Receiving Gopal’s blessings, Gour Gopal left Gadeigiri and traveled to Cuttack, where he spent the night. The next morning he set off by train to the Himalayas where he wandered in search of a guru.
In a 1989 conversation Gour Govinda Swami recounted some of those days:
I was born in Orissa. Many Vaishnavas are here. There are so many maṭhās of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami here in Orissa. I know many Vaishnavas. I was born in a Vaishnava family. From my childhood I have been attracted to Mahaprabhu. From an early age I was perfroming saṅkīrtan and worshiping Radha Krishna deities. In my family we were reading the Bhāgavatam. I was born in such an atmosphere. But I had to search out a bona fide guru. I wandered from the Himalayas to Kanya Kumari, throughout the whole of India. Although I met many Vaishnavas, I was not satisfied with them.
I was a secondary school teacher. I gave up my service. I gave up my family. I had seven children. I had land and property, twenty-five years government service with a pension, but I gave up everything and left home. I searched throughout India and met many Vaishnavas and many jñānīs and mystic yogīs. I had discussions with them. I told them, ‘’ Śāstra, scripture, says, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Only the chanting of the holy names of Krishna is the yuga-dharma in kali-yuga, the process of this age. Why shall we do these gymnastics, haṭha yoga, dhyāna-yoga, etc.?’’
At last they told me, ‘’Get out of here.’’ I said alright. Thank you. I am going.’’ After wandering through all these places, at last I came to Vrindavan. That was my final goal. I thought, ‘’Let me finish all parts of India, and at last I will go to Vrindavan.’’ Vrindavan is very dear land of Krishna. I had full belief that Krishna would shower His blessings upon me in His beloved land of Vrindavan. At that time I was a wandering sādhu. I was not actually a sādhu. I had just put on saffron dress, like that, so I was outwardly appearing to be a sādhu.
Not having money for the train ticket, Gour Gopal convinced the ticket collector to allow him free passage to Mathura. It was September 1974. For some time he moved from place to place, staying at different āśramas for one night at a time. At one Gaudiya Vaishnava temple, seeing that he didn’t have an śikhā the devotees mistook him for a māyāvād sannyāsī and kicked him out. After some days he came to The international Society for Krishna Consciousness. Arriving at their property in Raman Reti, Vrindavan, one devotee gave him a copy of the society’s magazine, Back to Godhead. Seeing the photo in the magazine of the founder-ācārya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he immediately felt attracted to him. He decided that he must go to see Srila Prabhupada. However, when Srila Prabhupada’s secretary saw his matted hair, beard, and torn cloth he was reluctant to allow him in.
Gour Govinda Swami recounts:
When I arrived in Vrindavan I found so many temples and āśramas where nāma-saṅkīrtan was going on, so I wandered about. I would spend each day in a different āśrama to see what was going on there.
One day I saw a sign, ‘’International Society for Krishna Conciousness, Founder Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.’’ I went there. Construction had just started. No temple was there at that time, only huts. Prabhupada’s room was the only real building. Devotees were staying in the huts and some married couples were staying outside in rented houses. I entered the compound and saw many devotees with shaven heads, tilak, and neck beads chanting Hare Krishna. I was very impressed. Some devotee gave a copy of Back to Godhead magazine. I looked through i tand thought, ‘’Oh, it’s very nice.’’ This was the thing I was searching there. Bhāgavatam was there. I inquired wheter the fouder-ācārya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja was present. Fortunately he was there at that time. So I wanted to meet him. The devotee told me that I should speak with his secretary who will make the arrangements.
At that time Brahmananda Swami was his secretary. So I went to him and requested, ‘’Please make some arrangement that I can meet Srila Prabhupada.’’
He said, ‘’Why do you want to meet him?’’ I said, ‘’I want to pay obeisances to him. I only have a few words to say. It is a very serious matter. Please allow me.’’ I repeatedly paid my obeisances to Brahmananda Swami and asked him to allow me to see Srila Prabhupada.
Finally he went inside Prabhupada’s room and said, ‘’Some sādhu is here asking for your darśan.’’
‘’All right, let him come,’’ Prabhupada said.
