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Lalita Sakhi Dasi was always engaged in seva. She had taken up the task of cooking for Thakurji and serving in the ashram, but dearer than anything else to her, was the service of her gurudev, Sri Radharaman Charan Dev. Externally, she was always engaged in service, but internally her bhava was that of a sakhi of Braja. She imagined that the ashram was the kunja of Radharani and all the Vaisnavas in the ashram were Radha\u2019s sakhis.<\/p>\n
Lalita Sakhi Dasi was born Sri Gopal Krishna. Later when he attained the sanga of Radharaman Charan Das Dev Babaji Maharaj in Puri, the young boy known as Gopal was given the name Jayagopal by Baba who accepted him as one of his own.<\/p>\n
One day Madhava Pasupalaka, the sringari panda of Jagannathji came to visit Baba and gave him the carana tulasi of Jagannath and His prasadi mala. At that time Jayagopal was standing behind Baba and was fanning him. Madhava Pasupalaka said, \u201cBaba, when I see this boy and some of his companions dancing before Jagannath they appear to me like the sakhis of Braj. You will be surprised to know one day when I was offering dhupa to Jagannath, I actually saw them wearing gaghra like the sakhis of Braj! I said to myself, \u2018Perhaps Baba has made them put on the sakhi vesh today. Oh! How beautiful they look.\u2019 Exactly when I was lost in that thought, the mala worn by Jagannathji slipped and fell down\u2026I thought that had some special significance. So I brought it to you, and you gave it to this boy. That day I did not reveal that to you. Today prompted by Jagannath I have specially come to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baba said, \u201cYou are a favorite of Jagannath, and you can make the impossible possible. Kindly bless him that he may realize the bhava he covets. Baba gestured to Jayagopal who then went and offered his dandabat before the sringari panda who then placed his hand on Jayagopal\u2019s head and said, \u201cMay Jagannath bless you.\u201d\u00a0As if a step of the immediate fulfilment of the wish and blessings of Jagannath received through the panda, Baba performed a lila. He asked Kunja Babu to sing a kirtan pada relating to Radhaji\u2019s standing on the flat roof of Tungamani mandir to see Krishna going to the forest. Jayagopal placed the Sri Murti of Radhika on a cauki. With every change of bhav in the kirtan, he changed the dress, position, and movement of the Murti to assist in the visualization of Their gostha-lila.<\/p>\n
When the kirtan described Radha and Krishna in Radhakunda, he made Radhaji sit by the side of Krishna. He stood behind Them and started to fan Them. Radhagovinda, Kishorigopal, and four or five others began dancing in front of the Murtis. Baba Mahasaya then began a kirtan describing the beauty and glories of Radhakunda. Everyone danced and sang in ecstacy, except for Jayagopal who was then weeping constantly.<\/p>\n
Tears fell incessantly from his eyes. Suddenly he fell unconscious. At this time Baba Mahasaya came dancing near him and uttered a mantra in his ear. He got up, flung one corner of his cadara over his head and went and sat in the corner of the temple sobbing and weeping. Just then a man came holding a sari and said, \u201cJagannath sitting in my heart told me that one of you needs a sari, so I have brought it, who will wear it?\u201d Navadwip Baba made Baba Mahasaya wear the sari.\u00a0The situation aroused sakhi bhav in his mind and he began to dance like one possessed by a sakhi of Braj! Tears of love constantly streamed from his eyes and the sattvika bhavs appeared on his body. Others caught this emotional current emanating from him and they too began to dance and sing under the spell of this bhava.<\/p>\n
After about an hour, Baba came to his own. He then gave the sari to Navadwip Baba and whispered something in his ear. Navadwip Baba then made Jayagopal wear the sari. After Jayagopal was dressed in sari, Navadwip Baba brought him near Baba Mahasaya. Baba said, \u201cRadharani has\u2013out of Her infinite kindness\u2013bestowed this sublimest and sweetest bhav upon you. Retain it carefully and be happy. Vesa alone will not do any good. You have to live according to this bhav in thought, word, and deed. In this sakhi bhav don\u2019t even once think of your own happiness. You will have to convert this bhav into your svabhav, you will have to make it completely your own, your natural disposition. The best way to do this is to constantly do the seva of Radha Krishna according to this bhav.<\/p>\n
Navadwip Baba said, \u201cWhat should we name him?\u201d
\nBaba said, \u201cWhat do you propose?\u201d
\nNavadwip Baba said, \u201cI wish that henceforth he be called Lalita Sakhi Dasi.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was a greatly learned scholar and many big pandits of Nabadwip would come to her with questions on sastra. It was seen that Radha and Krishna would be personally present when she gave Bhagavat-path. She used to love to celebrate Jhulan, Ras, and Holi lilas with great eclat and bhava. She wrote several wonderful kirtans herself which are sung to this day. She also was responsible for the writing of The Life of Love, <\/em>the biography of Radharaman Charan Das Dev. She also wrote commentaries on Sri Surat Kathamrita<\/em> and Sangita Madhava<\/em> and had them published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lalita Sakhi Dasi was always engaged in seva. She had taken up the task of cooking for Thakurji and serving in the ashram, but dearer than anything else to her, was the service of her gurudev, Sri Radharaman Charan Dev. Externally, she was always engaged in service, but internally her bhava was that of a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8690,"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8688\/revisions\/8690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakti.tattva.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}