Purushottam Maas Katha: Adhyaya 27 | पुरुषोत्तम मास कथा: अध्याय 27

King Dridhadhanva and Queen Gunasundari reached Goloka through penance and devotion in Purushottam Maas. The story focuses on the sins of a selfish miserly Brahmin, the monkey form, and salvation.

Shrinarayan said, 'Having said this, King Dridhadhanva, along with his wife, bowed to the silent sage Valmiki and worshiped him with joy and devotion. Taking the worship done by that King Dridhadhanva, he gave blessings. May you be well. I will go to the Sarayu River, which destroys sins. At this time, while we were talking like this, evening has come. Saying this, the best of sages, Valmiki Muni, quickly left. King Dridhadhanva also accompanied Valmiki Muni to the boundary and returned to his home. Going home, he spoke to his beautiful wife named Gunasundari.

King Dridhadhanva said, 'O beautiful one! What happiness do humans have in this insubstantial world, like a city of Gandharvas, filled with these six enemies: passion, hatred, greed, delusion, intoxication, and envy? What is my purpose with this body, which is like insect excrement, ash, and filled with phlegm, bile, and wind, and full of feces, urine, and blood? O Vararohe! To accumulate eternal things from this impermanent body, I will remember Purushottam and go to the forest.' Then Gunasundari, hearing this, spoke to her husband with humility and folded hands in purity.

Gunasundari said, 'O King! I will also go with you, for the husband is the deity of virtuous women. The woman who stays in her son's house after her husband's departure lives like a dog in another's house, subject to her daughter-in-law. The father gives little, and the brother also gives little; which woman would not go with the husband who gives abundantly?'

Accepting his beloved's words in this way, he anointed his son and quickly went with his wife to the forest served by sages. Both husband and wife went near the Ganges River near the Himalayas and began to bathe at both times when Purushottam Maas arrived.

O Narada! Having attained Purushottam Maas there, remembering Purushottam according to the rules, he began to perform penance with his wife. Without raising his hands, steady on his toes, with his gaze fixed on the sky, fasting, the king began to chant the name of Krishna. The virtuous queen of the king, who was engaged in the vow, was devoted to his service.

As the king was performing penance in this way, when Purushottam Maas was completed, a chariot adorned with the sounds of bells arrived there. Seeing the virtuous and well-behaved chariot that had arrived immediately, the king, along with his wife, was filled with wonder and bowed to the virtuous and well-behaved ones sitting in the chariot. Again, they ordered the king, along with his wife, to sit in the chariot. The king, along with his wife, sat in the chariot, assumed a beautiful new body, and immediately went to Goloka.

In this way, by performing penance in Purushottam Maas, they attained a fearless realm and began to rejoice near Hari. And the virtuous wife, also performing penance in Purushottam, served her husband and attained the same realm.

Shrinarayan said, 'O Narada! I have only one tongue; what can I describe at this time? There is nothing on this earth like Purushottam. The fruit that is not obtained by performing penance for a thousand births is obtained by a person by serving Purushottam.

If one fasts, bathes, gives charity, or chants, etc., in Sri Purushottam Maas, knowingly or unknowingly, all sins committed over millions of births are destroyed. Just as a wicked monkey unknowingly bathed only for three nights in Purushottam Maas, all the misdeeds of his previous birth were destroyed, and that monkey also, assuming a divine body, ascended a chariot and attained Goloka, free from old age and death. Therefore, this Purushottam Maas is the most excellent of all months because it brought a wicked monkey near Hari Bhagavan by merely bathing in Purushottam Maas without knowing it.

Oh, what a wonder! Those who do not serve Sri Purushottam Maas are great fools. They are blessed and have accomplished their purpose, and their birth is successful. Those men who serve Sri Purushottam Maas with proper rituals of bathing, giving charity, chanting, offering oblations, and fasting.

Narada Muni said, 'The human body is said to be the means of achieving all purposes in the Vedas. But this monkey also became directly liberated by serving Purushottam Maas by chance. O treasure of penance! Tell me this story for the welfare of all beings. Where did this monkey bathe for three nights? Who was this monkey? What did he eat? Where was he born? Where did he live? And what merit did he gain by chance in Sri Purushottam Maas? Tell me all this in detail, as I desire to hear it. I am not satisfied listening to the nectar of your stories.'
Shrinarayan said, 'There was a very greedy Brahmin from the Kerala country, who loved wealth like honeybees, always intent on accumulating wealth. He was known in the world by the name Kadarya because of that action. His father had initially named him Chitrasharma.

