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The Story of Panduranga Vittala

Lord Vithal, or Panduranga Vittala, is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is

worshipped in the world famous Pandarpur Rukmini Vithal Temple at

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Pandarpur in Maharashtra. There is an interesting story that explains about

the incarnation of Lord Vithal at Pandarpur.

nce a de!otee named Pundalik was tra!eling to "ashi and reached the

#shram of $aint "ukkut. %e asked the sage the way to "ashi. "ukkut Rishi

said that he did not know the way to "ashi and he had ne!er been there.

Pundalik made fun of "ukkut Rishi for not knowing the way to "ashi and said

that a holy man like him should ha!e already !isited "ashi. "ukkut Rishi kept

&uiet and did not bother to answer Pundalik. 'uring the course of the night

Pundalik heard the !oice of women in the ashram.

%e came to out to look what was happening and saw that three women weresprinkling water on the #shram and cleaning it.

n en&uiry, Pundalik found out that the three women were (anga, )amuna

and $araswathi and they had come to clean the #shram of "ukkut Rishi.

Pundalik wondered how a saint like "ukkut who had not !isited "ashi was

such holy and powerful that the three holy ri!ers came down to purify his

ashram.

The three women told Pundalik that piety, spirituality and de!otion does not

depend on !isiting holy places or doing costly rituals but in performing one*s

karma.

The three women told him that $age "ukkut had ser!ed and nursed his

parents most faithfully and de!oted all his life to that one aim. %e had thus

accumulated Punya enough to earn Moksha and bring us down to earth to

ser!e him.

Pundalik had left is old parents at home and was !isiting "ashi to gain

moksha and blessing. %e did not bother to entertain the re&uest of his

parents to take them also to "ashi.

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Pundalik now understood his mistake and rushed back home and took his

parents to "ashi and on return started looking after them. +rom then

onwards the care of his old mother and father came before e!erything else.

Lord "rishna was mo!ed by the sincere de!otion of Pundalik towards his

parents. %e decided to !isit Pundalik*s home.

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hen Lord "rishna !isited Pundalik*s home he was ser!ing food to his old

parents.

Pundalik saw the Lord at his door but his de!otion to his parents was so

intense that he wanted to finish his duties first and then attend to his guest.

Pundalik had reached such a stage that it didn*t matter to him whether the

guest was a mere mortal or (od. #ll that mattered was ser!ice to his

parents.

Pundalik ga!e Lord "rishna a brick to stand on and asked %im to wait until

his duty was completed. Lord "rishna was mo!ed by the de!otion of

Pundalik to his parents and waited for him patiently.

Later when Pundalik came out he asked the Lord forgi!eness for making %im

wait. Lord "rishna blessed him and asked him to ask a boon.

Pundalik said what more can - ask when the Lord himself waits for me.

hen Lord "rishna insisted that he ask a boon, Pundalik asked that the Lord

should remain on earth and bless and take care of %is de!otees.

Lord "rishna agreed to stay there and is known as Vithoba or the Lord who

stands on a brick. This form of the Lord Vithoba is $wayambhu which means

that %is idol has not been car!ed or etched but it came into existence on its

own