Hara Hara Shankara, Jaya Jaya Shankara

Hara Hara Shankara, Jaya Jaya Shankara

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Stories Less Told - Dasa as a Saint

Purandara Dasa - The Saint


In my last post, we read about Srinivasa nayaka transformed into a great saint as Purandara Dasa. Can we even in our wildest dreams imagine such a blessing??. But that's what grace is. By his own sankalpa, the Lord can change lives instantly. But we have to accumulate good karma for that. Purandara dasa was considered to be an avataram of Sage Narada. In this post, I would like to narrate two incidences that shows Dasa's highest philosophical thought.


Purandara dasa had surrendered to the feet of his Guru Shri. Vyasaraya. Being immersed in the bhakti towards Lord krishna, he knew not any emotions as jealousy, selfishness, lies etc. As a result of this, he was a natural favourite of his Guru. Few disciples, however, were jealous of him and wanted to put him down in the eyes of his guru. The guru came to know of this and decided to teach the disciples a lesson. He called all of them and gave them each a banana. He told them to eat it in a place where no one could see them and in absolute secrecy. The students thought that it was too easy a test and was unfit to be called a challenge. The banana was given to Dasa also.

After an hour, all the students assembled and the Guru asked them if they had eaten the banana. The students gleefully answered in an affirmative. When each one was asked as to where he ate the fruit, they had funny answers. While one ate it near the kitchen, the other ate it inside the toilet. While one ate in the darkness, the other ate in in the garden hiding in a bush. However, Dasa had not eaten the fruit. The students ridiculed Dasa. The guru then silenced the students and asked Dasa as to why he didn't eat the fruit. Dasa smilingly said that he could not find any place where no one saw his action. He always had one person monitoring him. On further enquiry, Dasa said that the Lord was omnipresent. HE was present everywhere and was always watching our actions. Hence he could not eat the fruit. There was pin drop silence. The silence that prevailed was a proof that the students had understood their lesson for the day

On another occasion, the students challenged dasa for a debate. He gracefully agreed. One of them asked "Nanu swargakke Hogabahude" (in kannada), meaning "Can i go to the heaven". Dasa replied in negation "mmmhmmm..Neevu swargakke hogalu sadhyavilla". The student was taken aback. Another one asked him. "Naanu swargakke hogabahude"? Dasa again answered in negation. He negated each student and said that none of them could go to heaven. Then one intelligent student asked, "Neevu swargakke hogabahude" meaning "Can YOU go to heaven. for which Dasa replied."Hmm, nannu hodare hogabahudu" meaning "If I go, I can go". This indeed angered the students. They now had a sound proof of arrogance and over confidence. They went to the teacher and narrated the incident. The guru again called Dasa and enquired. Dasa answered in a calm and composed manner, "Guruve, Nanu emba ahankara hodare naanu swargakke hogabahudu" meaning "If "I", the ego vanishes, I can go to the heaven." The students were again dumb founded.

Such was the knowledge and bhakti of the Dasa. He saw Krishna in everything. He had unconditional love and bhakti for his Krishna. We are all fortunate that we are born in a holy land of such great saints. May a small percentage of his bhakti be showered upon us.

RAM RAM











  







Monday, February 9, 2015

Stories Less Told: Sangeetha Pitamaha

Purandara dasa


We often say that everyone has a turning point in life. Many of them change for the better while some change for the worse. It could be an incident or a sudden realisation of a new idea that changes one’s life completely. Here, I would like to narrate the story of Purandara Dasa whose life took a drastic turn due to an incident that took place in his life.


Purandara Dasa is one of the greatest devotees of Lord Vishnu and has composed thousands of songs in praise of the lord and about the philosophy of Dwaita.  He is also considered to be the “father of Carnatic Music”. If you do not know this, then it would be heartening to know that the beginners lessons of  sarali varisai, janti, tharasthayi, geetham, etc. are all laid down my this great Saint.

Do you know that this great saint was a stinking rich money lender?? His father had left a whole property which Dasa was taking care of. His initial name was Srinivasa nayaka. Though he was very rich, he was extremely stingy. He would not donate a pie to any poor. He was called “Navakoti Narayana” because of his riches but would not part with a single morsel of food to the needy. He has a pious wife by name Saraswati.

He thought he was the richest man in that village and was very proud. But destiny had other plans for him. He was not meant to enjoy the riches of his own wealth but to become a servant of the lord. When the destined time came, Lord Narayana came in the form of a poor Brahmin to Srinivasa’s shop. He requested Srinivasa to give some money as he wanted to conduct his son’s thread ceremony (Upanayana). Srinivasa flatly refused. But this poor Brahmin would not give up. He would repeatedly come to Srinivasa’s shop every day and beg for help. Srinivasa also would negate him and send him away. This went on for 6 months.

The poor Brahmin then learnt about Saraswati and went to Srinivasa’s house. He pleaded for some money to complete his son’s thread ceremony. The wife was overcome with compassion but was helpless. She told the Brahmin that she could not give anything without the consent of her husband. The Brahmin in return asked to give him anything which she got from her father’s house over which she had a right. Sarawati  thought for a while and removed her diamong-studded nose ring and gave it to brahmin. The poor man was very happy. HE went straight to Srinivasa Naik’s shop and pledged the ring. Srinivasa saw the nose ring and immediately recognized that it belonged to his wife. He asked the Brahmin to come the next day, locked the ring in a box and hurried home.

On reaching home, he saw that his wife’s nose ring was missing. He asked her about it. She gave weird answers, but he insisted that he would like to see the ring at that very moment. Saraswati was overcome by guilt and grief. She fervently prayed to Lord Vishnu. When she realised that she could not escape, she decided to end her life. She filled poison in a cup and intensely prayed to the Lord. And Lo!!!  While she took the poison to the lips, she heard a tingling sound inside the bowl. She looked and to her pleasant surprise, she found the ring in the bowl. She was surprised and astounded. She ran and showed the ring to her husband. Srinivasa still did not believe and pressed her to narrate what had happened. Saraswati told him the entire story. Srinivasa hurried to the shop to check for the ring. He was aghast to see that it was missing from there.

His mind was full of confusion and delusion. He calmed down and introspected as to what had happened. It then dawned on him that it was lord Narayana who come as a brahmin to give him true knowledge and remove him from the vagaries of this world. This incident in Srinivasa’s life changed him completely.

The hands that were laden with golden bangles, was holding the tanpura and jingle bells. The rich clothing which he adorned was all donated. He wore a simple dhoti below his waist, tied a turban around his head and renounced life. His wife also followed him as a devotee. He was completely transformed. Songs in praise of the lord just started flowing from his lips. He forgot the world and completely surrendered to the Lord Narayana’s feet. Such is the grace of the Lord. 

More stories of Purandara Dasa in my next post….


RAM RAM