||Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya||

Chapter – 69 – Chithrakethu Upakhyanam -1

Pareekshith spoke “ Oh! Bhraman, how did Vriththrasura who was born as a demon, possessed the qualities of Rajasik/Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moham, etc. and gain supreme knowledge of Bhramam? How did he achieve intense devotion and faith upon supreme Lord Narayana? It is difficult to achieve even for the deities and Rishis who perform numerous austerities and extreme penances to fix their intellect at the lotus feet of Lord Mukunda.  Therefore, kindly narrate to me.”

Shuka Bhramam replied “ Oh! Rajan, listen to me carefully, Vriththrasura was an Emperor Chithrakethu of the Kingdom Shoorasena, in his previous birth.  Even though he was married several times, unfortunately, he had no offspring.  It created extreme distress in the life of the Emperor Chithrakethu, all his wives were rich from the illustrious clan and beautiful, but everyone was equally depressed for not having a child.  One day, Maharishi Angirass visited the palace of Emperor Chithrakethu, was received with great respect.  The Emperor washed his feet, offered Arghyam and a raised seat.  Maharishi Angirass was highly pleased with the dedication and devotion of Emperor Chithrakethu, he asked the well-being of his Kingdom and his subjects. He asked “ Oh! Rajan, I could sense your distress; I can read your face is troubled with anxiousness.  Something is bothering you. What is the reason for it?”  Maharishi was well understood the reason for his distress of not having an offspring for performing rites for ancestors, not having an heir to rule the Kingdom, not having a child to shower his affection and love.   Maharishi Angirass pacified Chithrakethu and advised that even if he attains a son, he would not add any fame to his clan, therefore accept all the happenings as the blessings of the supreme Lord.   Chithrakethu begged before Maharishi “Oh! Maharishi, I am extremely worn out of the grief of the absence of an offspring, like an individual suffering from hunger and thirst.   Oh! Mahabhaga, I shall surrender at your feet, you are a supreme ascetic, kindly bless us to obtain a virtuous offspring and kindly protect us from our sufferings.”  Maharishi Angirass advised the Emperor to organize a fire sacrifice to obtain an offspring.  Thus a huge fire sacrifice was held, at the successful completion of the fire sacrifice, the deity appeared with the vessel of kheer/Payasam, which was reverentially received by Chithrakethu.    The Kheer was given to his Empress, in due course of time she was pregnant with a male child.   Emperor Chithrakethu and his subjects were extremely happy at the arrival of the beautiful male child, he was named Shoorasena.  On an auspicious day, the child was attired in majestic clothes, rites were performed and predictions were made about the future of the child. 

As the day’s passes, Chithrakethu was getting too attached to his child, he could not separate himself from the newborn and the mother, and eventually, he lost interest in the kingly duties.  It annoyed the other wives of the King; they felt ignored by him and treated as bad as servants of the palace, the King miserably failed in his duty as a husband and a ruler.  They collectively have taken a decision to kill the new-born who has stolen all the attention of the King from them, further they poisoned the child and killed.  The Empress looked at the cradle of the child who was already dead; she mistook the child in deep sleep.  The hours passed, the attendant of the Empress checked on the child and found the child was already dead.  The attendant handed the dead child to Empress, she could not bear the separation, she wept bitterly fallen on the ground.  She vehemently beaten her chest and cried out loudly, her hairs were disheveled, clothes were misplaced, ornaments were shattered all over the ground.  The Emperor who heard the tragic incident, rushed out of the assembly to the child and seated near the legs of the child, bashed his head on the ground, cried out bitterly.  They both could not control their grief, Empress could not withstand the sorrow of her husband, and they were completely heartbroken.  Her eyes were overflowing with tears wetted her bosom, she could not take her mind off from the image of the child, she cried loudly saying “ Oh! Vidhatha, do not be so cruel to us.  How could you seize my child before I shower all my love to him? How could you be so unkind to us, I have heard that the aged would die, why did you take my new-born child? You could have taken me instead if you want.  Oh! Bhagavan, you have thrown me into the bottomless ocean of worldly existence.” She kept whispering to her child and talking and crying to her dead child as if it is alive.  The other wives of the Emperor were assembled and shed tears as if they are grief-stricken at the death of new-born.  The husband and wife were shaking the child miserably and tried to wake him up; she cried to her child that her bosoms are full of milk waiting to feed him.  Thus, the husband and wife were soaked in utter grief and pain of separation from the child. 

Maharishi Narada and Sage Angirass arrived at the palace and witnessed the heart-wrenching sight; they have decided to raise the mind of Emperor and his wife from the grief of the loss of new-born.  Maharishi asked “ Oh! Rajan, Who is this child? You are saying it is your child, for whom are you grieving for? Oh! Rajan, you did not bring the child into the womb of its mother, you did not protect it while it was in the mother’s womb, you did not bring the child out of its mother’s womb, and therefore you cannot claim that it is your child.  The time plays an important role in everyone’s life like the river carries the sand and deposit the sands on the shore.  The life cycle on the Earth continues like the seed produces grains and the process repeats with the strength of Prakrithi, Time, and the supreme Lord.  The body/Dheha/creation originates from the mind/Dhehi, and process repeats, in this way human life cycle continues, in other words for every creation begins with the desire as its basis, later it produces with the help of reproductive organ.  Therefore, every creation begins with the push of desire; the body takes the action to fulfill the desire, as a result, the birth takes place.  The mind is initiated from the supreme Lord who resides as a soul in living beings, hence all those desires of the mind are contributed by the Supreme Lord, so the mind has the strength to go back to its origin/supreme Lord as well, with this knowledge you can get rid of sufferings of worldly existence and bondage.”