Bramharshi Dadheechi and Harish Nanjappa

Bramharshi Dadheechi was sitting in penance for a very long time. It was not a penance for atoning any sin he had voluntarily or involuntarily made. It was indeed a self-imposed penance, a tapas for the welfare of mankind. It was not a tapas like the ones usually indulged by devotees of the Lord seeking something for themselves; it was a rigorous tapas without any wants or needs for oneself. The only cause for the tapas was a desire to do something for the welfare of all. In short, for "Lokakalyana", universal welfare.

Bramharshi Dadheechi suddenly realized that a delegation of the Devas led by their leader Devendra was standing before him. He broke his tapas and opened his eyes. Devendra and the key members of his cabinet were standing before with folded hands. Devaguru Bruhaspati was also present with them. What is the purpose of this delegation coming here and standing before me, wondered Dadheechi. Instead of asking them, he used his own mystic powers to understand the purpose of their visit. The various developments that had taken place during the period he was in tapas unfolded before him........

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Devendra was presiding over the "Devasabha" and accepting the respects of all the members present in the court. Devaguru Bruhaspati was the lone absentee in the court. Devendra felt his absence and became a little upset that his Guru was not present in the court. A delegation of Rishis arrived to see Devendra. As Guru was not present in the court, alternate arrangements were made to receive the delegation. The Rishis had come with a question that could be answered only by Devendra. Devendra accepted their request and assumed the stance to answer the question. Just then Bruhaspati entered the court with a greeting to Devendra. Bruhaspati felt that Devendra was ignoring him while Devendra was preoccupied in answering the question of the Rishis. Bruhaspati disappeared from the court and went away elsewhere.

Devendra later realized that Bruhaspati was not available to him for consultations and advice on day to day affairs. He could not keep the post vacant indefinitely. His efforts to trace the Guru went futile. On the advice of Brahma, he appointed Vishwaroopacharya in Bruhaspati's place. Things were fine for sometime. In due course of time, Bruhaspati wanted to return to his original place as well as Devendra desired to bring him back. After all, appointment of Vishwaroopacharya was only a stop gap arrangement. Vishwaroopacharya's mother belonged to the Demon's group. Hence the representatives of the demons were permitted to freely come and visit Vishwaroopa. This was not to Devendra's liking. Devendra requested Vishwaroopa to stop this practice but he did not agree. An argument ensued and Devendra killed Vishwaroopa.

Vishwaroopa's father Thwashtru Brahma was enraged at his son's killing by Devendra. He used his mystic powers and created a Demon "Vrutrasura". Vrutrasura conquered Devendra's place and captured him. Devendra managed to convince Vrutrasura to occupy Indra's throne and keep him as his friend. Vrutrasura accepted the offer. After a considerable period of time, Devendra and his team felt that the time is ripe to kill Vrutrasura and recapture their rightful places. There was one problem. Devendra does not have a weapon strong enough to kill Vrutrasura. The delegation before Dadheechi is for the purpose of acquiring such a weapon.......   

*****

Dadheechi smiled and asked Devendra what was the purpose of the visit. Devendra hesitatingly replied. "Bramharshi, You can only save us in the present situation. We have no weapon strong enough to kill Vrutrasura. Long periods of tapas has converted your bones into Vajra and they have become diamond-like. If you permit us to take your backbone, we can create "Vajraayudha" from it that can be used to finish Vrutrasura and enable us to get back our kingdom. We seek this favor from you". Dadheechi understood the import of the request. It meant that he had to embrace his death and surrender his body. He can no longer live and donate his body. A weapon will be created from his organ that can be used to kill the demon and help the devas.

"Do you want the backbone after my death or when I am alive?" asked the Rishi. "There is no use of the bone after your death Sir. It will become useless after your death. We need it when you are alive. You can release your soul from the body after we take the backbone", said Devendra. Dadheechi agreed and held his prana till the needful was done. He donated his backbone when he was alive. He is no more but his ultimate sacrifice of donating the organ of his body when still alive is remembered for ever. He is remembered with utmost reverence even today.  

*****

Harish Nanjappa was a 23 year old young marketing executive with many dreams about his future. His family had high hopes on the boy and looked forward to exciting times about him. He was going on his new Bajaj Pulsar on Bangalore-Tumkur Road on 16th February 2016. A sugar bags laden heavy truck overtook him and touched Harish while doing so. Harish was thrown below the tires of the truck. The tires ran over the middle of his body and it was cut into two pieces. The legs were thrown to a distance of a few feet from the head and torso. It was a ghastly sight and people feared to go near him. Many used their mobile phones to capture the video of his plight. Surprisingly, he was still alive despite his body being subjected to such unbearable pain and suffering. 

What Harish did in such a situation is beyond comprehension of ordinary mortals. Instead of crying over his plight, he begged the passersby to take him to the hospital. He knew that he would not survive, but his plea was for donating his organs to someone in need of it. He knew that he was finished but wanted to make good use of his body parts. The awareness he showed and the presence of mind baffled even the most experienced doctors. He died within few minutes after arrival at the hospital. But his wish was indeed fulfilled. His eyes were donated to an eye hospital. 

***** 

Bramharshi Dadheechi had renounced everything and his life was dedicated for welfare of others. Harish was a very young boy with dreams of a bright future. Dadheechi died to donate organs of his body. Harish had the presence of mind to donate his body parts when confronted with death in a most ghastly and tragic accident. 

It is very painful to write the concluding lines of this post. In fact, there is no need to conclude it. It is probably understood by anybody who reads this.....