That Kadarya never enjoyed beautiful food or beautiful clothes. That foolish man never offered oblations to the fire, nor performed Shraddha for his ancestors. He did nothing for fame and did not nourish those who depended on him. He unjustly collected wealth and buried it in the earth. He never gave sesame seeds in the month of Magha. He did not give lamps in the month of Kartik and did not feed Brahmins. He did not donate grain in the month of Vaishakha and did not donate gold during Vyatipat Yoga. He did not donate silver during Vaidhriti Yoga, and he never gave all these donations during the time of the Sun's transit. He neither chanted nor offered oblations to the fire during lunar or solar eclipses.

He always spoke pitifully with tears in his eyes. Afflicted by rain, wind, and heat, thin and with a dark body, that fool always wandered on the earth out of greed for wealth. He was unable to stay anywhere even for the time it takes to milk a cow, repeatedly saying, 'May someone give something to this wretch.' Burned by the scorn of the people and with a disturbed mind, he wandered.

One of his friends was the owner of a forest garden. That Kadarya repeatedly told his sorrow to that gardener while crying. The residents of the city constantly insult me, so I cannot live in that city. Hearing the very pitiful words of that Kadarya Brahmin, the gardener became compassionate.

Having compassion on that poor Brahmin who had come for refuge, the gardener said, 'O Kadarya! Live in this garden at this time.' Hearing the words of that gardener, Kadarya, who had been scorned by the city dwellers, became happy and began to live in that garden. He always lived near that gardener and obeyed his commands. Therefore, the gardener had strong faith in that Kadarya, and because of his great trust in Kadarya, the gardener made that Kadarya Brahmin the owner of a smaller garden than his own. After this, the gardener decided that Kadarya was his man. Therefore, leaving the worry of the garden, he served the royal palace.

The gardener had a lot of work at the king's place, so due to his dependence, he never came to the garden. That very weak Kadarya happily ate the fruits of that garden well and sold the remaining fruits out of greed. He fearlessly sold the fruits of that garden and took all the money himself. When the gardener asked, he lied to him, saying that he wandered around the city, begging and eating, and protected his forest. Still, birds come and eat the fruits of this garden every month. Look, I have killed some of the birds that were eating well. Here, pieces of meat and feathers of those birds are lying all around; seeing those pieces of meat and feathers, he trusted him completely, and the gardener left.

In this way, 87 (eighty-seven) years passed while that wicked Kadarya, who was extremely decrepit, lived there. That fool died there, and he did not receive fire or wood. Those who know the Vedas say that sins are not destroyed without being experienced.

For this reason, crying out in agony, afflicted by the blows of the mace of Yama's messengers, he went with great difficulty along a very frightening long path. Remembering the deeds done in the past and lamenting, and saying in indistinct words, 'Oh! What a wonder. Look at the ignorance of me, the wicked Kadarya; having obtained a human body, which is rare even for the gods, in this sacred Bharatkhanda endowed with black deer, what did I do out of greed for wealth? That is, I did nothing, and I wasted my birth, and the wealth that I accumulated over many days became dependent on others. What can I do now, bound by the noose of time and dependent on others? Having first obtained a human body, I did not perform any virtuous deeds. I neither gave charity, nor offered oblations to the fire, nor went to the caves of the Himalayas to perform penance, nor did I partake of the water of the Ganges in the month of Magha when the sun is in Capricorn. I did not fast for three days at the end of Purushottam Maas, and I did not bathe in the morning while the stars were still visible in the month of Kartik.

I did not even nourish the human body that gives purpose. Oh! What a wonder. My accumulated wealth remained buried in the earth, useless. Being of wicked intellect, I tormented the soul throughout my life, and I never satisfied my digestive fire with food. I never covered my body with fine clothes even during any festival. I did not please the people of my caste, nor my relatives, nor my kinsmen, nor my sisters, nor my son-in-law, nor my daughter, nor my parents, nor my younger brother, nor my virtuous wife, nor the Brahmins. I never satisfied these people with sweets even once. While lamenting in this way, the messengers of Yama took that Kadarya to Yamaraja.

Seeing him, Chitragupta saw his sins and merits and said to his master, Dharmaraja, 'O Maharaj! This is the lowest of Brahmins, a miser. This wicked Kadarya, greedy for wealth, has no merit at all. He has committed many sins by living in the garden. Becoming trustworthy to the gardener, he directly stole the fruits himself, and he ate whatever fruits were ripe, and whatever fruits were left uneaten, this wicked man sold them out of greed for wealth. One sin is the theft of fruits, the other is the sin of betrayal. O Lord! These two sins are extremely severe in this miser, and there are also many other kinds of sins in him.

Narada Muni said, 'Hearing the words of Chitragupta, the son of Brahma, Dharmaraja, filled with great anger, said, 'This Kadarya should be born in the form of a monkey a thousand times, and he will suffer the consequences of betrayal later.

Thus ends the twenty-seventh chapter in the Purushottam Maas Mahatmya of the Sri Brihannaradiya Purana ॥27॥