Great Indian maharshis: 4

Great Indian maharshis:

The great Kushika Maharaja

Once the great Chyavana maharshi went to Kushika maharaja. Kushika did ghana-puuja to Chyavana maharshi. “Muniindra! Please give us aagnya what to do” said Kushika with great Vinayam. Chyavana maharshi replied “Raja! You and your arthaangi do seva to me”. “Ok. Svaami!” replied Kushika. Kushika arranged for Chyavana maharshi Hamsa-tuulikaa-talpam (bed) and a Manipeetham. “Maharaja! Now I will take rest. Dont disturb me until, I by myself, wake up. Till then do my paada-seva” said Chyavana maharshi. For 42 days, Kushika and his arthaangi did paada-seva of Chyavana maharshi, forgetting Nidra-aahaaram.
The next day Chyavana maharshi woke up and said “get me a Ratham. You both must pull it. I will go on it, giving Suvarana (gold), Ratna, Go (cow), Ashva daanams to the poor”. Immediately Kushika arranged for it. The King and Queen started pulling the ratham. Chyavana maharshi started to hit them with the horse-wip until they were bleeding and kept travelling. Finally they reached the end of the Raajyam.
He saw that the King and Queen have a smiling face, even though their bodies were bleeding! Chyavana maharshi said “Raaja! Now you both got extremely exhausted. Please go back. I will stay here a do Tapas. Come again tomorrow”. Saying thus, Chyavana maharshi, the Aayurveda-nipuna, just touched them on their wounds and the wounds just disappeared. “Muniindra! Just by your Kara-sparsha we got new shakti in us and all our wounds have disappeared. How do we praise your greatness”, saying this, Kushika returned to his Raajyam. When they came back the next day, Chyavana maharshi was not there, but a Vishaala-sundara-divya Bhavanam was there. “Devi! did you see. Because of Maharshi, we are able to see such unbelievably beautiful Bhavanam, that resembles Svargam”. They went in and saw that Chyavana maharshi was lying down on a Mani-maya-paryankam (bed). But as soon as they came near him, everything disappeared. They saw that Chyavana maharshi was doing Tapas.
“Raani! Did you see this Maharshi’s Tapobalam? We can rule many Raajyams. But getting this Tapas is very difficult” said the King. Then Chyavana maharshi called them and said “Maharaja! You have great Indriya-nigraham. You are great. You both didnt even get slightest Krodham even if I inflicted great pain. You always served me with great Vinayam. Please ask me what Varam you want”. “Swaami! Your paada-seva is only what I want. I dont need anything else. But please tell me why did you do all this?”
“Kushika! I heard about you from Brahmadeva. I tested you very much and would have given you shaapam if you didnt keep up your word. But you are an Uttama. I was impressed by you and hence showed you both Svargam. But even then you didnt get attracted and said ‘Tapas is great’. Your Pautra (grandson) will be a great Brahmarshi. He will be the Mantra-drashta of the great Gaayatri mantram. There has been no King who attained the Brahmarshi-padavi. Your pautra will achieve with his will power, Satya-nishtha and parishrama.
Kushika’s putra was Gaadhii-raaja and his putra was the great Vishvaamitra maharshi.
Morals in the story:

1. The sadgunams Vinayam and Atithi-Seva-bhaavam of Kushika are well shown in the story. Kushika and his Raani, did paada-seva of Chyavana maharshi for 42 days continuously without even taking food and sleep.
2. Kushika and his arthaangi had full control of their Indriyas (Indriya Nigraham). Even when their bodies were bleeding, they didnt get Krodham on Chyavana maharshi. Svargam will be at the will of such people.
3. Story shows how doing seva to great sat-purushas like Chyavana Maharshi will give Shubhams. Doing seva to Chyavana maharshi, they got the great Vishvaamitra maharshi as their Pautra.

