Vedamāli, Yajñamāli and Sumāli
The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa tells of a brāhmaṇa named Vedamāli, who earned his living in ways the śāstras forbid. His twin sons were Yajñamāli, who was good, and Sumāli, who lived badly. Both in the end reached Vishṇu-loka. The account teaches two things. A small act of service to Bhagavān Vishṇu in an earlier birth bears great fruit. And the puṇya (merit) of a good person can be given to free a fallen relative.
Vedamāli’s wrong livelihood
Vedamāli was a brāhmaṇa who earned his living by means the śāstras condemn. He sold goods that should not be sold. He took dāna (gifts) from caṇḍālas. He turned his own tapas and vratas into money. In this wrong way he gathered much wealth.
He had twin sons. Yajñamāli, the elder, was pious. Sumāli lived without discipline. When he was old, Vedamāli divided his wealth and gave it out. He went to the bank of the Gaṅgā and gave much dāna there. Then he travelled to Nara-Nārāyaṇāśrama. There he met the great Jānanti Maharshi and received from him teaching (upadeśa) on jñāna (knowledge) and on the nature of the ātman.
Yajñamāli and Sumāli: two paths
Yajñamāli, the elder son, took his share and spent all of it in right ways. He kept up the tanks (tāṭākas) and the public works that his father had built. He gave dāna and food every day. Every day without fail he served Bhagavān Vishṇu in his temple.
Sumāli, the younger, received the same wealth but wasted all of it. He spent it on drink, on prostitutes, and on the company of pāshaṇḍas and caṇḍālas. When his share was gone, he tried to steal from his brother, and the townspeople held him back. Out of love, Yajñamāli divided what he had left and gave half to Sumāli. Sumāli wasted that share too. At last his kinsmen and the king drove him out of society. He went to the forest with caṇḍāla women and lived in adharma until he died.
The two brothers died at the same moment. A divine vimāna (celestial chariot) came for Yajñamāli, decorated with tulasī garlands and accompanied by Bhagavān Vishṇu’s doorkeepers. He rose in it while gandharvas, apsarases and munis sang his praise.
Yajñamāli’s plea for Sumāli
On the way to Vishṇu-loka, Yajñamāli saw his brother Sumāli. Sumāli was naked and thin, with a noose round his neck. The Yamadūtas (Yama’s messengers) were whipping him and driving him on, and he was crying out in pain. Yajñamāli felt pity and asked the Vishṇudūtas: “Who is this wretched soul, and what can free him?”
The Vishṇudūtas told Yajñamāli the story of his own earlier birth:
In a previous life, you were a Vaiśya named Viśvambhara who had gathered much pāpa (sin). You hated your own parents, you were cut off from your kinsmen, and you had done no good deeds at all. Once, driven away by your family, in grief and hunger, you came to the door of a Vishṇu temple. At that time a great rainstorm fell and the ground became muddy. You wanted to shelter there for the night, so you swept away the mud and cleaned the threshold of the temple. That one act, done without knowing, became the great merit of sweeping Bhagavān Vishṇu’s house. That night a serpent killed you in that same temple. By the fruit of that one act of service to Vishṇu, you were born in a brāhmaṇa family and you have Hari-bhakti (devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu) in this life. You will live in Vishṇu-loka for a koṭi (ten million) of kalpas.
Now, if you wish to save your brother, give him the merit of the stretch of ground, the size of a cow’s hide, that you cleaned at that temple’s door. That will free him from his bonds.
Yajñamāli was full of pity. At once he gave that merit to Sumāli. The Yamadūtas let Sumāli go and ran away. Sumāli climbed into the same vimāna. The two brothers embraced, were honoured by the devas, and arrived together at Vishṇu-loka.
The end of the two brothers
Yajñamāli lived in Vishṇu-loka for one full kalpa and enjoyed its pleasures (bhoga). He gained jñāna there and reached moksha. Sumāli had been freed by the puṇya his brother gave him. He too spent time in Vishṇu-loka enjoying its divine pleasures. Then he was born again on earth as a brāhmaṇa of good family, with learning, virtues and Hari-bhakti. In that birth he also reached moksha.
What the account teaches
- Even the smallest and most chance act of service to Bhagavān Vishṇu has great power. A single sweeping of the floor of his temple, done without knowing, gives birth in a brāhmaṇa family and Hari-bhakti across many lives.
- The puṇya of a good person can be given away. Out of pity, such a person can give the fruit of one deed to a fallen relative and free that relative from Yama’s chains.
- The two brothers had the same wealth, the same family and the same start, yet they came to opposite ends because of their own karma and the company they kept.
Sources
- Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 35–36