Other
Great Indians
Dharmabalam
(Bheeshmaachaarya)
Once he heard that Devavrata (Bheeshmaachaarya) was a Veeraadhiveera. He heard that in the Bhuu-mandalam, no one can defeat him. Ugraayudha then decided to do Yuddham against Gaangeya, so took a huge Sainyam and reached Hastinaapuram.
Just at that time the Pita of Bheeshmaachaarya, Shantana mahaaraja became a Svargastha. Bheeshmaachaarya had great duhkham. The Shraaddha-karma was not yet over by that time. Only few days were over. Ugraayudha thought it was the right chance and sent a duuta to Devavrata:
“Bheeshma! There is no one who can defeat me. You also know this. You also know the power of the Chakraayudham. I dont want your Aishvaryam, Raajyam. I want Matsyagandhi, Bhuvanaika-sundari, Satyavatii Devi. I will give you one day time”. Bheeshmaachaarya became very angry listening to the Dur-bhaasha of the Dushta. He couldnt bear that someone spoke like this about his Maata, Pativrata, Satyavatii Devi. Immediately he ordered Yuddham against the Dushta, Ahankaari Ugraayudha.
However, the Panditas, Purohitas, Nitya-hita-kaamas said “O Dharmaatma! Bheeshma! Ugraayudha is like a Pipiilakam (ant) before you. There is no need for you to go for Yuddham. Also your Pita’s Shraaddha-karma is not yet over. Shraddha is the most important thing in Pitru-kaaryas. You must not take Aayudhas, Divya-vastras now. Also one must always try to avoid Yuddham, because of its evil effects on the samaajam. Hence you send a Duuta, use Saama-daana-Bheda Upaayas and try. Then you can try Danda-upaayam. By that time the Pitru-kaaryam will also be over”.
The Dharmagnya, Bheeshma, listened to the advise of the Panditas and sent a Duuta to Ugraayudha. However all the efforts of the Duutas went waste. The Durahankaari never listened to them. Infact he immediately used his Chakraayudham on Gaangeya. However even the Chakraayudham became nistejam because of the Paativratyam of Satyavatii Devi and Dharmabalam of Bheeshmaachaarya!
The Chakram kept on spinning but didnt move an inch!! Ugraayudha used all his aatma-shakti, but the Chakraayudham never moved. Ugraayudha thought “Chakraayudham is more powerful than Brahmaastram. What is stopping it? May be because Bheeshma now has Aashouchakam, the Chakram is not approaching him. I will wait till the Aashouchakam is over”. However, even after the Pitrukarma was over, the Chakraayudham didnt move, it stayed in the same place in the air, spinning. Ugraayudha was amazed.
In no time Bheeshma reached the place, along with his Anuja Vichitraveerya. In the hands of the Veera, Bheeshma, Ugraayudha lost his life. Seeing the Bala-paraakramam of Bheeshma, even the Devatas were surprised. All the people who were supressed in the Paalanam of Ugraayudha, then did Stuti of Bheeshmaachaarya.
Morals in the Story:
- Ahankaaram destroys the person having it. One must always remember that there is always someone who is greater than us. Even though Ugraayudha got Shri Hari’s Chakram, just because of Ahankaaram, he was destroyed.
- A real Veera never shows off his Balam. Ugraayudha, with Bala-garvam, always did Yuddhams. Whereas Bheeshma, even though he had the Shakti to kill Ugraayudha, tried to send Shaanti-sandesham to Ugraayudha.
- One who wishes a Para-strii, that too a Pativrata, will be destroyed. Before the Paativratyam of Satyavatii Devi, and Dharmabalam of Bheeshma, even the Vishnu-chakram became equivalent to a grass-shoot!
- The amruta-vaakyas of the Panditas must always be remembered. Bheeshma followed the Dharmabodha of his Purohitas and was able to complete the Pitru-kaaryam and also teach Ugraayudha a lesson.
Nachiketa
Vajashrava became angry. He said, “Son, You are not yet of an age when you can understand the ways of the world. If I donate all our good cattle, how will we live?” Nachiketa was silent for a while, for he had been brought up to give respect to his parents and elders. At last he said to his father, “O Father! The shaastras say that one’s child is the greatest wealth for him, hence give away me to somebody in order to fulfill the daanams in the yagnyam”. Vajashrava, who was busy with the yagnyam did not pay any attention to his son and on being repeatedly questioned by Nachiketa, out of sheer exasperation, Vajashrava shouted: “I hereby gift you to Yama”.