So I went into the room. It was midday. Prabhupada had just taken his noon prasād and was sitting on a chair. Nobody was there. I offered my obeisances. At first sight I felt that Prabhupada could understand me. He asked, ‘’Where have you came from? What is your name?’’ Seeing my garb he said, ‘’Have you taken sannyāsa?’’
I said, ‘’No, I have not taken sannyāsa.’'
He said, ‘’I’ll give you sannyāsa.’’
Then I could understand, ‘’He is a genuine guru. I was of such a person under whom I could take shelter. I took shelter of him. My heart was naturally attracted towards him. I had full faith in Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and They helped me. That was my experience. I have met so many Vaishnavas, so many godbrothers of Prabhupada. Some are still here in Orissa, they come here. Whenever they come to Bhubaneswar they come to me. I don’t go to them.
Hearing about Gour Gopal’s academic ability, Srila Prabhupada requested him to translate one of his articles from the Back to Godhead magazine into Hindi. Srila Prabhupada appreciated the work and ordered him to translate more. Gour Gopal translated Srila Prabhupada’s first book. Easy Journey to Other Planets, into Hindi. Aside from translating, Gour Gopal engaged in whatever service was requested of him. He cooked, washed pots, and cleaned the temple. A few months later in Bombay he received first initiation from Srila Prabhupada. At that time his name became Gour Govinda Das. A few months after that in Mayapur, West Bengal, Srila Prabhupada gave him second initiation and sent him to preach in Orissa.
Sannyāsa
Bhagavat Das was in charge of the group of preachers in Orissa. He recalls how Gour Govinda took sannyāsa:
We went by train to Hydrabad to see Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada swa us there and he called Gour Govinda Das Brahmacari over and said, ‘’Why are you here?’’ He told Gour Govinda to come and see him the next day to explain. The next morning we went to Prabhupada’s room and Gour Govinda explained the purpose of our visit. Then, quite unexpectedly, Gour Govinda turned to Prabhupada and said, ‘’Prabhupada, I want to take sannyāsa.’’ Prabhupada looked at him. There were two or three sannyāsīs as well as several GBCs in the room, some big devotees. At that time many of the leaders were against new Indian devotees taking sannyāsa. Prabhupada explained the qualifications of a sannyāsī, ‘’The sannyāsī can never have any sex desire. He could never think of a woman even for a second. A sannyāsī is fearless – he’ll go anywhere to preach, no matter how dangerous it is. A sannyāsī never thinks he is alone, but always knows that Krishna and guru are with him.’’
After Prabhupada explained all these things, he just looked at Gour Govinda and said, ‘’Now do you understand?’’ Gour Govinda said, ‘’Yes.’’ Then prabhupada said, ‘’Okay, let’s take prasādam.’’ And that was it. He never said yes or no.
Then I remember going into the secretary’s room where all these sannyāsīs and GBCs had gathered. They were all saying, ‘’Did Prabhupada say yes or did he say no? We don’t understand.’’ After that we all went with Prabhupada to Vrindavan for the next leg of the festival. In Vrindavan, on the last day of the festival, there was a fire yajña and Gour Govinda was acting as the priest for the ceremony. Only one person was supposed to take sannyāsa, and that was Tripurari. But there were two daṇḍas and two sets of sannyāsa cloth. No one knew who the other person was. Then prabhupada said, ‘’The sannyāsa candidates should come up and get their cloth.’’ At that time Gour Govinda stood up from behind the fire and took his cloth. Then Prabhupada handed him the daṇḍa, looked at him with a big smile, and said, ‘’You have understood.’’ After he took sannyāsa, many sannyāsīs and GBCs started complaining, ‘’How has he taken sannyāsa? He’s a new man!’’ Then Prabhupada told them, ‘’He is a devotee from birth, you are new men!’’
After taking sannyāsa, Gour Govinda Swami came back to Orissa and stayed in Puri at the Veda Bhavan.
From Puri he wrote a letter to his old friend Fakir Charan Kanunga:
Now I am staying in Veda Bhavan, Puri, with my group. I had great hope that you would all come here and we would go together to my most dear place of Gopal. There we will do nāma- saṅkīrtan and preach the message of Guru Gauranga with some satsaṅga.
