Dhanapāla of Ayodhyā
Dhanapāla · dhana-pāla, “the protector of wealth”
Dhanapāla was a vaiśya of Ayodhyā who built a temple to Bhagavān Sūrya and arranged for the Purāṇa to be read in it for a year. He died within six months, yet Bhagavān Sūrya sent a vimāna for him and honoured him in Sūryaloka. The account stands in the Brahma Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, in the Saptamī Kalpa, as the glory of hearing what gives puṇya. It is told with a second man, a brāhmaṇa of the same city, who heard a whole Purāṇa and gave the paurāṇika one gold māsha, and was honoured in the same way.
Kumāra saw these two honoured and asked Bhagavān Sūrya why. Bhagavān Sūrya told him that nothing satisfies him more than the telling and hearing of the Purāṇas, and that the reader is dearer to him than Yama or Śanaiścara. Kumāra took this to Brahmā, and Brahmā said that all Bhagavān Sūrya had said was true. Brahmā tells the whole account to Diṇḍi.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 94
Kumāra sees the two men
Once Kumārasvāmi came to Brahmā, made pradakshiṇa to Pitāmaha, did pūjā, bowed and sat down. He tells Brahmā what he saw. A man came down from a vimāna adorned with rows of small bells, with gems and pearls, and with a platform set with vaiḍūrya. Bhagavān Sūrya rose from his own seat, went to meet him, led him forward with his own right hand, smelled the crown of his head and honoured him. He said: “You are welcome. Stay near us until the pralaya. In the next creation you will go to Brahmaloka and stay there for a long time.”
A second man came on an excellent vimāna, and Bhagavān Sūrya honoured him too with affectionate words. In wonder Kumāra asked what puṇya karma these two had done, for Bhagavān Sūrya, worshipped by all the devatās, had honoured them with great regard.
The account of Dhanapāla
Bhagavān Sūrya answered: “Ayodhyā is a city famous on the earth, ruled by kings born of my aṃśa. This man, called Dhanapāla, of the vaiśya jāti, belongs to that city.”
Dhanapāla built an excellent divine temple there. Wishing to have Purāṇa pravacana held in it, he went to a gathering of learned brāhmaṇas and honoured them, and especially the foremost brāhmaṇa, a great muni who expounds the Itihāsa and Purāṇas. He honoured the book with gandha, flowers and offerings. Then he prayed to one best of the twice-born among the readers:
“In this temple is Bhagavān Sūrya of a thousand rays. The whole company of brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras of this city wishes to hear the Purāṇa. Best of brāhmaṇas, stay here and read the Purāṇa book every day. By that, Bhagavān Sūrya will show me favour for seven births. Take up this pure calling for one year. When it is finished I will honour you with one hundred gold māḍas.”
The reading began, and before even six months had passed, Dhanapāla died. Bhagavān Sūrya said: “For this best of vaiśyas, who died while keeping the vrata of Purāṇa hearing, I sent a vimāna. Great delight comes to me when one honours me in this way.”
Bhagavān Sūrya’s teaching on hearing the Purāṇa
- Even pūjā with gandha, flowers and offerings does not give him the prīti that hearing the Purāṇa gives.
- Gifts of cows, gold, clothes in plenty, villages and cities please him, but not as much as the hearing of Itihāsa and Purāṇa.
- Pūjā and santarpaṇa with many kinds of food do not give the satisfaction that the reading of the book gives.
- The feast of hearing is dearer to him than the feast of food. Nothing satisfies him more than the telling and hearing of puṇya kathās.
The brāhmaṇa who gave one māsha
Bhagavān Sūrya said that the second man is a best of brāhmaṇas living in that same city. He once went with great śraddhā and bhakti to hear the Purāṇa. He heard all of it, made pradakshiṇa to the paurāṇika and gave him one gold māsha, the weight of five guriginja seeds, and dakshiṇā besides. Apart from this honour to the reader he did nothing else, and by that alone he reached this fruit and was honoured by Bhagavān Sūrya.
The glory of the reader
Bhagavān Sūrya said:
- He who honours the paurāṇika with bhakti and śraddhā has honoured Bhagavān Sūrya.
- If one feeds the reader with bhakti on the best foods, it is as if he had honoured Bhagavān Sūrya alone for fifteen years.
- Neither Yama, nor Yamī, nor Śanaiścara, nor Manu, nor Tapatī is as dear to him as the Purāṇa reader.
- When the reader is satisfied with food and honour, the satisfaction of Bhagavān Sūrya lasts two hundred years.
- When the reader eats, all the devatās beginning with Indra are satisfied.
- The reader is the very form of the action of Brahmā, Vishṇu, Rudra and the others. When the reader is pleased, all the devatās are pleased.
Brahmā’s answer
Kumāra asked Brahmā for the truth of this. Brahmā said: “All that Bhagavān Sūrya said is true. From my first face the Itihāsa and Purāṇas came forth, for the good of the world. Neither the four Vedas nor the six aṅgas are as dear to me as these. The four Vedas hold hidden meanings, and it was to make their meanings easy to understand that I created the Itihāsa and Purāṇas.”
Those who hear them every day with bhakti and śraddhā, providing the reader’s livelihood, reach the highest gati. To make clear the true nature of the purushārthas, dharma, artha, kāma and moksha, is an excellent puṇya karma. He who always has the Purāṇa heard gains the tejas of jñāna by the grace of Bhagavān Sūrya and goes to his highest loka. He who gives dakshiṇā to the reader reaches Sūryaloka. As Indra is among the devas and the vajra among weapons, so is the Purāṇa reader among brāhmaṇas; as the sun’s ray is among forms of tejas and the ocean among waters, so the paurāṇika is foremost. The man who honours the reader with bhakti has honoured the whole world.
Kumāra said: “How great is the blessedness of one who has the Purāṇa heard, and of one who gives the reader wealth in plenty!” Brahmā said to Diṇḍi that one who has the Purāṇa heard in the temple of Bhagavān Sūrya reaches the highest gati.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 94
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 94