King Bhartiharis Awakening Through Gorakhnath

Dadi: "Guddu beta, tonight I'll tell you about a king who gave up his throne - twice! - because he learned that love can be an illusion."

Guddu: "Gave up being king twice? That seems dramatic!"

Dadi: "King Bhartrihari of Ujjain was as dramatic as kings come! He was the older brother of the legendary Vikramaditya and ruled a magnificent kingdom. But his real weakness was love - he adored his queen Pingla above everything."

Guddu: "What's wrong with loving your wife, Dadi?"

Dadi: "Nothing, beta - unless that love blinds you. Listen to what happened. The great yogi Gorakhnath gave Bhartrihari a miraculous pill that would grant eternal youth."

Guddu: "Immortality? That's incredible!"

Dadi: "Bhartrihari could have taken it himself. But he loved Pingla so much that he gave it to her instead, wanting her to stay young and beautiful forever."

Guddu: "That's sweet!"

Dadi: "But Pingla had a secret - she loved another man. So she gave the pill to HIM. And that man? He was in love with a prostitute, so he gave the pill to HER."

Guddu: "Everyone kept passing it along!"

Dadi: "And here's the twist - the prostitute recognized the royal seal on the pill. She knew it must have come from the king. So she went to Bhartrihari and gave it back to him!"

Guddu: "So the king got his pill back... but also learned his wife loved someone else?"

Dadi: "Exactly. Imagine that heartbreak, beta. The king gave away eternal youth for a woman who was giving it away to another man."

Guddu: "That's awful!"

Dadi: "But it was also the greatest gift - the gift of truth. Bhartrihari suddenly saw how foolish attachment can be. He had built his whole happiness on something that was never real."

Guddu: "What did he do?"

Dadi: "He went back to Gorakhnath, but this time not as a king seeking magical pills. He went as a broken man seeking wisdom. He asked to become the guru's disciple."

Guddu: "Did Gorakhnath accept him?"

Dadi: "Not easily! Gorakhnath tested him severely. One test required walking barefoot through the desert for a month. Another test - and this one is incredible - required Bhartrihari to beg for alms from his former wives for twelve years!"

Guddu: "His FORMER wives?!"

Dadi: "And he had to see them not as wives but as mothers - completely letting go of any romantic attachment. That's how thorough the transformation had to be."

Guddu: "Did he pass all the tests?"

Dadi: "He did! Bhartrihari became such an accomplished yogi that he founded his own spiritual path called Vairag-panth - the path of detachment. He introduced the tradition of Nath yogis wearing special earrings called kundalas."

Guddu: "So he went from a heartbroken king to a spiritual master?"

Dadi: "He also became a famous poet! He wrote three collections of one hundred verses each: one about love, one about worldly wisdom, and one about detachment. The last one he wrote after becoming a yogi."

Guddu: "He could write about love AND detachment?"

Dadi: "Because he had experienced both deeply, beta. The man who wrote beautiful love poems was the same man who learned that human love can deceive. Both truths were real for him."

Guddu: "That's very... mature."

Dadi: "The story teaches us something important. Attachment isn't the same as love. Bhartrihari's attachment to Pingla made him blind. True love includes the willingness to let go."

Guddu: "How do you know the difference?"

Dadi: "Attachment says, "I need you to be happy." Love says, "I want you to be happy, even if that doesn't include me." Bhartrihari had to learn this the hard way."

Guddu: "But he became free in the end?"

Dadi: "So free that they say an eternal lamp still burns at his samadhi in Rajasthan - honoring the king who found truth by losing everything he thought he wanted."

Guddu: "I hope I never have to lose everything to learn lessons!"

Dadi: "(laughing) That's why we have stories, beta - so you can learn from others' mistakes! Now sleep, and may your heart always know the difference between true love and mere attachment."