On 30 May 1975 he wrote Fakir Charan:
By the blessing of Krishna some land has been donated near Banibhihar in Bhubaneshwar. After opening a center of this Society there, we will then make a branch center at my dear Gopal’s place. I have already spoken with Ghanashyam Giri about this. He has agreed to donate Gopal tot his ISKCON Society and he also promises to help the project in any other way possible.
On 26 July 1975 he sent another letter to Fakir Charan:
Ghanashyam Giri and his wife are now hesitating to donate Gopal. If we are surrendered to Krishna then there will be no question of māyā’s presence. Sri Krishna is all powerful, the greatest yogī, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spirit soul is His eternal servant. We are all His eternal servants. He is bound in devotion. The devotee of Krishna is always without fear. The devotee prahlad was getting so much pain from his demon father Hiranyakashipu, but Prabhlad had no fear. Rather, he prayed to the Lord for the liberation of his father. This is the nature of a devotee’s magniamimous heart. Always I have a desire to meet all of you and discuss with you about Gopal, because Gopal and His place are most dear to me.’’
Preaching
Srila Prabhupada gave Gour Govinda Swami three principal instructions, to translate his books from English into Oriya, to build a temple in Bhubaneswar, and to preach all over the world. Gour Govinda Swami molded his life around these instructions. It was his policy to not eat anything until he had completed his quota of translation for the day. Even after undergoing long international flights he would always insist upon first doing the translation work given him by his spiritual master before he would eat or sleep. He maintained this practice up to his last day. Following Srila Prabhupada’s order, Gour Govinda Maharaja inspired and headed up many preaching programs in the State of Orissa. He established simple padāyatrā festivals and nāma-haṭṭa programs that have helped thousands of people in this ancient land discover their spiritual roots and take up the chanting of the mahā-mantra:
hare kṛṣṇa, hare kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa, hare hare/ hare rāma, hare rāma, rāma rāma, hare hare. Acting on the instruction of his spiritual master, Srila Gour Govinda Swami began going overseas for preaching in 1985. Despite a crippeling leg injury, he continued this service for the following eleven years. Gour Govinda Swami was famous for his strong preaching and knowledge of the scriptures. He would substantiate everything he said with evidence from the Vedic literature.
Another senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada, His Holiness Mahanidhi Swami, remembers Gour Govinda Swami’s lectures:
He spoke in a very wonderful way. We can understand by the content of a person’s speech what is the position of their heart. One theme that comes out of the life and teachings of Gour Govinda Swami is kṛṣṇa-prema. In fact we see that this personality was completely full of joy and happiness. He was a very joyful person.
In 1991, on Nityananda Trayodasi, the auspicious appearance day of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, after sixteen years of determined endeavor, Gour Govinda Maharaja fulfilled Srila Prabhupada’s instruction by opening the magnificent Sri Sri Krishna-Balarama temple in Bhubaneswar. Since that time the Sri Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir has grown into a flourishing project that every year attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Donating Gopal
Ghanashyam Giri’s father, Gopinath Giri, departed this world in 1974. From 1964 until 1992 Ghanashyam Giri was entrusted with serving Gopal. He worked very hard to make Gopal happy, but after some time he found that there was very little help. Concerned about Gopal’s service could be maintained, he remembered his cousin-brother Braja-bandhu Manik who had become a sannyāsī-guru in ISKCON and was now known as Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja. Ghanashyam Giri thought that since Gour Govinda Swami had so much devotion for Gopal he would be the appropriate person to who to pass on the service of Gopal.
In the meantime, Gour Govinda Swami was regularly coming to Gadeigiri for darśan. Before and after traveling abroad for his preaching tours he would always go to seek the blessings of Gopal. In 1989 Gour Govinda Swami began bringing devotees from the large ISKCON temple in Bhubaneshwar to Gadeigri to celabrate Radhāṣṭami, the appearance festival of Srimati Radharani. This developed into a grand festival of kīrtan, lectures and prasādam, and many of the local villagers would enthusiastically participate.
