According to a legend in Vishnu Puran, Swayambhu Manu had two sons- Priyavrata and Utaanpaad. Utaanpaad had two wives- Suruchi and Suniti. Suruchi had a son- Uttam while Suniti had also a son- Dhruv. King Utaanpaad loved Suruchi more than he loved Suniti.One day the king was sitting on the throne. Prince Uttam was playing in his lap. Meanwhile Dhruv also arrived there and insisted to play in the lap of his father. At his insistence, queen Suruchi ridiculed that as he was not born to her he had no right to the king’s love, "so your insistence is useless. Though you are also a son of this king but this throne belongs to my son. Don’t you know that you have been born to Suniti."
Getting angry over his stepmother’s ridicules, Dhruv went to his mother. Suniti consoled her son and enquired about the reason for his anger. Dhruv narrated the whole thing to his mother. Suniti too got perplexed and said: "O son! Suniti speaks the truth but you don’t worry for no one can do away the virtues of your deeds that you performed in your previous birth. Hence you should not feel sorry over such petty things. If you feel really sorry by the words of your stepmother why don’t you try to gather virtues? Why don’t you try to be a gentle and altruistic person?" Thus consoled by mother Dhruv said- "Mother! Since now onwards, I will do every such thing so that I may attain the most respected position in the world. I am no longer desirous of getting a position granted by others. I will achieve the same position as my father has." Saying this Dhruv left the palace and the town and reached a dense forest.
In the forest, Dhruv met with seven mendicants and narrated the whole events and also that how his stepmother Suruchi ridiculed about his inferior position in the palace. Dhruv said-"O sages! I neither long for wealth or for the kingdom. I simply long to enjoy such a position that nobody have ever enjoyed earlier. Kindly help me and guide me what I should do to attain such a position." The sages guided him for the penance and worship of lord Vishnu. And said “It is imperative for a person, who wishes to worship Lord Vishnu that first of all, he should expel all other menial thoughts from his mind and replace them with the contemplation Lord alone”. The prince Dhruv greeted the sages and continued on his journey. In the forest, prince Dhruv decided to carry out his penance. As per the dictate of the sages, he began to recite the mantra continuously. Very soon, the earth began to move because of Dhruv’s severe penance. Even the seat of Indra could not remain stable. A stampede resulted among the gods. The gods then hatched a conspiracy to disturb the penance.
Various formidable acts were done by Indra to disturb his penance, But Dhruv was so much sunk in the contemplation of Lord Vishnu that he did not get disturbed by all these acts.Thus, seeing their all attempts failed. The gods decided to take refuge at Lord Vishnu. There they said- "O Lord! We have come to you perplexed by the severe penance of Dhruv the son of Utaanpaad. His penance is increasing like a waxing Moon. We are not sure if he desires for the position of Indra, Surya, Kuber, Varun or any other deity. But kindly remove our fears." Assuring the gods, the Lord said- "That boy has no desire for attaining the position of any deity. But I will definitely grant him whatever he desires. But all of you need not worry." The gods greeted the Lord and returned.
Ultimately pleased by the severe penance of Dhruv, Lord Vishnu appeared before him. At the completion of the prayer Lord Vishnu said- "O son! Your penance succeeds with my sight but my presenting a sight should also not go waste. So seek a boon of your desire." Dhruv said- "O Lord! Nothing is hidden from your divine sight. I started this severe penance out of desperation caused by the harsh words of my stepmother. She had ridiculed my insistence of playing in my father’s lap saying that as I was not born to her, I had no right to the king’s love. Hence, O Lord! I wish to attain such a position that could be the base of the entire universe." O son! I will definitely accord you the position that is excellent among all the three worlds. In future you will be the base of all the planets and all the constellations. I grant you a fixed position that is far above the Sun, the Moon, the planets, constellations, Saptarishis and all the gods who fly about in divine aircraft. Besides it, you will stay there for a complete Kalpa whereas even the gods do not stay in their position more than a single Manvantara. Your mother Suniti too will come to stay with you as a bright star for the same period of time. There she will stay on an aircraft. People will see you with faith for you will show them the right direction."
Thus receiving a boon from Lord Vishnu, Dhruv occupied a fixed position in the northern sky. Even the sage like Shukracharya praises Dhruv that how fortunate he is.... that even Saptarishis go around him? That pivotal position of Dhruv would continue even in the ages to come.
Sometimes, we are so involved in petty things that we do not recognize our tangible potential to do better in our life. And the first step towards big leap in life is to expel all other menial thoughts from the mind and replace them with the contemplation of the goal. Belief is the crucial part of the achievement. Dhruva was inculcated with the firm belief that he will achieve his highest position and he did it. Without firm belief, you cannot have dedication and determination and hence debacle. A dubious mind cannot concentrate. If you are following the path of the successful person, you are going to reach there. And if you are following the path of dubious and futile person, you will also culminate with futile.We have heard that, we should not have any desire to have happy life. But practically, it is not possible for anyone to be without any desire. Desire is inevitable. But what kind of desire we can foster, this can be controlled. At both kinds of desires good or bad, you are right. You can achieve you desire with your conviction and determination. But remember, you are only going to bear the consequences out of that. In the pursuit of your desire, you can get temporary hurdles, failure etc. This is quite natural to make you learn more during failures. The initial failure and struggle is the preparation for the strength to sustain the impending grand success. Have the best and fecund desire in your life and undaunted determination to achieve that, the way Dhruv did.
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