Tondaman chakravarthi

 Tondaman chakravarthi

He was a close devotee of Lord Venkateswara. He made many mistakes being succumbed to Arishadvargas (Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Attachment and Jealousy).

Lord corrected him very patiently and finally gave him the highest destination.

1.Anger

 Tondaman chakravarti was a tribal devotee (Nishada) in his first birth

He served Lord Varaha ardently by making offerings daily which the Lord accepted.

One day before going to hunting, he handed over the service of making offerings to Lord Varaha to his son. Only after offerings are made, he has to take prasadam.

He gave instructions to patiently search Lord and offer Him.

After returning from hunting, he saw his son eating food.

He became very angry that his son was eating early and thought that offerings are not made to the Lord. He severed his son's head in anger. 

He succumbed to uncontrollable anger because of which he made the mistake of killing his son.

Later he goes to Lord Varaha with food. The Lord says that his son had already offered Him food.

Then Nishada realized his mistake and repented that by succumbing to anger he killed his own son (Later Varaha Swamy makes his son alive though)

2.Lust

After few births, he takes birth as a devotee Ranga dasu.

He was the first person to serve Lord by installing a deity in Tirupati.

Once when a Gandharva (celestial singer) was taking bath with his wives in Pushkarini, Ranga dasu gets succumbed to lust seeing their beauty.

Observe how arishadvargas catch a person one after another.

Then Lord tells Ranga dasu that he will have to take birth as a king in his next life to clear the weakness of his lusty desire and blesses him.

In his next birth, Ranga dasu was born as Tondaman Chakravarti.

Fortunately, even though Tondaman chakravarti made many mistakes, he never left the feet of the Lord.

That gave him the highest destination.

So now he was born as Tondaman chakravarti in his next life.

Tondaman Chakravarti was the brother of Akasharaju who was the father-in-law of Lord Venkateswara and father of Mother Padmavati.

After few years Akasharaju quits his body.

3.Greed

Akasharaju had a son by name Vasudanudu

Vasudanudu and Tondaman chakravarti had a dispute related to the kingdom.

Vasudanudu argues that the kingdom would legally be inherited to him from his father who was it's former king.

But Tondaman chakravarti argues that as he is Vasudanudu's uncle (who is next to his father), the kingdom should belong to him.

Then both of them decide to have a war and whoever wins will get the kingdom.

Here Tondaman chakravarti should have left the kingdom to Vasudanudu as he was young and was his brother's son. But he got succumbed to greed.

Immediately Vasudanudu goes to his sister who was Mother Padmavati.

Mother Padmavati asks Lord to give Her a word that He would take the side of Her brother Vasudanudu in the battle. The Lord agrees with it and asks who was he going to fight with?

Mother Padmavathi replies that it was with His devotee Tondaman Chakravarti.

Meanwhile, Tondaman chakravarti comes to Lord and tells Him about the war that would take place. He asks Him that he needs His help.

Lord immediately understood and replied that He already took the side of Vasudanudu and so left it to him to decide what help he wants from Him.

God puts this kind of tests. If we can win at this moment, we will be able to attain the state of liberation.

He asks Lord, "Lord! Because you have already chosen the other side, please give your Sudarshan chakra (wheel) and

Panchajanyam (conch shell) that are equal to you in power."

This is foolishness because he was prepared to fight with Lord Himself.

The Lord agreed to it and gave His weapons.

Then a terrific war takes place with Vasudanudu on one side and Tondaman chakravarti on the other side. As Tondaman chakravarti was valorous, he was defeating Vasudanudu

Lord sees this and recalls His word that He would fight for Vasudanudu. He stands with His Saranga bow ready to fight.

When Lord Narayana Himself stands, no one can beat Him 

He fights terrific against Tondaman chakravarti and his soldiers.

With this, Tondaman chakravarti became worried and makes a very big mistake to win the battle.

He throws Vishnu chakram at Lord.

This is a very big blunder. When Lord was fighting, he should have taken shelter of Lord.

But instead, he threw Sudarshan chakra at Lord.

It was also a test for Sudarshan chakra because it was heading towards his own master (who always holds it in His hand).

But it was doing its duty and headed towards Lord. It hit Him on His head and the Lord fell down unconscious.

Then Sage Agastya, Mother Padmavathi, and others came to the battlefield.