Again, Ghanashyam Giri decided to give Gopal to Gour Govinda Swami. They discussed the matter and Gour Govinda Swami happily agreed to accept the responsibility. But shortly thereafter Ghanashyam Giri began to have second thoughts. If he gave Gopal to the guru of so many westerns, would Gopal then belong to the western corner? One year went by, and seeing his reluctance Gour Govinda Swami became disappointed. Ghanashyam Giri recalls the incident that changed his mind:
About 2:30 one morning I had a dream. Gopal came and was standing near my head. He said, ‘’Why are you sleeping? Wake up! So many troubles have come to you, but have you felt any difficulty? No, because I am always behind you. Now you are alone. How can you arrange all types of festivals for Me? I am always very interested to hear nāma-saṅkīrtana. Gour Govinda Swami is your own relative. Why don’t you give Me to him? So, now tell Me, will you give Me or not?’’
In the dream I said, ‘’Yes. Yes. I will give.’’ Suddenly my wife woke me up and said. What are you saying? What will you give? You are speaking like a madman. What happened?’’
I told her that Gopal had just come and asked me if I was going to give Him to Gour Govinda Swami or not and I said, ‘’Yes. Yes. I will give. I will give.’’ I told her, ‘’Gopal was standing near that window. He just left.’’
My wife said gently, ‘’Go and donate Gopal to Srila Gurudeva. Whatever property you have you should also give to him. If he takes Gopal then Gopal will be happy and He will be taken care of nicely. You will be able to see Gopal here every day. Why are you hesitating?’’ In this way my doubts were cleared.
The next day I was preparing to go to Bhubaneswar to See Gour Govinda Swami, but I heard that Gurudeva was coming to Gadeigiri. So I stayed and waited for his arrival. He came a few days later and I met with him.
He asked me, ‘’How are you? What about Gopal?’’
I said, ‘’I have been waiting for you to come, to give Gopal to you.’’
Gurudeva looked at me for a moment and laughed. He said, ‘’What has happened to you? What has brought about this change?’’ He said, ‘’Has Gopal spoken to you?’’
I said, ‘’Yes Gurudeva, Gopal spoke to me.’’
Then Gurudeva asked me, ‘’What day was it that He spoke to you, and what time?’’
I told him, ‘’twelve days before, at 2:30 in the morning.’’
Gurudeva nodded his head up and down. ‘’Gopal came and spoke with me on the same morning at 2:00 a.m., then at 2:30 He came to you. That morning I was translating the Bhāgavatam into Oriya. I dozed off for a few moments. Gopal came to me and said, ‘’You installed Radha-Gopinath here. Has Gopinath replaced Me in your life?’’
[Srila Gour Govinda Swami had commissioned a sculptor to make deities of Radha and Krishna to be exactly the same height, width, standing position, etc., as Radha Gopal in Gadeigiri, and had installed tem on the ISKCON property at Bhubaneswar, naming them ‘’Radha-Gopinath’’.]
Gopal again asked Srila Gurudeva, ‘’ Is Gopinatha the same for you as Me?’’
With folded hands Gurudeva replied, ‘’No.’’ Then Gopal said, ‘’You are worshiping here, but I can’t come here. Gadeigiri is the house of My devotees. They have no wealth, but their mind is always on Me. Even if they only offer Me a tulasī leef and a little water I am happy there. They are always saying, ‘’Gopal! Gopal!’ I cannot leave them and come here. You are not doing any service for Me because Ghanashyam has not given Me to you. He promised, ‘Unless Gopal less me to give Him to Gour Govinda Swami I will not give Him.’’ Gopal then said, ‘’I will speak to Ghanashyam. First I have met with you and now I am going to Ghanashyam.’’
While Gurudeva and I were speaking, one of my family members was there. They said, ‘’You are always talking about donating Gopal, but you are only speaking and not giving.’’
I said, ‘’No, today I must donate Gopal to Gurudeva. Bring tulasī and water and chant mantra.’’
Gurudeva asked, ‘’How will you donate to me?’’
I said, ‘’ As Śrīmad Bhāgavatam describes that Bali Maharaja donated to Lord Vamanadeva, like that I will donate Gopal to you. You place your hand under mine and I will donate three times with water and tulasī leaf.’’
I called for a brahmin who put tulasī and water in my hand. I said, ‘’ First I donate to you Sri Radha Gopal Jiu. Secondly I give you all of Gopal’s paraphernalia. Thirdly I donate the property to you. From tomorrow you will take charge.
