Bhīma and the Pādodaka

Chapter 14 of the Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells of a Śūdra named Bhīma, who lived in the Dvāpara Yuga. His pāpa (sin) was beyond counting. He had killed a thousand brāhmaṇas, and he had done many other wrongs.

Bhīma went to the house of a lone brāhmaṇa to rob him and joined his household as a servant. Each day the brāhmaṇa placed before him the pādodaka (the water that has washed his feet). By touching it, Bhīma was freed little by little from all his pāpa. When a thief killed Bhīma, the attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu came to take him to Vaikuṇṭha.

Bhīma’s life of pāpa

In the Dvāpara Yuga there lived a Śūdra named Bhīma, who followed the work of a vaiśya. His conduct was cruel, and he had killed a thousand brāhmaṇas. He lived with a vaiśya woman in an unlawful bond. He had given up the proper conduct of a śūdra. He had even wronged the wife of his own preceptor. The Purāṇa says that the pāpa of Bhīma of wicked mind could not be counted.

The plan against the brāhmaṇa

One day Bhīma came to the house of a brāhmaṇa, meaning to rob him. He stood near the outer gate and spoke to the brāhmaṇa in a pitiful voice: “O master, listen to my words. I think you are kind. I am weak with hunger. Give me food, or my life will soon leave me.”

The brāhmaṇa answered: “You who are weak with hunger, listen. There is no one here to cook food. There is rice. Take it and eat as much as you like. I have no father, no mother, no son, no brother, no wife and no maternal uncle. All of them have died and left me. O guest, I have no work and no luck, and I live alone in this house. Only Vishṇu lives in my home. I know no other.”

Freed by service

Bhīma told the brāhmaṇa that he too had no relatives, and he offered to stay in the house as a faithful servant. In his mind he planned: “Today or tomorrow I shall kill him and take his money.”

But in the meantime he bowed his head and did whatever the brāhmaṇa asked, including washing his feet. The brāhmaṇa would sip water for ācamana (the sip of water for purity). Each day, with some excuse, he placed before Bhīma the water that had flowed from his feet. By touching the brāhmaṇa’s pādodaka again and again, all the pāpa that Bhīma had gathered was destroyed, and he was freed from all of it.

The thief and the death of Bhīma

One night a thief came to steal the brāhmaṇa’s wealth. He pulled out the door panels and entered the inner house. There he met Bhīma, who was standing in the house. The thief had a staff in his hand. He struck Bhīma on the head and ran away quickly. Bhīma died from the blow.

Bhīma goes to Vishṇu’s abode

After Bhīma’s death, the soldiers of Bhagavān Vishṇu came to take him, whose pāpa had gone. They held conches, discs and maces. A divine chariot yoked to royal swans also came. Bhīma got into it and went to the abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu, which is not easy to reach.

The teaching on brāhmaṇas

This account stands inside the teaching of the Brahma Khaṇḍa on the greatness of brāhmaṇas. The Purāṇa says:

• A brāhmaṇa is the preceptor of all the varṇas.
• A brāhmaṇa is the refuge of all the devas.
• A brāhmaṇa is Vishṇu himself.
• All the holy places of the world, and the ocean and the sea, live in the feet of a brāhmaṇa.
• A person whose head is sprinkled with the water from a brāhmaṇa’s feet has bathed at all sacred places and is free from all pāpa.

In this way the pādodaka destroyed one of the greatest piles of pāpa described in this Khaṇḍa.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 14