You are My Companion

Kakuma's Mukunda

Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar says that kala* is not sorrow. The thing that they call kala is just love. Love is different, and kala is different, the thing because of which kala comes, that is what you love. What you love is what you develop kala for, or that for which one experiences a kala, that is what we love. Isn’t this simple logic? So if we love god, then we must have a kala for god, right?

Here, even if an idol is broken, people say, let it go, it’s just fake. He is god, who will ever hit him? Our kala are so superficial. We understand that there is a god in the temple, but there is no kala only. That is why one stops doing pooja, gets tired and wonders what even is the benefit of doing it.

But, does a mother think like this? Even when a kala comes or there is a disaster, she will endure it. 

Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar had brought Kakuma her Mukunda (her Shri Krishna) from his Vrindavan yatra (journey). For Kakuma, Mukunda was truly her son. She never ate or drank anything without giving it to him first. She always took him along wherever she travelled. Even when the journey to Machnur wasn’t as easy as it is now, Kakuma would ensure that there were proper arrangements to bring him along. For Mukunda, she had bought many clothes, gold jewelry, a flute and more. For that cute, young Mukunda, she had bought wooden toys and Kolhapuri chappals too. She would put oil on him and then bathe him. Gokulashtami was always a big celebration in Kakuma’s home. 

In a letter to Kakuma, Baba said, “These days, his [Gopal Krishna in Machnur] pooja is also with me. Because of that, when I do everything, putting on his ghungrus, mugut (headpiece) and flute, it is as though you are acting through me. And then, in your loving, engrossed bhav, my mind is colored. Then, I myself sense that you are only doing the pooja. I feel, when my Kakuma does the pooja, she must be experiencing so much bliss.”

Once, for some reason, Mukunda’s foot was injured. Kakuma’s whole internal world shifted. She wrapped his foot in cloth bandages for a few days. Through his letters, Baba was inquiring about Mukunda’s health. Baba said to Kakuma, “Continue doing whatever you usually do in your pooja path. Yours is not like others. Your sagun and direct service is what god likes. God loves your open market of bhakti bhav and gets immersed in that.” When Sadguru Mauli takes their disciple’s hand in their own and then takes them on the journey to god, isn’t that also a part of that Sadguru Mauli’s charitra itself?

* kala literally refers to the pain of labor or childbirth. Saint Baba Maharaj Arvikar uses term in a figurative sense, in order to describe the feeling of wanting a blissful pain, in order to experience real love.