Story of the great Parikshit maharaja

Parikshit, the great Bhaagavatottama, was the son of veera Abhimanyu and Viraata's daughter, Uttara and was the only successor of Pandavas (see Aswatthaama killing Upa-Paandavas story). He, while in maatru-garbham itself, used to examine carefully all directions (paritaH eekshate) for God! Krishna, the sthiti kaaraka, saved Parikshit in Uttara's garbham, from the devastating Brahmaastra of Ashwatthaama. Parikshit was such a great favourite of God, to the extent that God suppressed the unstoppable Brahmaastra, because he was a great Bhakta and never deviated from the path of Dharma.
After Shri Krishna left to Vaikuntam, the Bhu-devi (who is realized to be in the form of Goomaata) again sank into uncontrollable sorrow. The Dharma-devata (who is realized to be in Vrishabha form) was tortured and legs cut off by Kali. Due to the entrance of Kali, all kinds of adharma kaaryas were encouraged. There is no shuchi-shubhrata, no daya-daanam, no vedas, puraanaas, or shaastra knowledge, no adherence to satyam etc. But Parikshit, with his power, controlled everything and taught Kali a lesson. Kali begged Parikshit mahaaraaja not to kill him saying that, following the kaala-dharma, since it is the start of Kalikaalam, he must be allowed to come and must not be killed. Parikshit to obey the kaala-dharmam allows him some specific places to stay in.
Though Parikshit was so great, due to Kaala Mahima (also see Kaala mahima story) and due to the effect of Kali, unfortunately did a mistake — for which the punishment was death! Once after Mrugaya-vihaaram and killing the trouble causing wild beasts in the forest, completely exhausted, Parikshit reaches the ashram of the great Semeeka maharshi. The maharshi at that time was in deep Daiva-dhyaanam and completely detached from his karmendriyas. Hence, he did not notice the exhausted Parikshit mahaaraaja. King Parikshit, completely exhausted, thought that the maharshi, knowing his exhaustion, did not offer him even water, leave aside aatithyam. So he puts a dead snake around the neck of Semeeka to insult him and leaves the place. Shrungi, the kid of Semeeka, realizing that Parikshit did such an insult to his father, who was a great maharshi, gives Parikshit a shaapam that in seven days Parikshit will die of Takshaka's vishaagnijwaalas. Meanwhile Semeeka maharshi comes back from dhyaanam and comes to know about the entire story.
Semeeka tells Shrungi "Krodham is the main hinderence to tapas. Krodham only stops Animaadi Ashtasiddhis. It is a big hurdle for following the path of Dharma. A tapaswi never should get krodham. Similar to how water unknowingly leakes away quitely from a filled pot, the tapas of a tapaswi who does not have kshama, the dhanam of a dhanavanta who has garvam and the kingdom of a ruler who does not follow Dharma also fade away. Parikshit mahaaraaja is not an ordinary king. It is because of him that Dharma-devata has all four legs. It is because of him Kali has been restricted. Why did you give such a big irrevocable shaapam for a small mistake Parikshit mahaaraaja committed? One must always think twice before he acts and never come into the clutches of anger. One's anger is his greatest enemy. A person looses his dharma-adharma gnyaanam, does not think and causes harm to others and himself because of anger. On receiving scoldings or beatings or whatever harm, a parama-bhakta will experience it with shaantam and will not take pratikaaram. I am quite sure, Parikshit mahaaraaja will not give you a prati-shaapam. Sajjana's do Upakaaram to Upakaaris and Apakaaris. Mahaatmas do not even feel the pleasures and sorrows, everything is same". Semeeka, knowing that now nothing can be done (since the words of Shrungi, who is a firm satya-vaak-paripaalaka, cannot be undone!), sends his shihsya, Gauramukha, to atleast inform Parikshit about the Shrungi's shaapam. Parikshit mahaaraaja comes to know about Shrungi's shaapam.
Parikshit mahaaraaja, thinking why he was taken over by kaama-kroodhaadi (Arishadvargas), says to himself "Why did I insult the great maharshi, knowing that they must always be respected? Why did I venture into such unpardonable Paapakaaryas? Anyway, who can change Daiva-sankalpam. One has to experience the result of his own paapam. Truly speaking what is the mistake of Shrungi? With the ahankaar of a king I act like this. Which son wont give shaapam for such an insult to his father? How can I always make sure that I wont unnecessarily cause pain to goomaatas, devatas and braahmanas?". Being a winner over Arishadvargaas, due to his undisturbed Bhakti on Parameshwara, Parikshit mahaaraaja did not get even a bit angry on Shrungi. Being capable of giving a pratishaapam, he did not give shaapam to Shrungi. Later, due to listening to Srimad Bhaagavatam from none other than Shri Shuka maharshi, Parikshit attains the unattainable Moksham.
Morals in the story:

