There lived a learned man called Kamalakar in Pandaripur. He was known for his good qualities, Bhakti and knowledge. He had a wife known as Sumathi. True to her name she was a dutiful wife, good natured, pious and intellectual lady. They had a five year old son-Padmakar.

They spent their life in a pious way. They had holy bath in Chandrabhaga River, and their morning prayers served the Bhagavatas and offered food to them and ate the remaining food.

One day, on their way to their work, they came across the great saints, the beloved devotees of the Lord. They were Nivrithidev, Jnanadev, Sopanadev, Muktabai, Namadevi, Gorakumbhar, Changadev, Kabirdas etc. They were chanting the name of God. Kamalakar fell to their feet with his son and said ‘Oh great saints’! I am lucky enough to have your Darsan. I request you all to visit our house and bless us.

The saints were impressed by his good faith, but said, ‘You are a great Bhakta of Lord Vishnu, but still we are quite a few. It will be difficult for you. So please forget it. We’ll bless you from here itself.’ He answered, ‘Oh! Don’t you worry about that! Lord Vittala and Goddess Rukmini Devi are my parents. They take care of every one of us. I am blessed by their love and concern. So you can come without any doubt and bless me.’ Then the Sadhus said. ‘Ok we’ll come, you proceed first.’ He went home, informed his wife about the Sadhus’ arrival and went back again to receive them.

Sumathi Devi borrowed the required material from her neighouring lady. Suddenly the firewood was exhausted. So the mother sent her son to fetch the cow-dung cakes. Unfortunately, as he was removing them, a snake which was hidden under them stung him. He let out a big cry and died within no time.
Sumathi’s grief was beyond expression, but she had to put her duty before her sorrow. She had to control herself at once. She brought her son’s dead body and kept it in a corner, had her bath again and continued her cooking.

Kamalakar brought the guests, served them humbly, prayed to God, offered prasadam to God and served food to the guests. Then Namadev prayed to Lord Sri Krishna. Krishna, who answers his call at once and comes immediately, did not come then. Namadev was worried. How much ever he prayed God did not come!

He called Kamalakar and said, ‘Oh Bhakta! Call your son! He will eat with us! Then Sumathi answered, “Swami, He had his food just now and he is sleeping’. Namadev said, ‘No, we will not eat until he comes. Sumathi Devi said, ‘Swami! I am sorry. However much I tried, he is not getting up. Please, you carry on.’ Then Namadev prayed to God again and said ‘Oh God! If you don’t arrive here, we will not accept your Prasad’. Then God arrived and asked ‘What do you want?’ ‘Oh God! Please see to it that Sumathi’s son wakes up and has his food with us.

Immediately, the son woke up and called his mother. He said he was thirsty. The mothers’ joy knew no bounds. She hugged him with tears of joy and brought him to the feet of Namadev and thanked him profusely. She said ‘Oh God! You have driven out our misery.’ They all asked her, ‘What exactly happened to your son?’ Sumathi explained everything. When they heard the whole story, the Sadhus praised Namadev as reincarnation of God.

Later all of them had their food along with the boy. They blessed the couple and the boy and taught them Krishna mantra. They prayed to Namadev and other Sadhus.

One day God dressed himself as an old Brahmin went to Kamalakar’s house when he and his son were away. God asked Sumathi, ‘Oh lady! I am unable to bear my hunger. I am about to die, please serve me something.’ She took pity on him, borrowed items from the neighbouring lady, cooked food, served him, made him sleep on a comfortable bed and started pressing his feet.

Kamalakar reached home and was pleased with his wife’s good nature. He took over her place. His son was fanning the guest. God was impressed by the family’s respect for Sadhus and went into ‘Yoga Nidra’.
Sumathi cooked food for her husband and called him, but he did not want to disturb the guest. So he sat at his feet, unmindful of his hunger. The Sadhu woke up late in the night and asked, ‘Why did you not have your food, Go have it now!’ Kamalakar invited the Sadhu too and all of them had their food. God thought it was high time he revealed himself to the good family. They were excited and prayed to him in various ways. He said ‘Oh my devotees! I am impressed by your good nature. I’ll reside in your hearts forever’ and disappeared.

