Article sent from The Hindu

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

Repentance, mark of good conduct

 

CHENNAI, SEPT. 15. Men of noble conduct do not generally commit

offences as they consider upholding ethical values paramount in

life. But occasionally when such a righteous person happens to do

so, he regrets his action immediately and tries his best to

assuage the misdeed by undergoing atonement. The incident which

led to King Parikshit listening to the exposition of the

Bhagavata Purana from Sage Suka is a case in point. He was a

virtuous king of a noble lineage, grandson of the Pandavas, who

were great devotees, and was saved by Lord Krishna's grace when a

missile struck his mother, Uttara, when she was expecting him.

 

After Lord Krishna left the Earth he ascended the throne and the

Pandavas also ascended to heaven. The age of Kali set in and the

king subdued its spirit for protecting Dharma by his prowess.

Such a benevolent emperor lost his temper exhausted by thirst and

hunger while hunting one day. He approached the hermitage of Sage

Samika, who was in deep meditation, in search of water and when

his repeated entreaties did not elicit any response from the sage

he threw a dead serpent lying nearby on him while departing, an

act he would never have done normally.

 

In his discourse, Sri P. M. Vijayaraghava Sastri said no sooner

did he return to his palace, Parikshit regretted his hasty

action. In a despondent mood he reproached himself for behaving

in such a despicable way towards a sage of spiritual merit. He

wished that some calamity would befall him as retribution for his

misdeed and just when he was brooding like this he heard that the

son of the sage had cursed him to die of the bite of the serpent

Takshaka in seven days. The Bhagavata describes Parikshit's sense

of relief on hearing this and that he welcomed it as a blessing.

 

Renouncing the kingdom he sought the seclusion of the forest to

spend the remaining days of his life in contemplation on the

Lord. His total detachment towards the world with the intention

of attaining liberation from bondage made even the renowned sages

wonder. His dispassion and spiritual merit earned him the rare

privilege of listening to the Bhagavata Purana from no less a

realised sage than Suka who appeared on his own before Parikshit.

He naturally considered his arrival as God-send and when he

enquired of the sage what he should do in the seven days at his

disposal, Suka not only advised him to listen to the glory and

deeds of the Lord in His manifestations, so that his mind would

dwell on Him but also related the Bhagavata Purana to him.

 

Copyrights: 1995 - 2001 The Hindu

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu