Ganga Devi is the daughter of the mountain Himalaya. Himalaya got married to the daughter of Sumeru. As we cannot comprehend that even a Mountain can get married, we call it a myth.

The Vraja-vasis, Nanda baba - Yashoda mata and others, out of love for Krishna, never thought of Krishn as Bhagavan and always thought about doing something good for Him. Once, they thought of taking a bath in the River Ganga for Krishn's benefit. Krishn thought, "All the Tirthas are here in Vraja and out of love they are not able to think this and are ready to go elsewhere to take a bath in Ganga". Thinking so, He remembered Ganga and she appeared there as ‘Manasi-ganga’. All the Vraja-vasis were astonished to see her there. While they all were having discussions with each other, Krishna told them that all the Tirthas were there in Vraja and so they did not need to go elsewhere to take a bath in Ganga. We do not understand this and call it mythology.

When Ganga Devi was manifested, the demigods, headed by Bramhaji, went to the Himalaya to get her. Himalaya thought, if he denied them, the demigods would get angry, so he gave her to Brahmaji in his Kamandalu (water pot).

King Sagar who was born in the Sun dynasty, did not have any children. He worshipped Mahadeva and by Mahadeva's blessings, he got sixty thousand sons from one wife and one son from another wife. His eldest son's name was Asamanjas, whose character was not good, and because of that the King did not like him. Asamanjas's son Anshuman had a good character. King Sagar had planned to perform Ashwamedh’s sacrifice. When all of his sons were searching for the horse of sacrifice, they found a horse tied in Kapil Muni's ashram. On seeing the horse tied in his ashram, they criticized Kapil Muni and because of their offense, they all died together. Kapil Muni did not do anything to them, they died because they had criticized him.

The son of Anshuman is Dilip and the son of Dilip is ‘Bhagirath’ by whose endeavor Ganga Devi descended to the earth. Bhagirath knew that Ganga Devi was there in the Kamandalu of Brahmaji. So he did penance for thousands of years to please Brahmaji. Brahmaji was then pleased and Bhagirath asked him for Ganga Devi. He told him he wanted to take Ganga Devi along with him to deliver his forefathers. Brahmaji agreed and asked him where to put Ganga Devi? Bhagirath then pleased Mahadeva with one year of penance and requested him to behold Ganga Devi. Mahadeva accepted Ganga Devi in his hair. Again, Bhagirath did penance and pleased Mahadeva and requested to bring Ganga Devi to earth. Then Mahadeva put her there to Bindu Sarovar and from there, one stream of her followed Bhagirath. And as we have heard, Jahnu Muni drank Ganga Devi on the way, when Bhagirath was taking her to his place and then on his request, Jahnu Muni released Ganga Devi and Bhagirath continued to his place. Since Jahnu Muni drank Ganga Devi, she is also known as ‘Jahnavi’.

Today is also the appearance day of Ganga Mata Goswamini. Though in a worldly sense, she was a woman, she was not an ordinary woman. The King (landlord) of Puntiya, Naresh Narayana, was influenced and blessed by Shrinivas Acharya and received the mercy of the Vaishnavas. He thus accepted Vaishnava Dharma. His daughter Sachi Devi was born in Puntiya which is in the Rajshahi district of present-day Bangladesh. She was a princess. Her father made arrangements for her marriage. She said to her father, “I do not want to get married to a person who is mortal”’. When she announced her determination to remain unmarried in this way, her parents could do nothing to change her mind. When her mother died, Sachi Devi left family life and set out on a pilgrimage. First She went to Purushottam Dham where Mahaprabhu remained for the rest of His life after taking Sannyas. There she comes to know that many of Mahaprabhu’s associates live in Vrindavan. She needed to take initiation from a bonafide Guru. She went to Vrindavan and received initiation from Sri Haridas Pandit Goswami, the great worshiper of Sri Govindaji in Vrindavan and she began performing her Bhajan in Vrindavan. Later, she continued her Sadhana at Radha Kunda.

