XXXVIII : Poem
Kalimi kalginemi Karuna lekundina
Kalimi Tagune Dusthakarmulakunau
Tene Gurpaniga Teruvuna Bovada
Viswadha abhirama Vinura Vema.
Telugu Version :
కలిమి కలిగెనేమి కరుణ లేకుండిన
కలిమి తగునే దుష్టకర్ములకునుఁ
తేనే గూర్పనింగ తెరువున బోవడా ?
విశ్వదాభిరామ వినురవేమ.
Meaning : If wealth lies in the hands of kind people who are philanthropists, it reaches the needy, and if a crooked and cunning person has abundance of wealth it is of no use.How honey bee collects honey but never will be useful to the needy.similarly an unkind person amasses wealth for no one's benefit.
Story : Parikshit who was the descendant of Pandavas was born to Uttara and Abhimanyu, Raja Parikshit was the only successor of the Pandavas. Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, was first killed in his mother's womb by a Brahmastra (the ultimate weapon/missile) directed towards him by Ashwatthama - the son of Guru Dronacharya - during the Mahabharat war at Kurukshetra.
Lord Krishna stepped in and extended cover to save Uttara's womb and its fruit from the attack by Ashwatthama. He used the Sudarshana to neutralise the effect of the Brahmastra to protect the embryo in Uttara’s womb. When the child was born lifeless, it was Krishna who gave it life through His yogic powers.
After Krishna left for Vaikuntam and the Pandavas renounced the world of power and pleasure, Parikshit inherited the throne of Hastinapur. A Raja who was known for establishing a dharmic (fair and just) Rajya (rule), Parikshit once came across a gruesome sight where a cow and an ox were brutally being beaten by a shudra.
It is believed that the ox was actually Dharmaraj, who after Krishna’s departure had been plagued by malicious activities. The Shudra, on the other hand, was Kaliyug, who had brought adharma and asatya along with himself. By making use of his knowledge and power, Parikshit brought Kali down to his knees and saved the world from adharma.
Parikshit, in spite of his immense knowledge and power, fell prey to his anger and brought his doom on himself, when after an extremely exhausting encounter with wild beasts, Parikshit visited the ashram of Sameeka Maharshi.
The Maharshi, engrossed in his dhyanam (intensive meditation), failed to notice an exhausted Parikshit. Infuriated by the ignorance of Sameeka, Parikshit put a dead snake around his neck, before leaving the place, frustrated. Little did he know that his anger would cost him his life.
Shrungi, Sameeka Maharshi’s son, after noticing the unpleasant sight, gave him a shraapam (curse) to die of a snake-bite on the seventh day. Sameeka Maharshi, aware of Parikshit’s greatness, after getting to know about the shraapam, felt sorry for Parikshit and decided to inform him about the curse.
With great remorse and regret, Parikshit accepted his fate and made Janamejaya, one of his four sons, the king of Hastinapur. Waiting for death, however, was not that easy for Parikshit. In spite of listening to the discourses of sage Suka Dev every day, he was not able to gather himself to believe that his days were actually numbered.
His restlessness and fear did not go unnoticed by the sage. To lighten his mind, he recited a story of a king, who has spent a night at a fowler’s house, had developed a kind of fondness for the place, because of which he wanted to stay back. The story was actually about Parikshit, whose soul was unwilling to leave the body and go back to the place it belonged to.
The story cleared the concepts of aatma and mrityu for Parikshit. The lines gave him the courage to accept his fate. Fears and hopes had vacated his mind when Takshaka, disguised as a Brahman, came to him and bit him. Mrityu came to him when he had made peace with his destiny.
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