The Amazing Story of an Azerbaijani

Devotee of Lord Narasimha

This amazing story is about a saint named Mataji Pada Sevanam, from Baku, Azerbaijan
(former part of the USSR), who re-established devotional service to Lord Narasimha and
changed the hearts of many devotees due to her limitless love to Krishna, fearlessness, and
determination.

Gopal Told Me!

Once upon a time, someone distributed a Bhagavad-Gita translated by Srila Prabhupada to this
woman. She read it and the knowledge struck her so much that she accepted it with all her
heart. She found the address of the ISKCON temple in the beginning of the book and came to
meet devotees in a luxurious, large hat. A devotee met her and escorted her to a guest room
where there were a few other people.

The devotee begun telling something to the guests, but he was called out and left them to bring
more guests, saying: just a minute, please wait. When he came back, the woman was
preaching the Bhagavad-Gita to the gathered big time. She had lots of bookmarks in her
Bhagavad-Gita, and she was saying: see, Bhagavan Shri Krishna says. The devotee later
said he was amazed, it was so interesting that he got engaged and continued listening. She was
so sincere in her preaching. This is how she came to the devotees.

With utmost bliss, she started coming to the programs at the temple, participated in kirtans and
fell in love with the Deities. She felt like there was no point in living alone in her city, her kids
were grown up, and had their own families. Now she acquired a new spiritual family. One day
she came to the temple and said that she wanted to sell her apartment and donate the money to
the temple.

You can use the money in any way, just provide me with a room, I want to live here, serve,
chant, and sing. she said.

The devotees held a discussion about it and finally agreed; they built a little extension to the
temple. You can see it by the temple in Baku, right at the entrance, it has large windows. She
moved in there and began growing Tulasi. She was so positive and gave love to all bhaktas. I
never saw her criticizing anyone, and she never participated in the politics. She also treated the
Deities and Krishna with great love.

When I first came there, devotees were showing me around and told me about her as about a
local significance. At that time she had already been initiated by Rohinisuta Prabhu, and her
name was Pada Sevanam. Devotees told me: here lives one grandma. There are different
opinions about her around here. Some say she should be expelled from the temple for Sahajiya,
others say she is a saint, but actually, we dont know. What they meant by Sahajiya was that
she was communicating with Krishna, as if she would do with you. She used to come to them
sometimes and say: Krishna told me. That is how they introduced me to her in absentia.

Next morning she came to me to associate and looked at me with a challenge, probing me,
what my condition was. I was respectful to her in every way. Suddenly, she takes out an apple,
gives it to me and says: Gopal told me to pass it to you I say: thank you, please pass my
thanks to Gopal
Gopal was a blue-colored doll, a little child Krishna. I dont know where she got it from. She took
care of Him, she had a cot for Him and toys. Devotees were saying she used to do strange
things. Once she bought a radio controlled toy car, put her Krishna into it and started driving him
around in the temples yard.

Devotees asked her:

Pada Sevanam, what are you doing?

She said:

He is little, its interesting for Him. Kids like to play with cars, look, he is so joyful!

I began watching her. Some sentiments were there, for sure, some imagination was also mixed
in. But at the same time, she was an interesting type of devotee who had personal relationships
with Krishna, she lived for Him. Perhaps, these impurities would go with the time, I thought.
However, if people fall into pride, they take a position from above: Krishna talks to me, Ill tell
you all how to live. She never had this attitude. Those kind of relationships were very natural for
her. She talks to Krishna, why cant she talk to Him? She always chanted the holy names very
seriously.. Whenever she had spare time she would sit down and chant very thoughtfully. She
always read books of Srila Prabhupada with great interest, she was always engaged in service
and participated in all devotees gatherings. Whenever someone would give a lecture, she
would attentively and respectfully listen. Those are the signs of a true devotee.

Once I came to the Baku temple again and she came to me to associate and says:

Id like to get your blessings.

What does she have in mind? I wondered.

Invitation from Lord Narasimha

I watched a movie called Pilgrimage to Ahobilam, she said.

Ahobilam is a famous temple of Lord Narasimha. If any of you is a disciple of Indradyumna

Swami from the 1990-ties, you would have probably heard a fascinating story how he went to
the Ahobilam temple. The temple is situated deep in a jungle. Tigers live around there and one
has to be really determined to get there.

Indradyumna Maharaja was telling that there are signs that read Beware of Tigers. There is a
temple of Hiranyakashipu and there are still pieces of the column from which Lord Narasimha
appeared. There is also a cave and there is a self-manifested deity of Lord Narasimha inside it.
The video shows Dhruva Maharaja prabhu entering an ancient temple, where the Deity is Vira
Narasimha. Vira means victor, conqueror. The deity is located in a cave at the top of the
mountain. Once upon a time, a demonic king conceived a plot in this place. He decided to
perform austerities and worship Brahma. When Brahma appears, he thought, I would steal the
Vedas from Him and we would construct this civilization in our demonic way.

