English
Sudama and Krishna
Source: Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, 10th Skandha (chapters 80–81)
Lord Shri Krishna had a childhood friend, a Brahmin. The two had studied together at the hermitage of their teacher Sandipani in Ujjain. Tradition knows him by the name Sudama.
Sudama knew the Vedas well; he was calm and content. But his home was in deep poverty. They lived on whatever alms came their way. His wife was patient too, but hunger had worn her thin.
One day his wife said in a trembling voice, "My lord, Shri Krishna, the king of Dwarka, is your friend. He cares for Brahmins and never sends away empty-handed anyone who comes to him for refuge. Please go to him once."
Sudama did not like to ask for anything. But he thought, "Whether or not I get wealth, I will see Krishna. That itself is the greatest gain." Then a question arose: how could he go to a friend empty-handed? His wife begged four handfuls of flattened rice from the neighbouring Brahmins and tied them in an old piece of cloth.
Seeing the splendour of Dwarka's palaces, Sudama shrank back. But the moment Shri Krishna saw him, he rose from Rukmini's couch, ran to his friend and embraced him. Tears of joy flowed from his eyes.
Krishna seated him on his own seat, washed his feet with his own hands and placed that water on his head. Rukmini herself began to fan him. The people of the palace were amazed: what merit had this Brahmin in soiled clothes earned?
The two friends talked of their days at the gurukul. Then Krishna smiled: "Friend, what have you brought me from home?" Sudama bowed his head in embarrassment and hid the little bundle even more tightly...
Krishna knows every heart. He understood that this friend had not come for wealth, but to keep his wife's wish. In his mind he resolved: I will give him riches that even the gods find hard to obtain.
Then he pulled the bundle away himself and said happily, "Oh friend, this is the dearest gift for me! This flattened rice, brought with love, will satisfy not only me but the whole universe."
He ate one handful. As he picked up a second, Rukmini held his hand: "Lord, this is enough. By this alone he will have all the wealth of this world and the next."
Sudama spent that night happily in the palace. When he left the next morning, Krishna walked some distance to see him off. Sudama had asked for nothing, and it seemed to him that Krishna had given nothing either.
On the way he kept thinking: "Who am I, a poor man, and who is Krishna, the lord of Lakshmi! He embraced me like a brother. Perhaps he gave me no wealth so that, having it, I would not forget him. That too is his grace."
But when he reached his village, his hut was not there. In its place stood palaces shining like the sun, beautiful gardens, lakes, and servants. Sudama was puzzled: whose place is this?
Just then his wife, in fine clothes and ornaments, came out joyfully to welcome him. Sudama understood: "My friend gave me everything without a word, just as a cloud sends rain without being asked."
Even with so much wealth, Sudama's heart did not change. He prayed only that in every birth he might have Krishna's friendship and the company of his devotees. Unattached to pleasures, he spent the rest of his life in devotion to the Lord.
What this story teaches
God looks not at the value of the gift but at the love of the giver. One who goes with a pure heart, asking for nothing, receives everything unasked.
The Bhagavata does not name this Brahmin friend; calling him Sudama comes from later tradition (in South India he is known as Kuchela). In popular belief, Akshaya Tritiya is the day Sudama met Krishna.
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