Temple for Gopal
Gour Govinda Swami immediately accepted Gopal and the property, and on 15 November 1993 he recorded everything in the name of ISCKON, the institution of his spiritual master. Gour Govinda Swami then sent two disciples to Gadeigiri. They arranged to fix the broken temple building and made nice arrangements for Gopal’s worship. The existing temple for Gopal was very small and simple.
Now that Gopal was under his care, Gour Govinda Maharaja wanted to build something nice for Gopal.
He was very eager to see the work begin. On 23 November Fakir Charan went to see Gour Govinda Swami in Bhubaneswar. Fakir Charan remembers:
When he saw us he started scolding us. He said, ‘’The registration was finished eight days ago, where have you been? My dear Gopal’s work is not going on correctly. Gopal is beating me.’’ He then showed us his back, which bore fresh marks from a beating. I was shocked. We both begged forgiveness for the delay. He then replied, ‘’The devotee of Krishna never fears anyone. This is service for Krishna, so where is fear?
On 17 January 1994 Gour Govinda Swami laid the foundation stone for Gopal’s new temple and he installed a deity of Ananta Sesa. In his lecture that day he spoke to all of the devotees as well as the laborers and construction workers who were there to begin work on the new temple:
With the help of the two rishis Bhrigu and Bharadvaja, Agastya Muni once built a huge temple for Krishna at Kalahasti in Rajasthan. Many laborers had been engaged to build that temple. Bhirgu and Bharadvaja were supervising them. The laborers were working hard from morning to sunset. Every evening before sunset, Agastya would sit on the bank of the nearby river and call all of the laborers. By his order, Bhrigu and Bharadvaja would then give a handful of sand to each laborer. That was their payment fort the whole day’s work. But when the two rishis gave the sand, it at once turned into gold. According to how hard the laborer was working, he received a proportionate amount of gold. So whoever was working harder was getting more gold. Whoever was working less would only get a small amount, and if someone were not working at all, only cheating they would find only sand in their hands, no gold. In this dealing there was no partiality and no complaints. Everything took place before God who is the supreme eyewitness. Each worker happily accepted his proper due, no more and no less. The laborers were thinking, ‘’Whatever I am doing, Krishna is in my heart constantly watching me. So I am working in His presence.’’ If one has this kind of mentality his work is called sādhu-karma, very pious work. If your heart is clear then all your activities will be clear and pious. Whatever work you touch will be successful and great. This is Gopal’s work. Don’t neglect it. Don’t quarrel and don’t be duplicitous. Don’t steal anything. After this temple is complete, if the rules and regulations are followed nicely here, then it will help this area’s inhabitants in their spiritual as well as economic development.
Why are we building a temple here? Because this place is tāpa-bhūmi, a place of austerities. This is a very special place. By doing only a little sādhana or bhajan here, one can get great benefit in his spiritual life. The kīrtan and austerities of this place brought Gopal from Vrindavan. This place will kill the demoniac nature. Ravana was a most powerful demon, but he was always afraid of tāpa-śakti, the power of austerities. Therefore he told his followers that they could go to every place to the north except for Vedapur (now modern Pondicherry in South India), because that place would kill the demoniac nature. So this Gadeigiri, the place of Gopal, is a place of saṁskāra and sādhana. Everyone should accept this place as their own and let their life be successful.
Disappearance
In the late January 1996 mentioned, ‘’Srila Bhaktisiddhanta said that this material world is not a fit place for any gentlemen. Therefore, because he was disgusted, he left this world prematurely. I may also leave. I don’t know. Let me ask Gopal. I will do whatever he wants.’’ The next day he went to Gadeigiri to see Gopal. After returning, for the next four days he lectured before thousands of people at the Prabhupada Centennial festival in Bhubaneswar. Then he left for the annual ISKCON management meetings in Sridhama Mayapur.
Ghanashyam recalls his discussinon with Gour Govinda Swami during this last visit to Gadeigiri:
We were talking about Gopal’s new temple and installing large deities of Radha Gopal to go with the existing small ones. Suddenly Gurudeva told me, ‘’I won’t see this deity installation. You will see it, but I won’t.’’
I said, ‘’How is that? You are ten years younger than I am. If you won’t see it how will I?’’
