Great Gurus
Deepaka’s Guruseva
On the great Godavari-nadi-teeram, there used to be the ashramam of Vedadharya. He used to teach many shastras, Vedopanishats to his shishyas. Deepaka approached Vedadharya, did saashtaanga-pranaamam to him and asked him to accept him as a shishya. Seeing the Vinayam of Deepaka, Vedadharya accepted him as his shishya. Because of his Guruseva and interest in learning Vidya, Deepaka in no time learnt all shastras.
One day Vedadharya, seeing the Adhyaatmika Vidya-tejas in Deepaka, asked him “Vatsa! I did prayashchittam for my previous janma paapas. However two more paapas are left and they are very frightening. I must go to Kaashi Kshetram and do praayashchittam. In Kaashi the phalitam for a Karma will be 10 times. Hence I will go there and do aavaahana of these paapas. Then I will get dreadful diseases like leprosy, my body will be oozing blood and puss. I will get a ghora-rupam and become blind. My svabhaavam also will change: Saadhutvam will go and I will become a Kathinaatma. There will be no sahanam in me. In that pitiable situation can you help me and do my seva?”
Deepaka, who only had Guruseva in his mind, was very happy to do his Guruseva and said “Guruuttama! Since I am young, I will do the aavaahanam of the paapas and experience the leprosy, blindness etc.” Vedadharya replied “O my son Deepaka! One is responsible for his own paapas. They must be experienced by the karta only. It is not very difficult to experience it, the more difficult thing is to do seva to a paapa-piidita. You need a have a lot of sahanam”.
Deepaka and Vedadharya reached the great Kaashi Kshetram. They arranged a place for their living near Kamaleshvara Mahadeva Mandiram, which is to the North of Manikarnikaa-Ghat. After doing Kaashi Vishvanaatha, Jaganmaata Annapurna puja, Vedadharya did aavaahanam of the 2 previous janma paapas. He started suffering from the diseases as he explained before.
He had no sahanam and used to show it on Deepaka. Deepaka used to cry seeing the Dusthiti of his Guru. He used to take great care of his Guru: neatly wash his wounds, clean blood and puss, apply medicine, tie bandages. He even used to clean the mala-mutras and put new clothes for his Guru. He used to do Bhikshaatana and get food for his Guru. Vedadharya used to eat the whole of it and used to blame Deepaka for not bringing sufficiently more. Deepaka never used to get angry and without any viraamam and with great care he used to do his Guru’s seva.
One day, impressed by the Guruseva of Deepaka, Lord Vishveshvara appeared before him and said “Vatsa! Your Guruseva is amogham. Please ask me what you want”. With great aanandam Deepaka replied “Sarveshvara! In this world I dont know anything except my Guru. I will ask him after he wakes up from his sleep and tell you”. After Vedadharya woke, Deepaka told him what happened and asked him “I will go to Shiva and ask Him to heal you”. Vedadharya didnt accept and said “One must experience the result of his paapam. Then only they will be destroyed. Only in that I will have trupti”.
The next day, Deepaka went to Vishveshvara sannidhi and didnt ask for any varam. Seeing the Aadhyaatmika-saadhana of Deepaka, Parameshvara took him to Nirvaana-mandapam along with Parvati Devi. There Shrimannarayana and other Devatas were there. There Shiva told everyone about the Guruseva and Sevaasakti of Deepaka and praised him. Shrimannarayana said “Please tell Us your abhishtam. We are ready to grant it”. Deepaka did saashtaanga-vandanam and replied with gadgada svaram “Devaadideva! I never did your Naama-smaranam. Neither did I do your puja or archana. Why are you ready to give me varam?”.
“O Vatsa! Guruseva is equivalent to doing seva to all Devatas. Hence please ask Us what you want” said Shrimannarayana. “Then please grant me achanchala Guru-Bhakti” said Deepaka. All the Devatas were happy with Deepaka and granted him the same.
Morals in the Story:
- Guruseva is equivalent to seva to all Devatas. Deepaka, with his unparalled Guruseva, had the Durlabha-darshanam of all the Devatas.
