Once a Bhagavad Gita was distributed to an elderly lady who would eventually become known as Pada Sevanam. Such was the impression Gita made she embraced it heart and soul and immediately set out to meet the devotees. At the temple the devotees escorted her to a guest room which was filled with other guests and in no time the elderly lady was preaching from her beloved Bhagavad Gita. The devotees were blown away by her sincere enthusiasm and knowledge of Gita and like the rest of the audience they simply sat  entranced.

 

Blissfully she regularly attended the temple programmes, participated in the kirtans and fell in love with the deities. She no longer saw any purpose in living alone, her children had grown up and so in return for living in the temple she declared her wish to sell her apartment and donate the money to the temple, "you can use the money in any way, just provide me a room, i wish to live here, serve, chant and sing".

 

The devotees held a meeting, agreed and built her a little extension to the temple, right at the entrance and she moved in and began growing Tulsai. Her enthusiasm and love for Krsna touched everyone, she never criticised nor engaged in politics she simply fell in love with Krsna.

 

 

When i first came to the temple she had already taken initiation from Rohinisutra prabhu, her name being Pada Sevanam. There were different opinions about her, some were worried that she was exhibiting sahajiya tendencies while others saw her as a great saint, the problem being she was so intimate with Krsna, often commenting that "Krsna told me this". Next morning she assosciated with me and in a challenging, probing manner asked me what my condition was. Suddenly she took out an apple and said "Gopal told me to give you this" i said "thankyou and please give my thanks to Gopal". "Gopal" was a blue coloured doll, child Krsna, no-one was sure where she got him from, she took care of him, he had his own cot and toys. Once she bought him a radio controlled car and started driving Krsna around the temple. When devotees inquired what she was doing, she replied "he is little, its interesting for him, kids like to play with cars, look, he is so joyful".

 

Observing her i could see she had a personal relationship with Krsna, she lived for him. She was never overtaken by pride, her relationship with Krsna was very natural, she always took great care in chanting Krsnas name, studied Srila Prabhupadas books, attended all the devotee gatherings and during lectures she would always attentively and respectfully listen.

 

One day i came to the temple and she told me "i would like to get your blessings" i wondered what she had in mind. "I watched a movie called pilgrimage to Ahovalam" she said. Immediately i remembered the video, "Ahovalam" is a famous temple of Lord Nrsinghadeva, its situated in deep jungle, tigers live there, snakes live there and only determined devotees got to see such a place.

 

 

Indradyumna Marharaj once travelled there and the video shows a devotee named Dhruva prabhu entering a temple where resides the self manifested deity of Vira Nrsingha, the vira meaning "victor" "conqueror". The deity is located in a cave at the top of a mountain, apparantly there was once a demoniac King who performed many austerities in the cave to get an audience with Lord Brahma. Once Brahma appeared he thought he would steal the Vedas from his mind and having accomplished this task Brahma then prayed to Lord Nrsinghadeva who duly appeared, ripped the demon to pieces and returned the Vedas to Lord Brahma. In gratitude Brahma requested that Lord Nrsinghadeva remain in his worshipful form of Vira Nrsinghadeva to which he agreed, hence in Ahovalam we have the self manifesting deity of Vira Nrsingha.

 

In the video Dhruva prabhu is seen up to his chest in water as he wades through the cave, bats hang above his head, full of dread, he and his companions continue as the darkness increases with little knowledge of what lies ahead. All of a sudden bells are heard, oil lamps light up the gloom, a priest appears worshipping the deity and sat beside him are the bride and groom of an engaged couple. The priest explained to Dhruva that the deity is worshipped just once a week because it is deep in the jungle and impossible to live in close proximity. The thought that Lord Nrsinghadevas worship was being neglected deeply hurt Pada Sevanam "Krsna, my Krsna is suffering" she said. And then she explained that her deity Gopal had told her that she should go there and serve Lord Nrsinghadeva.

 

The idea of a 74 year old female devotee even thinking of such an idea was a shock "do you understand anything about India" i told her. "I take groups there every year, one can be robbed, you dont even know the language, there are all sorts of cheaters there, anything can happen". "Besides you dont have the money for the tickets and who told you they would allow women to serve the Lord, in south India they are very strict, it would be considered a violation of their tradition". Srila Prabhupada made no such distinction between men and women however this was the deep south of Vedic India where traditions are thousands of years old.

