Shri Jagatsingh ji once turned to Raja Jaysingh ji and said plainly, 'What prema-bhakti do I have? Your sister Dipakumvari is the true bhakta, a treasure house of prema-rasa. I cannot even approach the fragrance of her prema. It is only by seeing her priti and keeping her company that some love for Prabhu has arisen in me.'
Those words struck Jaysingh ji with great ananda, and also with shame. He had been displeased with Dipakumvari and had stripped away her villages and jagirs. But hearing his own sister praised so sincerely, everything changed. He restored all her lands, wrote a letter of prayer seeking her forgiveness, and made her pleased again. Then he wrote to his chief ministers: 'Whatever Bai ji does in praja-seva, bhajana, dana, and sadhu-seva, let her do it freely. Whatever wealth she needs, provide it. By her kripa, I shall devote myself to Shri Hari's dhyana and sing Bhagavad-yasha.'
Such was the household of this royal family. Jagatsingh ji himself was the crown jewel among kings, son of Sant Raja Anandsingh and Vasodei. Steadfast in bhakti, he had drawn Shri Lakshmi Narayan ji to himself through param priti. His yasha destroyed the grip of Kaliyuga effortlessly, and his command was unshakable. On the battlefield, wherever brave armies gathered, he gave everyone great delight and zeal. The pratapa of his mighty arms blazed like the sun, scattering the darkness of ajnana.
Then there was Shri Giridhar Gwal ji, son of Shri Gopali Dei. A true sakha of Shri Gopal ji. When he sang the yasha of Prabhu, his voice would become utterly gadgad with emotion. The priti of his inner hridaya could not be concealed. It would burst forth while singing and hearing the Nama and Guna. When he danced in ecstatic premananda in the secluded forest of Shri Vrindavan, singing Guna-gana, he would forget his garments, forget his body entirely. If anyone else began singing Bhagavad-yasha, he would immediately pull off his golden ornaments and garments and give them all away.
Once, in the village of Malpur, he organized a rasa celebration. Witnessing it, he became so immersed in the supreme prema-rasa-ranga that he offered every last possession of his home to Prabhu.
And his mother, Shri Gopali ji, was like Shri Yashoda ji herself reborn. Prema was openly visible in her tana and mana. She served Shri Mohan Lal with loving niyama. The papa of Kaliyuga never touched her body or mind, and she never harbored any deceit toward Bhagavad-dasa. Her vani was cool and comforting. The dhuni of Govinda Nama lived naturally on her lips. Endowed with shubha lakshana, graceful beauty, and patience, she was supremely devoted to the santas. Her antahkarana was always shuddha, and in that pure hridaya she held bhakti of vatsalya rasa. And her sons, raised in that atmosphere, became great Hari-bhaktas.
The Bhakta Who Carried Water on His Head
Shri Jagatsingh Ji was a king and a warrior, but when the time came for the Lord's bath, he became a servant. Each day he carried a golden vessel of water on his own head, walking in the company of Vaishnavas with the name Sita-Ram on his lips. When kings Jaysingh and Jaswantsingh heard of this and came to watch, they prostrated on the ground and said: you alone have found the true fruit of a human birth. This teaches us something simple and enduring: the positions we hold in the world need not separate us from Bhagavan. Any act of service, however ordinary, becomes noble when it is soaked in love. The vessel on his head was golden, but the love inside it was what the Lord accepted.
Bhaktamal, Tilak on Shri Jagatsingh Ji (verse 163)
When the Battlefield and the Altar Live in One Heart
Shri Jagatsingh Ji held two lives simultaneously. When travelling in peace, he would seat Shri Lakshmi Narayan Ji on the finest palanquin and walk behind like an attendant. But when called to battle, he would go ahead himself and let the Lord's palanquin follow. He did not confuse the two modes. His devotion was not an escape from duty, and his duty was not an obstacle to devotion. This balance is a teaching worth holding: the seeker does not abandon the world to find God. Instead, the seeker learns to hold the world and the sacred in the same two hands, and to know which one leads at each moment. Jagatsingh Ji carried a sword in one hand and a water vessel for God in the other, and he never mixed them up.
Bhaktamal, Tilak on Shri Jagatsingh Ji (verse 163)
Saying: I Have No Prema
When King Jaysingh praised Jagatsingh Ji for his devotion, the royal bhakta replied plainly: what prema do I have? Your sister Dipakumvari is the real bhakta. She is a treasure of prema-rasa. I cannot even catch the fragrance of her love. Whatever small love I have for Prabhu came from watching and hearing her. This response changed everything around him. Jaysingh, who had been displeased with his sister, was so moved that he immediately restored everything he had taken from her and asked her forgiveness. A single honest word, spoken without performance or strategy, opened a closed door and freed a devoted woman to continue her sadhana. The Bhaktamal reminds us again and again: the refusal to claim spiritual credit is itself a form of grace that ripples outward in ways we cannot predict.
Bhaktamal, Tilak on Shri Jagatsingh Ji (verse 163)
The Bhakti That Could Not Stay Hidden
Shri Giridhar Gwal Ji was praised in the Bhaktamal for a quality the text calls gadgad vani: a voice that becomes overwhelmed, that cannot hold itself together when the name or the yasha of Bhagavan is present. When he sang, or when someone near him began to sing, something would break loose inside him. His inner love would not stay concealed no matter how he tried. The text says explicitly that his priti could not be hidden. He would forget his clothing when dancing alone in the groves of Vrindavan. He would pull off his golden ornaments the moment someone sang the Lord's glory, and give them away on the spot. At a rasa celebration in Malpur, he was so swept into divine love that he offered everything he owned. This is not described as spiritual recklessness. It is what happens when bhakti matures past the stage where the person is managing it, and begins managing the person instead.
Bhaktamal, Tilak on Shri Giridhar Gwal Ji (verse 164)
The Mother Whose Name-Chanting Made the Air
Shri Gopali Ji is compared in the Bhaktamal directly to Shri Yashoda Ji, the mother of Krishna, who loved the Infinite as her own child without knowing he was the Infinite. Gopali Ji served Shri Mohan Lal with what the text calls loving and disciplined devotion, praja-saprema-niyama: regularity held within fervor. The sins of Kaliyuga never touched her body or mind. She never practiced deception toward any devotee. Her speech was shitala, cool and comforting. And the dhuni of Govinda Nama was always on her lips, not as effort but as the natural rhythm of her breath. Her inner being remained pure, and in that purity she held vatsalya-rasa: the motherly tenderness toward Bhagavan that does not plead or argue but simply loves and tends. Her sons became great Hari-bhaktas. The text makes clear this was no accident. The child does not choose the air he breathes. She was the air.
Bhaktamal, Tilak on Shri Gopali Ji (verse 165)
Hindi text from OCR scan (Khemraj Shrikrishnadas Prakashan, CC0). May contain errors.