- Vinayam, Guru-Bhakti and interest in learning are very important for a Vidyarthi. One who has these qualities can learn all shastras in no time, like Deepaka.
- One must experience the result of his paapam some or the other time. This was told by Vedadharya many times in the story. Hence one must be very careful not to do paapa-karyas.
Sukracharya (Greatness of Vidyābhyāsam)
He did sāṣhṭāṅga namaskāram to Śukrācārya and said "O Gurudeva! I am from the Āṅgīrasa gotram and the son of Bṛhaspati, the Guru of the Devatas. People call me by the name Kaca. I came to you as a vidyārthi". Śukrācārya happily agreed to have the son of the great Bṛhaspati as his śiṣhya. Everday Kaca used to wake up before the Sun, and do Sandhyāvandanādi āhnikas, after his kāla-kṛtyas. He used to be very obdient to his Guru and learn his vidyas with utmost concentration and respect. He never let any attractions, diviations to enter his mind and always concentrated on Guru seva and his vidyābhyāsam.
Śukrācārya had a very beautiful daughter by name Devayānī. She was very young and had a lot of prema for Kaca. She tried to express herself many times to Kaca, but Kaca never had anything in his mind except his vidyābhyāsam. Also since Devayānī was the daughter of his Guru, who is equal to his father, he had sodarī-bhāvam on Devayānī. Slowly Kaca, due to his unparalleled efforts and vinayam became the favourite śiṣhya of Śukrācārya. This could not be tolerated by the daityas who were burning with īrṣha. Also they were afraid that Kaca would soon learn Mṛtasanjīvanī vidya from Śukrācārya and later it would be difficult for them to face the Devatas.
Once Kaca went to the forest as his Guru's gopālaka. As the Sun was setting the power of daityas increased. They attacked Kaca and killed him. Devayāni was waiting for Kaca in the āśram. She told her father, "everyday by the time for sāyam-sandhyāvandanam, Kaca returns home. Somehow he did not return today. O father! please see if he is ok." Śukrācārya with his divya-dṛṣhṭi saw what happened to Kaca and immediately brought him back to life. The daityas īrṣha increased with this and this time they planned to kill Kaca in such a way that it will be difficult for Śukrācārya to save him. They killed Kaca, burnt him and mixed his ashes in surāpānam and served it to their Guru. Śukrācārya drank the surāpānam. Seeing Kaca not returning home, again Devayāni asked her father. Śukrācārya was shocked to know what mistake he committed unknowingly. He thought "a man who is under the influence of surā-pānam will loose all his distinction of good and bad, does not think and can do any great pāpa-kāryam". Once the pāpa-karyam is done, for normal humans, it is impossible to undo it. Śukrācārya thought that if he was not under the influence of surāpānam, he could have easily identified, with his tapobalam, that Kaca's ashes were mixed in his surāpānam. So he made a firm rule that surāpānam, in what ever small quantītes, is mahāpāpam and it must never be drunk.
He used his Mṛtasanjīvanī vidya and brought back Kaca to life. However Kaca remained in Śukrācārya's stomach in a sūkṣhma rūpam. Śukrācārya then taught Kaca Mṛtasanjīvanī vidya and asked him to come out of him, by tearing his stomach. Kaca came out of Śukrācārya and then used the Mṛtasanjīvanī vidya to bring back the life of his Guru. Kaca, after the completion of his vidyābhyāsam, took the anujña of Śukrācārya and was planning to leave. Devayāni then told Kaca "Please do not leave me and go. Marry me". Kaca said "you are like a sister to me, since a Guru is equal to one's father". Devayāni got angry with Kaca and said "Since you rejected my love and pained me, your vidya will not be of any use to you". Kaca was not sad because he knew though his Vidya will not be directly useful to him, he can spread his vidya to others and thereby become useful to the society. Vidya dhanam is the only dhanam that can never be destroyed and robbed. The more and more it is given to others, the more and more it grows…
Morals in the story:
- The importance and greatness of Vidya is well shown in the story.