1. The importance of being able to control one's anger (and other Arishadvargaas) is well portrayed in the story. One small mistake of Parikshit mahaaraaja costed him his life. (Think — Why Krishna who saved him from the Brahmaastra did not save him from this also)
2. The conversations between Semeeka maharshi and Shrungi; Parikshit and himself, are a great treasure for morals. Importance of shaantam, being unaffected by joy and sorrow, nature of a true Bhakta etc. can be learnt from the conversations.
3. The end result for good people is always good (also see King Nruga's story). So though Parikshit mahaaraaja had to experience the result of his mistake, in the end, because he was a true Bhakta and firm-follower of Dharma got Paramapadam in the end.
4. Knowing that he will be dying in 7 days, Parikshit mahaaraaja did not want to, in hurry, enjoy off all the pleasures before he dies nor he wasted time in trying to protect himself from Takshaka. This shows what unnata-bhaavas a Bhaagavatottama's (true Bhakta) will have!

The story of Naimishaaranyam

Gauramukha maharshi is one of the great well-known maharshis. He was the obedient shishya of Semeeka maharshi (see Parikshit mahaaraja's story). After his education in Semeeka maharshi's ashram, he built up his own ashram to share the gnyaanam he got. The ashram was calm and peaceful. If Gauramukha maharshi's shishyas came to the forest to get some samidhas for yagnyam, then the trees used to bend and willingly, without experiencing pain, used to offer them their branches. If the shishyas while doing veda paarayana and by mistake pronounce some swara wrong, then the birds used to rectify them by saying it aloud with their sweet voices. The flowers there used to open only to be offered to God, just before the puja. All these were possible only because of the prashantata, the alhaada vaataavarnam and the tapas-shakti of the maharshi.
One day the king, Durjaya, came with his army to the forest. Gauramukha maharshi seeing the king gave aatithyam and requested the king to rest in his ashram for that night. Lord Raama and Lakshmana, during their visits to muni ashrams, used to always leave their weapons outside and enter the ashrams with the permission of the respective munis. However, Durjaya entered the calm and quiet ashram with his entire army. Gauramukha, who already conquered anger, was happy to welcome them. Since he had no apparent way of cooking food and showing a place to rest for such huge number of people, he went to the bank of the river, took a dip in it, became purified and prayed to Lord Vishnu. Due to his enormous concentration, Vishnu immediately appeared before him and gave him a Mani. With the help of the Mani, Gauramukha maharshi built a huge town for the army to rest and also provided good food for them. The next day as the king and army were leaving the place, the creation of the Mani vanished. Durjaya was amazed by the power of the mani and after reaching his kingdom sent his messengers to get the mani of Gauramukha maharshi for himself. Gauramukha maharshi sent the messengers back saying that the mani was not meant to be used for selfish reasons and must only be used for the good of the society. The king became angry knowing that his order was not carried out and sent his army to maharshi's ashram to get the mani by force.
Gauramukha maharshi prayed to the mani and a huge army came from the mani and destroyed the army. The unbeatable Vishnu chakram came from the mani and killed the king Durjaya. The whole army and Durjaya were killed in a nimisham! Thus the forest in which Gauramukha maharshi lived was henceforth known as 'Naimisaaranyam'. Naimisaaranyam, is a very pious place for the Indians. It is the abode of many Gods, rishis, munis and was the place where the great Suuta maharshi told Srimad Bhaagavatam to saunakaadi mahaamunis.
Morals in the story:

1. All the wonders that happened in the story, the greatness of naimisaaranyam, can all be attributed to the tapas-shakti of Gauramukha maharshi. There is nothing that Bhagavannaama-smarana cannot achieve.
2. One should never be proud of his power or strength and misuse the powers given to him. Durjaya in his ahankaar of being a king, destroyed himself and his army in a nimisham (The time taken for closing and opening the eyelid).

