Dhruva excitedly scampered into the royal chamber, where his father King Uttanapada was seated on the royal throne with his wife Queen Suruchi. Seeing his stepbrother Uttama perched on their father’s lap, five-year old Dhruva started running up the flight of stairs to reach the throne.
With only his bow and arrow for company, King Parikshit was left all by himself, and he was hungry. Very hungry. He walked—as quickly as his fatigue allowed him—in search of some traces of human inhabitation. At last, the famished king stumbled upon a serene hermitage and spotted a sage seated in deep meditation. Parikshit’s dry…
Stars glistened in the dark but clear sky and were positioned auspiciously. All the other planets and celestial objects steadily moved with tranquility. Mother Earth proudly continued adorning her ornaments of towns, villages, fields, and forests. Buoyant songbirds and susurrus bees buzzed and twittered with joy as they were caressed by an aromatic zephyr. Every lake was brimming with water, and every tree wore lush green leaves. All of nature was at its best.
One day, Parikshit was traveling back home in his chariot. As he approached the Sarasvati River, the king came across a disturbing scene that made his jaw drop in shock. He pulled the black horses drawing his chariot to a stop.
A little five-year-old boy silently walked by his mother on her way to her next gig. A group of traveling saints were staying in their village for the rainy season. and the boy’s mother had been employed to clean the hermitage.
Memories flooded through the mind of a newborn fawn in the terrains of the Kalanjara mountain. He left his mother and slowly began walking North to the forest of Shaligrama. By no means could he let himself repeat the mistakes of his previous birth. Even after renouncing life as a king in pursuit of Sriman Narayana, he had fallen prey to attachment for an animal. A deer! He was devastated.
The deafening roar of a raging lion filled the vicinity of the riverbank. A heavily pregnant doe felt as if her heart had plummeted into her stomach. Her breathing became heavier every second. Overcome with panic she spontaneously leapt across the Gandaki River to escape. As she flew midair, her premature fawn fell out, landing in the caressing water. But as the exhausted and depressed doe’s black hooves met the river’s other bank, she released her final breath.
“It was you?” Devala asked, his fingers flying to his chin. “I thought a crocodile had caught hold of me. What were you thinking?”
Gajendra charismatically ushered his herd to the nearby river. Like any honorable leader, the elephant king patiently waited for each one of his subjects to quench their thirst.
At last, Gajendra waded in and began drinking. As he gleefully frolicked in the river, he suddenly felt something sharp in his feet.
Indradyumna had experienced enough of his worldly and materialistic life as a king. The Pandya ruler wanted to spend the remainder of his life immersing himself in the worship of Sriman Narayana.
