Jai shreeRadhekrishna,
I am fortunate to visiting Shree Bankebihari lal in Vrindavan from the times when i used t be engineering student. It always give me immense pleasure to visit this temple. He changed my life by purify my soul wirelessly. I got many chances to play Holi with him.
History of Shri Bankey Bihari Ji
The image of Bihariji installed in the Shri Bankey Bihari Mandir, is the one granted to Swami Haridas by the celestial couple Shyama-Shyam themselves. Submitting to the desire of devotees The Lord appeared in person with his divine consort and left back a black charming image before disappearing.
Swami Haridas was born to Shri Ashudhir and his wife Srimati Gangadevi on the day of Radha Ashtami i.e. eighth day of second (bright) fortnight of Bhadrapad month of the year 1535 Vikrami(1478 A.D.). He was born in a small village, now known as Haridaspur, near Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. The lineage of the family can be traced back to Shri Gargacharya. Shri Gargachrya was the Kulaguru (family guru) of Yadavas and visited Brij secretly for conducting the Namakarana Samskara (naming ceremony) of young Krishna and Balarama on request of Sri Vasudeva. A branch of the family migrated to Multan (now in Pakistan), but some of them returned after a long time. Sri Ashudhir was one such migrant who after returning from Multan settled at the outskirts of Brij, near Aligarh.
Swami Haridas was the reincarnation of Lalita ‘sakhi’ (female friend), of the inner consortium of Lord Krishna. This easily explains the fact that even in his childhood, he was more into meditation and scriptures, while other children of his age were busy playing. He was married at the suitable age according to the time to Harimati. Even after his marriage, young Haridas stayed away from worldly pleasures and concentrated on meditation. Harimatiji was such a saintly soul herself that on realizing the inclination of her husband, she prayed intensely and was bodily transported to the heavenly abode of Lord by entering the flame of a small lamp in the presence of Haridas. No physical remains were left behind.
Soon after that Haridas left his village for Vrindavan, which was a dense forest at that time and chose a secluded spot, which is now known as Nidhivan, to practice his music and to enjoy eternal bliss of meditation. He constantly and continuously meditated on Nitya Ras and Nitya Bihar of Lord at Nitya Vrindavan. His way of Sadhna was to compose and sing songs in the praise of Lord. While on earth, living in a mortal state, he facilitated his regular unobstructed entry in the Nitya Bihar and always enjoyed the pleasure of closeness of Lord. He chose a secluded and densely forested area, Kunj, in Nidhivan as his gateway to the nirvana and was mostly sitting there, singing, meditating and surfing in the ocean of eternal bliss.
His disciples were curious about this place and one day with permission of Swamiji, they all entered the kunj. But instead of seeing anything they were almost blinded by bright, intense light, which seemed to fill the whole place. On knowing of their plight Swamiji himself went there, and then after his requests, the lord appeared in person with his divine consort, pleasantly smiling and in a playful mood and casting a spell of charm on every living being present there. Those who witnessed this, were so spell bounded by the beauty of the Lord and his consort, that they couldn't even blink their eyes; it seemed that all of them had turned into stone statues.
The legend as handed down to the generations of Goswamis, says that the beauty of the divine couple was such that no one wanted to lose the sight and proximity of divinity, but then what kind of divinity is it, which cannot make a mere mortal swoon and charmed enough to forget and give up the world and its luxuries? The beauty of the divine couple was so much that lesser mortals, like you and me, won’t be able to bear such a heavenly beauty. Sensing this Swami Haridasji requested both of them to take a single form, as the world won’t be able to bear their image. He requested them to take a single form like Ghan (cloud) and Damini (lightning), thus giving a perfect metaphor to the combined beauty of dark Lord and his fair consort, Radhaji.
Also he wanted his beloved lord to be in front of his eyes always. Granting him his both wishes, the couple turned itself into one single black charming idol, the same one that you see in the temple today. The charm and beauty of Shri Bankey Bihariji is the only reason why the ‘darshan’ in the temple is never continuous but is broken by thel curtain drawn on him regularly. It is also said that if one stares long enough into the eyes of Shri Bankey Bihariji, the person would lose his self-consciousness.
Thus came into existence the physical form of Lord Bankey Bihari, popularly known as Bihariji. The responsibility of Sewa of Bihariji was handed over to Goswami Jagannath by Swamiji himself. Goswami Jagannath was one of the principal disciple and younger brother of Swamiji. By tradition, the Sewa is performed by descendents of Jagannath Goswami till day.
