గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః
గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః
శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం
ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే
శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం
నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం
ఓం నమః శివాయ
There used to be
one pious person by the name Pangaloori Veera Raaghavudu(PVR) garu. He lived
for 102 years. When he was around 70 years old, one of his maharashtrian
friends commented that there are not many great andhra (Telugu) bhakthas. PVR
got offended a bit and he took up the task of writing about andhra bhakthas. He
compiled a small book of about 300 pages containing brief details of 76
bhakthas and dedicated/service oriented people from andhra. In this post I
thought I will write about one of those. This is about a couple Banda Paradesi
and Kamalaamba, who lived during the 18th century.
The couple were involved in serving food (Anna daanam) to anyone who would knock their doors irrespective of the time. They had such great dedication and commitment that they did not bother about their financial position either. There's a saying in Telugu. "Koorchoni tinte kondalaina karigipotayi." ('Even mountains of money get wiped out if you sit and eat' is the meaning). So by that saying they lost everything and they were literally left with nothing. They sold almost everything in their house.
One night they
decided that it's better to be out of the house than saying No to the visitors
seeking food. They moved to another village and on the way they rested in a
choultry. In that choultry, which was a bit dark, they overheard a conversation
by a mother to her kids."You eat these ground nuts and drink water and
rest for tonight. Tomorrow morning we will reach Banda Paradesi's house and u
can eat stomach full." Hearing this the couple felt very bad and returned
to their village the same night. In the morning they saw the big stone pestle
(rubbu rolu) in their backyard and decided to sell it off. They informed one
local shop owner and sold that for some money, but asked him to take that home
in the evening. With the money they got they bought items and made food. As
expected apart from that choultry woman and kids others also had come and ate heartily.
In the evening
that shop owner came to collect the stone pestle. When they lifted that they
found a big jar with gold coins (Lanke binde). The shop owner took only the
pestle and said the right owner of that jar is the couple. So righteous was
this shop owner, that he refused to take inspite of the couple insisting that
it doesn't belong to them.
The couple thought that this was god's decision and took that money and used it to continue their activities. They became so famous that the local king of that place was addressed as "king of Banda Paradesi's place". The king was such a great person that he used to feel proud on hearing that, than getting offended or hurt.
When we pursue and do good things, god will show a way to continue. There will be hurdles surely but our persistence without deviation in our path, will put the responsibility on the god to show us a way out.
సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు
PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and
english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.
