Dhruwa

Dhruwa

It may be that some of you have heard of the pole-star known in Hindu astronomy as Dhruwa.

Our present story explains how it came into existence. Once upon a time, there lived a king in ancient India. Like many others of his kind, he had more than one queen. The senior one was Suniti, by whom he had a son named Dhruwa. There was a junior queen on whom the king doted, and he came under her complete control. The latter managed to get the king to send the senior queen and her son to the forest. 

When Dhruwa reached the age of seven, and was able to think for himself, he enquired as to who his father was and what had happened to him. When the mother told him that his father was a king who was still alive, the boy begged of the mother to grant him permission to visit the father. The mother agreed, and the boy went to the king's palace. To his surprise, the king received him with joy and fondled him, keeping him on his lap. At that very moment the step mother came into the scene. She flew into a rage and reviled the king for honouring the exiled prince in that way. She pulled the boy from the father's lap, and turned him into the street.

The boy returned to his mother, sad and disappointed, brooding all the way on the importance of his father. The dear mother shared his sorrow. But the boy was determined to put a stop to the mental agony of his mother and himself. He asked her: "Mother is there any one more powerful in the world than a King?"

"Yes" said Suniti.

"Narayana, the Lord, is more powerful than kings."

The boy put the second question to ascertain the whereabouts of that Lord. On being told that He lived in a distant forest inaccessible to man, he felt that the mother was not likely to allow him to go to the forest.

When the mother was fast asleep that night, the boy got up, prayed to Narayana to take care of his dear mother, and stole into the forest.

He went far into the forest, reached Ashrum where the famous seven Hindu Rishis stayed. They gave no encouragement to him to proceed further, saying that the way to the abode of the Lord was long and perilous. He was determined to go.

On the way he met a tiger, and in the innocence of a child, he enquired whether he was Narayana. Seeing the fearlessness of the boy, the tiger ran away. He saw a bear. On being put the same question, the bear too ran away.

Then the Triloka-Sanjari, Sage Narada appeared, and when the same question was put to him, the sage replied that Lord Narayana was where the boy stood (meaning omnipresent) and advised him to sit quietly and meditate upon the Lord.

Pleased with the boy's devotion and determination, the Lord appeared in person, blessed him and elevated him to the region of the Pole-star, for him to stay there fixed and steady, like a shining star to guide humanity on the God-ward journey.

(The excerpts from the book of "Hinduism in a Nutshell" by its author K.Ramachandra, the Editor of Religious Digest.)

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