Why did Shri Poondi Mahan live in a verandah for 25 years?

[Śrī Lakshman asked: Swāmi, when I read the life of Śrī Pūnḍi Mahān, I observed that He lived on a stone like bench at the veranda of a house for the last 25 years of His life, slept there and did everything at that place, He never had food unless fed by someone. I have the following question to ask:

1. Why this self-imposed condition by Śrī Pūnḍi Mahān.

2. Was the God component maintaining His body]

Swāmi replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Any unimaginable event happens due to the unimaginable power of the unimaginable God. The aim of such unimaginable events or miracles is providing the proof for the existence of the source of the miracles, which is the unimaginable God. The devotee showed detachment from worldly bonds and the reason for that must be the strong internal attachment to God. You should never be carried away merely by the observed detachment from worldly bonds. Fraud devotees can falsely exhibit detachment from the world even without the internal attachment to God. The internal attachment to God is the most important point, whether there is external detachment from the world or not. King Janaka was associated with his kingdom and royal life externally, but internally, he was totally absorbed in God. Kṛṣṇa married 16,108 girls, but He was praised by God Brahmā as the only real celibate (brahmacārī) in this entire creation! The Gītā says that the internal attachment is important and not the external attachment or detachment. The example given is that of a lotus flower, which grows in a pond of water and yet does not allow water to enter it (padmapatramivāmbhasā).

From the discussions on a vast number of points in spiritual knowledge, you must try to draw only the essence, which is useful for our spiritual effort. Upon churning the entire ocean of milk, the angels obtained only a small vessel-full of divine nectar. The essence of your question is that the existence of the unimaginable God is known by observing unimaginable events called miracles. However, this is not a very big help on the spiritual path because by merely knowing the existence of the king, you will not get his favor! You will get the favor of God only when you know all the details about Him through spiritual knowledge, get attracted to Him (devotion) and finally serve Him through practical devotion or karma yoga. Hence, jñāna yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga are very very important to get the grace of God practically. Miracles are only like the play-school for children before even entering the LKG class.

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| Shri Datta Swami | Why did Shri Poondi Mahan live in a verandah for 25 years? | Pundi Mahan Poondi Krishna brahmachari Brahma Gita padmapatramivambhasa jnana