Nachiketa immediately started for Yamaloka, in order to make his father’s words true. He crossed the Vaitarani nadi, which even great aatmas who did a lot of punya also, find it difficult to cross! He reaches the dwaaras of Yamaloka and on knowing that Yamadharmaraaja was not in Yamaloka then, waited patiently for his arrival. The small boy waited near the dwaaram for three days without any food and water. Yamadharmaraaja returned on the fourth day and saw little Nachiketa at his doorstep. He felt pained for keeping an Atithi, that too a braahmana and that too a baalaka waiting without welcoming him, without food and water. Obviously Yamadharmaraaja knew that it was a great paapam not to welcome an atithi at the doorstep. Along with His wife, Yami, He rushed to serve Nachiketa. One went to fetch water and the other brought an aasanam for him. Yamadharmaraaja still did not feel completely satisfied in serving him. So he told Nachiketa, “Dear child, I have offended you by keeping you waiting for three days. To wash my paapam I request you to ask for three varaas”.
Nachiketa was very happy to recieve varaas from non other than the Yamadharmaraaja. Nachiketa said “My first wish is, when I return home may my father’s anger go away, may he conquer anger and always have prashaantata”. Yamadharmaraaja was very happy with nachiketa for his self-less wish. Nachiketa said “my second wish is to grant me the vignyaanam and my third and last wish is to grant me Aatmagnyaanam”. Yama granted the first two boons immediately and tried to convince Nachiketa to give up his third wish. Only a deserved person must be taught Aatmagnyaanam and hence Yamadharmaraaja tested Nachiketa by offering him gold, pearls, coins, horses elephants and even the happiness of Swarga instead. “No, I do not wish for anything else,” replied Nachiketa firmly. Finally, Yama granted him the third boon too, and Nachiketa was enlightened with the Aatmagnyaanam”.
Morals in the Story:
- Pitruvaakya paalanam is the foremost duty of every child. This is well displayed by Nachiketa. Even though he had to face difficulties because of it, in the end he learnt the Aatmagnyaanam, which is difficult for even great sages to obtain.
- The shaastra gnyaanam of Nachiketa helped him talk wisely both with his father and Yamadharmaraaja.
- Dhiraas never give up, they never move away from the goal. This quality is displayed by Nachiketa both while travelling to Yamaloka and being firm during Yamadharmaraaja’s test before giving Aatmagnyaanam.
- The importance of Atithi seva is well illustrated by Yamadharmaraaja.
- Always we must give away things we like, which are good and not the ones we hate and are useless.
Naadiijangha
Once Paandavas had the bhaagyam of the darshanam of Shri Maarkandeya maharshi. After Dharmaraaja did Yathaa-vidhi atithi-seva, Maarkandeya maharshi expressed his sorrow because Sajjanas like Paandavas had to face such difficulties. He then told then stories of Shri Raama Chandra and Nala-Damayant, who experienced still greater difficulties for the sake of following Dharmam.
One day Dharmaraaja asked Maarkandeya maharshi “Maharshi! I have a small Prashna” with little hesitation. Maarkandeya maharshi replied “one must ask and know things what he doesnt know. Please go ahead and ask your Prashna”. Dharmaraaja asked “as far as I know you are the only Chiranjeeva. Are there anybody else?” With chiru-mandahaasamMaarkandeya maharshi told the story of the great Indradyumna:
(The story of how Shrimannaaraayana saved the Gajendra and gave him Moksham is well known. Gajendra in his previous birth was a great King by name Indradyumna.)
In ancient times there used to be a king by name Indradyumna. It was well known that there was no one to match his Dharma-svabhaavam. As a consequence of his good deeds and daya, daana gunams, he ascended to swargam upon leaving the physical body. He enjoyed the sukhaas of swarga for a very long time. Once Indra called him in his sabha:
Indra said, “O King, you have done immense number of punyaas in your life and as a result you were here for a very long time. However unless one totally surrenders to Parameshwara and comes out of the cycle of Punya & Paapa, one needs to be binded to his own Karma. The time on earth past so much that now no one remembers any of your good deeds and hence it is time for you to leave swarga lookam”. Indradyumna was very surprised to hear that his huge punya-raashis have melted. Indra however said, “if you show me somebody who remembers your good deeds or is still enjoying the benefits of the good done by you, you can continue enjoying the swarga lookam. After all, no man may be cast away from here as long as traces of his good deeds are remaining”.