Vinayam gives Vruddhi. Ahankaar Destroys

The story of Nahusha, the son of Aayu and father of the Yayaati, clearly shows us what un-attainable high positions one can achieve as long as he has vinayam and what drastic downfall can happen if one has ahankaar.
Nahusha was raised in his childhood by the great Brahmarshi Vasishta. Since he was unaffected by happiness or sorrow and did not feel the slighest ahankaar when once Devatas praised him in his childhood, he was named Nahusha. He learnt all shaastras and after his education became the King. Due to his great qualities his fame spread quickly to all directions. Everyone was in praise of him, to such an extent that even vedas praised him. He performed 100 Ashwamedha Yaagas and hence was deserving the position of Indra.
Once, Indra killed an asura by name Vrutraasura. Though Vrutra was an asura, he was a braahmana and hence Indra had to suffer brahmahatyaa-paatakam and Nahusha was offered the position of Indra. Nahusha continued to be good, until one day he realized that he was the ruler, king of all the 14-lookas! He suddenly became very proud and once a person has Ahankaar, he does not think, he assumes he is the greatest and that he can never be wrong. Such was the power of being the king for the Devatas and all the worlds! He sends a message to Sachi-devi, the great Pativrata and wife of Indra (the previous Indra, the eldest brother of Devatas) that she must serve him as he is the Indra now. The very moment he wanted a Pativrata, all his good qualities, tapas-shakti everything were lost and his end was destined.
Sachi-devi tells Nahusha "O great Indra! You are the God of the Gods. You are very great, please come to my house. But you being so great deserve to be carried by none other than Saptarishis. So please come in a pallaqi beared by them". Nahusha really feels that what Sachi-devi said is true (did not realize that she was a pativrata and hence the real meaning behind her words) and immediately ordered the Saptarishis to do so. Obviously the Saptarishis have conquered anger and ahankaar so they carry him. Nahusha sits in the pallaqi beared by them and in the height of his pride says "Sarpa Sarpa" (go fast) to Agasthya muni, since he was very short and was taking small small steps. Agasthya muni said "sarpobhava", in order to teach Nahusha a lesson. And immediately from the high position of Indra, he falls as a Ajagaram (huge Python) in some deep forest.
He spends thousand and thousands of years repenting for his mistake. Once when Paandavas were in the aashramam of Vrushaparva, Bhima goes to the forest and sees Nahusha who was in the form of an incredably huge Ajagaram. Bhima gets surprised by the amazing strength of it and asks it who it was. Nahusha tells his unfortunate story and says only the great Yudhishtira, who never deviates from the path of truth, can save him from this form. Meanwhile, Yudhishtira searching for Bhima reaches that place. Yudhishtira on knowing that the ajagaram is his ancestor Nahusha, he prostrates to him and takes his blessings. Later he answers all the questions of Nahusha and Nahusha gets freed from the terrible form, takes the form of a divya-purusha and goes to urdhva lokas in a divya vimaana.
Morals in the story:

1. As long as Nahusha had Vinayam he was respected by everybody. Once taken over by Ahankaar, he committed great mistakes and later had to experience the result.
2. Even for a great person like Nahusha, the power of simhaasanam made him bad. One must be more and more careful to be good and humble as his power in the society grows.
3. Yudhishtira showed the way elders must be respected. One must never evaluate an elder for respecting them. According to our culture they always must be respected.
4. Gnyaanam, knowledge of shaastra helped Yudhishtira answer the questions of Nahusha. One must always give utmost importance to gnyaanam and vigyaanam — using them one can acheive great wonders and help others.
5. Pativratas power is graeater than anyone. One must never want a para-kaanta.

Unnata aadarshaas of Bhaarateeyas – Kalyaanam

The mahonnata divya aadarshaas of Indians have always surprised everyone. Kalyaanam — Gruhastaashramam is one of the aspects of Bhaarateeya saampradaayam that show the aadarsha bhaavaas of Indians. According to our saampradaayam, Kalyaanam has two main motives:

1. The main aim of Kalyaanam is to provide the society great individuals, who by never deviating from the path of Dharma and Truth, act as great resources and help their fellow humans and other living creatures.
2. The other is to provide the Pitrudevataas a putra who saves them from punnaama narakaas (the very meaning of putra is one who saves from all narakaas that start with 'pu' aksharam) and to provide satgatis to them after leaving their physical body.

