There once lived a
man called Govardhanan. He lived happily with his wife serving his guru Vishnu
Swami at his house. Everyday his guru would decide to leave their home so that
he could go away to meditate upon the Lord in solitude but Govardhanan and his
wife would plead with the guru and make him agree to stay for one more day.
Vishnu Swami realized that he could never take leave of Govardhanan; he decided
to leave without telling them. Vishnu Swami left their home in the middle of
the night so that he could detach himself from the affection of Govardhanan.
The couple searched
for Vishnu Swami everywhere in the morning. They felt dejected when they didn’t
find him. As they had spent their time listening to the lectures of Vishnu
Swami they didn’t know how to spend their time after their guru left them.
‘I will go for a
walk’, Govardhanan announced one day to his wife.
He started walking
down the street. At the end of the street he saw a group of young men sitting
around a table playing dice. He stopped to look at them out of curiosity.
‘We are short of
one hand’, one of the men called out to him. ‘Would you like to play with us?’
‘What is this game?
I don’t think I know the rules.’
‘It is very easy.
We will teach you the rule’, they called to him.
Govardhanan joined
their company and started to enjoy the game.
‘I met some nice
young men who invited me to play a game of dice with them’, said Govardhanan to
his wife.
‘It doesn’t sound
right to me. Why seek such company while you can sit at home and chant the
Lord’s names?’
‘You won’t
understand!’ snapped Govardhanan.
His wife was taken
by surprise as he had never raised his voice before.
Soon Govardhanan’s
new found friends introduced him to alcohol.
‘We are going to
see a dance’, they told him one day. ‘The dancer is very exquisite! Why don’t
you come with us?’
Soon Govardhanan
was swayed by passion and went to live with the dancer after abandoning his
wife. Whenever the dancer demanded more money, Govardhanan would visit his wife,
hit her and snatched her jewellery.
His wife overcome
by misery started to cry one day. She said to herself, ‘if only our guru hadn’t
left us my husband wouldn’t have gone astray!’
She heard someone
knock at the door. Afraid that it might be her husband come back to torment her
for more money, with trembling hands she opened the door but to her surprise she
saw Vishnu Swami standing on the threshold.
‘Whats the matter?
Is Govardhanan okay?’ asked Vishnu Swami as Govardhanan’s wife started to cry.
‘He has gone
astray’, she said and then recounted everything to Vishnu Swami.
‘I will return with
Govardhanan’, promised Vishnu Swami and he went to the home of the dancer.
Vishnu Swami
knocked at the door of the dancer and called for Govardhanan. Govardhanan heard
his guru’s voice and something stirred in his heart. Govardhanan came to the
door and seeing his guru standing outside, he remembered the time he had spent
in the company of his guru. Immediately he was overcome by remorse as he
realized his errors. He fell at his guru’s feet and asked to be pardoned.
Vishnu Swami
reformed Govardhanan. Stayed with Govardhanan and his wife till Govardhanan
returned to the old path.
The above narrative
shows that a bagawatha must avoid bad company as through such company
other evils enter our life and can take us away from the right path on to the path of sins.
Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/11/srimadh-bagawatham-characteristic-of.html
