SANT ATMADEVAR
INTRODUCTION
Sant Atmadevar was born in a pious Brahmin family at the present day North India in a village. He was a great devotee of Lord Krishna and he used to conduct divine discourses on Lord Krishna in the temples. His songs would melt the souls of the devotees, and they would also collectively sing songs along with him. Though Atmadevar was very wealthy, he didn’t have a child, and due to that, he met a famous sage at Himalayas and after hearing about his problem, the sage felt pity on him, and gave him a mango and asked Atmadevar to give it to his wife Dunduli, in order to eat it.
Atmadevar was very much delighted and gave the precious mango to his wife, and asked her to consume it, and due to some business work, he immediately went away from his home. Dunduli doesn’t want to eat the fruit, since she was afraid that her beauty would vanish, once if she gave birth to a child. Hence she gave that mango to a pious cow, and the holy cow ate the mango, and delivered a nice baby in a human form with cow ears, and people began to call that child as Gokarnan. Gokarnan lived a simple life, and he used to wander in the forests, by eating fruits, greens and vegetables. He also performed severe penance on Lord Krishna, and in course of time, he had attained salvation due to the grace of Lord Krishna.
Dunduli adopted her sister child, and made the public and her husband to believe that it was her own child. She named the child as Dundukari, and brought him up in a well versed manner. But the child developed bad habits by joining with bad children, and after he has grown into a teenager, he began to take the belongings of his parents and spent it lavishly.
Once when Atmadevar, tried to correct Dundukari by saying soft words, immediately Dundukari took a knife and tried to kill his father. Atmadevar was very much depressed due to the act of his son, and he immediately left his home and went to the forest, had done severe penance on Lord Krishna and attained salvation. His wife Dunduli was unable to control her son, and hence she fell down in a dilapidated well, and died. In course of time, Dundukari become a robber, and due to that, the local king hanged him into death.
From the above incident, we can understand that without developing good habits like helping others, developing good manners and showing our attention on the almighty, we cannot come up in our lives. Hence let us keep chanting the names of Lord Krishna and be blessed.
“JAI KRISHNA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR