REJUVENTION, RENEWATION AND PLANTING THE SPIRE
The meagre income of the temple was a hurdle in maintenance and repairs of the temple. Besides the external walls and interiors had become crumbly due to their time-barred construction, which rendered it impossible to dwell and perform any function/activity. Hence urgent rejuvenation was a must. A thought in this regard was lingering for years together in the mind of Shri Jayant Deshpande the grandson of Shri Vinayak Mahadeo alias Bhau, because he was inclined, right from his childhood towards the metaphysics and the Lord Gopalkrishna. Late Shri Vinayakrao firmly believed that Shri Jayant Deshpande can get this job done when the proper time would turn over. However, since the function of rejuvenation was a huge one which was possible only by the favour of God. Shri Jayant performed several rituals and prayers for years together and obtained the blessing of many saints. A special prayer of the great preceptor of Indore Shri Nana Maharaj Taranekar and the uttermost honourable Shri Datta Maharaj Kavishwar of Pune was performed. Accordingly, the temple was repaired and redeveloped. The essential facilities such as the proper provision of water, electricity, kitchen, bathroom, etc. were also made available. The pinnacle (Shikhar) which was earlier crumbled was rebuilt according to the opinion of experts.
A new main gate entrance of the temple was installed in Mid 2006. A Shikhar was established on the 30th July 2006 on an auspicious day with full Vedic mantras. A procession of the Kalas was taken out in the village. An aarti followed this by 51 women. The Kalas was installed by a leading spiritual personality from Andhra Pradesh Shri. Dinkar Swamy. This historical program was concluded with the release of a book on Gopalkrishna Girvi temple followed by Mahaprasad.
Some of the devotees assembled from the remote parts of Maharashtra and various parts of the country. They expressed that they could see the Lord Garud, the vehicle of Lord Vishnu during the installation of Kalash. The temples of Garud-Hanumant, Shankar-Nandi and also Ganesha were rejuvenated subsequently in 2008.
Shri Jayant Deshpande and his family members have their full implicit faith that Gopalkrishna alone is their deity of the family. Recently an effort of increasing religious anushtans is being made in the form of
- Abhishek on all Ekadashi across the year
- Gita and Vishnusahatranam Pathan at frequent intervals
- Bhagwat Saptah on 9 occasions.
- Pawan and Maharudra anushtans.
After a lapse of many years, a “Shreemad Bhagwat Saptah” was conducted on eight occasions along with yajnas in the year
- 2005 by Hari Om Swami
- 2006 by Dr R.L Joshi
- 2007 by Anant Shastri Parkhi
- 2008 by Narayan Shastri Godbole
- 2009 by Anant Shastri Parkhi
- 2010 by Vishnu Shastri Asolekar
- 2011 by Mukund Kaka Jatdeolekar
- 2013 by Padmakar Kundikar Shastri.
All the above Bhagwat Katha anusthan and various yajnas created positive energy and also resulted in a partial development in the quantity of rainfall in this area.
The conduction of the Shreemad Bhagwat Saptahas evoked fine response, and the participants believe that they obtained great satisfaction. The villagers, especially old generation people recollect that no such events/activities in this scale were held for over 75 years.
A rhythmic creation of Arti of Shri Baburao Maharaj by the divine convention has been composed and sung the same daily. The schemes of perpetual worship (abhishesk) and Nanda Deep were incepted on the demand of the devotees.
Shree Jayant Deshpande and his family conducted the entire renovation work. As temple had no funds and also no donations were received from anyone. Since the renovation work could not wait any further, the same was completed with their own resources. Master Nikhil and Kum. Charuta, the representatives of the young generation deserve a special mention for their financial and laborious co-operation cum contribution in the rejuvenation and following functions and schemes.
Similarly, Late Smt. Radhabai Deshpande, a senior citizen, contributed some amount through her pension. Shri Jay Prakash Kapre and his wife also provided some financial contribution in the final stage of the rejuvenation.
The second significant stage was the completion of the dream of Shri Jayant, and his wife was the construction of a memorial of the sculptors just near to the well from were the murtikars/artsians disappeared. This came into reality on 27-5-2010 when many Senior Saints and also the devotees were present. It was achieved with co-operation of Shri Udaysingh Kadam and his family.
The significance of the temple and its unique history is spreading to a larger area day by day, due to which a large number of devotees from various states are visiting for darshan of Lord Krishna.
The spiritual preceptor Shri Veerjanand Nrisingh Saraswati an extremely respectable personality from Mysore visited the temple along with his disciples in October 2010 and published his book captioned ” CALL OF GIRVI GOPAL KRISHNA” in south India subsequently.
Jagatguru Shri Shankaracharya (Karveer establishment) also visited the temple, and he was highly influenced by the Shrine and the delightful atmosphere of the temple. He expressed the desire of his stay during the period of 4 months (i.e. from the 11th day of the 1st fortnight of Ashadh to the 11th day of the 1st fortnight of Kartik).
Mata Amritmayee, a swamini from the Himalayas, visited the temple and blessed along with her guidance to the devotees. Ascetics from various parts of the country visit the temple due to the far and vide contacts in the metaphysical field spreaded by Shri Jayant Deshpande.
Swami Govind dev giri-ji (Kishore Ji Vyas, internationally known spiritual personality) visited in march 2016 and expressed that for the first time he had such unique and Divya darshan of Lord Krishna.
In the year 2010, 2011, 2012 Ved-Swahakar was conducted by Shri Vivekshastri Godbole of Satara, accompanied by his disciples. Similarly, since 2010 Geeta and “The Vishnu Sahastra Nam” pathan is being done every year on various occasions in a year. Various groups from Pune, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Phaltan are visiting the temple to offer the service of pathanas.
After observing a series of Vedic anusthnas and development work in a short time the temple as awarded “Adarsh (Ideal) Adhatmic Sanstha” in the year 2011 in a grand function which was held in Nashik at the hand of Swami Swarupanand ji.
To provide information about the temple across the globe, a website entitled ” www.gopalkrishnagirvi.org” was launched at the hands of the hugely respected Achyutanand Saraswati during a function organised in the temple on the 24th November 2011, for the convenience of the devotees.
Shri Dilip Apte of Miraj senior personality of The Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta and The Bhagwat Visited this temple along with his disciples for the religious meditation and conducted the Gaytri Yajana in July 2012
It is appealed to the sadhakas that they may participate in the various projects and schemes of the temple for their spiritual progress. Keeping national and social vision in mind, the various Yajanas and anuthanas the Sankalp is made to prey for national welfare, promotion of Vedic heritage and Geeta Sandesh.
Dr G B Deglulkar a prominent personality in the field of “Murti Shastra” (Sculpture) visited the temple in the year October 2013, and he was highly impressed to have darshan of Lord Krishna in Girvi. He opined that this was a very unique murti.
Dr R.N. Shukla, an eminent spiritual scientist, visited in the year 2013 and expressed that epicentre of global energy and the aura and vibrations of the temple are very powerful. Dr. Shukla subsequently visited thrice and has appealed and expressed to sadhakas that this temple is “Vrundavan of South India” and for their won progress they should take darshan of Girvi Gopal Krishna.
Releasing the importance and uniqueness of this temple, Divya Som Trust, had performed the world’s first Soma Abhishek in August 2017 wherein many renowned vedic and ayurveda-acharya pandits were present.