Goddess Sharika/Sharada's Kashmir, the glorious land in despair.

Goddess Sharika/Sharada's Kaśmīra, the glorious land in despair.

𑆤𑆩𑆱𑇀𑆠𑆼 𑆯𑆳𑆫𑆢𑆼 𑆢𑆼𑆮𑆵 𑆑𑆳𑆯𑇀𑆩𑆵𑆫𑆥𑆶𑆫𑆮𑆳𑆱𑆴𑆤𑆴

𑆠𑇀𑆮𑆳𑆩𑆲𑆁 𑆥𑇀𑆫𑆳𑆫𑇀𑆡𑆪𑆼 𑆤𑆴𑆠𑇀𑆪𑆁 𑆮𑆴𑆢𑇀𑆪𑆳𑆢𑆳𑆤𑆁 𑆖 𑆢𑆼𑆲𑆴 𑆩𑆼 ॥

नमस्ते शारदे देवी काश्मीरपुरवासिनि

त्वामहं प्रार्थये नित्यं विद्यादानं च देहि मे ॥

"My obeisance to Goddess Sharada, whose adobe is the land of Kashmir, I seek only you Devi, grant me the boon of knowledge which is eternal and illuminates from within."

Kaśmīra has been known to Bharat since the beginning of the Kalpa as per the Nīlamatapurāṇa, it was then a vast lake known as Satīsara. In the seventh Manvantara, the puranic legend mentions this lake was drained off, as a result of Jalodbhava's death, the invincible asura in water. Since then the humans were settled in this region by Rishi Kashyapa.

The name Kashmir has its origin from Sanskrit, as Kāś means exceptionally beautiful/heavenly and mīra means the king, the king of all heavens on earth is referred to as Kashmir. Kashmir is also associated with Kaśmīrā, the name of Goddess parashakti which hails her as the queen of all magnificence, beauty and grace. It was also known as the Sharadadesh, the land of Mother Goddess Saraswati, where Sharada Shaktipeeth, the sacred seat of knowledge exists.As for more than 10-12 thousand years it remained one of the prominent centres for learning in Bharat.

The Devi is referred several times in shastras as Kashmirapuravasini, the presiding deity of this region. As Sharada, Sharika, Kashmira, Vistasta, Bhavani and by several other names and forms, she is still revered and worshipped by Kashmiri Pandits. 

As Sharika, she is Bhagwati Tripurasundari, who appeared in the form of a mainā bird, also known as haer in Kashmiri. As Sharika, she is known as the slayer of Jalodbhava asura who lived in the Satīsara lake. She dropped a pebble upon him, which grew larger and larger, and became the size of a hill and killed the asura. The hill dropped on the site was then known as Hari Parvat, which is also the abode of Mother Goddess Sharika. She resides here in the form of a Svayambhu Sri Chakram, and is worshipped in her ashtadashabhuja/18 handed form. As this region became the abode of Sri Mata, the city was named after her as Sri Nagara, or Shrinagar. 

The prominence of Sharada Peetham in Kashmir, attracted variety of scholars, sages and seers in it's premises. Pioneers known among these visitors were Great Sanskrit author Kalhana, revolutionary Jagataguru Adi Shankaracharya, Tibetan scholar Vairotsana, Buddhist monk Kumarajiva, Thonmi Sambhota and many others. Adi Shankaracharya also received visions and sacred knowledge by the grace of Goddess Sharada here. It is said his popular Śākta work known as Saundarya Lahari was written in Kashmir. Along with being a powerful centre of Shaktism, Kaśmīra is also home to Vasugupta's Trika system of Kashmira Shaivism. 

The Sanskrit name Kaśmīra became synonymous with different streams of knowledge. This land of Saraswati, which gave birth to Spiritual giants such as Abhinavagupta, was also known for it's a contribution to Vastushastra, Natyashastra, Kavya, Sahitya, Ayurveda and other fields. Even Bharatiya Astronomer Varāhamihira mentioned Kaśmīra as one of the significant astronomical sites in Bṛhatsaṃhitā. 

Kaśmīra played a significant role in making our civilization, much before Sindhu valley settlements existed upon Indus. Its history is a reflection of Sanātana dharma/Hinduism's contribution in uplifting humanity towards seeking and attainment of existential, spiritual, scientific and several forms of knowledge, by breaking those shackles of ignorance.

