Thursday, September 22, 2011

Dev Balram

Balram, son of Vasudev and Rohini and Krishna's elder brother was very attractive and generous. According to Jain scriptures "Harivansh Puran", after Krishna's death, he became Jain monk. Digamber Jain monks live without clothes or in Digamber veish. His place of 'dyan' was Mangey-tungey. It is said that one day he went to a village near Mangey-tungey for ''ahar-chariya'' or "bhiksha". The women of that village were mesmerized when they looked at him. Some of these women were so engrossed in him that instead of putting rope on the pot to fetch the water from the well, they tied the rope around their children. When Baldev saw this, he was disappointed for his own looks. And so, he went back to his mountain where he was in "dyan" and took a pledge not to appear before anyone and so, he sat in such a way so that no one could see his face and as a result one could see only his back. After a very difficult "dyan", he attained his salvation. Till date, we can see the statue of Balram in Mangey-tungey from his backside and not his face.

I wonder, how the golden city of Dwarka turned into ashes and Krishna's death changed Balram's mind that he turned himself from a king to a monk.             

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