- Though Devatas and daityas were enemies, Kaca never tried to conceal his identity, since he knew by cheating a Guru vidya cannot be acquired. Also Śukrācārya, knowing who Kaca was, accepted him as śiṣhya, because a deserved one must always be taught.
- Vinayam and kṛṣhi are were important for vidyābhyāsam. Kaca was never involved in any other activity than his Guru seva and studies.
- One must never have jealousy. Because of jealousy that Kaca is performing better than them, the daityas did not think what is right and what is wrong.
- Surāpānam, in what ever small quantites, must not be done. This is well shown through Śukrācārya's words.
- The knowledge of Kaca helped him decide whether to accept Devayāni's love or not.
Akshaya Patra
When the great Paandavas
left for Aranyavaasam, many Viprottamas followed them. Requesting them to go
back, Dharmaraaja said “I have lost my Raajyam in Jyuudam. In the forests you
will have to live on fruits. The difficulties of living in the forests are
great. So please go back”. Then the Braahmanas replied “Mahaaraaja! Please dont
worry about our poshana. We want your kshemam only. We will tell you many good
stories and entertain you”.Yudhishthira agreed, but was worried that being a Gruhastha, he was not able to even do poshana of his aashritas. Thinking like this, he approached his Purohita (Puratah hitam karoti — one who does hitam, before anybody else), Dhaumya, and said “Mahaatma! Atithi seva, satkaaram is sajjana’s prathama-kartavyam. We are ourselves in difficulties, so how to do Atithi seva?”. Dhaumya then told Dharmaraaja how to do Suurya-upaasana. He said “O Dharmanandana! Shrimannaarayana, in the form of Suurya-bhagavaan, does poshana of this shrushti. You everyday do Suryopaasana, by doing Paaraayana of Surya-ashtottara-shata-naamaavali. I am sure then Surya-bhagavaan will help you”.
With Kathora-niyamams, Dharmaraaja did Suryopaasana. Suurya-bhagavaan became prasanna and appeared before Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira had great aanandam, did stotram and said “O Bhaaskara! You are the netram of this jagat and the aatma of all the living creatures. This jagat is having prakaasham because of You only. Without any Svaartham, You are doing poshana of this prapancham. I am krutagnya to have Your divya-darshanam”.
Suurya-bhagavaan said “Dharmaraaja! I am pleased with your aaraadhana. I will make sure you all will never have kshut-baadha all these 12 years”. Saying this, He gave him the Akshaya-paatra. Due to Daiva-prabhaavam, akshaya aahaaram comes from the divya-paatra. Using the Akshaya-paatra, Draupadii devi used to serve the Atithi-abhyaagatas first, then following Pativrataa-dharmam used to serve Paandavas and then eat aahaaram provided by the Akshaya-paatra. The divya-paatra everyday used to provide whatever they wanted till Draupadii devi has her aahaaram.
- Once a person has sat-sankalpam and does Daiva-praarthana, as suggested by elders, God Himself will show the way. Yudhishthira, with the sankalpam of doing Atithi-seva, did Suryopaasana as directed by Shri Dhaumya. With this he was able to provide aahaaram to the Viprottamas.
- Atithi-seva of Dharmaraaja and Pativrata-dharmam of Draupadi are shown in the story. Panditas say that a Pativrata has greater power than even the Tri-muurtis!
Shataananda (Śatānanda)
A person who does
Vidyaa-daanam to a satpaatra (deserved one), is considered to be a Shreshtha.
Because of such a Vidyaa-daata, 100 Vamshams will be saved. Of the daatas a
Vidyaa-pradaata is like Mahaavishnu in Devatas, Shri Mahaalakshmi in
strii-jaati.In the previous Kalpam, there used to be a braahmana by name “Sangira”. He used to do dustarkam with Panditas. Though he didnt have enough gnyaanam he used to have durahankaaram that he was a Gnyaani. He was a Hetuvaadi. He never thought about paramaartham and always tried to do dustarkam and show his greatness.