When he actually stole the Vedas from Brahmas mind, thanks to his demonic mystic powers,
Brahma began praying to Lord Narasimha. Lord Narasimha personally appeared before him,
tore the demon apart and returned the Vedas. Bhahma was very thankful to Lord Narasimha.
He performed a ritual of worship and prayed to Narasimha: Oh, Lord, please stay in your
merciful form of Vira Narasimha, so that we could always worship you and remember about your
heroic deed. The Lord was pleased with the prayer and appeared in a form of the deity.

The movie shows that Dhruva goes through water up to his chest in the cave, there are bats
hanging above his head. He and his companions go further and are full of dread, it becomes
dark and its unclear what is ahead. All of a sudden, they hear bells ringing and see the light of
oil lamps at the end of the cave. There was a priest, who was conducting worship to the deity,
and beside him sat an engaged couple, a bride and a groom. He said that this is a very ancient
deity, but unfortunately, the worship ceased. Only once a week a priest comes to perform the
worship ceremony, because there is jungle around the cave and to live in close proximity is
almost impossible.
When Pada Sevanam heard that, her maternal feeling woke up: Krishna, my Krishna is
suffering!. She said that she asked Gopal: what I should do, how can I help Lord Narasimha?
Gopal told me that I should go there and serve Narasimha.

Imagine a 74 year old grandma has such an idea! Do you think it sounds a little abnormal? That
is what I thought. My eyes widened and I said: Do you understand what India is? Im not even
talking about the mountain! I take groups there every year. I know what it is. One can be
robbed, there are all sorts of cheaters there, you dont know the language, anything can
happen! Besides, you dont have the money for the tickets and who told you they would let you
serve the Lord there? In Southern India they are really strict and dont

let women to serve deities, they consider this a violation of tradition, Srila Prabhupada saw
devotees differently, not dividing men and women in this sense, thats why he allowed women to
worship on the altar. But there not every man is allowed, not even every Brahman.

She says:

I know nothing, Gopal told me, I have to go! My arguments didnt work, so I tried a different
approach and said: Actually, in our Sampradaya, we worship Radha Krishna or Lord
Chaitanya, who is Radha and Krishna as one person, so, if you want to go to India, go to
Mayapur or Vrindavan and happily worship Krishna there. You dont need to go to some
mountain where there are no devotees, where its unclear how to make living, and besides you
might not be allowed there.

This argument stumped her. She said: Alright, Ill ask Gopal.

I thought to myself: Gopal, tell her!

The next day she comes to me and says:

I asked Gopal and He said that I have to go to Narasimha anyway.

I thought to myself: well, how is she going to go anyway, she doesnt have the money.

Two or three years later, I came to Azerbaijan again and devotees asked me: Do you
remember Pada Sevanam? She actually made it to Lord Narasimhas temple. Moreover, some
say that people received her as a saint and worship to Lord Narasimha resumed. That took me
by surprise. She is a really unusual woman, I thought. Unfortunately, no one knew any more
details about her, just this short information.

About a half a year ago, before Pandava Ekadashi, a devotee, who was originally from
Azerbaijan, wrote to me on skype. Ganeshwara Prabhu was asking if I remembered that
grandma; Pada Sevanam. I replied: Yes, of course, I do.
It seems that the time has come, he wrote. Please ask devotees to pray for her. I replied: sure,
I will, but then I began thinking how I should tell devotees about her. She had done did
something extraordinary, what I needed to let them know about. I wrote back to him on skype
asking if he knew the details of the story, which was going around about her reaching Lord
Narasimhas temple and re-establishing the worship. Yes, I know everything, he replied. I
helped her to get in there. Then he told me the whole story.

She was asking devotees around how to get to the temple of Narasimha and someone
suggested to asking Ganeshwara Prabhu. She contacted him with the help of devotees and
asked to watch the movie and find out where the temple was. She said: Gopal told me that I
have to serve Lord Narasimha there.

He and his wife respected Pada Sevanam a lot. They thought, perhaps its really something
extraordinary what Krishna is doing through them, through their service. They watched the
movie, but it was unclear where the temple was.

Divine Arrangements

That day or shortly after, Ganeshwara went to have Deities darshan at Krishna Balaram mandir
as usual and accidentally saw that devotee Dhruva Maharaja, who made the movie. He invited
Dhruva to his house and she showed him the episode, asking where is this temple? Dhruva
told him that one needs to fly to Haiderabad, then by taxi, for a few hours, go to a village called
Vedagiri. There, lives the main priest. The mountain is located in five kilometers from the village.
One needs to know the pathways in the jungle. The priest goes there only once a week. If one
wants to have a darshan, they have to come on the eve of the day and go with him there.

