Thread by @GitaGovindam

#gitarthavisesha #FirstShadanga #Adhyaya2 #Mahatmyam

There lived a brahmana by name Devasharma in the south. He lived an ideal life following his household duties (tretagni upasana, bhagavad aradhana, helping atithi etc..). He also performed many yajna-s with utmost shraddha

Even after leading an ideal life, his mind was at great unease. He was very disturbed & wanted a solution to it

He went to a nearby forest where tapasvi-s were meditating. He did all kind of sushrusha (service) to them & finally one managed to tell his problem to one of them

That rishi suggested him to meet a cow-herder by name Mitravan in a place called Punya near Godavari Banks.

Devasharma met him at a grazing land in Punya-nagari. His face was absolutely shining & radiating with great calm.

With great care, Devasharma went near him, paid his respects (irrespective of cow-herder etc..) & told him about the predicament. Mitravan meditated for a while. With a wide smile, he began another story

Oh Devasharma, listen to this story..

There was a brahmana by name Durdama in the city of Pratishtana near Godavari banks. He failed to do any of his household duties & was living an extravagant & sinful life.

After an uneventful life & death, he was born again as Brahmana

But this time he married a wife who greatly tormented him. She disrespected, abused & tortured him. She even had a child out of wedlock which humiliated him so much that he committed suicide. His wife also died of a cancer. After reaping his karma-phala, Durdama reached svarga

Now the wife after death took the form of a pisacha & was roaming around forests in a deeply agitated fashion (Reaping her sins). She saw a hunter who was hurt & writhing in pain. She tore him into 2 halves & ate him

A few years passed after which the hunter was born as a tiger & the pisacha (lady) as goat. This goat happened to be a part of my livestock that I took for grazing.

One fine day, this tiger attacked my herd. But surprisingly it chose to attack only this goat & spared all others

I was taken aback by this behaviour of the tiger. The goat ran away with the tiger chasing behind. I wanted to get to the bottom of this strange incident. So I too went in hot pursuit..

All of us then reached an old temple & then suddenly all enmity between them vanished!!

The goat said 'Know tiger that you can never destroy me. You, me & all living beings are Eternal. You can only destroy my body. But if I can be of help to satiate your hunger, I will happily oblige you. Please go ahead & eat me'

Tiger responded 'You are also like me. All of us are equally subservient to Paramatma. We got these shapes & bodies because of our karma-phala. It is true that in my previous birth I was attacked & killed by you, but I deserved that for sins I may have committed. I won't kill u'

Mitravan was taken aback by such profound statements from both Tiger & Goat. He was wondering as to what could have brought about such sudden realization for these animals.

A monkey approached Mitravan & told him of the temple's greatness

Monkey said 'Oh Mitravan, this temple was built by none other than Brahma Himself. It survived for so many millenniums. Very recently a brahma-tejasvi came to worship this temple. The archaka paid respects & then requested him to tell about ways of achieving ever lasting Peace'

Brahma-tejasvi then wrote all shlokas of second adhyaya of Gita. The archaka faithfully recited them in the temple premises a countless number of times.

That act of repetition day after day bestowed great brilliance to this place. It sanctified everything that came into contact

The archaka attained Moksha & at the same time, the temple premise was sanctified with immeasurable Knowledge.

'Know Oh Mitravan, that if you pay respects to a learned guru learn 2nd adhyaya of Gita, you will attain the same phala'

As instructed by Monkey, Mitravan learned it from a Guru. He started reciting them day after day for many years.

He slowed gained brahma-tejas. His face was radiating with calm & lustre. He then asked Devasharma to do the same.

Devasharma did the same & attained Moksha soon!!