 

She was adamant "i know nothing" she said "all i know is that Gopal told me to go". "Actually" i said, "in our sampradaya we worship RadhaKrsna and Lord Chaitanya and so if you must go to India you can visit Vrindavan or Mayapur and you can worship Krsna there, it is not necessary to travel through some dangerous jungle to some cave in a mountain top". The next day she came and told me “i asked Gopal and He said that I have to go Nrsimhadev anyway.”

 

 

A few years later i once again visited Azerbaijan and the devotees immediately asked "do you remember Pada Sevanam ?" "she actually travelled to Lord Nrsinghadevas temple" "the people received her as a saint and because of her efforts the worship of the Lord has been resumed". Determined to serve her Lord, Pada Sevanam had inquired about how to get to the temple. She contacted one devotee Ganesvara prabhu, asked him to watch the movie and find out where the temple was informing him “Gopal told me that I have to serve Nrsimhadev there.”

 

One day Ganesvara was taking darsana at the Krsna Balarama temple in Vrindavan when he just happened to spot Dhruva prabhu, the devotee who had made and appeared in the video "a journey to ahovalam". Dhruva gave him the directions telling him to fly to Hyderabad, then take a taxi to a village called Vedagiri, there lives the priest and the mountain is located some five kilometers from the village. Ganshwara followed the directions and led by the priest who travels there once a week he went to have darsan of the Lord. They saw jungle, herds of wild monkeys and snakes, in the cave bats hung above their heads and by walking in the water which was up to their chest they achieved their darsan.

 

Ganeshwara called Pada Sevanam and told her it was too dangerous and completely unrealistic to live there. "Gopa told me to go and i will" she replied "anyway i have bought tickets and i am arriving in two weeks, please meet me there".

 

At the airport she came with all her tens of deities, several pairs of RadhaKrsna, a number of Gopals, Goverdhana Silas, Saligram Silas, and many pictures all packed within suitcases. Ganeshwara met her and told her "a taxi is waiting we shall go to Vrindavan first and then decide what to do later". She became tense "i need to go to Nrsinghadeva immediately" she said "he is suffering because no-one serves him, how can i go to Vrindavan and enjoy myself there ? If you do not wish to come with me just tell me where to go, i will purchase tickets and go by myself".

 

Ganshwara bought the tickets and soon they arrived before the priest explaining that Pada Sevanam had received a revelation from Lord Nrsinghadeva to come and serve and live with him. The priests eyes opened wide in disbelief "Nrsingha ? Do you understand what you are saying ? Adult men cannot live here, there are no facilities, no water, no food, no electricity, its dangerous, i cannot provide protection and therefore i cannot let you worship".

 

Pada Sevanam became very serious "if Krsna wants to kill someone, would you be able to protect that person ? If Krsna wants to protect someone who can kill him ?" Her gravity and sincerity brought the priest to tears "i dont know who this woman is" he said "but i have no arguments to convince her, go ahead, live, i will try to give you maximum protection".

 

 

They left in the morning carrying all her luggage to the mountain, Ganeshwara still hoping that when she sees everything she will come to her senses. Upon reaching the top however she was lost in admiration "here is the room for my deities" she exclaimed pointing to some building made of stones near the entrance of the mountain. "I will install my deities here, set up a tent and start living. Excellent facilities, everything is beautiful, you may leave if you wish, i will stay and worship Lord Nrsinghadeva".

 

Ganeshwara and the priest were totally shocked and speechless, but left her there. The priest was so amazed that he began telling everyone in the village about it, word about this 74 year old grandma spread around instantly. The next day swarms of people began climbing the mountain to see this woman, a saint from Azerbaijan. They brought whatever they could, water, some kind of clothes, etc. Men looked at the tent she was in and said: “we must protect her and build a hut for her.” Women joined and began cleaning, bringing water, doing other things.

 

All villagers received her as a saint and began worshiping, she didn’t have even a tiny amount of pride about herself and was easily accepting it. People paying obeisances as she blesses them, as if she has always been doing that. People were inviting her to bless weddings, new houses, newborn babies or a dying person, all were running around her – the priests, Brahmans, everyone. When she was coming to Shiva’s temple, they would bring her the Pushpa and she would offer, she would do Abhisheka as the great sadhus do and people fell in love with her for her simple and cordial love for Krishna.

 

Although she didn’t know the local language, nor did she speak English, she was preaching! She only knew “Bhagavan Shri Krishna”, in Sanskrit. She would preach half in Azerbaijanian, and half in Russian, but people were able to understand because she was speaking from her heart.