He used to do Veda-ninda! He used to say Vedas were written by humans!! Similarly Smrutis. He also used to do Puraana-ninda and Itihaasa-parihaasam. Without Lajja and Bhayam he used to take wrong meanings of Sadvishayams and do their duushana. Panditas used to close their ears unable to bear the words of this fellow. In those days, the shiksha for such people was Desha-bahishkaaram, since if he is left, he will spoil the others too. Thus Sangira was pushed out of Bhaarata-desham.
Sangira reached Mleccha-desham. There also he continued his Kutarkam and finally vidhivashah died there only. Reaching Yamalokam, crossing the Vaitaranii-nadi, itself was difficult for this paapi. Finally he reached Yamalokam. Yamadharmaraaja, the Samavarti, ordered that he must experience all the shikshas that were there, since there is no paapa-kaaryam which he didnt do! The klesham Sangira experienced in Naarakam is undescribable. There was no end to these shikshas. Howmuch ever the Yama-kinkaras tortured, Sangira’s paapam was not decreasing. Even the others in the Narakam used to say “he is a mahaa-paapi” (because he was experiencing many new shikshas which they never experienced).
Once, Shataananda, the putra of Gautama maharshi and Ahalyaa Devi, and the Purohita of Janaka maharaja, came there. Being a Dayaardra-hrudaya, he was not able to see the difficulties of the people in the Narakam. He also saw Sangira, due to the small Punyam Sangira did.
Shataananda then did bodha of Shiva-vidya to the people in the Narakam. Just because of Shiva-vidyaa-shravanam, Narakalokam became Naakalokam (Svargam)!! Sangira did pranaamam to Shataananda, the Shiva-vidyaa-pradaata and became a Punyaatma.
Our Shaastras say:
- Shilpa-vidyaa-daanam gives Brahmaloka-praapti
- Kalaa-vidyaa-daanam gives Vishnuloka-praapti
- Aayurveda-vidyaa-daanam gives Ayaachakaloka-praapti
- Tarka and Miimaamsa shaastra bodha gives Vaarunaloka-praapti
- Dharma-shaastra bodha gives Swargalokam and saves Pitru-devatas from Narakam for 10 Manvantarams
- Veda-vidyaa-daanam gives Swargaloka-nivaasam for 3 Kalpams
- Aatma-vidyaa-daana phalitam cannot be counted (Sankhyaatiitam)!
- Brahma-vidyaa-daanam gives phalam of doing all daanams!!
Morals in the story:
- The greatness of Vidyaa-daanam is well shown in the story. Even a Mahaapaapi like Sangira can be saved by doing Vidyaa-bodha.
- Veda, Puraana, Itihaasa duushanam is a Mahaapaapam. We must be very careful to be away from these.
- Ahankaaram is the root cause of everything. Due to the Ahankaaram of being a Pandita, Sangira tried to de Kutarkam and show his greatness. Hence we must always have Vinayam.
Story of Vedasaagara
One day, two Vidyaarthis by names Raama Sharma and Krishna Sharma came to Vedasaagara. Vedasaagara asked them to stay in the aashramam till he finishes the exam and accepts them. As a first lesson, he told “Gururbrahma, Gururvishnuh, Gururdevo Maheshvarah, Gurussakshaat Parabrahma, Tasmai Shri Guravenamah”.
On one Ekaadashi, Vedasaagara woke the two Vidyaarthis very early and told “today is Ekaadashi. It is the priya-tithi for both Paramashiva and Mahaavihnu. You must do Upavaasam today. Also goto the Devaalayam in the far off hill and come back by Saayam-sandhya”. Both of them started off for the Devaalayam. By the time of Maadhyaahnika-Sandhyaavandanam, they reached the Devaalayam. They were completely exhausted and were very hungry, thirsty and tired. After Daiva-darshanam, the Devaalaya-puujaari offered them Prasaadam and Tiirtham. Raama Sharma remembered his Guru-aagnya and hesitated to take. Then the puujaari said “at such difficult times you need not follow your Guru-aagnya. That too how will he know that you didnt obey him? So take it”. Krishna Sharma, unable to bear the hunger, ate; however Raama Sharma chose to stick to his Guru-aagnya.