Kamalakar’s family lived happily thereafter with the blessings of God.
What is self realization? How does it help us come out of the sorrow of life? What amount of happiness do we get in treating God with love more than with Bhakti?
Once there lived a pious lady called Karma Bai in the pilgrimage centre ‘Jagannadh Kshetra’. Unfortunately her husband died while she was pregnant. She was torn between her grief for her husband and the love for her new arrival. By God’s grace she was blessed with a boy baby. She put her life and soul into him and looked after him well. She performed Upanayanam for him, provided him all the classical knowledge required and performed his marriage. History repeats itself. Her son died when her daughter-in-law was pregnant. Both the women pinned their faith on the new arrival, but God seemed to test them. She had a grandson, but he soon died suddenly.
She was brooding over her state of affairs. Why should she alone suffer thus? She was stripped off of her husband,, her son and ever her grandson. Who would take care of her? How would she lead the rest of the life? When she was thus cursing herself one day a learned pundit halted in her house.
The pundit asked her the reason behind her sorrow day in and day out. When she let our story he taught her Atma Jnana. He spoke thus, ‘Look here! Is there any one who can proudly proclaim I am happy? So you give up your misery. Kindly follow my words of advice. Don’t ignore them. I will not gain anything by such an advice. Don’t you know that every man who is born has to undergo the various phases of life? He has to pass through childhood, adolescent stage, adulthood, old age and he has to end this eventful history of life in miserable death! Punarapi Jananam, Punarapi Maranam’. Man is born again and again as proclaimed in the Sastras. His atma takes the physical form based on the good deeds or bad deeds associated with it. He enters the world crying and has to continue crying till he breathes the last.
It is foolishness to assume that happiness lies in material comforts. People think they are happy if they can satiate their hunger or if they have electric gadgets to protect them from seasonal changes. Eating food may give them happiness but what about the suffering behind procuring that food How much effort has to be put in to make both ends meet? Leave aside even this suffering. Let’s come back to mere eating food.
Is one happy always by eating all the rubbish he likes? Doesn’t he face indigestion, acidity, gastric trouble etc? One that does physical labour makes somebody press his feet. One who is interested in lady love spends a greater part of his time in pleasing her or in pleading her.
It is foolish to treat this body as a combination of nerves and senses and to be carried away by the sense organs. People feel the importance of Agni in winter, of water when thirsty and of food when hungry. When they can’t get these, they suffer. So these are sources of suffering for them. The more a man amasses wealth, the greater is his misery. The larger is his circle of family and friends the greater in his sorrow. ‘Dhanagamana trushna’ leads him away from God. When his heart is filled with money, kith and kin, where will he have place for God?
You cannot confine misery to one phase of life. You see a soul struggling at death bed. You see the labour pains of a mother during child birth. You hear of the suffering of the soul in Yamaloka. So tell me, at which stage are you happy? The whole world is a miserable world. Then how do you come out of this misery? Only by clinging to the creator of this world! He alone can save us from the troubles of this world. You don’t have to doubt the truth of my statement. You don’t have to doubt your capabilities. Childhood, adolescence, adulthood old age and death are passing stages of the body but not of the ‘atma’. Atma is devoid of these stages. People postpone acquiring spiritual knowledge until old age. But when they reach old age they become ‘sans teeth, sans eyes , sans taste, sans memory and reach a pitiable childhood stage. So they do not have energy to pray.
A man spends his childhood in sports, his youth in pleasures and his old age in helplessness. For instance let us say a washer-man is at the bank of river Ganges, washing his clothes. If he feels thirsty, he should drink water immediately. There is no point in postponing it till he completes his task.
Now, what has happened has happened! There is no meaning in brooding over past, ignoring the present. Every moment is precious. Remember, Atma has no stages. Make it live peacefully. Develop this vairagya and have faith in Srimannarayana. You don’t have to face any difficulty in praying to him. In kaliyuga, just by mere chanting of God’s name you get the result. Make friendship with holy people. Their influence will drive out your attachment to the world. If you acquire spiritual knowledge you won’t hate the world around which is filled in misery. Even if you feel the whole world around you is happy and only you are suffering, don’t hate them. Hatred leads to downfall. So don’t have ill feeling towards others. Please follow my advice and treat everyone around you as an incarnation of the Lord.
The Learned man, after having taught her thus, gave her a Krishna deity and added, ‘Just as you looked after your son or grandson, take care of this deity!” He left her house later.
She thought that her God-son couldn’t wait for food. So without having her bath, she prepared food for him, offered it to him, made him sleep and then she resorted to her household chores.
She had been doing thus for a long time. One day a few versatile Brahmins came to her house and asked. ‘Oh mother! You seemed to have cooked food early in the morning! But now you are going to have your bath, why so? She replied, ‘I served my baby food, made him sleep. After all mother’s priorities are her children first and next come her personal interests. They couldn’t believe her, ‘But there doesn’t seem to be any child in your house. Please tell us the truth. Then she brought her baby and narrated the story behind it.
The Brahmins were impressed by her fond love and service to the Lord and they saw personally God eating the food served by her. They appraised her but still couldn’t appreciate her unorthodox behaviour. They insisted on her having her bath before she cooked food.
Poor innocent lady meticulously followed their instructions. That night, Lord Krishna appeared in the dream of a Poojari and said. ‘Poor Karmabai’ was carried away by silly suggestions of some people. I had to wait for long for my food. I was very hungry. Go tell her she need not follow these rituals. She is such a great devotee. Let her do as of yore!

