Vikuṇḍala

Vikuṇḍala was the younger son of the merchant Hēmakuṇḍala of the city of Nishadha. His elder brother was Śrīkuṇḍala. Both brothers wasted their father’s wealth, lived without dharma and turned to theft. A snake killed Vikuṇḍala.

Before Yama, to his own surprise, he was sent to svarga (heaven) and not to naraka (hell). The reason was sañcita puṇya, merit stored from an earlier life. In that life he had taken two months of Māgha bath in the Kāverī through his friendship with the brāhmaṇa Sumitra. The deva-dūtas (the messengers of the devas) then told him of an even older puṇya: service to four sannyāsins in a still earlier birth. Vikuṇḍala gave this deeper puṇya to his brother Śrīkuṇḍala, who was suffering in Raurava naraka. Both brothers then went up to svarga together.

Life and death

After their father Hēmakuṇḍala died, Vikuṇḍala and Śrīkuṇḍala wasted the wealth he had gathered. They made no puṇya and kept no dharma, and in the end they turned to theft. Vikuṇḍala died of a snakebite.

When the deva-dūtas came for him, they did not take him to the place where Yama punishes. They led him towards svarga. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Svarga Khaṇḍa, Chapter 30)

The stored puṇya: the Māgha bath with Sumitra

Vikuṇḍala was confused and grieved. His brother was in naraka, while he was going to svarga, though both had lived nearly the same life without dharma. The deva-dūtas told him, “Karma alone decides one’s fate, not birth, family or circumstances.”

They then named his puṇya. In an earlier birth he had been born in a certain city. There he became a friend of a brāhmaṇa named Sumitra, the son of Harimitra, who lived in an āśrama on the southern bank of the Yamunā. Through this friendship Vikuṇḍala went with Sumitra for two months of Māgha-snāna (the Māgha bath) in the river Kāverī. This was the Māgha-Kāverī snāna taken through satsaṅga (good company). It made puṇya that lasted across births, and it was now giving its fruit as svarga. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Svarga Khaṇḍa, Chapter 31)

The deeper puṇya: service to four sannyāsins

The deva-dūtas then told him of an older puṇya still. In an earlier birth he had served four sannyāsins. They were the sons of the ṛshi Śakuni and his wife Revatī, and their names were Nirmohana, Jitakāma, Dhyānakośa and Guṇādhika. His devoted service to these renunciants had made great puṇya, which had been ripening across many births (janmas).

The deva-dūtas also gave a long teaching on dharma, on karma-vipāka (the ripening of karma) and on how puṇya and pāpa are counted. They explained why two brothers of the same birth and similar conduct could meet such different ends. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Svarga Khaṇḍa, Chapter 31)

The gift of puṇya

When Vikuṇḍala learned all this, his first thought was grief for his brother, who was suffering in Raurava. He asked the deva-dūtas whether the puṇya of his service to the sannyāsins, the most precious merit he had, could be given to Śrīkuṇḍala. They said it could, through a true saṅkalpa (a solemn resolve).

Vikuṇḍala made the saṅkalpa and gave the puṇya to his elder brother. Śrīkuṇḍala was freed from Raurava naraka at once, and both brothers went up to svarga together.

The Svarga Khaṇḍa holds up this puṇya-dāna (gift of puṇya) as an example of vātsalya (affection) and tyāga (giving up). Vikuṇḍala freely gave away the merit he had earned with most difficulty, for the good of his brother.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Svarga Khaṇḍa, Chapters 30–31