guru.” Ram Gopal was repeating the same thought which Sri Yukteswar had expressed at our last meeting.
“Masters are under no cosmic compulsion to limit their residence.” My companion glanced at me quizzically. “The Himalayas in India and Tibet have no monopoly on saints. What one does not trouble to find within will not be discovered by transporting the body hither and yon. As soon as the devotee is willing to go even to the ends of the earth for spiritual enlightenment, his guru appears near-by.” ”

“ Leaving the gopal at work at the horses, I marched off, wishing to outstrip the coolies already started, as there was some chance of seeing shâpu as on the former occasion. But many people were passing to and fro, so that any animals were scared from the neighbourhood of the path. It was a stiff pull up the mountain to the pir, but I did not dislike the work, the lungs here playing freely; then, down again by a long slope into a valley where the trusty Kamal had provided a fire and fresh milk. ”

“ The typical man of that school is the stout-hearted, puritan soul ever ready to battle for the right, ever pressing into broader light, always confident but never jubilant, always serious but never dejected.
Such was Gopala Krishna Gokhale. Unto him as to none else, in one generation, belonged the right to be honoured with that distinction which even England's greatest orator in the last century held in esteem; and what Bright was called in his day by the English nation, we can very rightly call our Gokhale. ”

“ Gopala's mother was a widow. His father who had lived as a Brahmin should-never caring for the goods of the world, studying and teaching, worshipping and helping others to worship—died when Gopala was a baby. And the poor widow retired entirely from the concerns of the world-even from that little she ever had-her soul given entirely to God, and waiting patiently with prayers, fasting, and discipline, for the great deliverer death, to meet in another life, him who was the eternal companion of her joys and sorrows, her partner in the good and evil of the beginningless chain of lives. ”

“ It happened one day that King Bimbisāra of Magadha went out on the roof of his palace, and there, surrounded by his band of ministers, he indulged in light talk, asking them what courtesans they had seen. Gopāla said, “O king, there are others besides, but in Vaiśālī there is one of exquisite youth and beauty, Āmrapālī by name. She is versed in the sixty-four arts of love, and deserves, O king, to be enjoyed by thee.” The king replied, “If that be so, Gopāla, I will betake myself to Vaiśālī and enjoy myself with her.” ”

“ The next day, after Gopala had met the Cowherd boy in the woods as usual and after they had some games together, Gopala told his brother of the forest the grief that was in his mind and begged him to give him something to present his teacher with. ”

“ There Gopāla, equally full of anxiety, received Vāsavī into his chariot and drove away.
The people of Vaiśālī set out in pursuit of him, overtook him, and began to fight with him. But as he was versed in the five arts of battle, he pierced five hundred Liććhavis to the heart, and said, “Honoured sirs, as I have pierced five hundred of your number to the heart, but am ready to leave the rest of you alive, do ye now turn back.”
“No living being among us has been killed.” ”

“ For in those woods lived another son of hers tending cattle, and also called Gopala; and if he was ever afraid passing through them, he had only to call on brother Gopala!
The child was that mother's son, and he believed.
That day, coming home from school through the wood, Gopala was frightened and called upon his brother Gopala, the cowherd: "Brother cowherd, are you here? Mother said you are, and I am to call on you: I am frightened being alone." And a voice came from behind the trees: "Don't be afraid, little brother, I am here; go home without fear." ”

“ Thereupon Gopāla informed his brother Sim̃ha that King Bimbisāra’s chief wife was dead, and that he ought to send his daughter Upavāsavī, as she would in that case become the king’s chief wife. Sim̃ha wrote to him in reply, “What this will come to I will not ask you. But you, who understand the measure of things, will know what ought to be done. As the people have made a law that no maiden of Vaiśālī may be given in marriage to an outsider, you must come yourself and wait in the park. ”

“ And, regularly as the sunshine, too, the old man, after he had milked Surâbhi in the early dawn, would go with his solitary blanket and a little spud, and spend the whole day till sunset in gathering succulent weeds for the Great Milk-Mother's supper. It was his religion. And under the broad blue sky, edging a plantigrade path over the parched plain, leaving, like a locust, not a green leaf behind him, old Gopi's mind would be full of confused piety and mystical meanings. ”

“ When the time came, however, for union with the Purusha of the Heart, when the signal music was heard, every Gopi threw aside all Karma, all actions, all attachments, all bonds and offered herself up completely to the Lord. Where is the glory of those that give up the world, that give up all duties in life, of those that force themselves out of all actions that they may be devoted to the Lord within and the Lord without? And when the Gopis approached the Lord, there was no trace of human passion in them, no love of human flesh, no idea of material gratification. ”

“ The arrangement suited both parties, the contractor and old Gopi, who day after day trudged home, hungry, with a bulky bundle of fodder for Surâbhi. It was a fair exchange all round; even with the old cow, who turned the fodder into milk. Not much, it is true, since the bundle was not over-large, but enough to keep Gopi's soul and body together.
And the soul grew if the body wasted. How could it be otherwise, when one was permitted to be the babe and suckling, as it were, of the Great Milk-Mother? The Great World-Mother, whose sacred work it was to nourish all things, even the little godlings? ”

“ Well, whom do you suppose that fine gentleman visitor of ours has turned out to be?"
"The man who has built the Archpriest a poultry-run?"
"Oh dear no! Had that been all, it would have been nothing. No. Listen to what Father Cyril's wife had to tell me. She said that, last night, a lady landowner named Madame Korobotchka arrived at the Archpriest's house--arrived all pale and trembling--and told her, oh, such things! They sound like a piece out of a book. ”

“ Never had such interest and excitement been shown amongst the Christians before. The punishment of Ya’kub, the erring one, [53] and the robbery of the money of the unfortunate Gunga Ram, were known to all; and the story of the three rupees from the lips of Padre Ghopal fell with more effect upon the ears of the hearers than ten sermons might have done. “God is great!” they exclaimed. “Happy is he upon whom rests the blessing of the Most High. Without that blessing, even money may bring but sorrow and shame.”
Padre Ghopal carried with him a bag to receive the contributions of the people. ”

“ The money of the pious will flow to make the holy fat; at least that is what the doctor sahib is thinking.'
"'Don't set up for occult power on the strength of guessing palpable truths,' replied Taylor; 'that sort of thing does not amuse me; but the little sahib wants to know how much truth there was in Gopi's story.'
"'Gopi knows,' retorted our friend with a grin. 'The Brahman saith the boy was gifted to him by a pious woman after the custom of thanksgiving. Gone five years old, wearing the sacred thread, versed in simple lore, intelligent, well-formed, as the ritual demands. ”

“ Gopi saith the mother, his wife, was a bad walker, even to the length of public bazaars. Her people sought her for years, but she escaped them in big towns, and ere they found her she had gained safety for this boy by palming him off on Sukya. 'Twas easy for her, being a Brahmani. Of course they made her speak somewhat ere she fulfilled her life, but not the name of the anchorite she deceived. So Gopi, knowing from the mother's babbling of this mongrel's blasphemous name, and the vow of pilgrimage for the expiation of sins, hath come hither, led by the Spirit, every year. ”