Saci Sundari devi dasi JPS - Atlanta GA
last updated 25th July 2005

Bala Gopal - July 2005

13th July 2003

Bala Gopal

(By Sikhi Mahiti prabhu)

Her Sila was named by her guru His Grace Jayapataka Swami. Her Sila was named Bala Gopal. This Sila came to her, in an usual way.

Mother Saci Sundari is 71 years old and from Nepal. She was initiated into chanting the maha mantra at the age of 11. Her father and her father's father have worshiped Saligram Sila all their lives.

She later accepted His Grace Jayapatka Maharaja as her spiritual master after coming to Atlanta. That is another interesting story. All right, I'll give you a little taste of the nectar.

She had purchased a ticket to return to Nepal after a three month stay in Atlanta. She didn't like America. So, she purchased a ticket to return to Nepal. When leaving the travel agency, she boarded the wrong city bus that took her near the Atlanta ISKCON temple. She saw saris hanging out to dry and stop the bus. As she approached the temple, she noticed an American mataji with her head covered chanting japa. She said, "If she has tilak on her forehead, I'm staying!". Of course she did, and she moved into the temple that week. This was her initial contact with ISKCON.

Back to Sri Bala Gopal's appearance to Mother Saci Sundari. Saci Sundari returned to Nepal in 1990 to find three Silas. She was told by a pujari in Atlanta that His Grace Jayapatka Swami desired that Saligram be worshiped in the Atlanta temple.

She visited her home and then began her journey to the Gandhaki river. She traveled by bus first and then via a small boat with six other people to the location on the Gandaki to gather the Silas. She was frighten by the large fish that swam along side of the boat that was paddled by a guide. She feared the fish would capsize the boat.

Once she arrived, she began searching along the shore for Sri Saligram. The waters are almost black. So she began picking up anything roundish and black. Often, the object was a head or piece of a head of a dead person. She finally found three Silas which she brought back to Atlanta.

When her Guru Maharaja arrived in Atlanta, she showed him the Silas. It turned out that he never asked for the Silas to be worshiped in the temple. And, no one was willing to worship them. So, she kept the one that His Holiness named and returned the other two to Nepal two years later.

Sri Bala Gopal ki jaya!
 
 

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