In Remuna
From Balia, Syamananda Prabhu, Rasikananda Prabhu and their disciples went to Remuna to have darsana of Ksirachora Gopinatha, the Deity carved by Lord Ramacandra and mother Srimati Sita with Their own hands in Treta-yuga when They were living on Citrakuta Hill[1].
Subsequently the King of Cuttack brought the Deity to Remuna and installed Him in a temple especially constructed for Him. Madhavendra Puri, grand-spiritual master of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, once visited this temple for darsana and Sri Gopinatha hid an earthen pot full of Khira[2] for him and therefore became known as Ksiracora Gopinatha[3].
Reaching Remuna, Syamananda Prabhu visited the temple, but Sri Gopinatha was not there. Not being able to have His darsana, Sri Syamananda Prabhu felt so sad that he stopped taking food and water.
At night Lord Krishna, Who is always affectionate toward His devotees, told Syamananda in a dream that at present the villagers were worshipping Him as Candi Devi[4] in the village market.
The next morning Syamananda Prabhu went to the market with some villagers and found some people worshipping a stone image as Candi Devi and smearing it with vermillion. On Syamananda Prabhu’s order the image was retrieved from the villagers and after washing it and removing the vermillion, the faultlessly beautiful form of Gopinatha, bent in three places, became visible.
Syamananda Prabhu organized a twenty-four hour Sri Hari Nama Yajna festival and reinstalled the Deity in the temple. At this occasion the local Muslim Shah was present and took shelter at Syamananda Prabhu’s lotus feet.
[1] This is a story well known in the circles of Vaisnava scholars. However it doesn’t appear in Valmiki’s Ramayana.
[2] Condensed milk.
[3] The Gopinatha who stole the milk.
[4] A terrific form of Parvati, who is worshipped in temples under the name Candikadevi. There are different forms of Goddess Candi.
This is a section of the book “Syamananda, the Joy of Radharani (English)”.
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