Page 35 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava
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in the house. Who was qualifi ed to marry Padmavati? So many people were
coming and offering their proposals but Aksaraj did not accept any qualifi ed
candidates.
One day, Narada took the form of a Brahman and while Padmavati
was sitting in the garden, he asked to see her palms. He saw beautiful lotus
fl owers on both palms. Narada was ecstatic and tears fl owed from his eyes, “I
understand who you are, you don’t know but I know, You are the Goddess of
Fortune, who has incarnated on this earth and Lord Vishnu will soon be your
husband.” By the arrangement of the Lord, Padmavati forgot the prediction
of Narada. This forgetfulness is not due to ignorance. The Lord purposefully
imposes forgetfulness on his pure devotees so that they can engage in close
relationships with Him so that He may enjoy His pastimes with them without
inhibiting formalities. Krishna says, I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come
remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed,
I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas. (Bg 15.15) There are
two types of forgetfulness. One is imposed on materialistic persons so that they
can exercise their limited free will to choose between serving Krishna in this
material world or serving their own selfi sh desires by which they get trapped
in the cycle of birth and death. If they understand the infi nite opulence of Lord
Krishna, they would be forced to surrender to the Lord. In order to engage in
material life thinking oneself the controller and enjoyer, one must forget about
Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead so that he can attempt to
act as the competitor of the Lord. The second type of forgetfulness is imposed on
intimate devotees of the Lord to facilitate His intimate pastimes. For example,
Arjuna was put into ignorance so that Krishna could explain the Bhagavad-gita
to him for the benefi t of future generations. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
writes, Being an associate of Lord Krishna, Arjuna was above all ignorance, but Arjuna
was put into ignorance on the Battlefi eld of Kuruksetra just to question Lord Krishna about
the problems of life so that the Lord could explain them for the benefi t of future generations
of human beings and chalk out the plan of life. Then man could act accordingly and perfect
the mission of human life.
Lord Srinivasa marries Padmavati
Srinivasa continued to explain to His mother about the history of Padmavati.
He revealed that Padmavati was Vedavati reappeared in Kali yuga to gain the
Lord as her husband. On understanding this, Bakula devi went to Kapileshwar
where there was a temple of Lord Siva. There she found the maidservants
of Padmavati offering fervent prayers. She asked them where she could fi nd
Padmavati. The maids explained how the princess had fallen sick after she
met a hunter who expressed his desire to marry her. Her parents, Aksaraj and
Dharini, were caring for her, but all their efforts and those of doctors and healers
had failed. She was dying due to a strange forlorn nature that no one could
understand. The maids were praying to Siva to save her. Bakula went to meet
with Padmavati’s parents.
Meanwhile, Srinivasa transformed himself into a gypsy woman. She had a
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