Indradyumna recalled that the Maarkandeya maharshi is a chiranjeevi. So he went to him and asked him, “O great maharshi, do you remember my good deeds?”. Maarkandeya, who was doing Teertha-yaatras, Punya-karmas, and Upavaasa-deeksha since a very long time and was having very little physical power, replied, “I am sorry but I don’t remember who you are. In the great Himaalaya parvataas there lives an Uluukam (owl) called Praavaarakarna. He is older than me and hence might know you. If you put little more effort you can reach him”. Both Maarkandeya maharshi and Indradyumna went to Praavaarakarna.
Indradyumna asked him, “I am told that you are the longest lived creature in the world. Do you remember any of my good deeds”? Praavaarakarna replied, “O great king, I do not remember you, you must have been before my time. There is a sarovaram at a distance of 2 Yojanas from here. Coincidentally it is named Indradyumna, where my friend Naadiijangha, a mahaa-bakam (big crane), lives and he is older than me”.
All three went to the sarovaram and sadly Naadiijangha also did not know Indradyumna. However he said “it is possible that my friend Aakuupaara, who has lived here since before my parent’s time, might know something of Indradyumna”. Naadiijangha called for Aakuupaara, a very very old kuurmam (tortoise).
On knowing that Indradyumna arrived, Aakuupaara’s eyes were filled with aananda-bhaashpaas, his heart was much moved and he trembled with deep emotion. He did many namaskaars to the King and said, “O Indradyumna, I know you very well. You did thousand Yagnyaas, built 1000 Yuupa-stambhaas and gave away hundreds of thousands of cows as daanam. This very Sarovaram was excavated just by the movements of the hooves of those cows (he gave away some many!) and that is why it bears your name. I am blessed to have obtained sight of you after so many years”.
Immediately a divya-vimaanam came for Indradyumna and took him to urdhva-lookaas. God never leaves good people. Shrimannaaraayana made Indradyumna realize that there is Kaivalyam which is beyond swargas, all urdhva-lookas etc, through his next janma as Gajendra. He blessed him with Moksham when Gajendra left all his pride, doubt and totally surrendered himself to God.
Morals in the story:
- The importance, greatness of good qualities like daya, daanam etc. are well portrayed in the story.
- It is not rich people or powerful people that the world will remember. It is the people who help others that the world will remember. It is the only wealth that can be carried beyond life.
- If one never leaves the path of Dharma, at some or the other time, God will save him, remove any small buddhi-doshaas that are remaining, and give moksham. This is what that happens to Indradyumna in his next janma as Gajendra.
Story of the great Nāḍī Jaṅgha
Kṛtajñata is a great sat-guṇam. Not forgetting a favour done is the minimum one can do. Kṛtajñata is one of the such Dharmas, where following the Dharmam does not carry any special Puṇya, but not following will give mahāpāpam. Saying thus, Sūta muni continued:
Once there lived a brāhmaṇa, a Kāśyapavamśajāta. But, he left his svadharmam and lived like a kirātaka in some forest. Everyday he used to hunt animals and lead a himsa-maya jīvanam. He was a māmsa-bhakṣhaka and had his interests in doing many other durita-kāryas. A person who believes that Indriya-sukhas are Paramārtham, runs behind viṣhayas and vañchas, always will want to earn more and more. To satisfy his vañchas, he dares to go against Dharmam and Nyāyam. A person who does not have Daiva-bhīti and Pāpa-bhīti not only does immense harm to himself, but also to the society.
Once he went to deśāntaras along with some vartakas for earning more money (in his durāśa). On their way, they reached a durgama parvata śreṇi. Meanwhile, a madagajam came running and chased them away. Each of them ran for their life and the kāśyapavamśajāta got separated from others and reached a still more gahana durgama-sthalam. He did not know how to get back to his svasthalam. He searched a lot for a way and finally reached the shade of an Aśvattha vṛkṣham, tired and exhausted.
