In the previous episode, we had witnessed the grand King Nala – Damayanti marriage being held at the Vidharba Desha as King Bheema gives away his daughter Damayanti to King Nala happily. The marriage takes place, not before Indra and Co. play their game to test the couple’s love and commitment for each other. As Damayanti arrives at the Svayamvara event with the garland in her hand, and as she is walking along the path where hundreds of kings had assembled, instead of spotting one King Nala, she saw five of them! Upon seeing five identical King Nalas standing next to each other, Damayanti is shell-shocked! She comes to know that this is a trick being played by Indra and Co. Realizing this, Damayanti prays to the Devas that if her love and commitment is firm towards King Nala only, and if at all a marriage takes place in her life, it should only be with King Nala, and nobody else! As Damayanti stands firm in her resolution, Indra and the others relent and show the real King Nala standing amidst them! Thus, Damayanti is happy and subsequently the marriage takes place between Damayanti and King Nala in a grand fashion.
Moving on thus, after the marriage ceremonies are over, Indra and Co. leave for the “Svarga Lokha”, as all the other kings also leave for their respective kingdoms. As Indra is on his way, he sees Kali-Purusha coming along swiftly towards the Vidharba Desha. Along with Kali-Purusha, Dwaapara-Purusha is also coming along. Seeing both of them going fast towards the Vidharba Desha, Indra asks them out of curiosity thus, “Oh Kali-Purusha! Where are you going so fast? I see a lot of hurry in you! What is happening?” As Indra asks thus, Kali-Purusha replies thus, “Oh Indra! Don’t you know? Damayanti’s “Svayamvara” is arranged! So both of us are going to participate in it! We do not have time to stop and talk with you now. I’m the one who is going to marry Damayanti!” As Indra hears this answer from Kali-Purusha, he laughs out loud! Indra replies thus, “Oh Kali-Purusha! You’re too little too late! Damayanti’s “Svayamvara” event is over, and King Nala has already married her! Even the food has been served excellently well and with a lot of grandeur! Now if you go there, you won’t even get proper food to eat, as everything would have been over!”
As Indra says thus, he mocks Kali-Purusha in an extremely sarcastic way, which angers him! Kali-Purusha decides to teach Damayanti and King Nala a befitting lesson! He fumes in anger thus, “Oh is it? How dare this King Nala touch the woman whom I’m going to marry? Afterall who is he? He is just an ordinary human being, isn’t he? Now I shall unleash my wrath upon King Nala and make him suffer like hell! I’ll make him run away from his kingdom and Damayanti. By doing so, I’ll approach Damayanti and marry her!” With this savage resolution, Kali-Purusha makes his way into King Nala’s Nishaadha Desha where both Damayanti and King Nala are happily residing with each other! Kali-Purusha gets into a corner of the palace and he wants to somehow get into the body of King Nala in an invisible form and unleash his agenda! Kali Purusha waits, waits and waits, but he is unable to enter King Nala! This is because, King Nala’s “Aachaara” (Austerities) are perfect and without any loopholes or blemish! He is doing his “Sandhyavandanam” regularly! He’s performing his “Nitya-Karma” and “Naimitthika Karma” with utmost perfection! By doing so, King Nala is invisibly building a fortress around himself, in such a way that Kali Purusha is unable to make an entry!
Thus, from this accord, we can understand how our “Nitya Karma” and “Naimitthika Karma” protect us from invisible enemies like this Kali-Purusha! As days and months are progressing, Kali-Purusha patiently waits for King Nala to make a mistake and for his perfection level to dip a bit. Kali-Purusha is waiting to use that as an opportunity to enter into King Nala’s body! As fate would have it, one fine evening, King Nala is performing his “Aachamanam” (Part of our “Nitya Karma”) without washing his feet properly! This is Kali-Purusha’s best chance! Seeing this, Kali-Purusha thinks within himself thus, “Oh wow! This is the best opportunity for me! It’s like a do-or-die situation! If I do not enter King Nala at this point, perhaps, I will never be able to enter him in the future!” Thinking thus, Kali-Purusha quickly makes his way into King Nala’s body! So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall witness what Kali-Purusha is going to unleash upon King Nala and Damayanti, in the next episode! Stay tuned for an absorbing accord tomorrow! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 