But in the recent past Kaśmīra didn't remain for what it once stood for. As Islamic invasions began on this land, its sanctity and peace were in despair since then.The first ever authentic film on Hindu holocaust in Kashmir, The Kashmir Files which came recently just showed a small glimpse of the genocidal horror that the indigenous founders of that land, the Hindu pandits had gone through. The story of exodus, rapes, genocides and forceful conversions didn't began in 1990's, but can be traced back to 1320 AD with islamic invasions by turkish invader Qadir Khan, to Muhammad bin Qasim, later by Mughal emperors and the ninth genocide which occurred recently just 32 years back. As a consequence of that, the indigenous hindus who once occupied and shaped this land as majority, were forcefully converted or killed, and today became a vulnerable minority of Kashmir.

The destruction of our ancient civilization in Kaśmīra, is a loss for Bharat. This sacred land of Saraswati accepted, nourished and empowered individuals from different spheres of life. The reason why every indigenous Hindu here was known as pandit because there was no prevalence of a caste-based discriminatory system in their society, the karma of seeking the divine, accomplishing mastery on different subjects and proficiency in writing granthas in the ancient Sharada script, was the lifestyle of every Hindu household, and thus everyone was known as pandits. 

This crown gem of the motherland, gifted to us by Saraswati is a unifying force for all living beings. The land today rampaged by radical jihadists demands to be reclaimed with the dharmic principles and its founding members, the Kashmiri pandits need to be resettled back in their homes with honour.

Ramendra Sundar Bhattacharya (1876-1976) and Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa

When I was eight years old, I went with my father to visit Rani Rasmani's temple garden in Dakshineswar. As far as I recall, it was a summer morning. Our country home was in Khunbaria village in the district of Medinipur, which is twenty miles from Kamarpukur, the birthplace of Sri Ramakrishna. My father and the Master were contemporaries. They had known each other since childhood and were friends. ...

One day, before leaving for his village, my father told me: "Today I shall take you to the Dakshineswar. There you will see a famous Kali temple and a living God".

We first went to the Bhavatarini Kali temple and bowed down to the Divine Mother. Then we went to the Master's room, but he was not there. A young man told us, that he had gone towards the Panchavati. We went there and found him watching the Ganges. A couple of young devotees were with him. The Master was pleased to see my father and inquired about his welfare. I saw my father fully prostrate on the dusty ground and touch the feet of the Master. He took the dust of the Master's feet and put it on his head as well as on mine. He then said to me: "I told you, that I would show you a living God - this is the person. Bow down to him and touch his feet".

Accordingly, I prostrated myself at the Master's feet. He placed his hand on my head and said: "My child, get up". Then he blessed me, saying: "You will live long and be a pandit". I was overwhelmed, when I bowed down to him and he touched my head. Although I was not in a normal state of consciousness, I heard his blessings distinctly and his words rang in my ears for a while.

On that day my father had a short conversation with the Master, and then we returned to Calcutta. That was my first and last visit to the Master. Although I was then a young boy and this happened so long ago, he is still vivid in my mind's eye. He was tall and well-shaped, a good-looking man with a face, that was bright and joyful. His complexion was not white, but fair. My father told me: "During his youth the Master's complexion was golden. When he practised severe austerities, his body became emaciated and the brightness of his complexion diminished to some extent".

It is due to my good karma and virtue acquired over hundreds of lives, that I saw Sri Ramakrishna with my own eyes. I consider myself blessed. Two and a half years after my visit, one night I saw the Master in a dream, looking just as he had, when I met him. He said to me: "My child, are you well? I am leaving". As I heard this, I awoke, startled. Later I learned, that the Master had passed away that same night. 

I saw Swami Vivekananda a few times after his return from the West. A professor of the Scottish Church College, who was one of Swamiji's teachers, was fond of me. He was a Bengali, but a Christian. He loved Swamiji and had a high opinion of him. But the professor was disappointed, when he heard, that this talented college student had become a disciple of a brahmin priest and taken monastic vows. One day Swamiji went to see the professor at his home. At that time Swamiji was a sannyasin, but was not yet the world-famous Vivekananda. The professor said to him: "Well, Naren, what have you done? You have enslaved yourself to a mad priest! I also heard, that you consider that priest to be a God and believe, that he has come to this world as a Saviour. How is it possible, that you could believe such an incredible story?"