Initially, the deity was installed in a temple close to the first appearance in Nidhivan. A new temple befitting the glory of Bihariji was constructed in 1862 AD. Goswamis themselves mobilized resources for the construction. The temple is an architectural beauty in itself and follows the contemporary Rajasthani style.
The sewa of the Bihariji is unique in its own way. It is performed in three parts every day i.e. Shringar, Rajbhog and Shayan. While shringar (which includes bath, dressing and adornment with jewellery like crown and necklaces) and Rajbhog(feast) is offered in the forenoon, Shayan Sewa (shayan means sleep) is offered in the evening. The temple doesn’t have a tradition of Mangala (early morning) sewa. Swami Haridas did not favour Mangla Sewa as he wanted his child like Lord to take complete rest and did not want to disturb him out of deep slumber so early in the morning.
I have collected the many stories about shree Bankebiharilal
1. This a story of an old lady who told how Shri Banke Bihari ji helped her. Old lady would offer cold water to devotees in Vrindavan Parikrama. She was often seen crying and singing songs of Krishna..asked about her presence in Braj, she told her story to devotees. My father had mortgaged house to a cruel money lender for my marriage, my father toiled hard and paid the loan but the wicked money lender had the plans of confiscating house despite the fact that we had repaid the loan. The money lender booked the case in court and refused in front of a court that he received his money back. The lawyer of a money lender threaten my father and my father was dejected as he had no witness. The old lady’s father went to Vrindavan to pray Shri Banke Bihari . My father slept outside the temple after asking god to be a witness in his case. Shri Banke Bihari ji appeared in his dream and said” I will be witness in your case, go to your home and do not worry over it”. My father came home and said he is confident that he will win the case whereas everybody thought we will loose the case. Next day when Judge asked about presenting his witness. he registered the name “Banke Bihari”. The attendant Shouted three times “Banke Bihari, present yourself to the court “. The voice spoke from out side.” I am here”. One man wrapped up in blanket appeared in court and told the Judge about where the money lender has hidden the file which proved the innocence of my father . The money lender was caught red handed. By seeing the face of a God, the Judge was awe struck, this was not a human face when the Judge turned around Bihari ji vanished. Next day the Judge resigned his job and went to Vrindavan. He became permanent devotee of krishna and became famous by name “Judge Baba”. The old lady went to Vrindavan expecting that she would see shri Banke Bihari ji again. 2. (1920)This is a story of a sweet shop owner near by shri Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan. Once he had offer of making 40 kg Ladoos, he had to work hard to deliver the order, his shop was open day and night to finish the job. he said” I was working like machine and my hands were busy making ladoos, suddenly I heard a hypnotic voice of small young boy ” Kaka I am hungry, can you give me something to eat”. I kept looking at a child, I could not even speak, I was confused and mesmerized. There was no question of saying no to him. I offered him a ladoo and in return he offered me a gold Bangle, I wanted to refuse and speak to him but my voice was paralyzed and I kept looking at him untill he disappeared. Next day when I was coming to the shop, I heard the cry of Bihari ji’s gold bangle is lost. The temple manager and officials were worried. I decided to call them and show them if it is the same bangle that they were looking for. When they came and saw the bangle, everybody was astonished..It was missing Bangle of shri Banke Bihari ji . 3. Once there was a muslim Queen who was passing from Vrindavan. While going through the vrindavan she saw a lot of devotees going to shri Banke Bihari temple. After seeing so many people going to the temple, she also felt like going to the temple. When she went to the temple and saw Shri Banke Bihari. She never went out of Vrindavan and became permanent devoteee of shri Banke Bihari ji. 4. The ticket collector of Mathura to Vrindavan train would often visit Shri Banke Bihari temple. Once the shuttle reached at Vrindavan station. Every day he would arrive at Vrindavan station and would run to see Bihari ji. One fine day when he went to the temple, the altar of the temple was closed, he had to wait to see Bihari ji, in the mean time the train he was in charge of left the station. When he came to know that the train has left, he thought he will be asked for his resignation as train has left without him. Then he him self went to the station master and tendered his resignation.The station master was surprised, he said “Just now you submitted all the documents before going to Mathura then why you are offering the resignation”. Ticket collector was in a shock, he said” If I am here then who is gone with the train”? soon he came to know that he was none but his own “Shri Banke Bihari ji” who performed ticket collector’s duty. The ticket collector had tears in his eyes. He resigned from his post and spent rest of his life in the service of Shri Banke Bihari.
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http://www.hindi-web.com/stories/bankey-bihari-ke-chamatkar-story-1/
