Glories of Purushottama Month from Padma Purana - Part 5

 King Hadadhanva asked Valkmiki Muni, “O great sage! What are the benefits one achieves by offering a lamp to Lord Purushottama in this month?” The great sage Valmiki then began speaking enthusiastically, “There was king named Citrabahu who ruled over the kingdom of Bhagyanagar. He was a great devotee of Krishna and possessed all good qualities like truthfulness, nonviolence, forgiveness, cultured behavior, kindness, respect towards saintly people and brahmanas, and knowledge of all the religious principles mentioned in the sastra. Once, the great sage Agastya came to his palace. Seeing the great Rishi, the king paid his obeisances even though from a distance. When the sage came closer, he gave him a nice place to sit.

He then worshiped him with great respect and very pleasingly said, “Today my life has become successful because a great devotee of Shri Krishna has entered my palace.” He sincerely tried his best to please the sage. The king then began to question Agastya Muni about his past life. He said, “O great sage, in my present life I am enjoying such an undisturbed kingdom, I have a beautiful and chaste wife, and nice sons and daughters. What pious activities did I perform in my past life to give such an enjoyable result in my present life?” Agastya Muni replied, “O fortunate one, please listen carefully to me. I will now explain your previous life to you.”

“In your previous life, your name was Manigriva. You were a most cruel, non-believer of God and a person of very bad character. But your wife, who is also your present wife, was a very pious and religious lady. She was very chaste and beautiful and always engaged to please you. Your bad character and cruel behavior meant no one in society liked you. Everyone broke their relationship with you. Even the king of your country took away everything from you - including your wealth and property. In this way, being rejected by society, you began to live in the forest with your chaste wife.”

“Once, when you were going to hunt for some food, you came across a man who had fallen down unconscious on the forest road. His name was Sage Ugradeva. Seeing the brahmana sage Ugradeva in such an unconscious and helpless condition, some mercy arose in your heart. Sage Ugradeva was on his way to Prayag Tirtha, but because of fasting and the influence of an unbearable hot sun, he fell down unconscious in the forest. You brought him to your small cottage and both you and your wife began to serve him by fanning him, giving him some water to drink, and cooling his forehead. After a little time, the sage came back to consciousness. He looked around in wonder.”

“Then you described everything to him - how he had fainted and you had brought him to your cottage. You then offered some fresh water to the sage. He was very pleased with you and asked about your impoverished living condition. The great sage Ugradeva inquired, “O Manigriva, why are you are suffering so much here in the forest? Please tell me everything about your past situation so that I can find some way to bring you good fortune in the future.” You then humbly explained your wretched life and asked him to find some solution to your miseries.”

“Ugradeva listened attentively and then said, “O great soul, you will definitely become famous in this world because you have served me so well as your guest. So to eradicate your previous sinful reactions, I am now going to explain to you the simplest and easiest way for you to attain all good fortune. In three months’ time, the sacred Purushottama month will begin. In order to please the Supreme Lord Purushottama, you should daily offer a lamp to the Lord. By doing this, all your misfortune will vanish. The best lamp to offer is a ghee lamp, but because you are living in the forest, you can offer a lamp made from sesame oil. When you attain some wealth, you must then offer a ghee lamp.” Having spoken in this way, Sage Ugradeva left that place for Prayag, constantly chanting the Holy Name of Shri Krishna.”

“Following the order of Sage Ugradeva, Manigriva and his wife offered an oil lamp to Purushottama regularly though out that sacred month. After some time, the couple left their bodies and attained Svargaloka due to the merit they attained from offering a lamp to Lord Purushottama. After enjoying many years in the heavenly planets, the same couple came back again to this material world and achieved a very glorious position in society as King Citrabahu and his queen.”

Agastya Muni then said to King Citrabahu, “O king, such was your previous life, and such is the glory of simply offering an oil lamp to Lord Purushottama in the sacred month of Purushottama. A person who offers a ghee lamp to the Lord daily in this month receives unlimited merit. O king, please do not doubt that such great merits are achieved simply by offering a lamp to the Lord.”

Then the great sage Valmiki continued, “In this way, after explaining the previous life of King Citrabahu and being worshiped by him, Agastya Muni became very pleased and blessed him the king. He then left the palace.”