Hi guys! I'm back!
Whew, what a summer! The heat's killing me. I gulp down so much lemonades and water melons that my mom has forbidden me from the kitchen.
I wonder how saints tackled this heat. I mean, they don't even wear footwear, right? Must have been really difficult... to do penance under the burning sun in a dangerous jungle... here is a story about such a saint.
Saint Padmapada worshipped the god Narasimha and was keen to have his darshan. Who is this Padmapada? Sankarar, the great Acharya, had four chief disciples - Thotaka, Hasthamalaka, Sureshwara and Padmapada. Of these, Padmapada was deeply devoted to his Guru. There is an interesting story about him. One day, he washed the clothes of his Guru and dried them on a rock in the middle of the river. Suddenly, the river rose fast and Padmapada was left clinging on the rock.
The disciple was worried. His master would need his clothes soon! So Padmapada decided to walk across the raging waters. And he did! Whenever he placed his foot on the river, a lotus bloomed and bore him on its petals. That is why he came to be called lotus-footed (padma-pada).
But soon, Padmapada started to get a little too proud of his austerity. The day came when he had to meet his nemesis.
As I said before, Padmapada desired the vision of Narasimha and started doing a severe penance in the forest. Burning sun or the chilly hail, nothing could faze him. He stood on one foot, eyes closed, face set in fierce concentration and with fire burning high around the place. For 12 years he stood this way.
