SrI vEnkaTEswara swAmi mahatyam part-5

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SrI:

SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:

SrI krishNa parabrahmaNE nama:

SrImAn nArAyaNa charaNau saraNam prapadyE

 

dear vaishNavAs,

 

16. Birth of AkAsa rAju

 

The chOLa king who is cursed by SrI hari and becomes a

brahma, reincarnates in the same same royal family in

nArAyaNa puram, 20KM away from tirupati. He enters in

the womb of King sudharma's wife and is called as

AkAsa rAju. He is very lovingly brought up by his

parents. Sudharma once goes for hunting and becomes

very much thirsty in the forest. When he reaches

kapila teertha in search of water, he finds a

beautiful 'nanga' girl and gets attracted by her

beauty. He immediately marries her in gAndharva way,

and begets a child named thonDamAn.

 

When sudharma becomes a old man, he makes his son

AkAsa rAju the king of his kingdom and leaves

thonDamAn to his care. After some time sudharma dies.

The couple AkAsarAju and DharaNi dEvi protect their

subjects and treat them as their own children. All the

subjects are very happy with their king and they are

very obedient to the royal family. The only problem

for the royal couple is that they have no children.

They are very much worried about not having children.

 

17. AkAsa rAju performs putrakAmeshTi yAga, the

appearance of divine mother padmAvathi dEvi

 

On one auspicious day, AkAsa rAju worships his kula

guru devotedly and reveals his sorrows of not having

any children and requests for an advice. The

comppassionate guru, suka maharishi says: 'long long

agi king janka performed putrakAmEshTi yaga and got

jAnaki as his daughter. You may also do the same. may

God bless you.'

 

AkAsarAju is very pleased with the suggestion of his

guru and makes arrangements for the yAga immediately.

On an auspicious time, he performs putra kAmEshTi yAga

successfully under the guidance of expert brAhmins and

his guru.

 

As a part of the ritual of the yAga, land is a

ploughed with a golden plough. Plough is strucked in

the land with something and the land is digged there

to find a box embedded in the soil. To their extreme

suuprise they find a beautiful female child in the

midst of a thousand petalled lotus flower.

Immediately, there is a bright lightening and thunder

in the sky and a voice from heaven is heard saying '

AkAsaraju! you are very fortunate, and your lofe

became sucessful. On account of the baby that you

find, your entire race's glory becomes eternal.'

 

On hearing these words, the royal couple, suka

maharishi, and the brahmins present all become very

happy. AkAsa raju takes the baby in his arms and gets

the blessings from his guru and brahmins. Since the

baby is found in a lotus flower, she is given the name

padmAvathi by Suka maharishi. The girl is brought with

great love and affection. To their good fortune,

dharaNi dEvi becomes pregnant and gives birth to a

male baby named vasudemudu. They rise both the

children very affectionately.

 

(to be continued ...)

 

dAsOham,

SrIperumbUdUru vEnkaTa vinOd.