Like many great Bhaarateeyas, Jaratkaaru and Devala maharshis did Kalyaanam only to provide satgatis for their Pitrudevataas (and not for the sukhaas and bhogaas). Once upon a time, there was a great maharshi by name Jaratkaaru. He was always involved in following ghora vrataas, japaas and tapaas. He followed tapassvaadhyaayam, brahmacharyam very firmly and was never interested in samsaara bhogaas. He spent many years like this. Once he while going through a forest, saw some shallow waters and a small rat hole. In the rat hole, making a small grass shoot as support, hanging in inverted positions and taking only aaditya-kiranaas as aahaaram, some rushis were doing tapas. Seeing them, he asked them who they were and other details. They replied "What to tell about our poor state? In our vamsham there is a person by name Jaratkaaru. Because of him we are in this poor state. There is no one to send us to uttama-lokas. Here lives a rat by name Kaala (represents the Kaala, Yamadharmaraaja). He in course of time is consuming all shoots of this plant and now only this shoot is left. If that also is taken away by Kaala, we will have to go to adho-lokas. If you by any chance meet Jaratkaaru, please tell him our poor state and ask him to help us." Jaratkaaru then replied to them "Many namaskaaraas O pitrudevatas. I am only Jaratkaaru. Till now I never had samsaarechcha. But seeing your state I have decided to do Kalyaanam". He did his Kalyaanam with Jaratkaaruu, the younger sister of Vaasuki. Jaratkaaru and Jaratkaaruu lead their samsaaram happily, without being involved in any materialistic aspects of it and helped their Pitrudevatas.
Mahaabhaartam, written by Veda Vyaasa in three years with the help of Lord Ganesha, has 60 lakh shlokaas. Only 1 lakh shlokaas were brought to earth by Shri Vyshampaayana, the Shishya of Vyaasa Bhagawaan. The rest were propagated in different lokas — Naarada maharshi propagated It in Devalokam, Devala maharshi in Pitrulokam, Shri Shuka maharshi, the son of Veda Vyaasa, in Garuda, Gandharva, Yaksha, Raakshasa lokas and Shri Sumanta in Naagalokam. Devala maharshi was the son of Pratyuusha and was the shishya of Vyaasa.
Once when Devala maharshi went for teertha-yaatraas and was taking bath in Ganga doing Vishu dhyaanam, his Pitrudevatas appeared and asked him to save them from punnaama narakaas. They said "because of Brahmacharyam Rushi-runam will be returned and due to Agnihotraadi kaaryaas the Devataa-runam will be returned. A sat-santaanam can return the Pitru-runam. So please help us". Devala maharshi did namaskaars to them and replied "O Pitrudevataas! I have become old. How is it possible for me to do Kalyaanam now?" Pitrudevataas replied "Brahma created the daughter of Kaundinya muni for you only. Please ask Kaundinya for her". Devala maharshi then married her and saved his Pitrudevataas through his daughter Suvarchala. However, they were never interested in the bhogaas and lead life with Vairaagyam. Devala maharshi, due to his Pitru Bhakti, was chosen by Veda Vyaasa as the propagator of MahaaBhaarata aamnaayam in Pitru lokas.
Morals in the story:

1. In the Bhaarateeya saampradaayam, Kalyaanam is mainly for providing the society great individuals and for helping Pitrudevataas. This story shows the unnata bhaavaas of Bhaarateeyas who do karma, but selflessly and without being involved in the materialistic aspects of it.
2. The Pitru-Bhakti of Jaratkaaru and Devala maharshis is clearly portrayed in the story.

Note:
Ofcourse the story does not apply to Sanyaasis, who take the permission of their parents/elders before entering Sanyaasaashramam, and great people like Bhishmaachaarya, who had the consent of his father to live not having santaanam. Also, the motive 1 shows why our Indian education system was so intense and difficult. After all one must provide the society with an individual who follows the path of Truth and Dharma.