It is written in Chaitanya Charitamrita that there are sixty-four qualities present in the Lord Krishn. Among those qualities, fifty qualities are present in minute quantities in the living entities. Haridas Pandit Goswami was especially empowered by these fifty qualities in full. He is the disciple of Ananta Acharya. Ananta Acharya is not an ordinary human being. He is one of the eight sakhis (confidants) of Radharani in Krishna-Lila. Ganga Mata desired to take Harinaam from Haridas Pandit, but when he later learned that she was a princess, he hesitated to give her the Mantra. However, when he saw her asceticism and her unswerving determination to engage in pure devotional life, his heart melted and he gave her initiation in the eighteen-syllable Mantra. This event took place in the Govindaji Temple on the Chaitra Shukla Ekadashi. After having received her guru’s mercy, she began to engage in intense bhajan, subsisting through Madhukari, i.e., by begging from door to door for food in spite of being the daughter of a king. After a year of this intense devotional activity, she was told by her spiritual master to live at Radha Kunda with her spiritually advanced aunt and god-sister, Lakshmipriya. There every day she used to regularly chant three lakhs of Holy Names. As a part of their regular spiritual practice, the two of them daily circumambulate Sri Giriraj Govardhan. There she used to read and study scriptures and perform Shravan and Kirtan (hearing and singing the glories of the Supreme Lord and His devotees). Shravan and Kirtan are the principal limbs of devotion. Srimad- Bhagavatam says,

śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityaṁ
gṛṇataś ca sva-ceṣṭitam
kālena nātidīrgheṇa
bhagavān viśate hṛdi
(Srimad Bhagavatam 2.8.4)

“Persons who hear Srimad - Bhagavatam regularly, and are always taking the matter very seriously, will have the Supreme Lord Sri Krishn manifested in their hearts within a short time.”

When people heard her discourses they became astonished. After several years of such practice at Radha Kunda, when Sachi had become very advanced in her devotional life, her Guru sent her to Purushottam Kshetra to revive and restore theSarvabhauma Bhattacharya’s house, which had fallen into disrepair. Obeying her Guru’s instructions, Sachi Devi went to Jagannath Puri and took the vow of Kshetra-sannyasa (stay always in Jagannath Puri). There a large number of people became attracted to her by listening to her discourses. Amongst them was Mukundadeva, the King of Puri. The King then revived the place of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, which was a torn - down, small hut until then. Ganga Mata followed a vigorous life of devotion. Lord Jagannath appeared in a dream and ordered the King to donate land to revive the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Though Ganga Mata had no desire to acquire any land, but to fulfil the desire of her Gurudev, she accepted the land to revive the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. One Krishna Trayodashi, an opportune moment came for the Maha Varuni Ganges bath. Many people, who seek to accumulate pious credits make the trip to the Ganges on this auspicious occasion. Indeed, many asked Sachi Devi to accompany them, but she could not abandon her Kshetra-sannyasa vows nor her service to the deities. So she was obliged to plead that she could not go.

Even though she did not want to go, Jagannath Deva, Himself made arrangements for her to bathe in the Ganges. That night He appeared to her in her dream and told her to take a bath in the Sveta Ganga in the middle of the night. As she dipped in the waters of Sveta Ganga, she found herself being surrounded by the waters of the Ganga (the water flowed from the lotus feet of Jagannath Deva) all around which took her directly to the lotus feet of Jagannath Swami in the main temple. The security guards heard a huge commotion behind the closed doors of the main temple and started wondering what could make such a huge noise? Suspecting something going on there, they opened the doors and found that the sound immediately stopped. They discovered Sachi Devi (Ganga Mata) there and suspected her to be a thief who was hiding there before intending to steal the wealth and they imprisoned her. Lord Jagannath appeared in the King’s dream and said that the servants had committed an offence at the feet of Ganga Mata by imprisoning her. He also told the King that, it was He(Lord Jagannath) who took her inside the temple. He ordered the King and the head pujari to immediately release her, beg forgiveness and take Diksha from her. The glories of Sachi Devi spread throughout Puri and she was hurriedly released by the order of Jagannath Swami. They wanted to give her many material things, but she denied them all. From that time onwards she became famous as ‘Ganga Mata Goswamini’.

In Jaipur, there is a deity called Sri Rasika Raya which used to be worshipped by a Brahmin. But due to some offences, his entire family lineage was destroyed. One night Lord Jagannath appeared in the Brahmin’s dream and told Him, he should take Him (deities) to Puri and give them to Ganga Mata Goswamini. Following the order of the Jagannath dev, the Brahmin went to Puri and handed Sri Rasika Raya to her telling her that Jagannath dev Himself had ordered him to give this deity to her. Ganga Mata was reluctant to accept the deity at first as she could not give the kind of royal service which was due for such a deity. The Brahmin then put the deity in a nearby Tulasi forest and left the place. The deity appeared in Ganga Mata’s dream and asked her to accept them (Him) and perform His puja. Then Ganga Mata happily accepted His service. She held a festival in the honor of deities' arrival and acceptance. The old palace of Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was renovated and she established Sri Rasika Raya there. Sri Rasika Raya is still being worshipped there today. Along with this deity, there is also a deity of Gauranga Mahaprabhu and a deity of Laddu Gopal. So today is the appearance Tithi of Ganga Mata Goswamini and also the disappearance of Tithi of Baladeva Vidyabhushan Prabhu. We should surely study the history of Baladeva Vidyabhushan Prabhu (1720-1790 A.D.).

