|| Srimad Bhagavath Mahapuran||
|| Om Namo Bhagavathe
Vasudevaya||
Chapter – 16 – The Legend of King Katvanga
The nectar-like legends of
Sri Bhagavath Mahapurana begins from the parrot faced Shukadev Maharaj, he
imparted the knowledge of Bhramam, love, and devotion to the Supreme Lord in seven
days and at the end, King Pareekshith attained the abode of Lord. Shukadev Maharaj answered all the queries of Pareekshith
with great enthusiasm, they have completed till the seventeenth chapter,
Pareekshith said “ Oh! Sages, my humble salutations to you, I have seven days
to live on this Earth, I want to purify
my soul by listening to the endless glories of supreme Lord and attain highest of the
spiritual state. Kindly advise me what
should I do? How to meditate upon supreme Lord? What are the austerities I
should follow? What are the sacred chants I should recite? Which is the
spiritual place I should visit? What are the Yogi practices I should follow?
What are the fire sacrifices I should perform? Kindly narrate which is the
highest Dharmic rite should I perform?”
Shukadev Maharaj began to
explain “ Pareekshith, your qualms are significant for spiritual welfare, all
the living beings have to die in this Prithvi Lok, it is important to know how
to become fearless of death. The extreme
fear causes due to the attachment to worldly affairs, fear of poverty is caused by
wealth, fear of illnesses caused by sensual pleasures, attachment of fame
causes the fear of humiliation. Therefore
the practice of renunciation/abandonment only can remove all these fears, sense
of detachment provides fearlessness.”
Pareekshith revealed his concern that he has only seven days to live on
Earth, how to practice all those.
Shukadev Maharaj describes the legend of King Katvanga to Pareekshith.
There was a King Katvanga
in the Raghu dynasty. He immensely
provided help to deities in a battle with the demons. Finally, the deities won the battle, deities were highly pleased with King
Katvanga and Lord Indra offered a boon to King Katvanga who wanted to know
about his life span on the Earth. Lord
Indra advised King Katvanga to ask for some other boon, it is not permitted for
the living beings on Earth to know their life span which could create chaos in
the Prithvi Loka, therefore it always remained highly confidential between the deities. King Katvanga was firm to know about his
life span. Lord Indra said “ Oh! King,
you have 48 minutes left to live on the Earth.”
King Katvanga was not anxious at all; he rushed to Prithvi Loka,
arranged an assembly of members and offered his throne to his son, the wealth was
equally distributed among his sons and a huge amount of charities were performed. He seated upon contemplating on supreme Lord
and attained the abode of the Lord.
