King Uttanpad had two wives, Suniti and Suruchi. Suniti was the senior wife. But Uttanpad was more attached to his junior and more attractive wife, Suruchi.
Suniti had a son named Dhruva and so had Suruchi, named Uttam. Uttam got preference over his half-brother, Dhruva.
One day, Dhruva went to his father’s chamber and saw Uttam sitting pretty in the king’s lap, as Suruchi looked on fondly. Dhruva wanted to share the father’s lap with his sibling, but his step mother stopped him with a taunt. “Had you, in your previous birth, shown enough devotion to Vishnu Bhagwan, you would have born from my womb and earned the right to sit in the lap of your royal father. Now, if you still want to have that privilege, go to jungles and spend your life in devotion to Bhagwan to earn it for your next life.”
Touched to the quick, the five-year old Dhruva left his home in search of the Deity and wandered about in the countryside. It wasNarad Muni who took pity on the innocent boy and advised him to go to Mathura to meet the Deity. There, he told him, he should sit on the bank of Yamuna facing the East and meditate on Vishnu.
Dhruva followed the sage’s instructions strictly. His body was reduced to a mere skeleton. He had been engaged in hard penance for six months, when Vishnu appeared before him in His most resplendent form. The little prince did not know how to conduct himself before the Almighty.
He need not have bothered. Touching his cheek with his conch, Vishnu blessed him with instant knowledge of the world. The Lord restored Dhruva to perfect health and granted him boons he had not even asked for – that he would rule over a vast empire for a very long period and after his days on Earth were over, occupy, till the end of the world, the highest place in the heavens, with suns and moons going round him.
Dhruva’s story is an inspiration for all those who, for one reason or the other, feel left over, or out of place, to struggle and find a world of their own. When a man is disowned by everyone in the world, there is always Bhagwan to accept him. One has only to go to Him and He will place one above all others as His very own.
What matters, however, is that one must have the steadfastness ofDhruva,the Pole Star.
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