On the top of the Vṛkṣham lived a mahābaka by name Nāḍī Jaṅgha. He was not an ordinary baka. He had a mahākāyam and had Dharma-adharma vicakṣhaṇa, sambhāṣhaṇā sāmarthyam. He was the mitra of Lord Brahma and hence used to once in a while go and come to Brahmalokam. The Dharmajña, Nāḍī Jaṅgha, saw the exhausted human reaching the shade of the Vṛkṣham and gave sādara-ātithyam to him. He asked "O mahātma! who are you? Where are you coming from and heading to?". The brāhmaṇādhama told how he got lost and the reason for his exhaustion. With sānubhūti-vacanas, Nāḍī Jaṅgha invited the patita. He offered sweet water, very tasty food and with his big wings fanned air for him. Nāḍī Jaṅgha, seeing that it is dark, said "O mahānubhāva! You have now become a mitra of mine. So it is my kartavyam to remove your dāridryam and duhkham. Near to this place stays my priya mitra, Virūpākṣha, a King of the Rākṣhasas. He is a Dharmātma, has Madhuvrajam as his rājadhāni and lives 3 yojanas away from here. If you go to him and tell him that I have sent you, he will give you many dhana-ratnas. Tomorrow morning you can leave for his place, please take rest in my place for tonight". Nāḍī Jaṅgha prepared a kusuma-śayya and gave undisturbed sleep for the brāhmaṇādhama by guarding him all night from wild animals.
The patita brāhmaṇa left for Virūpākṣha's place the next day morning and was taken with great respect to the king by the rakṣhaka bhatas, on hearing the name of Nāḍī Jaṅgha. A person's ācāras, Dharmādharmas, bhāvas clearly appear in his ākṛti. A Dharmātma can easily see these in a person. Also being a King, Virūpākṣha immediately recognized that the brāhmaṇa was a bhraṣhṭa. However, since he was sent by his mitra, Nāḍī Jaṅgha, the king did many great satkāras to the brāhmaṇa. In a suvarṇa sthālikā he offered good food, gave him many kinds of dhana-ratnas and sent him away. Not able to carry the huge dhana-rāśis, the pāpātma planned to take rest at Nāḍī Jaṅgha's place on his way back. As usual, Nāḍī Jaṅgha offered him ātithyam and requested him to take rest in his place for the night.
The patita brāhmaṇa woke up in the mid-night and saw Nāḍī Jaṅgha, who was near by. Seeing the well-built baliṣhṭa deham of Nāḍī Jaṅgha, the durātma got a durbuddhi. Our style of living determines our ālocanas. Because the patita always had himsa in his mind, his ālocanas were pāpa-bhūyiṣhṭhas. He did not see a mahātma who gave him ātithyam and ājīvana-dhana sampadas in Nāḍī Jaṅgha; instead he saw a mouth-watering meal. He thought that Nāḍī Jaṅgha will be a great meal for his next days exhaustive journey. He immediately took a big stick and banged Nāḍī Jaṅgha and killed him. The kṛtaghna removed the baka's feathers, fried the māmsam and took it in his bag. Virūpākṣha, being a priya mitra of Nāḍī Jaṅgha, woke up abruptly from his sleep and started worrying about him. He ordered his rakṣhaka-bhatas to see if Nāḍī Jaṅgha was alright. He immediately ordered the bhatas to bring the kṛtaghna, on learning what happened. Seeing the patita, the King ordered "O Rākṣhasas! Cut this fellow into pieces and eat him. Since you are Rākṣhasas you can eat nara-māmsam". The sevakas replied "Kṣhama mahārāja! We cannot even smell the māmsam of this kṛtaghna". Saying this, they offered the māmsam to dogs, which also did not touch it.
Our bhāvas, karmas go into the aṇu-paramāṇus of our śarīram and carry on to many janmas. This is why our Dharma-śāstras always warn us to do sat-karmas and have sat-bhāvam. Meanwhile, the sad Virūpākṣha did the kriya-karmas for Nāḍī Jaṅgha, to provide him with sat-gatis. Knowing the sad news, Brahmadeva brought back the life of Nāḍī Jaṅgha, using the Amṛta-kṣhīram of Kāmadhenu. Seeing his friend, Nāḍī Jaṅgha, Virūpākṣha was very happy and explanied him all the story. Nāḍī Jaṅgha became very sad on hearing that his mitra, the patita brāhmaṇa was killed!! He requested his priya mitra, Brahmadeva to give back the life of the brāhmaṇa. Brahmadeva, surprised seeing the mahaudaryam of Nāḍī Jaṅgha, gave back the life of the durātma. Nāḍī Jaṅgha gave back all the sampadas to the kṛtaghna and sent him off. The patita went away happily without having any kind of paścāttāpam.