Swamiji calmly replied: "Sir, you have heard correctly. I believe, that he (Sri Ramakrishna) was God Himself and had taken a human form to save humanity. Previously, I had the same opinion about him as you do, and I told him that many times. He was like a child. He would laugh as he listened to my opinion. He said: "Am I asking you to believe in me?" Sir, at last I was forced to believe, who he was. One day he revealed to me, that he was God Himself, and that He had appeared in the form of Ramakrishna. He, who was Rama and He, who was Krishna - both were manifested in Ramakrishna's body. He showed me separately the form of Rama and the form of Krishna, and then both merged into his own body. Sir, it was not a hallucination; I saw this with my own eyes. Apart from that, I have seen, understood, and realized in many ways, that he was God Himself".

This I heard directly from the professor. He also told me: "I knew Naren very well. He was not a person to be hoodwinked with any kind of fakery. I understood that day, that Naren did not believe Ramakrishna to be God from blind faith. And afterwards, Naren's epic life proved, that Ramakrishna was not an ordinary person". 

- - Narrated by Ramendra Sundar Bhattacharya (1876-1976) - a prominent Sanskrit scholar, he established a Sanskrit school (Hatibagan Chatushpati) and taught Indian philosophy and scriptures for 60 years and wrote a book "Sri Sri Ramakrishna Bhagavatam" - a biography of Sri Ramakrishna, that consisted of more than 5000 Sanskrit verses.

A story from India's freedom struggle.( Saints and revolutionaries )

A story from India's freedom struggle.

( Saints and revolutionaries )

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Shri Gajanan Maharaj was an Indian saint ,mystic and divine man of the Lord Dattatreya tradition who "'appeared" in the village of Shegaon ,Maharashtra, India during the later half of the 19th Century 

Many true stories are attributed to him about the supernatural miracles he did during his earthly sojourn but this is the lesser known story about his involvement with India's Freedom struggle.

During the period of his stay at Shegaon ,gradually the fame of his divinity grew and  news of him reached the ears of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak ( A great Indian freedom fighter ) who eventually met and became a disciple of sorts of Shri Gajanan maharaj.

In 1909 , during a public meeting on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti (the birth anniversary of the great emperor- Shivaji Maharaj) ..Lokmanya Tilak gave a speech against the British Government and in favour of the Bengali revolutionary Khudiram Bose who was hanged earlier by the British

After the effective speech of Lokmanya Tilak, Shri Gajanan Maharaj made the  prophecy that the British rule in India shall declare the sentence of imprisonment of Tilak.

 Shri Gajanan Maharaj's words came true and Tilak was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in the prison of Mandalay (Myanmar). But, Shri Gajanan maharaj's  blessings and food offering of Bhakari (Traditional preparation of Maharasthra, i.e. pancake of Jowar grain) had great favour on Tilak. Because in the prison, the extraordinary wisdom of Tilak  and blessings of Shri Gajanan maharaj gave birth to a landmark Book- Geeta Rahasya.

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Shri Gajanan Maharaj left his mortal coil a year later after Lokmanya Tilak was imprisoned but there was something more striking to this entire  incident.

====

Soon after the sentence of imprisonment to Lokmanya Tilak.,one of the disciples of  Shri Gajanan Maharaj asked him.

" Maharaj, How is that Tilak had your all powerful blessings and favour and still the british could imprison him ? "

Shri Gajanan maharaj replied to him :

 "MY CHILD, CHATTRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ ALSO HAD THE DIVINE BLESSINGS OF SWAMI SAMARTH RAMDAS , THEN HOW IS IT THAT AURANGZEB TOO MANAGED TO IMPRISON CHATTRAPATI SHIVAJI ?

ANYONE WHO FIGHTS RIGHTEOUSLY AGAINST AN EVIL EMPIRE ALWAYS FACES DIFFICULTY AT FIRST.

TILAK WILL UNDERSTAND THE GITA IN HIS PRISON TIME AND SPREAD ITS MESSAGE TO THE WORLD.

THAT IS HIS KARMA ACTING OUT.

AND ALSO NATIONS TOO ( AS INDIVIDUALS DO ) HAVE THEIR KARMA .