Gurudeva said, ‘’No, no. You will see the inauguration of the temple and the deity because you have served Gopal so nicely. Uncle [Gopinath Giri] died thirty years ago and you went through so much difficulty to take care of Gopal. You continued all of the festivals, sarat-rāsa, vasanta-rāsa. Etc. That is why Gopal is kind to you. So you will see Gopal’s new temple.’’
That was the last discussion I had with Gurudeva. After that he went to Bhubaneswar for a few days and then to Mayapur where he stayed forever.
In Mayapur on 9 February 1996, the holy appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, two senior ISKCON devotees requested an appointment in the early evening to see Gour Govinda Maharaja. They inquired, ‘’Why did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stay in Jagannath Puri?’’ He enthusiastically began to explain the confidental significance of Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in Puri. He described the pains of separation felt by Radha and Krishna when Krishna was away from Vrindavan.
He gradually unfolded the pastime to the point where Radha and Krishna were finally united after Their long separation. He described how Krishna became so ecstatic upon seeing Radharani that He manifested a form with big round eyes and shrunken limbs, Lord Jagannath. At that time the devotees noticed that tears had come to his eyes and his voice had become choked up. Barely audibly, he said, ‘’Then the eyes of Krishna fell upon the eyes of Radharani. Eye-to-eye union.’’ Unable to continue, he apologized with folded hands, ‘’Please excuse me. I cannot speak.’’ He then gave his final instruction: ‘’Kirtan! Kirtan!’’ The devotees present began to chant as he calmly lay back on his bed, breathing slowly and deeply. Upon his request a servant placed a picture of Gopaljiu in his hand. Then, gazing lovingly at that picture of his worshipable deity, Gour Govinda Swami said, ‘’Gopal!’’ Then his eyes closed and he lost external consciousness.
One devotee quickly ran to bring a doctor. Kaviraj Dr. D. K. Brahma M.D. recalls:
Just before sandhya arāti a devotee came to my residence and told me that Gour Govinda Swami was having some problem breathing and asked me if I could come to see him. When I arrived, Maharaja was lying down. Some doctors had come before me and had said that Maharaja had already passed away. Others were saying that we should take him to Krishnanagar and give him treatment in the Government hospital. I took his pulse and found that he was still alive.
I told them, ‘’just wait. Give me another twelve minutes time, then I may tell you to take him.’’
If they would have taken him to the Government hospital it means they would have been pumping his chest, thinking it was a heart attack. However, according to his pulse there was nothing wrong with him. His pulse only showed that he was taking rest. The Aryuvedic science teaches how to diagnose a patient by taking his pulse. If something is wrong we can feel it. But I never found anything wrong with Maharaja. According to his pulse everything was normal.
By the second or third time I read Maharaja’s pulse it had become clear that he had left. Some say that he had a heart attack, but if someone dies from a heart attacK generally we find that they suffer a lot. They also generally have some previous history of a weak heart. In Maharaja’s case, none of these things were there. Maharaja had the symptoms of aṣṭa-sāttvika-vikāra, ecstatic transformations, on his body. One kind of vikāra is that one doesn’t want to stay here any longer, they want to go back to the spiritual abode, back to Krishna. Nothing in Maharaja’s body failed, he just left. I am 100% sure of that. I’ve never seen this kind of death before.
Ghanashyam Giri:
Gurudeva told me that Gopal is always anxious to hear nāma. He came all the way from Vrindavan only to hear nāma-saṅkīrtana. He did not come to take food. He has no deficiency. He came here only for hearing nāma. Gopal is nāmapriya-ṭhākura, the Lord always eager to hear nāma.
Gurudeva has fulfilled Gopal’s desire. Now I’m practically seeing that from morning to night, kīrtana, bhajan, is always going on for Gopal. So many devotees are coming here from all over the world. I am feeling happy seeing how Gurudeva has fulfilled the desire of Gopal.
On 18 March 1991 Gour Govinda Swami brought some of his western disciples to Gadeigiri and spoke a few words about Gopal:
From my boyhood this deity has occupied my heart. Everywhere I look I am seeing Him. Most of my childhood I spent here. I am 62 years old. Any day I may pass away, die. I have this desire that here in Gopal’s place something will be built. That will make me happy.