Today’s blog is about the fourth discourse about the glory of srimad bhagavatam mahapurana.
Long ago there was a rich brahmin named Atmadeva.
Atmadeva was a glorious, kind & happy person.
Atmadeva’s wife was Dhunduli.Dhunduli was a cruel, wicked bad person who loved being with bad people & telling lies.
Atmadeva and Dhunduli were childless. Atmadeva badly wanted to have a child but Dhunduli was not interested. Atmadeva decided to do good things and donated many items of gold and silver. But he still did not have any children. This made Atmadeva very sad.
So Atmadeva went to the forest and cried. He felt thirsty and he stopped near a small lake. Suddenly a Sanyasi came and drank water there. He saw Atmadeva crying and asked what happened. After Atmadeva told everything to the sanyasi the sanyasi found out with his yogic powers about Atmadeva‘s past and future lives and told him that for the next seven lives, he will not have children as that was his Prarabdha Karma.
Sanyasi advised him to let go of such ideas of having children and renounce worldly life and become a Sanyasi. After hearing this Atmadeva felt sad and said, “I don’t want your advice. I want children or I will die this instant.”
Then the Sanyasi gave him a fruit(mango) and told him that if his wife eats the fruit and follows certain instructions, she will give birth to a good son. The rules were that she can’t tell lies, she has to always be kind and she has to eat only one meal a day. Atmadeva was overjoyed & he returned home.
Atmadeva gave the fruit to his wife Dhunduli, and told all about the Sanyasi’s powers and instructions, and then went outside to do some work.
Dhunduli didn’t want to eat that fruit as she was not ready to do hard work in raising the children. She was gossiping with her friends about this problem.
She lied to Atmadeva that she had eaten the fruit. After few months, she became worried that Atmadeva will find out about the lie and was lamenting about this to her sister.
Dhunduli’s sister said that she was pregnant and she will happily give her son to her once he is born if she can give some money in exchange for the child. Dhunduli liked the idea.
Dhunduli asked what to do with the fruit & her sister said that she should give it to Atmadeva’s cow to check if Sanyasi’s fruit worked.
Dhunduli pretended to be pregnant. After few months, she pretended that she gave birth to a child when he went out. Atmadeva celebrated the occasion. The boy was named Dhundukari. Dhundukari was a cruel person ( Just like his mother).
After 3 months the cow gave birth to a glorious human child but the only problem was that the boy had cow ears. He was called Gokarna. Gokarna means the one who has cow ears. Gokarna was a wise boy from a young age.
Dhundukari ruined Atmadeva’s life by doing bad things like stealing, lying, beating and killing animals.
Atmadeva was very sad and Gokarna saw that and asked him what the problem was. Atmadeva told the whole story about how he is sad about his son. He wished he never had a child.
Gokarna told he should go to the woods and read Srimad Bhagavatam.
So Atmadeva went to the forest and read Srimad Bhagavatam. He read it for seven days and became freed from all sinful things and deeds, and finally attained liberation.
Thus ends the 4th discourse of Srimad Bhagavatam Mahatmyam which is part of Padma Purana.
Written by Maani
(Edited by Sri Karthik)