Sūta muni continued: That pāpātma will not have any niṣhkṛti. Now he was saved by the audāryam and karuṇārdra-hṛdayam of Nāḍī Jaṅgha, but this mahāpāpam will carry over to his janma-janmāntaras. Because he has to experience the entire pāpa phalitam he did not even have paścāttāpam (If he had, then pāpam may be will reduce). One must have done atleast some minimum puṇyam to get paścāttāpam. Any pāpam might have a niṣhkṛti, but not kṛtaghnata. That too a mitra-droham is a mahāpātakam.
Brahmadeva gave āśīrvādam to Nāḍī Jaṅgha saying "because you are a śreṣhṭha Dharmācāri you will be known as 'Rājadharma'. Even devatas will do namaskāras for your Dharma-svabhāvam and kṣhamā guṇam".
Morals in the story:
1. Importance of kṛtajñatādharmam is well illustrated in the story.
2. Mitra-droham and kṛtaghnata will lead to mahāpāpas, which do not have any niṣhkṛti.
3. Nāḍī Jaṅgha taught us great sat-guṇas like atithi seva, mitra-lābham, karuṇa and kṣhama.
4. The importance of following once own svadharmam is well shown in the story. The patita brāhmaṇa left his svadharma and took to paradharmam. He did lot of himsāyuta-pāpakāryas without any daivabhīti or pāpabhīti.
Shankha and Likhita
Shankha returned to his aashramam and found Likhita eating the mangoes. Shankha then told Likhita that, one must never take the things which do not belong to them. He said “You should have eaten it only after taking my permission”. He further told Likhita to go to the King, Sudyumna, tell him the mistake he did and take the appropriate punishment, according to the Danda-neeti-shaastram.
Likhita adheres to the word of his brother and immediately goes to Sudyumna. The King warmly welcomes the Muni and upon being asked the reason for coming, Likhita tells what had happened and begs the King for punishment.
The King who knows all the Dharma shastras, replied that “O great Muni! You leave all the pleasures of normal humans and do Tapas for the welfare of everyone. How can I give you punishment?”. Likhita replies saying that a King must never deviate for his duty and hence, must punish him. The King accepts and orders that Likhita’s hands must be cut-off (following Danda-neeti).
Likhita then returned to Shankha after experiencing the punishment. Shankha was very happy to see his brother and said “O Putra! you did a good thing. Because of you our entire vamsham will be saved. Dip in the Baahudaa Nadi and do Deva, Muni, Pitru Tarpanam and come. Suraapaanam, Guru Bhaaryaa Vyaamoham, Vipra-hatya, Vipra-Dhana-apaharanam and doing friendship with these four kinds of people are the Pancha-mahaa-paatakas (5 main sins). You became punyaatma because you experienced Dandanam (punishment) from Raaja. Go.”
Likhita immediately goes and takes a dip in the Baahudaa Nadi and to his surprise sees that he gets back his hands. Knowing that his hands came back due to the power of Shankha, he asked his brother that if he has so much power why did he ask him to go to the King for punishment, instead he himself could have given it. The elder brother said that everyone must do his own duty. Our duty is to do Tapas for the benefit of the society and the King’s duty is to punish the bad. Hence, he said, he had no right to punish his younger brother.
This story was told by Vyaasa Bhagavaan to Dharmaraaja when he was worried that all relatives, friends etc. are killed in the Yuddham. Vyaasa Bhagavaana says Dushtas must be punished. Duty of the King is to do that. So there is nothing wrong in Yudhishthira doing the Mahabhaarata Yuddham, to kill the bad.
Morals in the story:
- Respecting elders, though sometimes their words may seem harsh, is a very important aspect of Indian culture. The younger brother always respected his elder brother and adhered to his words. Also, the elder brother always wanted the good of his brother. Thus did not pamper him by neglecting the mistake he did, considering it small.
- Everyone in the story performed their duties. The sages did tapas, the King did Dharma-paalanam, younger brother listened to the elder one. The elder brother always thought about the good of the younger one.
- One has to experience the results of his own karma some or the other time. Knowing this, the elder brother asked his younger brother to experience the punishment given by the king rather than postponing it to hell.
- Stealing, knowingly or unknowingly results in big paapam. For stealing one mango, that too being a sage, the punishment was as severe as cutting off hands. The bad result of stealing (even by mistake) is well illustrated in King Nruga’s story too.
If stealing one person’s belonging is such a crime, imagine how much magnitude of crime is committed by stealing public/government money/property (bribes). Similarly, destroying public property must never be done. Since, it will effect many individuals not only one.