One day, when Vedasaagara was teaching the two some lesson, forest-fire surrounded them. There was only one way out: use the boat (which could carry atmost 2 people) and cross the river. Vedasaagara immediately said “you both take the boat and go. Looking after you is my Kartavyam. I am old, it doesnt matter if I loose my life. Also you are very young”. Krishna Sharma immediately went and sat in the boat.
However Raama Sharma didnt move and replied “O Gurudeva! Kshama for not following your aangya. As you told us, a Shishya’s prathama Dharmam is Guruseva and rakshana. That too the society wont loose anything if a agnyaani like me dies. Uttama Guru like you is very important to the society. So please take the boat”. Saying this, he forcibly made Vedasaagara sit in the boat.
Immediately all the fires vanished. Vedasaagara said “I created all this with my Tapas-shakti to test you two. I was only the puujaari at the Devaalayam. Raama Sharma qualified both my tests and hence I accept him as my Shishya.”.
Morals in the story:
- The Guru-shishya anyonya-sambandham is well shown in this story. Guru wanted to save the Shishya and the Shishya was worried about the Guru.
- Whatever happens one must always keep up his word. That too a word given to a Guru. Raama Sharma though he was very hungry, followed his Guru-aagnya and continued his upavaasam.
- The amruta-vaakyas of Vedasaagara and Raama Sharma (during their conversion when forest-fire came) reveals the unnata-aadarshas of Bhaarateeyas. As shown in their conversion, they always think about what is Dharmam, what is useful to the society and then act.
Saandepa (Sāndīpa)
(Be happy with what you have)
Sudaama and Krishna Bhagavan were good friends. The friendship started at their gurukulam with Shri Saandeepa. As always duty takes more priority than everything. Hence, after completing their studies they had to part. However, neither Krishna nor Sudaama could forget each other. Sudaama, knowing who Krishna really was, also had true devotion for him. Sudaama never was interested in earning lot of money or other such aihikechchas. Once after many years, not able to bear the separation from Krishna anymore, sets off to meet Krishna.
On hearing the news of his friend’s arrival, Krishna runs to the city gates to receive Sudaama personally. Krishna, the paramaatma, hugs Sudaama several times and they break into tears with uncontrollable aanandam. Krishna takes Sudaama to his palace and makes him sit comfortably on the shayanaasanam of Krishna and Rukmini Devi. Krishna, whose feet Brahma himself washed to produce the holy waters of Ganga, washed the feet of his friend, together with Rukmini, with utmost care. Then the Lord of the worlds, purifies himself, his queens and the palace with the paada jalam of the great scholar, Sudaama. Though Sudaama was very poor and did not even have money to eat food, he did not even think about it while he was with Krishna. Krishna took the atukulu brought by Sudaama for him and commented that it was one of his best ever meals. Both of them talked a lot, till their hearts were full and finally Sudaama returned to his house with a full heart, thoroughly satisfied with the Lord’s sweet words.
(Ofcourse, the sthiti kaaraka of the worlds, Krishna, blesses him with all worldly pleasures too…)
- Money, property and other pleasures are Kshanabhanguraas and as a person keeps satisfying them, they will only increase. Hence, like Sudaama, one needs to be content with what he has. Even given a chance to ask anything from Krishna, he did not choose to ask him!
- The nature of pure friendship is exposed by Krishna and Sudaama. Krishna, being the lord of the universe, washed the feet of his friend and purifies himself with the paada-jalam. Sudaama, though was extremely poor, never asked Krishna for wealth and make friendship a business.
- Notice that only a guru is one who makes a person meet God. This is reflected clearly in the story. It is because of Saandeepa that Krishna and Sudaama knew each other and met each other again.
- Krishna making his friend sit on his shayya, talk with him what Rukmini and he talk intimately and receiving Sudaama at the gates of the city show how intimate & sincere friendship must be.
- The kind of respect one must give to an Atithi and a scholar is well brought out by Krishna.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( A tribute to the great Bharatiya Samskruti)
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