The Poojari was surprised and came to Karmabai’s house to convey the message. Karmabai felt very sorry for her baby. ‘How stupid I am! I made my son starve’ she thought and as advised by God, she followed her previous methodology. The Brahmins who suggested a different method and the Poojari who brought God’s message all were stunned at her faith. They praised God and her and left the place. Karmabai continued her normal method and attained Moksha after her death.
Jaya Malla Raju
Bhakti is faith in God, but there are various ways and means of expressing it. Satvika Bhakti is one such faith which takes us close to God and helps us talk to him.

Once upon a time Jaya Malla Raju was the king of a town called ‘Medam’. He was a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu. Early in the morning he prayed to God wholeheartedly. When he was lost in his prayer, nobody had entry to that place. His younger brother took undue advantage of that situation. He settled himself in the neighbouring kingdom. He secretly pooled up an army greater than that of his brother’s and attacked his kingdom, when he was thus lost in his prayer.

The minister took strings in to his hands and went with the army to attack the traitor without disturbing the king. But the poor minister realized before it was too late that he would not stand a fair chance before the unfair brother. He hastened to the king’s mother to and requested her to alert her elder son. Accordingly she dared to enter the room. She heard no response from her son, but she heard the voice. I’ll go attack him. Don’t you worry.’ The mother felt relieved and left the place.

The next minute God came out of the palace gates as a great warrior with arms, seated on a horse. He pushed his way into the midst of the army, killed many of the soldiers and the rest fled for their lives. The city dwellers who were watching the valour of the soldier appreciated him. He brought the king’s brother as a captive to the minister and then disappeared.

The minister imprisoned him and narrated the whole story to the king as he came out of his ‘Pooja Griha’. The king at once could guess the brave warrior was the God Himself. He was delighted at the way God came down personally to help him but was also moved to tears that he was not lucky enough like his brother to have his beloved God’s darsan. God was touched by his sincere prayer and appeared before him. He praised God in various ways. He said that the chanting of God’s name is powerful. The chanting would help a king get victory over his enemy, would help a human being come out of the materialistic bonds, would drive out ajnana, would give wealth, would drive out bad habits etc. Your ‘padodakam’ would drive out all the sins.’ God said to him ‘You continue to chant My name thus. You treat everyone as equals. You see God in everyone. You shine like a polished diamond with the qualities of Jnana, Bhakti and Vairagya. Follow the advice of your gurus. If you lead such a pure life, I’ll help you whenever you seek my assistance.’

The king then sent word to his brother. The minister personally narrated the whole story to the younger brother. The brother realized his mistake against such a great man and fell to the feet of his elder brother. The elder brother said, ‘Don’t you worry. Whoever accepts both good and bad as the gifts of God, will not suffer. Such a person will be blessed by God. In fact you are greater than me. You are lucky enough to have the Darshan of the Lord. Ever since then, he looked after his brother and sister-in-law as Rama and Sita.

In due course, the king sent for special sculptors, got a special Devalayam constructed. He invoked God there. The entry to the temple was restricted to himself. He entered it through a rope ladder and prayed God there to appear before him. God accepted his prayer.

The king with tears of joy made the God sit on a throne, served him in various ways and pleaded him to relax for some time. God went into yoga nidra and the king, sat at his feet, pressing them fondly. He praised himself as the luckiest soul. He praised God in various possible ways.

This practice continued for quite sometime. One day he forgot to pull the rope ladder inside. The queen who was spying her husband for a long time, climbed up the rope ladder and saw her husband fondly pressing the feet of the Lord. She went round God excitedly and said, ‘O God! I am lucky enough to get your Darsan today. When the whole world is disturbed in kaliyuga, you entrusted your close associates, the devathas to be born as devotees in holy places like Pandaripur to spread ‘Ramanama’ Those devotees followed your orders sincerely, and spread Bhakti Jnana vairagya to the people around. You are so great. How can an ordinary woman like me praise you?’ God was pleased with her ecstatic joy and said ‘I like your Jnana, bhakti, vairagya. You both continue to serve me thus. You also continue your prayers and serve my devotees.’

From that day onwards, both the king and the queen served God together, served humanity and were blessed by the Lord ! Thus the king took care of his people and the ultimate king took care of his devotee.