Upamanyu's Devotion! # Last blog we saw how Upamanyu's Guru Ayoddhoumya instructed Upamanyu to offer all his food to him , not to ask for Bhiksha again , neither to drink milk given by the cows , nor to drink drops of milk coming out of the mouth of calves! After agreeing to his teacher's command he then returned to his work. But now as he had no source of food , he soon became hungry , in this state he needed to eat so he ate leaves of - Arka Arka ( Arka - Calotropis gigantea) 
(The milky sap is know to cause keratoconjunctivitis and reversible vision loss.) Leaves of Arka are alkaline , bitter and spicy , and very rough in nature. Thus after eating its leaves his vision became weak and in few hours he became blind. " स तैर अर्कपत्रैर्भक्षितैः क्षारतिक्तकटुरूक्षैस्तीक्ष्णविपाकैश्चक्षुष्युपहतोअन्धो बभूव "॥ ५१॥ महा.पौष्यपर्व.५१. As the Arka Patra blinded him , he roamed in despair and fell into a big well . After a few days , as Upamanyu did not return to his guru , Ayoddhoumya called his disciples and asked " Where is Upamanyu?" His students said " Gurudev you sent him to take care of our cows a fews days ago but we did not see him since then." Guru Ayoddhoumya said " Maybe he is upset with me as I instructed him not to eat anything. Let's go and check on him." Thus Ayoddhoumya with his disciples went out to look for Upamanyu. Ayoddhoumya called out Upamanyu's name and said " Son Upamanyu , where are you? Please come here!" After hearing his teachers voice , Upamanyu said shouting loudly " Teacher I fell in this well. I'm in here!" So Ayoddhoumya asked " Son how did you fell in this well?" Upamanyu answered " Gurudev I accidentally ate Arka Patra (leaves of Arka) and became blind. And I fell in this well as I could not see". Guru Ayoddhoumya said " Son Upamanyu , pray to lords Ashwinikumars (Twin God's) . They are the vaidyas (doctors) of Gods. They will cure your blindness." So Upamanyu started to meditate and prayed to Lord Ashwinikumars with mantras written in Rigveda. After meditating for sometime the twin gods Ashwinikumars came and said " Upamanyu we are very pleased with your prayers , we bought this rice preparation for you , please eat." Upamanyu said " Lords I must apologize but without the permission of my teacher I cannot use this as food" Ashwinikumars said " Son , earlier your Guru Ayoddhoumya upon calling us for help , we gave similar rice preparation to him and he without the consent of his teacher, ate it. You should do the same." Upamanyu said " I appreciate your blessings to my guru Ayoddhoumya but I must take permission from him to accept your rice preparation as food!" Thus Ashwinikumars became very happy and said " Son, we are very happy to see your devotion towards your teacher , your Guru Ayoddhoumya is strong as iron , we bless you to become as strong as gold. Also your blindness will go away with our treatment. " All this incident was narrated to guru Ayoddhoumya who also blessed Upamanyu with boon of understanding the Shastra (Dharma Shastra) and blessed him with everlasting knowledge. Similarly his third student Ved was blessed as he for many days stayed with his Guru and served him with devotion. Hence he too was blessed with everlasting knowledge of Vedas. But when Ved himself became a Guru ( Teacher) he did not ask his students to do his household work as he knew the troubles the students undergo while doing such chores! # Next blog - Story of Ved's student - Uttanka
(The milky sap is know to cause keratoconjunctivitis and reversible vision loss.) Leaves of Arka are alkaline , bitter and spicy , and very rough in nature. Thus after eating its leaves his vision became weak and in few hours he became blind. " स तैर अर्कपत्रैर्भक्षितैः क्षारतिक्तकटुरूक्षैस्तीक्ष्णविपाकैश्चक्षुष्युपहतोअन्धो बभूव "॥ ५१॥ महा.पौष्यपर्व.५१. As the Arka Patra blinded him , he roamed in despair and fell into a big well . After a few days , as Upamanyu did not return to his guru , Ayoddhoumya called his disciples and asked " Where is Upamanyu?" His students said " Gurudev you sent him to take care of our cows a fews days ago but we did not see him since then." Guru Ayoddhoumya said " Maybe he is upset with me as I instructed him not to eat anything. Let's go and check on him." Thus Ayoddhoumya with his disciples went out to look for Upamanyu. Ayoddhoumya called out Upamanyu's name and said " Son Upamanyu , where are you? Please come here!" After hearing his teachers voice , Upamanyu said shouting loudly " Teacher I fell in this well. I'm in here!" So Ayoddhoumya asked " Son how did you fell in this well?" Upamanyu answered " Gurudev I accidentally ate Arka Patra (leaves of Arka) and became blind. And I fell in this well as I could not see". Guru Ayoddhoumya said " Son Upamanyu , pray to lords Ashwinikumars (Twin God's) . They are the vaidyas (doctors) of Gods. They will cure your blindness." So Upamanyu started to meditate and prayed to Lord Ashwinikumars with mantras written in Rigveda. After meditating for sometime the twin gods Ashwinikumars came and said " Upamanyu we are very pleased with your prayers , we bought this rice preparation for you , please eat." Upamanyu said " Lords I must apologize but without the permission of my teacher I cannot use this as food" Ashwinikumars said " Son , earlier your Guru Ayoddhoumya upon calling us for help , we gave similar rice preparation to him and he without the consent of his teacher, ate it. You should do the same." Upamanyu said " I appreciate your blessings to my guru Ayoddhoumya but I must take permission from him to accept your rice preparation as food!" Thus Ashwinikumars became very happy and said " Son, we are very happy to see your devotion towards your teacher , your Guru Ayoddhoumya is strong as iron , we bless you to become as strong as gold. Also your blindness will go away with our treatment. " All this incident was narrated to guru Ayoddhoumya who also blessed Upamanyu with boon of understanding the Shastra (Dharma Shastra) and blessed him with everlasting knowledge. Similarly his third student Ved was blessed as he for many days stayed with his Guru and served him with devotion. Hence he too was blessed with everlasting knowledge of Vedas. But when Ved himself became a Guru ( Teacher) he did not ask his students to do his household work as he knew the troubles the students undergo while doing such chores! # Next blog - Story of Ved's student - Uttanka
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