story of gunanidhi

[Guest guest]

dear shivbhakts

om namo bhagawate rudraya

 

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.

 

in praise of lord shiva and with best wishes and blessings

pandit arjun

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