HOW THE DETERMINED DRUVA PASSES THE TEST OF SAINT NARADA
The story of Dhruva is not a mere story. It has very high philosophical and spiritual contents and, if properly analysed and understood, it gives much insight into the devotional services towards Shri Hari as well as the aim for which such services are undertaken by persons in different occupations in life for the fulfilment of their desires.
Chapter 8, Volume 4 of Srimad Bhagavatam is the first chapter dealing with Dhruva’s life and how he got the determination to go in for intense penance to seek the fulfilment of wishes from Shri Hari. The characteristics of the names of his mother (Suneeti) and stepmother (Suruchi) by themselves indicate the innate nature about them. While Suneeti stands for righteous deeds, Suruchi is more towards enjoyment of the worldly matters, position, status etc. It also shows the predicament of the great king, Uttanapada, who was totally helpless when his closest wife, Suruchi, denied the wish of Dhruva, who just wanted to sit on the lap of the King along with Uttama, the son of Suruchi.
The most hurting statements which went deep into the heart of Dhruva, as a child of just five years, was the ones made by his stepmother Suruchi saying the following (Stanzas 11, 12 and 13 of Chapter 8, Volume 4):
Dhruva is denied access to his father’s lap by his stepmother Suruchi.
“Child ! You do not deserve to be mounted on the altar of the King, even though you are a prince. That is because, you are not born out of my womb.
Hey silly ! You are a little child. You definitely do not know about yourself as you are born out of the womb of some other woman. That is why you had a fancy to achieve something which is difficult for you to attain.
If you wish to occupy the seat of the King, you must worship the Supreme Being through your penance and with His blessings alone, you must take your birth out of my womb.”
When Dhruva went to his mother crying with anger, she just could not help relieving his predicament or sorrow. As she was helpless she also felt sorry for this situation and advised Dhruva to follow the advice of his stepmother and meditate upon Shri Hari for the fulfilment of his desires. She also quotes the instances of great worship to Sri Vasudeva undertaken by all his ancestors and encouraged him from various angles to proceed with his determination.
Armed thus with the strong support of his mother, Dhruva proceeds to the forests for undertaking penance. Here exactly he gets the right advice from none other than the great saint Narada as to what exactly he should do. Saint Narada wanted to see to what extent it is deep in Dhruva’s heart, a kshatriya, (with the spirit to rule and protect people), the disgrace he had suffered.
Saint Narada puts to test Dhruva just to know his determination. Through his profound words, saint Narada puts forward his views before Dhruva (Stanzas 27 to 34 Chapter 8 Volume 4 Srimad Bhagavatam):
Saint Narada meeting and blessing Dhruva
“Hey son ! I do not see anything as a dishonour or honour for you because as you being a little child even now you are inclined towards childish play and frolic.
Though one can argue that one can definitely understand about the specific distinction between dishonour and honour, the actual reason for the mental displeasure arises for a person because of the person’s wrong perception of his intellect and nothing else. That is because, in this world all these things happen only as the consequential effect of one’s own deeds and actions.
( A person undergoes the consequential effects of one’s own actions and deeds. It is, therefore, foolish to blame others for this situation. This is the essence of the above statement.
Through the following stanzas saint Narada advises Dhruva the qualities of forbearance. He thus attempts to dissuade Dhruva from undertaking penance.)
Therefore, hey child ! An intelligent person, by understanding the divine order, gets himself satisfied with whatever comes to him as per the divine wish.
This apart, the Person, whose blessings you are seeking to get through the path of yogic meditation as per the advice of your mother, is the One Who cannot be worshipped very easily by ordinary people, as I feel it so.
The path/position of that Supreme Personality could not be understood even after constant enquiry through the processes of meditation achieved out of constant practice during their various births by those saints who were mentally well balanced and totally detached from the worldly desires and pleasures.
Therefore, please leave aside this obstinacy of yours which is of no use. When you reach the appropriate time conducive for your betterment, you shall put in the desired efforts all by yourself.
Whatever has been determined by the Supreme Being for a person, in the midst of his happiness and miseries, that person enjoys and is contented with all of them (what has been conferred upon him by the Supreme Being) within his mind happily and thereby crosses over to the other shore of the darkness of frivolous desires.
When one sees another person having more quality attributes, as compared to him, such a person should seize with happiness. A feeling of compassion should develop in a person when he sees another having less quality attributes. When one sees another having equal quality attributes one should gesture friendship. Such a person (who has these characteristics) shall not be affected by mental or physical pain.”
Stanzas 35 to 38 are the answers of Dhruva to Saint Narada: “ This path of advice for the emancipation from all the illusions of existence, though is beyond the capacity of cognizance of persons like me, it is only because of your kindness that you, being the most experienced saint, have made public the same for the sake of the people who have been rendered bewildered in their thinking because of they facing the happiness and miseries.
Therefore, because of having obtained the overwhelming Kshatriya characteristic, my mind has not subdued its passions, and your valuable advices are not reclining upon my heart, which has been split by the arrows of bad words of Suruchi.
Hey the one who has acquired the knowledge of Brahman ! Please advise me the appropriate way as I have the intention of capturing such a position which is far superior among all the three worlds and which has not been acquired by any of my ancestors or by any others.
You are certainly born out of the body of Bhagavan Brahma Deva. You are the one who travel around like the sun, playing your musical instrument known as Veena in a very special way, for the sake of the welfare of the whole world.” Upon understanding the strong determination of Dhruva, saint Narada goes on to advise him the appropriate ways of doing the penance. He tells him (Stanza 41):
“A person who desires to have for himself the Purusharth known as Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha --they are dharma (duty, ethics), artha (prosperity, wealth), kama (pleasure, sensual gratification), and moksha (the pursuit of liberation) -- for him the most important cause of instrument for achieving them is the worship of the pious lotus feet of Shri Vasudeva.”
Saint Narada advises Dhruva to proceed to Madhuvana on the banks of the river Yamuna. He also explains to him the methods he should follow in undertaking the penance of Sri Vasudeva in a systematic and prescribed manner.
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