 Dambhodbhava’s story

After Shri Krishna Raayabaaram, many do hita-bodha to Duryodhana. The present story was told by Shri Parashurama maharshi:
“O Duryodhana! I will tell one thing which will do good to you, your people and the entire world. Please listen to me carefully.
Long time ago, there used to be a king by name Dambhodbhava. He used to rule the entire Bhumandalam. There used to be no one to match in bhuja-balam and parakramam. He was a mahaayoddha. Everyday he to used to do good alankar for himself, adorn ratna-kiriitam, carry a sword which was like a young cobra and sit on a golden Simhaasanam. The sevakas used to praise him and sing stories of his greatness; and the king used to feel happy listening to them. He used to look at the people in his sabha and say “Is there any one in this Bhulokam who can fight me? — either with gada, khadga, praasaada aayudhas or with Aagnyeya, Vaaruna, Vaayavya astras or in malla-yuddham”. Knowing his strength no one used to reply. Day-by-day Dambhodbhava’s dambham, ahankar increased and he used to think there is no one as great as himself.
One day some Vipras from some other place came to see the king and told him “O maharaja! You are a Mahaveera. You have great bala-parakramas. However in the pavitra Gandhamaadana Parvatas (see this too) there are Nara-Narayana (avatar of Mahavishnu) doing great tapas with teevra-nishtha. We heard that no one can defeat them in the three worlds. You can try fighting them”. The king got angry and immediately started for the Gandhamaadana parvatas with his army.
He saw Nara-Narayana and called them for yuddham. Nara-Narayana seeing the king, tried to give atithyam to the king and do atithi-satkaras. The king said that these are not required and he wants to do yuddham with them. “We are munis doing tapas in this prashanta vaataavarnam. Why do you want to do yuddham with Us?” Dambodbhava did not listen and started to use his weapon. Seeing this Nara, with mandahaasam, took a darbha and said that this is enough to fight you and your army. Dambhodbhava showered rain of arrows; all of which broke into pieces hitting the darbha. The soldiers lost their ears, noses and started running back in fear.
At once, Dambhodbhava fell on Nara-Narayana’s feet and said “Aarya! Please forgive me. This is prayashchittam for my garvam. Please save me”. Nara-Narayana said “Maharaja! People who have wealth must do daana-dharmas. Similarly poeple who have bala-paraakramas must use their shakti to protect the sajjanas from durmaargas. One must never have ahankar. Life of a person who doesnt do paropakaram is waste”. Dambhodbhava listened to them and left his ahankar. He did many great daanas, helped the poor and used his shakti to save the sajjanas and attained great fame.
So Duryodhana! Ahankaram, bala-garvam are always useless. They will destory only the people who have them.”
Morals in the story:

1. Ahankar, Dambham, Parushyam are very dangerous and completely destroy the people who have them. One must always remember that there will always be a greater person than us.
2. The hita-bodha of Nara-Narayana must always be remembered and followed.

Bhaagavata Saptaaha Mahima

(We recommend readers to read all previous morals before reading this story (Bhakti is main theme). This story is very deep and must be analyzed carefully with the help of elders.)
In ancient times, there used to live a brahmana by name Aatmadeva. He was a Pandita and was very rich. His wife’s name was Dhundhuli. Aatmadeva was very sad because they did not have santanam. One day when he was sitting under a tree thinking about santanam, he saw a Sanyasi and approached him to ask for a way to get santanam. The Sanyasi replied “O Viprottama! Sukha-duhkhas are a result of your previously done karma. Instead of being sad please turn your mind towards God. Do Bhagavannaama-smaranam”. Aatmadeva said “Mahatma! Please dont do these kinds of Hita-bodha to me. Please tell me a way to get santanam, else before your eyes I will do Praana-tyagam”.
Seeing the strong will of Aatmadeva, the Sanyasi gave him a phalam and said “if your arthangi eats this – you will have santanam”. Aatmadeva was happy and gave the phalam to Dhundhuli and told her what happened.
Dhundhuli had dushta-svabhaavam. She was afraid of the pains of garbha-dhaaranam etc. and gave the phalam to their cow. However she took the word from her sister, who was a garbhavati, to give her the child when she delivers. The sister kept her word and gave her child, Dhundhukaara, to Dhundhuli.
After three months, the cow gave birth to a human. All his body parts were like a human, but for the ears. Hence Aatmadeva named him Gokarna. In a very short period, Gokarna became a vidvan and a gnyaani. However Dhundhukaara became a thief, dushcharita and a vyabhichaari. Aatmadeva was very sad seeing the dushkarmas of Dhundhukaara. Gokarna did Upadesha to Aatmadeva and Aatmadeva left for the forests, did Bhagavannaama-smaranam and reached para-lokas.
Then Gokarna also left for Teertha-yatras. Dhundhukaara lavishly spent all his father’s money. Dhundhuli also lost her life when she fell into a well and this gave an oppurtunity for Dhundukaara to do whatever he wants. He had no one to control him. He brought 5 veshyas to his house. One day the veshyas killed him for money. Because of his dushkarma and because he had none to do his uttara-karma, Dhundhukaara became a Preta (Pishaachi).
Gokarna later returned from his Teertha-yatras. One day when he was sleeping, Dhundhukaara came in his preta-rupam and told his story. He requested Gokarna to tell him a way of getting out of his difficulties. Gokarna took the anugnya of Surya-Bhagavan and started Bhagavata-saptaaham in order to give vimukti to Dhundhukaara. Many people from the near-by villages also came to hear the madhura Bhaagavata Katha.
As soon as Gokarna started the Bhaagavata-pravachanam, sitting on a Vyaasa-vedika, Dhundhukaara settled in a Bamboo stick that had 7 holes and listened to him carefully. Because of listening to Bhaagavatam for 7 days, the 7 holes in the stick broke and Dhundhukaara left the preta-rupam and reached Kaivalyam. Once, after this, in Shraavana maasam, Gokarna did Shrimadbhaagavata katha-pravachanam again and because of this, all the shrotas and Gokarna reached Vaikuntham.
Morals in the story:

