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Karmeti Bai

Om Vishnupad 108 Tridandi Swami Sri Srimat Bhakti Sravan Tirtha Goswami Maharaj ki Jai !!

 

From Bhaktamal

Karma bai or Karmeti bai (1615 – 1634) was born on in the family of Jiwanji Dudi in the village Kalwa situated in Nagaur district, Rajasthan.  

Karmabai's father was a devotee of Krishna. Once he had some work out of town, so he instructed his daughter to offer the food (bhog) to the Lord and then only she should eat.

Karma was very young and she took this instruction with the sincerity of an innocent child. Next morning she woke up early and prepared khichdi for offering the Lord.

But when she saw that the Lord was not eating, innocent Karmeti did not eat anything at all and waited for Lord to come and eat first. Lord Krishna was touched by her faith and showered His mercy on her. He Himself ate her khichdi.

When she was yet a small girl, her parents arranged her marriage. Learning of this she left her house and started for Vrindavan.
Her parents sent soldiers in search of her. When Karmeti bai saw this, she hid herself in the rotting carcass of dead camel. The searching troops of course stayed far away from the stinking carcass.

She covered herself with the skin of dead camel and stayed there for three days without food and water.  After the search party left, she travelled on foot to Vrindavan. Vrindavan was dark forest at that time and people were scared to enter into it. Karmeti bai was often surrounded by wild animals while singing bhajans. 

Slowly she developed a strong maternal love for Krishna and started treating Him as her son. She used to wake up early, prepare food for Krishna without even having a bath. After offering the simple gruel and putting Krishna to sleep she would do her household work. 

One day a learned Brahmin priest came to her house and said “How can you cook food for the Supreme Lord without having a bath? She replied “For a mother her children are first priority and next come her personal interests.” 

The Brahmin pundit appreciated her devotion but insisted that she should cook food for Krishna after a ritualistic cleansing bath. Karma bai innocent as she was obeyed the instructions of learned pundit.

That night Krishna appeared in the dream of Brahmin and said” You have disturbed poor Karma bai by your silly suggestions, now I have to wait too long for my food. She is my beloved devotee and you have unnecessarily intervened in our loving relationship. Go and tell her that she doesn’t need to follow your rituals”.

Awe struck by the devotion of Karma Bai, the pundit next day ran into Karma bai’s house and delivered the message of Krishna.
A real devotee of Krishna instead of changing or correcting you increases your attachment to Krishna by understanding your core strengths.  A service delivered to such a real devotee is considered even higher than the service delivered to Krishna. 

In fact, Krishna says “while visiting a temple, an ignorant person may offer his prayers to me with grammatical mistakes whereas a scholar would speak properly. Still, I accept both prayers equally, for mere learning does not impress me. I am only interested to see the inner mood of surrender of a devotee “.

 

Hari bol !

Jai Sri Radhey!

Jai Gurudev!