Ganeshwara did exactly that. He took two devotees and went to the village. They found the
priest and went with him to the mountain. They saw the jungle, herds of wild monkeys, and
snakes. In the cave they saw bats hanging above their heads, walked in the water up to a
human chest, and finally got the darshan. They realized that it is unrealistic to live there and it is
simply dangerous. Ganeshwara went back to Vrindavan, then he called Pada Sevanam and
said:

I went there. Its impossible to live there, just stay with the devotees and live normal life.
Krishna has a different plan.

Gopal told me to go and I will, anyway. I bought tickets and I am arriving in two weeks. Please
meet me. What should I do? Ganeshwara thought. Imagine, taking 74 years old woman to the
jungle and leaving her there. Imagine a man who gets snowed under with such a sudden
mission. Its like Lakshman would take Sita to the forest and leave. How can I leave a devotee
of her age in the jungle where there is no water, no electricity, no food, absolutely nothing, only
wild animals nearby?

Alright, he planned: will bring her to Vrindavan. She would see the Deities of Radha and
Krishna, sink in that nectar atmosphere and then we will make the right decision; that she
should better stay in Vrindavan. Her heart will open and Gods plans will change. That was the
plan.

He meets her at the airport. She comes with all her tens of deities, what devotees were bringing
to her several pairs of Radha Krishna, a number of Gopals, Govardhana Shilas, Shaligram
Shilas, different pictures, etc. That all she brought with her in her suitcases.

Determination

I met her and said: a taxi is waiting. We will go to Vrindavan first and then decide what to do in
a few days. She got really tensed. I need to go to Narasimha immediately, He is suffering
because no one serves Him! How can I go to Vrindavan and enjoy myself there?

But Pada Sevanam, you have never been to Vrindavan, said Ganeshwara. Its only a few
kilometers away, we need to go there. When would you go there otherwise?

She said: If you dont want to go there with me, just tell me where to go, Ill get a ticket and go
by myself! Ganeshwara thought: I cant leave her.

Then, he buys tickets, they fly to Haiderabad, taxi brings them to Vedagiri, Ganeshwara takes
her to the priest, hoping that he would open her eyes to see the reality. They go to the priest. He
is around 70 years old his self, his son is 30. Ganeshwara explains through his son (he
translates) that this woman is from a different country, she is from Azerbaijan, and she got a
revelation that your Narasimha calls her and that she needs to come and serve Him here. She
packed her things and came.

When the priest hears that his eyes doubles in size.

He says: What Narasimha? Do you understand what you are saying? Live here? We, adult
men cant live there. Its dangerous there, there are no facilities no water, no food, no
electricity. You dont know what you are talking about! I cannot provide protection for you, so as
the main priest I cant let you worship there!

Pada Sevanam becomes very serious, looks at the priest with a trying look and says:
If Krishna wants to kill someone, would you be able to protect that person, regardless of the
place in this universe, even in your house? If Krishna wants to protect someone, who can kill
that person?She said that with such faith and determination that the priest just broke into tears
and said: I dont know who this woman is, but I have no arguments to convince her in this case.
Go ahead, live! I will try to give you maximum protection.

Now Ganeshwara is put in front of the fact that he has to carry all Pada-Sevanams luggage
through the jungle.

They left in the morning and carried the luggage to the mountain. Ganeshwara has the last hope
that she would see everything herself and change her mind. They reached the top and Pada
Sevanam, is lost in admiration.

Here is also a room for my deities! (There was some little rickety building made of stones, with
a time-skewed door, in front of the entrance to the temple). I will install my deities here, set up a
tent and begin living. Excellent facilities! Everything is beautiful, go home, I will stay and
worship Lord Narasimha.

Ganeshwara and the priest were totally shocked and speechless, but left her there. The priest
was so amazed that he began telling everyone in the village about it, word about this grandma
spread around instantly. The next day swarms of people begun climbing to the mountain to see
that woman, a saint from Azerbaijan. They brought

whatever they could water, some kind of clothes, etc. Men looked at the tent she was in and
said: we must protect her and build a hut for her..Women joined and began cleaning, bringing
water, doing other things.

All villagers received her as a saint and began worshiping. She didnt have even a tiny amount
of pride about herself and was easily accepting it. People paying obeisances as she blesses
them, as if she has always been doing that. People were inviting her to bless weddings, new
houses, and to bless a newborn or a dying person.

All were running around her the priests, the Brahmans, everyone. When she was coming to
Shivas temple, they would bring her the Pushpa and she would offer. She would do Abhisheka
as the great Sadhu do. People fell in love with her for her simple and cordial love to Krishna.