Mother Padmavathi caressed Lord. Sage Agastya made a compromise between both parties.

that Vasudanudu should rule Narayana Vanam and Tondaman chakravarti was arranged another place called Tondamanadu to rule.

After making a compromise, they sent both the parties asking them to rule the places allotted to them and never to dispute again.

Lord gave two chances. But Tondaman did not use them, instead misused those chances.

Lord was watching all these. He did not give him liberation thinking that he is related to Him as an uncle. Lord has no such reservations. He just watches.

Once there was a Brahmana by name kurmudu. He had a wife who was 6 months or 7 months pregnant.

He was going to Varanasi to offer homage to his ancestors.

As per scriptures, when you travel to a different place, you can leave a pregnant wife under the shelter of a king.

He also had a son. So he left both his son and his pregnant wife near king and said..

"My wife is pregnant. I am going to Varanasi. It will take months for me to return..

Please take good care of my wife. As she is very beautiful, please look to her protection from dangers that others might cause."

He asked Tondaman chakravarti for a word that he will take good care of his wife and child.

Tondaman chakravarti agreed and gave him word that he will protect them.

He took them to a secure place in their kingdom which was surrounded by big walls.

He arranged for all of their needs enough for 6 months and told them not to go anywhere. He told that he will frequently come and check on their well-being.

He assured them that they need not worry about anything. He ordered soldiers also not to go inside. He got the doors locked up.

Later he went two times to check on them.

But afterward, he and his soldiers got involved in the duties of the kingdom and forgot about them completely.

Two years passed like that.

4.Pride

After two years Brahmana Kurmudu returned from Varanasi.

Kurmudu asks the king about his wife and son. He also inquired if it was a boy or a girl that was born to his wife after he left her under his protection.

Then Tondaman chakravarti remembers about them and realizes his mistake. He gets worried about what would have happened to them.

At that point, he lied to Kurmudu. If he had honestly admitted, he would have stuck to Satyam (truthfulness) and dharma.

Instead, he told to Kurmudu that his wife and children went up the hill and that he had a daughter.

He told that they will return the next day morning and asked him to take a rest until then.

Then he goes to the place where he kept Kurmudu's wife and son two years back. He finds that they are dead and only their skeletons remained.

The doors were kept locked for two years and no one cared about them during that time. Hence they died out of hunger as they could not even come out.

He thought that somehow he should get them back to life that night. Otherwise, he will fail to keep his word and also incur the sin of killing Brahmana.

As they are three Brahmanas - woman, son, and infant in the womb.

He takes the three skeletons and goes to Ananda Nilayam (Sanctum Sanctorum) at midnight.

Here he got succumbed to pride because he was the one who built Ananda Nilayam and also a tunnel to go there. (as mentioned in an earlier video)

He always had pride that it was his house as he built it and Lord Venkateswara was residing in it.

Demigods like Brahma etc.. are coming there to worship the Lord. So he felt it was his house.

Just like few house owners who go to the houses that they gave for rent, without informing the tenants before coming.

Because they feel pride that they are house owners and see no objections to go.

Tondaman chakravarti got similar pride and went to Ananda Nilayam at the midnight.

By that time, demigods have completed the service of putting the Lord to rest and had left. Lord was alone with Mothers Sridevi and Bhudevi.

He did not bother about the timing and went to Lord's place when He was spending time with His consorts.

He fell at Lord's feet and asked for His mercy.

There is Pandava teertham (physical holy water body) in Tirumala. This is a very pure teertham.

Even if one bone falls in it, the being who was it's owner when alive would attain heavenly planets. That's how powerful and pure that teertham is.

In that midnight, Lord Venkateawara went into that teertham, took bath, brought water and sprinkled on the three skeletons.

Immediately the three came back to life and stood up. To keep the word that the king lied to Brahmana, that he has a daughter, Lord Venkateswara made it true.

Also, He made a girl child two years old, because if the child was born back then, she would have been two years old by now.

When Tondaman was very happily taking them back, Lord says to Tondaman, "I have given you a lot of freedom which you have misused..

That's why I will stop speaking from today and will stay in shila (stone figure) form

In my Vaikuntha in Ananda Nilayam I will stay in my original form, but I won't be visible to you or others. I will be visible only in shila form."

At that time Lord became shila (The deity that we see now).

After Lord became shila, Tondaman chakravarti understood the value.

