The Nature of helping others is a great virtue. There are many who gave away
their wealth, flesh & energy to up hold this great virtue. But perhaps
no one has done as much as Dadheechi Maharshi, who gave away his life for
this great cause. The following is the story of Dadheechi.
During the time of war between Devatas and Rakshasas, the latter started
robbing the weapons of the Devatas with their occult powers. This kind of
occult tricks were strange and new to Devatas and so they could not face
the situation. But they were certain that if they lost their weapons, nothing
could save the Universe. After a lot of thinking they went to the sage Dadheechi
and requested him to protect their weapons under his care and ran away to
save themselves.
In good faith and love towards Devatas, Dadheechi kept the weapons with him,
protecting them day in and day out, even neglecting his own austerities.
Rakshasas could not venture to go near him but were waiting for an opportunity
to rob the weapons.
Dadheechi waited for a long time for Devatas to return and collect their
ammunitions. Finally, one day, with his divine powers, he put all the weapons
in his sacred water pot and mixed them in the water and drank it. He was
now free and could continue his regular penance undisturbed.
A short while after this, the Devatas returned and asked Dadheechi for their
weapons. The Maharshi said "I waited for so long. I reckoned that you would
never turn up. So I drank them away. They are all in my body as bones and
flesh. To get them out now is very difficult."
Dadheechi's wife Swarcha was watching all this from a distance. Dadhichi
sent her away in to their house on some pretext. He then created a hugefire
by his will power and entered into it and reduced himself to ashes, leaving
behind only his bones.
Much before Devatas realised what was happening, Lord Brahma suddenly appeared
and converted each of the bones into various powerful weapons and gave them
to the Devatas. Dadheehi's back bone was given as Vajrayudha to Indra with
which he brought an end to the most powerful Rakshasas like Vruthasura. Devatas
went on pleading "Maharshi, we are now in a position to fight with Rakshasas.
If we do not have our weapons, we will not be in a position to fight with
them and to save Dharma and the universe". Dadheechi thought about it calmly
and was convinced that Devatas deserved help. Their weapons were now more
powerful than before. He said to Devatas "Alright, take your weapons back
by killing me . They are presently in the form of my bones". Devatas refused
to do so and said "We certainly do not want to commit the sin of killing
a great Rishi like you. We can not afford to do this cruel thing" Dadheechi
could not reply them as well. Determination to make a great sacrifice is
one of the qualities of great saints like Dadheechi. Dadheechi not only protected
the weapons of the Devatas ,but also, enhanced their power by converting
them into lethal weapons with the power of his penance. He also saw to it
that Devatas did not commit the sin of killing the saint by reducing himself
to ashes.
Pojya Swamiji says, "We all belong to this rich heritage which uphold the
greatness of sacrifice. We should remeber this and lead of a life which is
useful to the rest of the mankind".