Contd: Chapter 2 – Srī Siddhendra Yogi and the Story of Vichitrapuram
My journey continued from morning till noon. I saw a village with small houses. The pangs of hunger increased and troubled me. I am a Brahmin and can take meals only in the house of Brahmins. I cannot take meals elsewhere. I thought of preparing the meals myself if someone provides the materials. Then I can eat such food. I got a doubt whether any Brahmins were living in the village. So, I asked some villagers about it. One of them said, “Sir, we are a hill tribe. I am the chief of this hamlet. There are no Brahmins in our village. You can accept fruits and honey from us if you have no objection.” There is an adage that one can behave like a low caste Shūdra[1] during travels. Therefore, I considered that it was not wrong to accept anything offered by anybody during the course of travel. They placed before me fruits and honey from the hills in those ravines. When I was about to eat, a crow came from somewhere and started pecking me on my head. I tried to drive it away but in vain. In the meanwhile, some more crows gathered. They started pecking my body in all spots in a wanton manner. I was panic-stricken and began to run. Those crows were chasing me. There was no one in that village who could help me. The chief of the village said, “Oh, what a strange thing! In our area, crows do not harm anyone. We wonder why these crows are so ferocious and obstinate to harm you. You must have abused or dishonoured a siddha purusha[2]. You are undergoing this punishment because of his curse. If we are to obstruct the course of punishment, we would have to incur the wrath of that sage. So, we will not try to change the course of divine play. Please do not misunderstand.” After saying this, the chief kept quiet.
I could not take the fruits and honey given to me. My body became blood stained. The crows chased and injured me even though I was running. I felt extremely sad at my dismal state. Did Srī Siddha Yogindra curse me because I doubted him? But he had blessed me that I would have the fortune of seeing Srīpāda Srīvallabha! Probably, I cannot have the dārshan of Lord Srī Datta unless all my sins accumulated from past births are completely destroyed! I do not know how many sinful deeds I had amassed! How many punishments like this I have to suffer if all those sins are to be washed out! Oh! Are so many difficulties and dangers involved in the blessings bestowed for the dārshan of Srīvallabha? Oh God! How many punishments you still want to inflict on me! Now, who can save me? Srīpāda Srīvallabha! Save me! Save me! Saranu[3]! Saranu! Srīpāda Srīvallabha! With such thoughts of absolute surrender, I slowly reached the root portion of an audumbara tree. I thought that the audumbara tree, which is the residing centre of Lord Srī Datta, would protect me, but the sport of Lord Srī Dattaran contrary to my hope. An unprecedented foul smell was spreading from my body. Attracted by that odious odour or by the irony of fate, big poisonous snakes were coming in a row quickly. They were biting me and leaving quickly. I was trouble by crows before. Now, my entire body became poisonous because of the bites from venomous serpents. Foam was coming out from my mouth. The strength of my heart began to decline. I thought that was sure to die at any moment.
It was evening dusk. Some washermen were going that way. They washed, dried and bundled the dried clothes. They kept the bundles on the backs of donkeys and were going. They noticed my miserable plight, but they hesitated to touch me for some time, because I am a Brahmin. As delay might endanger my life, they regarded saving a life was of prime importance. Hence, they seated me on a donkey and took me to their village. For me, all troublesome incidents were taking place in a procession on that day. The
washermen took me to the colony of cobblers. One of those tanners had knowledge of medicine relating to poison. They kept me on a cot, the bottom of which was laced with cords. The premises smelled badly. That cobbler-physician made juice from some wild herbs. He made me drink that juice. He tied some leaves at the locations where the snakes had bitten me. He plucked some tender leaves from an audumbara tree. Juice-like milk was flowing from those leaves. He kept the stems of those leaves in my two ears. I was getting terrible pain. I tried to get up and run away. Two strong men held me firmly. I was helpless. That physician instructed his assistants, “The poison will come into the audumbara leaves. After that, you have to burn those poisonous leaves. The man will cry much louder as the poison increasingly
gets transferred to the audumbara leaves. So, you hold him firmly.”
After some time, the poison was neutralised. I became healthy. I stayed in the house of the cobbler all throughout the night. The cobbler was singing during the whole night “Datta Digambarā! Datta Digambarā! Srīpāda Vallabha Datta Digambarā!” I was lying on the cot. My heart swelled on hearing the extremely melodious names of the Lord. My love for the cobbler enhanced because he became my co-disciple of our guru due to the spiritual relationship. In the next moment, I was pained with the realisation that I was born in a superior Brahmin caste and that he was a low caste cobbler.
Word References
[1] The working class of the ancient Indian society
[2] Great saint
[3] Seeking shelter, refuge
Video of Part 3 Chapter 2 of Srī Siddhendra Yogi and the Story of Vichitrapuram – Sripada Srivallabha Charitramrutam (English)
Video of Part 3 Chapter 2 of Srī Siddhendra Yogi and the Story of Vichitrapuram – Sripada Srivallabha Charitramrutam (Kannada) – Coming soon
Video of Part 3 Chapter 2 of Srī Siddhendra Yogi and the Story of Vichitrapuram – Sripada Srivallabha Charitramrutam (Telugu) – Coming soon
Video of Part 3 Chapter 2 of Srī Siddhendra Yogi and the Story of Vichitrapuram – Sripada Srivallabha Charitramrutam – Coming soon
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