Pravarakarna
Once Paandavas had the bhaagyam of the darshanam of Shri Maarkandeya maharshi. After Dharmaraaja did Yathaa-vidhi atithi-seva, Maarkandeya maharshi expressed his sorrow because Sajjanas like Paandavas had to face such difficulties. He then told then stories of Shri Raama Chandra and Nala-Damayant, who experienced still greater difficulties for the sake of following Dharmam.
One day Dharmaraaja asked Maarkandeya maharshi “Maharshi! I have a small Prashna” with little hesitation. Maarkandeya maharshi replied “one must ask and know things what he doesnt know. Please go ahead and ask your Prashna”. Dharmaraaja asked “as far as I know you are the only Chiranjeeva. Are there anybody else?” With chiru-mandahaasamMaarkandeya maharshi told the story of the great Indradyumna:
(The story of how Shrimannaaraayana saved the Gajendra and gave him Moksham is well known. Gajendra in his previous birth was a great King by name Indradyumna.)
In ancient times there used to be a king by name Indradyumna. It was well known that there was no one to match his Dharma-svabhaavam. As a consequence of his good deeds and daya, daana gunams, he ascended to swargam upon leaving the physical body. He enjoyed the sukhaas of swarga for a very long time. Once Indra called him in his sabha:
Indra said, “O King, you have done immense number of punyaas in your life and as a result you were here for a very long time. However unless one totally surrenders to Parameshwara and comes out of the cycle of Punya & Paapa, one needs to be binded to his own Karma. The time on earth past so much that now no one remembers any of your good deeds and hence it is time for you to leave swarga lookam”. Indradyumna was very surprised to hear that his huge punya-raashis have melted. Indra however said, “if you show me somebody who remembers your good deeds or is still enjoying the benefits of the good done by you, you can continue enjoying the swarga lookam. After all, no man may be cast away from here as long as traces of his good deeds are remaining”.
Indradyumna recalled that the Maarkandeya maharshi is a chiranjeevi. So he went to him and asked him, “O great maharshi, do you remember my good deeds?”. Maarkandeya, who was doing Teertha-yaatras, Punya-karmas, and Upavaasa-deeksha since a very long time and was having very little physical power, replied, “I am sorry but I don’t remember who you are. In the great Himaalaya parvataas there lives an Uluukam (owl) called Praavaarakarna. He is older than me and hence might know you. If you put little more effort you can reach him”. Both Maarkandeya maharshi and Indradyumna went to Praavaarakarna.
Indradyumna asked him, “I am told that you are the longest lived creature in the world. Do you remember any of my good deeds”? Praavaarakarna replied, “O great king, I do not remember you, you must have been before my time. There is a sarovaram at a distance of 2 Yojanas from here. Coincidentally it is named Indradyumna, where my friend Naadiijangha, a mahaa-bakam (big crane), lives and he is older than me”.
All three went to the sarovaram and sadly Naadiijangha also did not know Indradyumna. However he said “it is possible that my friend Aakuupaara, who has lived here since before my parent’s time, might know something of Indradyumna”. Naadiijangha called for Aakuupaara, a very very old kuurmam (tortoise).
On knowing that Indradyumna arrived, Aakuupaara’s eyes were filled with aananda-bhaashpaas, his heart was much moved and he trembled with deep emotion. He did many namaskaars to the King and said, “O Indradyumna, I know you very well. You did thousand Yagnyaas, built 1000 Yuupa-stambhaas and gave away hundreds of thousands of cows as daanam. This very Sarovaram was excavated just by the movements of the hooves of those cows (he gave away some many!) and that is why it bears your name. I am blessed to have obtained sight of you after so many years”.
Immediately a divya-vimaanam came for Indradyumna and took him to urdhva-lookaas. God never leaves good people. Shrimannaaraayana made Indradyumna realize that there is Kaivalyam which is beyond swargas, all urdhva-lookas etc, through his next janma as Gajendra. He blessed him with Moksham when Gajendra left all his pride, doubt and totally surrendered himself to God.
Morals in the story:
- The importance, greatness of good qualities like daya, daanam etc. are well portrayed in the story.
- It is not rich people or powerful people that the world will remember. It is the people who help others that the world will remember. It is the only wealth that can be carried beyond life.
- If one never leaves the path of Dharma, at some or the other time, God will save him, remove any small buddhi-doshaas that are remaining, and give moksham. This is what that happens to Indradyumna in his next janma as Gajendra.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble greatfulness to Moral Stories dot com, Hindu dot com and Devotees for the collection)
( A tribute to the great Bharatiya Samskruti)
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