story of gunanidhi

[Guest guest]

dear friends

 

once in the city of kampilya, lived a great Brahmin yajnadatta who is

a somayaji and is reputed for his knowledge of Vedas and was

respected by the local king too. Yajnadatta has a lone son gunanidhi

who was taught all vedic scriptures in the childhood but as he grew

up and came into the bad company of friends, he became a gambler and

started stealing each and every item in the house only to lose in the

gambling. His mother used to tell lies to her husband that the son

was doing all vedic studies and rituals perfectly and has gone out

with friends for vedic repetition and learning.

 

Once the father comes to know this and offered libations of water

mixed with gingelly seeds which means his son is no more, after

which, gunandihi leaves the city and after wandering whole day,

gunanidhi is hungry by not having food since morning. He sees some

shivbhakts taking food items as offerings to a nearby shiva temple

and gunanidhi follows them with an objective of stealing that food.

In that process, gunanidhi listens to all the prayers and hymns of

lord shiva sung by those bhakts and also sees the various poojas done

to the shivalingam and once they are over, gunanidhi goes inside the

sanctum sanctorum and finds the light dim and tears his cloth and

make it a wick and brightens the lamp and then takes the food.

 

Later when gunanidhi dies, shiva ganas prevent yamadootas from taking

gunanidhi to narakam and instead take him to kailash where gunanidhi

serves lord shiva and parvati and with their blessings is reborn as

dama, the son of arindama, king of kalinga who ordered all his

countrymen to lit lamps brightly in all temples by which act, after

his death, dama becomes the lod of alaka, the capital of kubera.

 

While narrating the above stories in shivapurana (rudra samhita,

section 1, chapter 17 and 18), it is preached that even the smallest

service rendered to siva bears rich fruit in time and all persons

seeking happiness shall realize this and continue worshipping lord

shiva which has zero expense. Mere abhishekam with plain water and

taking his name is sufficient for the shivbhakts to erase the sins

committed knowingly or unknowingly. many natives think that one has

to perform costly poojas, havans, rituals or buy expensive items and

do expensive charities, but stories such as the above highlight how

simple worship, simple listening to bhajans, simple darshan of poojas

and fasting (all these are zero expense) erases the sins and paves

the way for a bright and glorious future with the blessings of

bholenath lord shiva.

 

with best wishes and blessings

pandit arjun

www.rudraksharemedy.com