1. The Bhaagavata Saptaaha Mahaatmyam is well shown in the story. Especially in Kaliyugam, Bhagavannaama-smaranam is the easiest way for Kaivalyam. This is what even the Sanyasi tells Aatmadeva and later Gokarna also.
2. The importance of uttara-karma and other such aacharas is shown in the story.
3. Dhundhuli even though had a chance to utilize the divya phalam given by the Sanyasi, did not use it because of her dushta-svabhaavam. Dushtas dont even utiize the adrushtam that comes to them. They instead will be sad that everyone else has adrushtam but not them.
4. We must be careful and be away from the durgunas that Dhundhukaara had. Such durgunas completely destroy the people having them.

Vyaaghrapaada maharshi

Shri Krishna Paramaatma’s Deekshaaguru was Upamanyu. His father was Vyaaghrapaada maharshi. Vyaaghrapaada maharshi was an akunthita Shiva deekshaapara and a Shiva bhakti paraayana. He was a shadkaala Shivapuuja-dhurandhara. Vyaaghrapaada Brahmarshi used to goto the aranyas and carefully collect Bilva-dalas, vividha-kusumas, with a lot of prema, for Shiva puuja.
Once Sadaashiva, the Bhaktavatsala, gave His durlabha darshanam to Vyaaghrapaada maharshi. Parama Shiva asked the Brahmarshi to ask for abhiishtam. Vyaaghrapaada maharshi replied “nirantara Shiva bhakti is enough for me”. He had nirmala, nishkaama, nishchala Bhakti on Parameshvara. However Parama Shiva insisted the Brahmarshi to ask for something.
With that Vyaaghrapaada maharshi replied “Karunaamaya! I get Divyaanandam doing Your puuja. Collecting vividha-kusumas, dalas for Your puuja, using them for Your archana — these things give immense aanandam to me. When I try to collect these Vana-dravyas, huge thorns and sharp stones prick and cause pain to me. So make my paadas as kathinam as a Vyaaghra’s”. (In Aadhyaatma tattvam, Vyaaghram represents Moksham) Parama Shiva, with a chiru-mandahaasam, replied “tathaastu”. Vishveshvara was happy with the avyaaja-prema of the Bhakta. Thus the Brahmarshi got the name Vyaaghrapaada.
The great Chidambara Kshetram is known as “Vyaaghrapuri” or “Puliyuur” because Vyaaghrapaada maharshi did Shiva-upaasana here and saw the Divya Shiva Taandavam here. He is the Mantra-drashta of many Mantras in Rug-vedam. The great Paandavas were from Vaiyaaghrapada-gotram, for which Vyaaghrapaada maharshi is the Pravataka.
For Loka-shrayas and to protect Sanaata-Dharmam, Vyaaghrapaada maharshi also wrote “Vyaaghrapaada-smruti”. One can learn about Yuga-dharmas, Aashrama-dharmas, Pinda pradaana – Pitru tarpana Mahaatmyam, Teertha-Kshetra praashastyam, Shraaddhaadi Vignyaanam, Abhisheka, Snaana vidhis etc., by reading this Mahaa-grantham:

1. On seeing a Deva-pratima, a Yati, a Sanyaasi, immediately one must do Namaskaaram. If one doesnt then praayashchittam is required.
2. When doing Namaskaaram one must do Yathaavidhi by folding both the hands. If one does with one hand, then he will loose all the Punyam which he earned in that janma.

Like this many simple, nevertheless important things are discussed in this Shaastram.
Morals in the story:

1. Nishkaama bhakti is what we all need to have. Vyaaghrapaada maharshi showed us that it is this which will impress Parameshvara, not Bhakti with Svaartham.
2. Importance of respecting, doing Namaskaaram to Deva-pratima, Yati, Sanyaasi and elders is well shown in the story.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

 

<sub>(My humble greatfulness to Moral Stories dot com,  Hindu dot com and Devotees   for the   collection)

( A tribute to the great Bharatiya Samskruti)</sub>