The Appearance of Sri-Sri Radha-Damodara

(as narrated by Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Gurudeva)

Editorial note:

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prays in His Siksastaka: "O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to the living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda." When Tamal Krishna Goswami discovered the deity of Sri Krishna on Juhu Beach, Krishna appeared to him as the Lord of the Gopis. When Srila Gurudeva returned to the United States, however, he sensed a different mood. Being with his disciples and Godbrothers again after a long absence, Srila Gurudeva felt that the old mood of the Radha-Damodara Traveling Sankirtan Party was again alive. The party was there, but the name was not. Then, after consultation with senior Godbrothers, Srila Gurudeva had his feelings confirmed. Krishna had now changed His mood. He was again with Srila Gurudeva in America, and Srila Gurudeva was preaching vigorously and enthusiastically as he had done two years before. The Radha-Damodar Party was indeed reborn. So on the auspicious day of Gaura-ekadasi in October of 1978 a namabhiseka was performed in St. Louis and Radha-Gopinath became Radha-Damodar. The following narration was spoken by Tamal Krishna Goswami at the installation of Srimati Radharani on Radhastami in September 1978 at St. Louis.

This little deity of Gopinath has appeared by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. Krishna is so magnanimous and merciful that He comes in the form of sri-vigraha. This authorized form of the Lord is prayed for by the devotee of the Lord. So we have to thank our beloved spiritual master that Krishna has appeared to us.

We were walking on the morning on the day after Nrisimha-caturdasi, the appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadeva, with our Godbrothers and disciples on the beach where Prabhupada always walked. It was a full moon, and on that morning, the moon was still full over the Arabian Sea. We came to the beach: looking west the moon was over the water and on the eastern side the sun had just risen at 6:00am. The sun was over the earth, the moon was over the water, and the air over the sea. All the demigods were present. And while walking at this auspicious time, we found there at the junction of the water and the land this little deity of Gopinath. He was glowing in the sand, just a little bit of His crown showing.

There were so many people walking on the beach, but none of them saw this deity. Such a vast beach, unlimited numbers of grains of sand and millions of tons of water, so how does a deity of Krishna appear except by the mercy of Krishna? guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti lata bija. By the mercy of the spiritual master and the mercy of Krishna, Krishna can appear. Everyone was walking, but no-one could see what was there. So I asked, "just see what that is there in the sand." Only a very little bit was showing; something glowing in the sand. So they dug Him out and it was Krishna playing on His flute.

Immediately I chanted the Brahma-samhita and took Him back to my room at Hare Krishna Land. I placed Him on my desk. He was all covered at the time, having been under water for perhaps years. He hands were rough, being under water for so long. You can see that two little holes were made in His arm by the sea water. We began to eat our breakfast, but halfway through we could not eat any more because we saw that Krishna had appeared and He had not eaten for so long. He was standing in this condition, so we could not do anything except take care of Him . He was calling to be taken care of. He appeared so He could be taken care of. Immediately I stopped eating and came up to the Deity, sat down and for five hours I polished Him and cleansed His body until He was shiny. Miraculously, the day before, someone had brought a simhasana just right for His size. All the pujaris were called in and different pujaris cooked different offerings. someone else brought a little silver calf. In this way, after five hours of cleansing and preparation, we performed the maha-abhisekha ceremony and installed Sri Gopinatha.

About two or three days later, the appearance of Sri Gopinath was related to one of our life members who happens to be the former king of the state of Udaipura, the same state in which the deity of Sri Nathji is located. The king is a very good devotee of the Lord, and when he heard the story of the appearance of Sri Gopinathji, he immediately requested to be allowed to bring Radharani to Krishna. So this deity of Radharani has been given by him. So it is by the grace of guru and grace of Krishna that Krishna has come and His consort, Radharani, has come.

Sri-Sri Radha-Damodara ki Jai!  

For more Photos of Our Lordships Sri-Sri Radha-Damodara, click here.

Hare Krishna.