AT THE MOMENT, THE KARMIC BALANCE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IS STRONG..BUT IN  FOUR DECADES FROM NOW ( 1909 ) , THEIR ( British ) STRONG KARMA WILL BE EXHAUSTED AND INDIA WILL SURELY BE FREE !!

Thats not the end...Far away..in the courtroom , before being sentenced to imprisonment..Lokmanya Tilak gave this statement to the British court, which ( COINCIDENTALLY ? ) echoed the words that Shri Gajanan Maharaj has told his other disciple earlier,  before and sitting far away from the courtroom proceedings.

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On being asked by the judge whether he had anything to say, Tilak said:

"All that I wish to say is that, in spite of the verdict of the jury, I still maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destinies of men and nations; and I think, it may be the will of Providence that the cause I represent may be benefited more by my suffering than by my pen and tongue"

𝑯𝑶𝑾 𝑺𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑨𝑺𝑨 𝑵𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑲𝑨 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑷𝑼𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑫𝑨𝑺𝑨

𝑯𝑶𝑾  𝑺𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑨𝑺𝑨  𝑵𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑲𝑨  𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑷𝑼𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑫𝑨𝑺𝑨

🚩Many years ago in Tirthalli village of Shimmoga District, there lived a wealthy diamond merchant named Srinivasa Nayaka. He was educated and was well versed in Sanskrit and Kannada. He was also trained in music. But Srinivasa Nayaka was a shrewd and greedy man. 

🚩One day, a poor man went and begged for some money from Srinivasa Nayaka to take care of his family. Srinivasa Nayaka mercilessly rejected, mocked and asked the poor man to leave. The poor man did not give up. 

🚩He went to the back door and begged Srinivasa Nayaka’s wife to offer some money. Srinivasa Nayaka’s wife was a gentle, spiritual and generous person. But since she did not have any money with her, she offered him her nose ring to sell and use it for his requirements. 

🚩The poor man, came back to the front door and asked Srinivasa Nayaka to take the nose ring and give some money in return. But the moment he saw the nose ring, the shrewd merchant understood it was his wife’s and rushed inside his house angrily to question her about the secret donation. 

🚩Realizing that her husband was in great anger and unable to give a proper answer about the disappearing nose ring, his wife, Saraswati Bai, rushed to the kitchen to drink poison. She prayed to Shri Krishna and opened the cup of poison to drink it. She found her nose ring inside the cup! 

🚩Saraswati Bai ran to her husband to narrate the entire incident. Listening patiently to his wife, Srinivasa Nayaka held both the nose-rings and rushed to the front door to meet the poor man. But the poor man had disappeared by then! Srinivasa Nayaka searched for the man all over the village for the full day, still he was unable to trace or find him. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐤𝐚’𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐧𝐮 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟!

🚩He returned home in shame due to his greed and harsh words towards the mysterious man.  Srinivasa Nayaka donated his entire wealth to charity and left his home to lead a life of a beggar.

🚩After many years of wandering, he met the Holy Sage Shri Vyasatirtha Guru who enlightened him about his hidden unique talent, music composition and singing. Sri Vyasatirtha Guru also bestowed the name Purandara Dasa to him. Once Purandara Dasa started composing and singing songs, there was nothing stopping him. 

🚩He composed over 400,000 songs and each song unique, simple and mostly in praise of Maha Vishnu in the name of Purandara Vitthala. There are his famous compositions on Devatas also Purandara Dasa is said to be the father of present-day classical Carnatic music. 

🚩If you are learning Carnatic music and training on Swaravalis, Janti Swaras, Alankaras, Geetas, Prabandhas, Kritis, and Raga Mayamalavagowla, it was all structured and introduced by the great Purandaradasa. His great devotion to Maha Vishnu or Shri Narayana and Mahalakshmi, his exceptional singing and composing abilities made people believe that he is an avatara of Narada Muni. 