He was born in the early part of the eighteenth century in a village near Remuna, Balasore District of Orissa. Even though he was the son of a 'Vaishya' (farmer), in his youth, he received a very thorough education in Sanskrit, rhetoric, logic and Vaishnava scripture. He accepted 'sannyasa' into the 'Madhva-sampradaya' at a very young age, and stayed at Jagannath Puri. He became a renowned scholar and travelled around India to all the holy places. During his travels, he came to Puri in Orissa (Utkala) and met with one disciple of the famous Rasikananda Prabhu of the name Sri Radha Damodara Deva Goswami (1710-1760 A.D.). At Puri, he defeated all the scholars and learned men of his times. Baladeva was converted to Gaudiya Vaishnavism by Radha Damodara Deva Goswami, who first explained the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in accordance with the injunctions of Vedanta Sutra and Srimad Bhagavatam, then initiated him as his formal disciple. Under his direction, he studied Jiva Goswami's Sada-sandarbha, and he quickly became prominent in all intellectual circles.

There is an interesting story which shows the surrendered mood of Baladeva Vidyabhusan Prabhu and his sincere desire to please his spiritual masters. Once, when Vishvanatha Chakravati Thakur was aged to travel, he sent Baladeva Prabhu to a conference to represent Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Baladeva Prabhu was required to prove the validity of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to the rest of the Vaishnava community from a scriptural point of view, and thus become duly authorized to speak on matters pertaining to rituals ('puja') and Vaishnava religion. Though he was preaching furiously, no one was prepared to accept his statements according to Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy, although sufficient evidence was there. The reason others could not accept his statements was because there weren’t established commentaries of ‘Brahma Sutra’ or ‘Vedanta Sutra’ to support Gaudiya Vaishnavism at that time. Some were saying that in every other 'Sampradaya' the founding or reforming 'acarya' had made some form of commentary on Vedanta Sutra — Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha, etc. Even though Lord Chaitanya explained Vedanta Sutra (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi Lila, 7:138-146.) touching the main subject matter, nothing was written.

Some members of the Sri Sampradaya (the 'Ramanandis') began to raise this argument in the court of the King at Jaipur. They complained that as the Gaudiya Vaishnavas had no commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, they were not qualified to worship the Deity, and therefore all of the worship should be turned over to the Sri Sampradaya. They also objected to the worship of Srimati Radharani along with Sri Govinda and Sri Gopinatha as not being authorized anywhere in the Shastras.

As we have just stated, at that time Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur was very old, so he could not make the arduous journey to Jaipur. In his place, he sent his student, Sri Baladeva Prabhu, who was fully conversant with the 'Shastras' and thus able to competently face the challenge. In a great assembly, he posed such forceful arguments to the followers of Ramanuja (the Ramanandis) that they could not reply to them. He further explained to them, "The originator of the Gaudiya Vaishnava 'Sampradaya', Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, has accepted Srimad Bhagavatam as the natural commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, as composed by Srila Vyasadeva Himself. This is proven in the Sada-sandarbha. The scholars in the assembly, however, refused to accept anything other than a direct commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. Having no other recourse, Baladeva Prabhu promised to present them with one. They gave him seven days to have his commentary ready for discussion.

He was given the time and then he went to the Govindji temple and prayed to his Guru and to the Lord to give him the power to write such a commentary. Govindaji’s garland fell from around His neck and Pujari placed it on Baladeva Vidyabhushan Prabhu’s chest.

With the Guru, Vaishnavas and Lord’s blessings, even the impossible becomes possible. Baladeva Vidyabhushan Prabhu under took the writing of comments to the five hundred sutras of the Brahmasutra with the subtle aspects of the divine aesthetics revealed in the pure devotional line of Gaudiya Vaishnava thought, completing it in the limited time given to him. When he went to Galta, the scholars of the other Sampradayas were astonished to hear his commentary, which has the highest divine sentiment. Because Govindaji Himself had ordered its writing, the commentary became known as the ‘Govinda - bhasya’. It was after completing this commentary that Baladeva received the ‘Vidyabhushan’ title.

The ‘Govinda-bhasya’ silenced all those who were arguing against Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Pujyapad Siddhanti Maharaj has written commentary on ‘Govinda-Bhasya’ in three volumes. In this manner, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushan Prabhu protected the dignity of Gaudiya Vaishnavism which no ordinary person can do.