Panduranga - 19

Friday, January 17, 2014

       Thukkaram 3
      Radhekrishna! Continuation from last month's story! Amabhai and children continued worshiping the Lord with full faith. Amabhai also started getting the Lord's darsan frequently. She also got ashtamasiddhis - mystic powers. Everything was going fine. Eventually Hari and Mukund thought of joining the King's cavalry. They started earning a comfortable salary. They were given nice accommodation etc. So they gradually pulled their family to their place. Their wives and children went to them but Amabhai was very reluctant to leave Dehu. The boys insisted very much and finally she was forced to go. She thought of spending a few days with them and then coming back. But the sons were very reluctant to let their mother go. 
         The Lord came in Amabhai's dream one day. He said He had come to Dehu just for the devotion of Viswambharar. If that be so what is the meaning of her keeping away from Dehu? He insisted her to come back to their village. The Lord promised to take care of her. She told her sons about her dream but they refused to accept that. The Lord came again in her dream and was very sour with her for not paying heeds to His words. He warned her that a great war was impending in that place and it was only advisable for them to move away immediately. She became scared and told her sons about the impending war. But they refused to believe her and said there was nothing of that sort as far as they know.
          Our life is impermanent. Only devotion and faith supports it wonderfully. Accepting that fact we should be devoted. Bloated with the ego of their achievements in life Hari and Mukund ignored the Lord's advice. But the inevitable happened. All of a sudden their country was attacked by their enemy country and a great war occurred. As it was totally unexpected their army became very weak and was defeated by the opposite party. Both Hari and Mukund were seriously injured. Realizing their fault now they pleaded with the Lord for mercy. They admitted their mistake and cried to Him. He gracefully took them on to His lotus feet!
         The Lord took their lives from the bodies to prevent them from further getting into the depths of samsara ! Bhagavan gives least importance to the body. He is concerned with the atma only. We must understand that whatever the Lord does there must be some purpose in it and accept it ! The enemies entered their house and began to loot it. Amabhai wanted to escape from there with her daughters in law. One them did not want to leave so she committed sathi in her husband's funeral pyre itself. We need not discuss the pros and cons of it. Just accept the fact that the woman did not want to  live without her husband and died. Her other daughter in law was pregnant so she went to her home. Amabhai came back alone to Dehu. Panduranga was waiting for her patiently. The Lord wants to be with His devotees. He consoled Amabhai that her sons were in Vaikunta loka with Him. She was relieved and continued life with her devotion. She was staying alone in her house. But Vittal took a human form and started living with her. She was becoming weaker and weaker with age. Rukmini devi also came with them helping in cooking etc. The Lord did service to her as a son would do. He used to lead her to the temple gently holding her hand. He would even press her feet when she felt pain. People thought some relative had come helping her. When the ripe time came the Lord took the atma from her body smoothly and she attained moksha ! The Lord Himself did the funeral rites for her. He even arranged an elaborate feed for the people of Dehu. 
        The daughter in law who had gone to her home for her delivery decided to visit her mother in law and came with her son. Reaching here she heard about the demise of her mother in law and was grief stricken. She told her son all that happened to their family from the beginning. The child got so wild with anger that he ran to the temple and shouted to the deity. "Why did you do this to our family? You have cheated my grandfather with your false tricks ! You should have protected my father instead of taking their life etc. etc" The Lord instantly appeared before the boy and hugged him with love. Tears welled up in the boy's eyes and he felt himself melting in the hands of the Lord. He lost his heart to Panduranga that instant. The lineage of Viswambharar will not go in vain ! The boy called Vittoba became a great devotee of Lord Panduranga. 
       Vittoba had a son who too was devoted to the Lord. His great grand son was Sankar. His son was Kannaiya whose son was Bolobha. Bolobha had no issues for many years and finally his prayers fetched him three sons representing the thrimoorthies! His second son was Thukkaram who was born as per Viswambharar's wish to have a great devotee. Thukkaram was the rebirth of Uddhava the great devotee of the Lord! Uddhava who came as Namadeva was born again as Thukkaram to complete the abhangs pending to be sung. 
       The child when born was offered to the Lord on the 10th day itself by its mother. On the purification day of 13th Mother Rukmini walked in as a woman and named the child Thukkaram. She chanted the nama Panduranga in to the ears of the child thus giving upadesa for the child. The boon given to Viswambharar by the Lord was fulfilled after so many generations in the family. Radhekrishna! Radhekrishna! 
      

Followers

Universal visitors

Count on us...

See the Map for our Visitors . . .