|| Story of the Most obedient and faithful Son ||

In the mythological era there was a Siddha sadhu named Shantunu, his wife was also a Siddha Dharma Parayan Narai.  The story is of a time when Shantunu and his wife were very old and their eyesight had also lost.  They both had a son named Shravan Kumar.

 Shravan Kumar was a very simple person.  He had a lot of love and reverence for the parents, he used to serve his parents day and night.  He used to follow his parents like children.  His parents also felt proud and gave thousands of prayers to their son day and night.  Many times both of us would say to each other how blessed we are that we got a son like a son of Shravan, who did not think of himself, spent his whole life in the service of elderly blind parents.  If there was someone else instead, after marriage, he would think only of his own interest and leave the old blind parents somewhere. And would spend his life happily.

When Shravan heard this, he told his parents that I am not doing anything different, it is my duty, when I was younger, you gave me a better life and now I have the privilege that I  Serve you  Whatever you desire, tell me.  I will definitely complete them.  Then Shantunu and his wife say - son Shravan!  Both of us are very old, now there is no confidence in life, our eyes can be closed at any time, so our only wish is, we want to do pilgrimage, can you fulfill this wish of ours?  Shravan Kumar holds his parents' feet and says with great pleasure - Yes Father, it would be a matter of great fortune for me to fulfill the wish of both of you.

 Shravan prepares a Kavad to make his parents pilgrimage, in which Shantunu sits on one side and his wife on the other side.  And starts the journey by loading the pole of Kavad on his shoulder.  He has so much affection for the parents in his heart that he does not feel even the least weight of that Kavad.  This act of his son fills the hearts of the parents with happiness and they go all the way offering prayers to their son Shravan.

When all three of them reach the city of Ayodhya while doing the pilgrimage, the parents tell Shravan that they are thirsty.  Putting Shravan Kavad in the forest, making a container of leaves in his hand, he goes to take water from the river Saryu.  At the same time, in that forest, King Dasaratha of Ayodhya had gone out on the hunt and in that dense forest he was chasing the deer to hunt him, only then did he find the sound of water plowing from the Saryu river across the bushes in the dense forest.  Coming, Maharaj Dasharatha considers that movement as the sound of deer drinking water, and arrows for the purpose of hunting, and with that arrow, Shravan Kumar's heart hits, causing a painful sound from his mouth which Dasharatha is shocked to hear.  They go and realize Anhoni and they run to the banks of the river Saryu, where they are horrified to see their arrows in the heart of Shravan and realize their mistake.  Dasharatha approaches Shravanakumar and apologizes to him, then Shravan Kumar Maharaj, who breathes his last, tells Dasaratha about his elderly blind parents and says that they are thirsty, go and give them water and then tell them about me.  And by saying this, Shravan Kumar attains death.  With a heavy heart, Maharaj Dasharatha reaches Shravan's parents and feeds them water.  Parents ask in surprise where is their son?  He may be blind, but both of them could understand his son with a sound.  Hearing the questions of parents, Maharaj Dasharatha falls at his feet and tells the past incident in detail.  Hearing the news of the son's death, the parents start crying and ask Dasaratha to take them to their son.  Maharaj Dasharatha takes Kavad and takes both parents to the body of Shravan.  The parents start mourning very loudly, seeing their mourning, Maharaj Dasaratha feels a sense of guilt and apologizes for his actions but the unhappy father curses Shantunu Maharaj Dasaratha that the way I am Shantunu,  I will die in son's disconnection, similarly you will also die in son's disconnection.  Having said this, both parents abandon their bodies and attain death.

Maharaj Dasharatha is extremely distraught by the curse and after many years when the kingdom of his son Rama is anointed, Rama, Sita and Lakshman have to accept fourteen years of exile due to the promise of Mata Kaikai and thus Maharaj Dasaratha  The son also dies in son's disconnection.  In his last days, he remembers the words of Shantunu and he sacrifices his body in disconnection of Rama.

 Moral Of The Story

This story teaches us that without seeing the goal, penetrating it many times makes you a character of mistake and even if you don't want to become the cause of others' grief.

This was the story of Shravan Kumar, because of his devotion to his parents, Shravan Kumar is alive in the Puranas.  Shravan Kumar is always known for his motherly devotion, parents narrate their stories to their children.

There are many characters in Ramayana epic who give us knowledge of real life duties and give us the right guidance of religion and karma.