 

 

The news and the story were spreading and more people were coming to see her and have Nrsimhadev darshan. The priest started coming every day and opened the temple and so the worship of Nrsimhadev resumed on a daily basis. Finally the news reached journalists of a newspaper in that region who came and wrote an article thus creating a media frenzy. The article was being reprinted all around India, it was also published in Azerbaijan and Turkey. People started coming from everywhere, just to see this woman and the Deity.

 

The mayor of the state of Andra-pradesh read the article and was amazed “This happens in my state? “ “We have to see that woman!” he told his wife. They came with an escort and winking lights and climbed up the mountain to see Pada Sevanam. Everything was happening around her, everyone was being engaged and she was in ecstasy worshiping the deities.

 

In the beginning, to get water she had to climb down several kilometers, take bath and bring drinking water. That’s how she lived before people started helping. When the Mayor saw that, he said “we call ourselves devotees of Krishna, but who we are, actually? Look what is the condition of our temple and compare it to our houses! We made facilities for ourselves, but not for Krishna! We left Him here and worshiped Him once a week! This is all wrong and the change has to begin with me”. This is how he addressed the people “i take responsibility”, he said, “to collect enough money to make facilities, build a road, bring electricity, water, ensure access to the temple and dignify the temple in order to ensure proper worship of our Nrsimhadev.”

 

He started a foundation and built a road to the mountain with parking and marble steps to the temple for tourist groups. They also built a Hanuman temple and refined everything and for Pada Sevanam they built a brick house. When I heard about this i was really impressed. The main point is, we don’t know anything about this woman, who was now leaving her body, i had to let devotees know right away. Perhaps, some of you received my message about this mataji, it went on facebook. I sent it on Ekadashi and by the end of the day replies from devotees started coming. They were thanking me, gratifying Pada Sevanam, some broke into tears, one said ”my husband had a breakdown, he has not chanted the holy names for two years and after reading this article he cried and began chanting again.”

 

In the morning, I woke up and saw Ganeshwara’s message on skype. He wrote that the main priest called him and said she left her body last night. The circumstances of her departure were remarkable, he sent me some pictures. On that morning of Dvadashi first devotees came in and as always they would first come to Pada Sevanam for darshan, to get the blessings, then they would go into the temple to see the Deities. Pada Sevanam used a plastic chair, an asana for Krishna, she would take Krishna from the altar, put Him on the chair and feed Him.

 

When devotees came in, they saw her on her knees embracing Krishna’s feet. Under her arm, she was holding the Bhagavad-Gita. Devotees thought she was sleeping, the priest knocked on the table “Mata?” She didn’t’ respond. He asked women to check up on her and help her up. They touched her and realized that she had left the body. Pada Sevanam means “the one who worships the feet” she had left this world embracing Krishna’s feet and holding the Bhagavad-Gita, which brought her to the perfection of her life.

 

 

There are two little additional stories about Pada Sevanam. The main priest told one of them. "Once i closed the temple at night and began going down the mountain when i heard screaming and the sound of banging dishes. I thought “maybe a monkey attacked.” The next morning i came up and everything was as usual, Pada Sevanam was worshiping. I asked her “what happened yesterday?” She said “Nothing, it’s all good” “I heard the banging of dishes and your scream.” “Oh, that’s just Nrsimhadev, he didn’t want to eat i was swearing.”

 

The priest said to me “I don’t understand what kind of woman she is.” She also said to him at some point that Nrsimhadev told her that she would incarnate in this place for 10,000 years and then He would take her to Goloka.

 

The other story came from Ganeshwara. Once he asked her “At the beginning everything was somewhat rough, were there any dangers, perhaps wild animals, any problems" i just wanted to know how she lived. She said “no, no problems overall, just a cobra bit me once in the leg, that’s it.” “Wow! That’s it?” i replied. “I just went to Nrsimhadev and said “I want to serve you, but a cobra bit me, if you wish to take me, so be it, but if you want me to serve you, tell me what to do. He told me to wash the wound with charitamrita, i did and everything was fine.”

 

From a lecture by A.C. Bhagavatamrita Keshava Swami. Barnaul, Russia December 18, 2016) Translated by Ramananda das (Roman Zilber), Edited by Radha-Vilasa (Ranetta Zilber).

 

The video of Dhruva prabhus journey to Ahobilam can be seen here 

https://youtu.be/GQYilVSQZSY