In a village called Apegaon in Maharashtra on the banks of river Godavari, during the reign of a Yadava king namely Ramadevaraya, there lived a pious Brahmin who belonged to a sect called Kulkarni (One who maintains family accounts) He was called Govindapandit also called as Vittalapanth. His wife was Nirupamabhai . After a long time they were blessed with a male child and they named him Vittobha! He grew up fast and became a youth. The parents wanted to get him married to a suitable girl, but the elders of the village told the couple, that the marriage could be solemnized, only after the boy completes desa yatra as a desantri! Vittobha agreed and assured his parents that he would complete his yatra in a year and return to get married. With his parents blessings he left for yatra and reached Alangavati, where he was a guest of a devotee of Lord Vittala called Seethobandhu. At night in the dream of Seethobandhu Lord Vittal appeared and commanded him to give his daughter Rukmabhai in marriage to Vittobha. Startled by the dream , he got up early in the morning and approached vittobha and narrated the dream he had the last night. Vittobah had a hearty laugh and told Seethobandhu, that he had left the house and his parents, who wanted to get him married, on a mission to complete a yatra and then only think of marrying anyone. If at all the Lord wanted to ordain him to marry, he would directly instruct him instead of telling someone else! Saying this he refuted the version of the dream. But Seethobandhu was unrelenting, and said he should rest in his house one more day, and that he is sure Lord Vittal would appear in Vittobha’s dream too and confirm what he had told him about the marriage. After a prolonged argument Vittobha agreed to extend his stay by one more day in his house. That night promptly Lord Vittal appeared in the dream of Vittobha and told him that he should get married to Rukmabhai, and also told him that she is suitable bride and a gunavathi (one of good character). Still unconvinced Vittobha did not heed to the advice of the Lord and got up and in the early hours of the day took all his belongings and hurriedly left Seethobhandu’s house. Rukmabhai was aware of all this and stayed awake all through the night and had by now resolved to get married to Vittobha. When she found Vittobha leaving the house, she too ran after him and told him that she had already resolved that if she was to get married, it shall be to Vittobha alone none else. This action of the young girl annoyed Vittobha and he advised her that girls from respectable families would not do such things and if someone saw her in the early morning with an un known stranger like this, they would doubt her character! She was adamant and refused to budge. Vittobha shouted at her and asked her to go back. Hearing this commotion the parents of Rukmabhai too came out and listened to their version. Seethobhandu tried to prevail upon Vittobha but could not succeed , by now a small crowd had gathered to witness this. Vittobha forcibly abandoned them and attempted to leave, it was then all of them heard a voice “Asariri” that told him that Rukmabhai is a Gunavathi (one of good character) and Vittobha should get married to her without any resistance! People around too started shouting at Vittobha and condemned him for his unbecoming behavior! Sensing the mood of the people and the circumstances, Vittobha agreed to the proposal and soon the marriage was solemnized. Third day after marriage Vittobha said that he would like to continue his Sthala Yatra as he had promised his parents and suggested that he would leave his wife and later come and take her. But Seethobhandu realized that Vittobha would not keep his word, and said that he along with his family and Rukmabhai would travel with him and take part in the holy yatra. Unable to refuse, Vittobha took them along and after visiting a few holy places, Vittobha thought it proper to go back to his home town and inform his parents about his marriage and told his father in law that all could go to his home town. He was very glad at the prospect of meeting his daughter’s in laws and readily agreed. They reached his home town and met with Vittalpanth. All of them were very happy and many well wishers and relatives came and greeted them. Days passed and there were celebrations galore. Soon Seethobhandu returned back to his home leaving Rukmabhai. Vittobha spent rest of the months in family life, but he was not at all attached to his surroundings. It looked as though he had internally renounced everything. Soon Vittobha’s parents too passed away and Vittobha performed their last rites and wanted to immerse their ash and bones at Ganga at Kasi as it was customary to do so. When he confronted his wife with this cause she could not refuse but let him go on a journey to Kasi. Then she decided to go her parent’s house and stay there till he returned. Vittobha left her at her home, and as she was a very devoted wife she never told her parents about Vittobha’s behavior as a renunciate. But her caring father could guess her predicament and spoke to her compassionately and suggested that she should undertake Gowri vrtha to change the mindset of her husband. Accordingly she began to observe the Gowri vrtha deligently and prayed to Ma Gowri to bestow her with a happy family life. In the meanwhile Vittobha reached Kasi and immersed the ashes and bones of his parents in the river Ganges and roamed about the city aimlessly some time and met Sripada swamy a renowned spiritualist and pleaded with him to grant him sanyasa diksha! Looking at his earnestness and resolve he gave sanyasa to Vittobha. He went about his religious practice forgetting about his family back home! Days and months passed, and one day Sripadaswamy decided to undertake Thirthayatra to South India and in the process reached Alangavathi where Seethobhandu was staying! By now the news about vittobha taking up sanyasa had reached his wife, she was heartbroken and was lamenting at her fate. It was then the news of Sripadaswamy’s arrival in their town reached Rukmabhai. All her elders suggested that she should go and pray respects to the holy saint and obtain his blessings and that itself would solve her problems. She readily agreed and went to the saint to pray her respects. When she prostrated before the saint, he blessed her to have four children and live happily. Hearing this she could not control her tears and she broke down and wept. Then Seethobandhu explained about the whole episode of her marriage to Vittobha. Now the guru realized that Vittobha had not told him about his marriage. But Sripada swamy assured her that his words would never fail and she would be surely be blessed with children! He also felt bad about his sishya’s behavior. When he returned to Kasi he summoned Vittobha immediately and reprimanded him and finding Vittobha reluctant assured him that he would give away the gains of his tapas till date to him and that he should return to his home town and resume his life as a householder and live happily with Rukmabhai. It was then Rukmabhai too arrived at Kasi. Sripadaswamy met both of them and blessed them and told that the Vrtha has borne fruit and she is really blessed by Ma Gowri and said the trinity Gods and Ma gowri would be born to her as her progeny! As amsa bhuthas. As soon as Vittobha returned to his home town and resumed his family life as instructed by his Guru, people around started criticizing him for his behavior and cast aspersions on him. Since he felt tormented he went to the outskirts of the town and lived with his wife there. After a while four children were born to the couple. They were named Nvrttinath an amsa of Lord Siva, Gyaneswar an amsa of Vishnu, Sobandev an amsa of Brahma and Mukthabai an amsa of Matha Gowri. contd via :Vedas For the Young ones
