Gokarṇa

Gokarṇa was a wise and learned son of a cow. His father was the brāhmaṇa Ātmadeva of Kohala. He was born with ears shaped like a cow’s, and so he was named Gokarṇa, “cow-eared”.

He taught his own father to give up household life. His best-known act was to free his wicked brother Dhundhukāri from the state of a preta (a restless spirit of the dead). He did this by reciting the Bhāgavata Purāṇa for seven days. This is the Bhāgavata Saptāha.

Birth and name

A wandering siddha (a perfected being) had given Ātmadeva a fruit so that he might have a son. Dhundhulī did not eat the fruit herself. She fed it to the family cow. Three months later the cow gave birth to a boy of divine look, spotless and golden in his glow. The people who gathered were amazed.

The boy had ears like a cow’s, and Ātmadeva named him Gokarṇa. He grew up learned and wise, the opposite in nature of his brother Dhundhukāri.

The teaching to Ātmadeva

Dhundhukāri’s wickedness left Ātmadeva in despair. Gokarṇa came to him and gave him plain and firm teaching on worldly life. He said that life in the world has no worth and brings grief. No relation, whether son, wife or wealth, has lasting substance. Only the detached muni who lives alone finds happiness.

He told Ātmadeva to give up attachment, go to the forest, and do pūjā (worship) of Vishṇu without a break. Ātmadeva took the teaching fully to heart. He left his house, went to a forest, and in the end reached the position of Vishṇu.

The pilgrimage and the preta

After his father left, Gokarṇa went on a long pilgrimage. He heard that Dhundhukāri had died, and at Gayā he performed śrāddha (rites for the dead) and offered piṇḍa (rice balls) for him.

Gokarṇa came back to his village. One night he was sleeping in his courtyard when the frightening preta form of Dhundhukāri appeared before him. It took the shapes of an elephant, a camel, a buffalo, fire, a serpent and a man. Gokarṇa did not run. He questioned the spirit with courage and kindness.

Gokarṇa gave it water, and the spirit felt a moment of relief. It said that it was Dhundhukāri and begged to be freed. It added that even the piṇḍa at Gayā had not freed it, because the pāpa it carried was too great.

The Bhāgavata Saptāha

Gokarṇa could find no remedy in the śāstras. He and the brāhmaṇas of Kohala praised Bhagavān Sūrya. Bhagavān Sūrya appeared in the sky and said that Gokarṇa, “a calf, born of a cow”, would free Dhundhukāri by reciting the Bhāgavata Purāṇa for seven days. The power for this would come from the puṇya (merit) that Ātmadeva had gathered.

On the holy bank of the Tungabhadrā, Gokarṇa sat on a high seat, bowed to Nārāyaṇa, and began the Bhāgavata Saptāha. The preta Dhundhukāri entered a bamboo with seven knots and listened. Each day’s recitation burst one knot. On the seventh day the last knot burst. Dhundhukāri left his preta form and appeared in a divine form, dark in colour, wearing yellow clothes and a Tulasī garland.

He bowed to his brother Gokarṇa and praised the Bhāgavata that had freed him. A divine vehicle came from Vaikuṇṭha to carry him.

Why Gokarṇa is remembered

Gokarṇa was born in unusual circumstances and became a means of liberation for others. He is the first to recite the Bhāgavata Saptāha, the seven-day recitation of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. The Purāṇa shows that it can free even a preta weighed down by the heaviest pāpa when done with the right intention. He is also the son who gave the highest teaching to his father.

Sources

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