He felt bad that he could no more talk to the Lord with whom he used to meet, talk, make fun all along for so many days.

He cried and asked purohits (priests) what to do for atonement.

5.attachment

They told him to worship the Lord with Tulsi leaves while reciting sahasra nama (1000 names)

They said that Lord will then get pleased and will show mercy on him.

He started to devoutly worship Lord with Tulsi leaves.

After about a month he felt that being a king, he would worship Lord with golden tulsi leaves instead of natural leaves which will wither away.

He brought golden Tulsi leaves and started worshiping Lord with them.

After few days he thought that probably he is the only one in the world who is worshiping Lord with 1008 golden tulsi leaves.

He felt that no king is greater than him. Moham (attachment) and ignorance develop in him.

He was done with all the 5 arishadvargas and got succumbed to 6th one.

6.Jealousy

Lord was watching while he was carrying false ego.

Once the time to remove the false pride arrived.

One morning while he was worshiping Lord with golden leaves, he observed that tulsi leaves with mud attached to them were also falling at the feet of the Lord.

He wondered why tulsi leaves with mud were falling at Lord's feet while he was worshiping with golden leaves.

He thought, "Who is worshiping like this? Don't they know that leaves should be washed clean before worshiping?

If he doesn't know, how is Lord accepting them?" He became upset thinking like this.

Then Lord speaks from shila. He told Tondaman that in a nearby village there is a potter devotee called Bhimu.

"That devotee is the one who is worshiping with these Tulsi leaves. If you go to his home you can see it".

Then Tondaman, being a king, goes there with his soldiers, horses.

He finds that in a poor cottage hut near Tirumala, there lived this potter devotee Bhimu who makes pots.

After making pots daily, he would wash hands, and worship small Venkateswara deity at home with Tulsi leaves.

Lord doesn't make the distinction based on the small idol or big idol, golden leaf or tulsi leaf.

If one has a lot of devotion, Lord accepts service from anyone without considering if he is a king or a potter. This is one practical example.

Tondaman wants to see what kind of worship this devotee is doing. While entering into the house, his crown gets hit by the top of the doorway and it falls.

Lord made this happen (made crown fall ) so that at least then he would give up his false ego, pride and ignorance.After entering inside Tondaman praises Bhimu that he is a great devotee of Lord and says

that Tulsi leaves with which he is worshiping are falling at the feet of Lord in Tirumala daily.

Bhimu felt grateful. He puts starch water that is remained after cooking rice in a small earthen shell and offers it to Lord daily.

Tondaman felt that Bhimu is ignorant and told him that he has arranged amazing things at Tirumala where many delicious offerings are made to the Lord daily.

Lord Himself accepts those offerings.

He asked Bhimu to come and see all those amazing arrangements

As soon as Tondaman said that, Lord appeared in Bhimu's hut and asked, "Bhimu, I am very hungry. Please give me something to eat."

This is Lord's mercy. Because Tondaman felt pride about the expensive arrangements he makes in Tirumala, Lord came to Bhimu's hut to accept his offering.

Then Bhimu kept starch water in a broken earthen pot shell and gave it to Lord.

Lord drank it and said that he has never tasted such a sweet thing before.

This is Lord's love and compassion for His devotee.

Then while Tondaman was watching, Lord calls for a pushpaka vimana from Vaikuntha and sends Bhimu and his wife to Vaikuntha in their mortal bodies.

It is not at all easy to go to Vaikuntha or Kailasa in mortal bodies.

But this potter devotee attained that fortune

Swami loves that devotee (Bhimu) very much.

After seeing this incident, Tondaman got rid of all his pride.

He realizes all the mistakes he made with Lord and gets bedridden.

He repents that he could not even walk up the hill to see Lord being bedridden.

Then Lord very mercifully comes in His original form with His consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi to Tondaman's bedside and sits there.

The Lord teaches him renunciation.

After preaching, Tondaman requests Lord to give him liberation. He says that he was done with his Arishadvargas.

Lord replied, "No, this is not the time for that. After this life, you will take another birth and will do penance at Swami Pushkarini."

"You will get liberation after that."

Like that Tondaman quit his body, took another birth as a devotee, undertook penance at Pushkarini, and finally attained Sayujya liberation.

This is extracted from sri Nanduri Srinivas spiritual talks

Here the you tube video in telugu