Cheerful simplicity, her optimism and trust in Krishna!

by Satsvarupa Das Goswami

I want to write about Mother Kaulini. About a year ago she asked me to stop writing about herself on my website, because of her illness. So I stopped. Before that I used to write about her frequently, and post photos of her visits to our ashrams for lunch. I even received a protest from a Godbrother: “Why do you write so much about Kaulini, practically every day? I could understand if you wrote about Jayapataka Maharaja and said what a fantastic preacher he is, or about Hridayanada Maharaja and said what a great scholar he is. But what has Kaulini done?” I wrote back that my website is about activities of Stuyvesant Falls. Kaulini was a close neighbor and I see her a lot. “If you visited me, I would write about you, and say what a great book distributor you are.”

But I did not write about Mother Kaulini just because she was a neighbor, she was an inspiration for anyone who met with her. Because anyone who met with her was affected by her cheerful simplicity, her optimism and trust in Krishna; she lived and served for many years at Gita-nagari and in a quiet unsung way rallied all the devotees with her positive spirit. She milked the cows and spent long hours cooking in the kitchen. Once Tamal Krishna Goswami visited Gita-nagari and from his car he saw Kaulini walking from a cow barn, carrying a bucket of milk and wearing boots. TKG remarked that when Kaulini went to the spiritual world she would do probably the same thing she is doing now. In other words, in Goloka Vrindavan she would be caring for cows and carrying milk – with Krishna in the center. When I lived at Gita-nagari Mother Kaulini used to accompany us when I took a morning walk with my disciples from the temple to the Cabin. My disciples would often ask me questions about their problems – spiritual, material, psychological, and mental. One morning Mother Kaulini asked if it was alright if a devotee did not have any problems. Hearing everyone expressing their troubles, she innocently wondered if anything was wrong with her for not having problems. Mother Kaulini did almost everything at Gita-nagari: she was the pujari for Radha-Damodara deities, she cooked for the devotees, she milked cows and treated them as children, she was “housemother” for the younger women, she befriended the cats and the few dogs who lived on the farm. For a period she was even the Temple President.

Mother Kaulini liked to offer to Radha-Damodar beautiful garlands and lavish flower arrangements, she liked making sumptuous prasadam for the devotees, but when money were scarce she made simple garlands and prepared vegetables like carrots. She made to with whatever was provided and did not complain. When Mother Kaulini’s husband, Kesava Bharati accepted the sannyas order, she wore white and flourished in chaste renunciation. But she remained lovingly attached to their son, Ram, who became a police officer, moved to California and eventually got married. She kept in close touch with Ram, and they occasionally exchanged visits. 

She made pilgrimages to India and loved the holy dhama of Vrindavana. Once her beloved cow died in Gita-nagari and later when Mother Kaulini came to Vrindavana a particular cow came to her and was extremely affectionate. She surmised that the bellowed cow from Gita-nagari had been reborn in Vrindavana and remembered her! She obtained a small Govardhan sila in Vrindavana and maintained intimate personal worship. As the years went by Mother Kaulini became severely ill but continued her heavy duties to the point of overwork. When Saci-suta and his family came to Gita-nagari and accessed the situation Saci insisted that Mother Kaulini leave her prabhu-datta-desh and moved near his family in Stuyvesant Falls, Upstate NY. Mother Kaulini was very close to Saci-suta, his wife Keli-lalita and their growing family, and she agreed. Saci bought her a house of her own next door to his. She was happy there, recovered her health and became like another mother to their young children. They even named their eldest daughter after her, Kaulini. She continued her pilgrimages to India and her occasional exchange of visits with her son, who now had children of his own. There were small communities of devotees living in Stuyvesant Falls and Keli-lalita as a yoga instructor was in touch with many yoga students. Keli-lalita and Mother Kaulini arranged festivals on Vaisnava holidays, held in the large yoga studio near Saci-suta’s home. Dhanurdara Swami and me both had residences near Saci-suta’s house. And they regularly gave talks to many guests on the festival days. Mother Kaulini also led a small group of devotees for kirtans every night at her house.

Several years ago Mother Kaulini contracted cancer, she underwent long series of treatments, personally supervised by Saci-suta who also arranged for series of caretakers to be with Mother Kaulini. She tolerated the ordeal and maintained her cheerful spirit and deep faith in Krishna. The cancer eventually went into remission but she remained weak and exhausted. She never recovered and went to Gita-nagari for hospice. She passed away on September 3rd at 2am surrounded by loving devotees, chanting kirtan to see her off to the spiritual world. She will be sorely missed by many devotees who loved her, but we are all assured that she has gone back to Godhead.