Photo Source: Amar Chitra Katha

#𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐬 @𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦, 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 & 𝐊𝐨𝐨

Helping Others - Swami Vivekananda

Helping others physically, by removing their physical needs, is indeed great, but the help is great according as the need is greater and according as the help is far reaching. If a man's wants can be removed for an hour, it is helping him indeed; if his wants can be removed for a year, it will be more help to him; but if his wants can be removed for ever, it is surely the greatest help that can be given him. Spiritual knowledge is the only thing that can destroy our miseries for ever; any other knowledge satisfies wants only for a time. It is only with the knowledge of the spirit that the faculty of want is annihilated for ever; so helping man spiritually is the highest help that can be given to him. He who gives man spiritual knowledge is the greatest benefactor of mankind and as such we always find that those were the most powerful of men who helped man in his spiritual needs, because spirituality is the true basis of all our activities in life. A spiritually strong and sound man will be strong in every other respect, if he so wishes. Until there is spiritual strength in man even physical needs cannot be well satisfied. Next to spiritual comes intellectual help. The gift of knowledge is a far higher gift than that of food and clothes; it is even higher than giving life to a man, because the real life of man consists of knowledge. Ignorance is death, knowledge is life. Life is of very little value, if it is a life in the dark, groping through ignorance and misery. Next in order comes, of course, helping a man physically. Therefore, in considering the question of helping others, we must always strive not to commit the mistake of thinking that physical help is the only help that can be given. It is not only the last but the least, because it cannot bring about permanent satisfaction. The misery that I feel when I am hungry is satisfied by eating, but hunger returns; my misery can cease only when I am satisfied beyond all want. Then hunger will not make me miserable; no distress, no sorrow will be able to move me. So, that help which tends to make us strong spiritually is the highest, next to it comes intellectual help, and after that physical help.

- Swami Vivekananda (Complete Works, Volume 1 Karma-Yoga CH III THE SECRET OF WORK).

💛

श्री रामकृष्ण देव अमृतवाणी से

प्रश्न- क्या संसार मिथ्या है?

 उत्तर- जब तक ईश्वर का ज्ञान नहीं होता तब तक मिथ्या है, जब तक मनुष्य उन्हें भूल कर, मैं -मेरा करते हुए माया में बद्ध होकर कामिनी, कांचन के मोह में मुग्ध होकर संसार में और भी डूबता जाता है। माया के कारण मनुष्य इतना अंधा हो जाता है कि जाल में से भागने का रास्ता रहने पर भी नहीं भाग पाता। तुम लोग तो स्वयं ही देखते हो कि संसार कैसा अनित्य है। देखो न यहां कितने लोग आए और चले गए। पैदा हुए और कितने मर मिटे। संसार इस क्षण है तो दूसरे ही क्षण नहीं। यह अनित्य है। जिन्हें तुम इतना मेरा मेरा कह रहे हो तुम्हारे आंखें बंद करते ही वे कोई नहीं रहेंगे। संसार में कोई नहीं है फिर भी इतनी आसक्ति  कि नाती के लिए काशी यात्रा नहीं हो पाती। कहते हैं मेरे बेटे हरि का क्या होगा? जाल में से निकलने की राह खुली है; फिर भी मछली भाग नहीं सकती। रेशम का कीड़ा अपने ही लार से कोष बनाकर उसमें फंस कर जान गवा देता है। संसार इस प्रकार मिथ्या है, अनित्य है। 

अहंकार को कैसे दूर करना चाहिए जानते हो? चावल कांड़ते समय बीच-बीच में रुक कर देखना पड़ता है। यदि कांड़ना  ठीक नहीं हुआ तो फिर कांड़ना पड़ता है। निकती पर कोई वस्तु तौलते समय, जब तक कांटा ठीक न हो तब तक ठहर कर देखना पड़ता है। मैं समय-समय पर अपनेको गालियां देकर देखता था कि मुझ में अहंकार उठता है या नहीं और विचार करता था भला यह शरीर क्या है, सिर्फ हाड़ मांस का ढांचा। इसके अंदर क्या है खून, पीप, गंदी चीजें। जिस शरीर के भीतर सदा मल भरा हुआ है, उस पर भला इतना अहंकार क्यों किया जाए। 

