Story of a bhakta - Sakkubai - Part 2
The story of a bhakta – Sakkubai- Part 2
We saw in the last story about Sakkubai, a young girl born in a pious and humble family in Pandarpur. The father of a young man from the town
Sakkubai came to her new home
fully of hope and happiness. A different truth awaited her. She was pushed into
a life of slavery doing household work, fetching water and even pounding grain
from morning till night. Her mother in law did not even give her proper food. Her
husband and father in law instead of intervening were also mean and angry with
her all the time. Sakku’s parents once visited her and were tearful to see their
precious daughter wearing torn clothes and looking thin and tired. They could
not do much as in those days, once a girl got married, the parents did not
intervene in her life.
Things went on like this for a
while. Amidst all this, one thing Sakku was steadfast in was her love for and
prayer to Lord Vittala. She chanted his name all the time whenever and whatever
she was doing. One day, while going to fetch water from the pond, they saw a
group of pilgrims going towards Pandarpur. The pilgrims were singing and
dancing happily saying the name of Vittala. Sakkubai wanted to go with them to
see her Vittala.
She came home and asked her
mother in law permission to travel to Pandarpur. Her mother in law got angry
and tied her to a pole and did not give her any food. In the night, an old
woman entered the room where Sakkubai was tied. She told Sakkubai to go to
Pandarpur and she will do all of Sakku’s jobs in her in laws home. Sakku was
scared at first. The old woman finally convinced her that she should go. Sakkubai
left her home and joined the pilgrimage.
At home, Vittala who had come in
the form of Sakkubai, did all the menial jobs that her mother in law told her
to do. Except now her in laws and her husband noticed that the food tasted
divine and even the water seemed to taste differently. Vittala continued to do
household work for his devotee.
The devotee Sakkubai, in the
meantime , was happily singing and going towards Pandarpur. As they neared
Pandarpur, the rest of the party realised that Sakku was not an ordinary
devotee. They felt that their entire journey that normally used to be a bit
tiring was done quickly without any problems. They asked Sakku about her life
and were told about the old woman who came into a locked room to untie her so
that she could come with them.
The other devotees realised then
that the old woman was none other than Panduranga. They all fell at Sakkubai’s
feet and took blessings. As they went into Pandarpur temple, Sakkubai prayed
for moksha and was immediately granted it by the Lord. The other travellers
cremated her body and collected the ashes to hand it over to her relatives.
In the meantime, Rukmini, Krishna’s
consort was worried that her husband was doing menial jobs in Sakkubai’s home.
She appeared before the travellers and told them she needed to call her husband
back as there were many important matters that he needed to attend to. She took
the ashes of Sakkubai and blessed it and brought her back to life. Sakkubai was
shocked to see the Devi in front of her. Rukmini told her with folded hands “For
your sake, my husband, the Lord of all the Universe, is washing vessels,
cooking food and fetching water. I need him to come back to me. Please go back
to your house. At an appropriate time, you will reaching His feet.”
Rukmini also blessed her saying “Your
troubles are over. As your in laws have had the blessing of living with Krishna
himself disguised as Sakkubai, they have undergone a change and have become
more pious and humble. They will not trouble you henceforth.” Sakkubai did her
pranams to Devi and went back home.
Her in laws were shocked to see
Sakkubai coming into the house when they had just seen her washing clothes in
the back. Sakkubai paid her respects to them and narrated the whole story. They
felt ashamed that they behaved badly when Krishna had given them so much to be
thankful for. They begged for forgiveness to Sakkubai and promised to look
after her well. Her husband too underwent a change of heart. The entire family
thanked the Lord of Pandarpur for his grace and compassion.
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