Ātmadeva

Ātmadeva was a learned brāhmaṇa of the city of Kohala, on the bank of the Tungabhadrā. The Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells of him as the father of the great ṛshi (seer) Gokarṇa.

He had no child at the age of fifty. A wandering siddha (a perfected one) gave him a fruit so that he might have a son. His wife Dhundhulī deceived him, and this led to a complicated arrangement from which two sons came. Gokarṇa was born from the family cow, after the fruit was fed to her. Dhundhukāri was born through a secret exchange with Dhundhulī’s sister. Dhundhukāri’s wickedness brought Ātmadeva great sorrow. In the end Ātmadeva listened to Gokarṇa’s wise words, gave up worldly life and reached the position of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

Identity and background

Ātmadeva was a brāhmaṇa skilled in Vedic learning and rites. He kept to his daily duties and lived in the rich city of Kohala. His wife was Dhundhulī.

The couple had no children. They had passed the age of fifty without an heir. They had given much wealth to brāhmaṇas, including cows, land, gold and clothes, in the hope of a child. But their fate was set by the effect of earlier deeds (pūrva-karma), and no son or daughter came. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 196.

The siddha’s fruit

Ātmadeva was overcome with grief and shame at having no child. He left his house and went to the forest. He wandered in the heat and grew tired from hunger and thirst. He reached a lake and rested in its shade.

By chance a wandering siddha came to the same lake. Ātmadeva honoured him as a teacher and told him his grief. The siddha read his fate on his forehead and told him plainly that no son was written for him for seven lives. He advised Ātmadeva to give up his longing and turn to right knowledge.

Ātmadeva insisted and threatened to take his own life. The kind siddha then gave way. He gave him a miraculous fruit. He said that Ātmadeva’s wife should eat it and keep a year of discipline.

Dhundhulī’s deception and the birth of two sons

Dhundhulī did not eat the fruit. She feared the hardships of pregnancy. She fed the fruit to the family cow and told her husband that she had eaten it.

She also arranged with her own sister, who was pregnant, to take the sister’s child as her own. The sister’s child was then given to Ātmadeva as his son. His mother named the boy Dhundhukāri.

Three months later the cow gave birth to a boy of wonderful divine appearance, with the ears of a cow. He was named Gokarṇa.

The sorrow of Dhundhukāri

As the two boys grew, the difference between them became very clear. Gokarṇa was learned and wise. Dhundhukāri was thoroughly wicked. He had no purity and no good conduct. He was addicted to prostitutes, he was a thief, he was cruel to children, and he wasted his father’s wealth.

Ātmadeva wept in helpless grief. He saw that the siddha‘s words had come true in a way he had not expected. He lamented that the siddha had warned him that a son would not bring happiness.

Gokarṇa’s upadeśa and Ātmadeva’s liberation

Gokarṇa saw his father in despair. He gave him a deep upadeśa (teaching) on the emptiness of worldly life. He said, “Worldly life is worthless. It brings misery and delusion to men. Who is a son? What is wealth? Who is whose wife?” He told Ātmadeva to give up attachment and go to the forest.

Ātmadeva heard these words and remembered the siddha‘s warning. He decided to live as a forest renunciant. He and his wife left the house quietly at night and went to a holy place. By living constantly in the forest and by devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu, Ātmadeva reached the position of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapters 196–197.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapters 196–197