Although she didnt know the local language, nor did she know English, she was preaching! She
only knew Bhagavan Shri Krishna, in Sanskrit. She would preach half in Azerbaijanian, half in
Russian, but people were able to understand because she was speaking from her heart.
The news and the story were spreading and more people were coming to see her and have
Lord Narasimhas darshan. The priest had to start coming every day and open the temple.
Thats how the worshipping of Lord Narasimha resumed on a daily basis. Finally, the news
reached journalists of a newspaper of that region. They came and wrote an article about it,
which blew the media. The article was being reprinted all around India. It was published in
Azerbaijan and Turkey as well. People began coming from everywhere, just to see this woman
and the Deity.

Governor of the state of Andra Pradesh read the article and was amazed:

This happens in my state?

We have to see that woman! he told his wife.

They came with an escort and winking lights and climbed up the mountain to see
Pada-Sevanam. Everything was happening around her, all people were doing something and
she was in ecstasy worshiping the deities.

Imagine, in the beginning, to get water she had to climb down several kilometers, take bath and
bring drinking water. Thats how she lived before people started helping.

When the governor saw that, he said: we call ourselves devotees of Krishna, but who we are,
actually? Look what is a condition of our temple and compare it to our houses! We made
facilities for ourselves, but not for Krishna! We left Him here and worshiped Him once a week!
This is all to begin with me. This is how he addressed the people. I take responsibility, he
said, to collect enough money to make facilities, build a road, bring electricity, water, ensure
access to the temple and dignify the temple in order to ensure proper worship of our
Narasimha.

He started a foundation and built a road to the mountain, parking with marble steps to the
temple for tourist groups. They also built Hanuman temple and refined everything. For
Pada-Sevanam they built a brick house. When I heard about this all I was really impressed. The
main point is we dont know anything about this woman, who is leaving now. I had to let
devotees know right away.

Perhaps, some of you received my message about this MataJi, it went to Facebook. I sent it on
Ekadashi day and by the end of the day replies from devotees started coming. They were
thanking me, gratifying Pada- Sevanam, some broke into tears. One said: :my husband had a
breakdown, he has not chanted the Holy Names for two years and after reading this article he
cried and began chanting again.
Passing from this World

In the morning, I woke up and saw Ganeshwaras message on skype. He wrote that the main
priest called him and said she left the body last night. The circumstances of her departure were
remarkable though. He sent me some pictures.

On that morning of Dvadashi first devotees came in and as always, they would first come to
Pada-Sevanam for darshan, to get the blessings. Then they would go into the temple to see the
Deities. Pada-Sevanam used a plastic chair, an Asana for Krishna. She would take Krishna
from the altar, put Him on the chair and feed. When devotees came in, they saw her on her
knees embracing Krishnas feet. Under her arm, she was holding the Bhagavad-Gita. Devotees
thought she was sleeping. The priest knocked on the table:

Mata?

She didnt respond.

He asked women to check up on her and help her up. They touched her and realized that she
had left the body.
Pada-Sevanam means the one who worships the feet. She left this world embracing Krishnas
feet and holding Bhagavad-Gita, which brought her to the perfection of her life. This is a
remarkable example that we have.

Epilogue

There are two little additional stories about Pada-Sevanam. The main priest told one of them.

Once upon a time, I closed the temple at night and began going down the mountain when I
heard screaming and the sound of banging dishes. I thought: maybe a monkey attacked. The
next morning I came up and everything was as usual, Pada-Sevanam was worshiping. I asked
her: What happened yesterday? She said: Nothing, its all good. I heard the banging of
dishes and your scream. Oh, thats just Narasimha, He didnt want to eat so I was swearing.

The priest said to me: I dont understand what kind of woman she is. She also said to him at
some point that Narasimha told her that she would incarnate in this place for 10 000 years and
then He would take her to Goloka.

Ganeshwara told the other story, he asked her once:

At the beginning everything was somewhat rough, were there any dangers, perhaps wild
animals, any problems? I just wanted to know how she lived. She said:

No, no problems overall, just a cobra bit me once in a leg. Thats it.

Wow! Thats it?

I just went to Narasimha and said: I want to serve you, but a cobra bit me. If you want to take
me, so be it. But if you want me to serve you, tell me what to do. He told me to wash the wound
with Charitamrita. I did and everything was fine.

[From a lecture by A.C. Bhagavatamrita Keshava Swami. in Barnaul, Russia December 18,
2016. Translated by Ramananda das (Roman Zilber), Edited by Radha-Vilasa (Ranetta Zilber).
Apologies for any mistakes and incorrect use of grammar.]