Talk:Goswāmī Lāl Jī, the Orphan who became a Sant

By Vishal Agarwal

Goswāmī Lāl Jī was born to Brāhmaṇa parents in Sehwan in Sindh (Pakistan) in the year 1551 CE. His childhood name was Tulsidās. At a very young age, his parents passed away. He travelled for two years till he reached Vṛndāvan, the town where Kṛṣṇa had spent his childhood. Kṛṣṇa appeared to him in a dream and asked him to go to Mathurā where He was born. At Mathurā, Sant Vitthal Nāth, the second son of Vallabhācārya adopted him. Tulsidās was assigned the duty of carrying water to Śrī Nāthjī Maṇḍir every day. Out of love, Vitthal Nāth referred to his adopted son as ‘Lāl’ (meaning ‘dear son’) and that is how he was called later on.

After a few years, Sant Vitthal Nāth gave seven Kṛṣṇa mūrtis to his family members and asked them to construct seven Maṇḍirs to worship Kṛṣṇa. He gave the eighth mūrti (called ‘Gopināthjī’) to Lāl Jī and asked him to spread the worship of Kṛṣṇa in northwest India (today the country of Pakistan). He taught him the correct way of worshipping the mūrti and declared that Lāl Jī was now ‘Goswāmī Lāl Jī, eighth of the eight leaders of the tradition of Vallabhācārya.’

For over two years, Lāl Jī took the mūrti to various towns of northern Pakistan till he was tired. But he felt that Kṛṣṇa was not pleased with any of those locations. Finally, he prayed to Kṛṣṇa and said, “I have been worshipping you and carrying you for two years. But now I am tired. Please settle down in one place that you like, and I will construct a Maṇḍir for you at that place.” Kṛṣṇa appeared to him in a dream and said, “If you are tired, place me down and I will follow you. You can be sure that I am following you from the sound of my anklets.”

After a long journey, they reached the broad river Indus. Goswāmī Lāl Jī crossed the Indus with the mūrti on a boat and landed on the west shore. He placed the mūrti on the ground but after sometime, he could not hear the anklets. Therefore, Goswāmī Lāl Jī assumed that Kṛṣṇa wanted to stay in that location. The place was called Derā Ghāzī Khān, and was ruled by a Muslim king of the Baloch tribe. He reached a fruit orchard owned by a Hindu merchant and placed the mūrti under a tree.

Worship of the mūrti started and people began showing up in large numbers. The merchant was upset that Goswāmī Lāl Jī had encroached upon his private property and asked him to leave the place and take his mūrti with him. But when Goswāmī Lāl Jī followed his orders, the merchant suddenly experienced a sharp pain in his stomach. No physician was able to cure the pain. Finally, the merchant went and apologized to Kṛṣṇa and Goswāmī Lāl Jī and asked them to return to his orchard. As soon as they returned to that tree, the merchant’s pain disappeared.

When the local Muslim ruler, who was childless, heard of the miracle, he too came to Goswāmī Lāl Jī and asked him to pray to Kṛṣṇa, so that the ruler could become a father. After a few months, a baby boy was born to the ruler. The Hindu merchant and the Baloch Muslim ruler donated a large amount of money which was used by Goswāmī Lāl Jī to construct a beautiful Maṇḍir in Derā Ghāzī Khān in 1586 CE.

Goswāmī Lāl Jī settled down in Derā Ghāzī Khān. His children and grandchildren were born there. One of the famous grandsons of Goswāmī Lāl Jī was Sant Kewal Rām. In 1947, when the country of Pakistan was carved out of India, all the Hindus of Pakistan were expelled. The Hindus of Derā Ghāzī Khān brought the mūrti from their temple and constructed a new temple for it in Vṛndāvan.