मान लो हण्डी में चावल पक रहा है। चावल पका है कि नहीं यह देखने के लिए तुम उसमें से एक ही सीथ लेकर उसे दबा कर देखते हो और उसी पर से समझ लेते हो कि चावल पका है या नहीं। तुम चावल के सभी सीथों को एक-एक करके परखकर नहीं देखते; फिर भी यह समझ लेते हो। यहां जिस प्रकार पूरा चावल पक चुका है या कच्चा है यह एक सीथ को देखकर तुम समझ लेते हो, उसी प्रकार यह संसार सत्य है या असत्य, नित्य है या अनित्य यह भी तुम संसार की दो-चार वस्तुओं को परख कर ही जान सकते हो। मनुष्य जन्मता है कुछ दिन जीता है फिर मर जाता है। पशु का भी यही हाल होता है और वृक्ष का भी। विचार करके देखने पर तुम्हारी समझ में आ जाता है। जो भी वस्तु नाम और रूप से युक्त है उसकी यही गति है। पृथ्वी, सूर्यलोक, चंद्रलोक सभी के नाम और रूप हैं, उनकी भी गति यही है। इस प्रकार जब तुम जान जाते हो कि सारे संसार का यही स्वभाव है, तब तुम्हें संसार की सभी वस्तुओं का स्वभाव ज्ञात हो जाता है या नहीं? इसी तरह जब तुम संसार को सचमुच अनित्य असद् अनुभव करोगे तब तुम उस पर प्यार नहीं कर सकोगे, तब तुम उसे बिल्कुल मन से त्याग कर वासना रहित बन जाओगे। जब तुम इस प्रकार पूर्ण त्याग करने में समर्थ हो जाओगे, तभी तुम जगत कारण परमेश्वर के दर्शन पाओगे। इस तरह से जिसने ईश्वर दर्शन प्राप्त कर लिया है, वह व्यक्ति यदि सर्वज्ञ नहीं हुआ तो फिर क्या हुआ?

श्री रामकृष्ण देव अमृतवाणी से

The saga of Pundalik

The saga of Pundalik is one of the most important Mahimas (legends) about Vithoba. Pundalik is a devoted son to his parents Janudev and Satyavati, who lived in a forest called Dandirvan.

But after his wedding, Pundalik begins ill-treating his parents. Tired with their son’s misbehavior and ill-treatment, the elderly couple decide to leave for Kashi. Upon hearing his parents’ plans, Pundalik and his wife decide to join them on pilgrimage. While the youthful son and his wife ride on horseback, the frail old couple walk in bad weather and the ill-treatment continued. Every evening, when the party camps for the night, the son forces his parents to groom the horses and do other jobs.

On the way to Kashi, the group reaches the ashram (hermitage) of a pious and venerable sage, Kukkutswami. Exhausted, the family decides to spend a few days there. That night, when all were asleep, Pundalik by chance is awake and sees a remarkable vision. Just before dawn, a group of beautiful young women, dressed in soiled clothes, enter the ashram; they clean the floor, fetch water and wash the venerable sage’s clothes. After finishing their chores, they go to the prayer-room. When they reappear after prayer, their clothes are spotlessly clean. Then, they vanish as inexplicably as they had appeared. Pundalik feels a deep sense of peace witnessing the scene.

It remains on his mind the whole day and he resolves to remain awake the next night, and confirm it was not merely a dream. Pundalik is very curious and approaches the beautiful women and asks them of their details. They reply that they are the Ganga, Yamuna and other holy rivers of India. Pilgrims wish to take a dip in their holy waters to wash away their sins, and that is soiling their clothes. Then, the women say: “But O Pundalik, with your ill-treatment of your parents, you are the greatest sinner of them all!”

Pundalik is utterly shocked and his conscience transforms. He realises his misdeeds, becomes entirely devoted to his parents and ensures their comfort.

Devotion in any form reaches God swiftly and impressed by Pundalik’s devotion to his parents, Lord Vishnu plans to bless and pays a visit to Pundalik’s ashram.

Vishnu knocks at Pundalik’s door, while he is busy serving his parents. Pundalik does realise that God is at his door, but such was his devotion to his parents, he wants to complete his duties and then attend the visitor. Then, Pundalik does something strange but out of real devotion. He pushes a brick outside for God to stand on and wait for him until he finishes attending to his parents.

Seeing this act, Vishnu is extremely pleased and the ever-loving God waits for his devotee.

When Pundalik comes out, he begs for pardon from the Lord but far from being displeased, Vishnu is overtaken by Pundalik’s love for his parents and grants him a boon. Pundalik requests Vishnu to stay back on Earth and bless all his devotees.

The Lord agrees to take the form of Vithoba, or God who stood upon a brick, and a temple was built there. Along with Vithoba, Rakhumai (Rukmini, the consort of Krishna) is also worshipped here.