The story of the 3 devils

Meanwhile, in their house, Kamala (K) comes to Gururaja (G) and V. Gururaja keeps V inside the house to avoid him in making mistakes outside house. So V says if he is kept in house, truth will not be kept inside. So K asks V to be grown up after which his words will be heard and assimilated. Then, K informs about an all night song ceremony of Purandaradasa Festival in a house nearby in Chandrapura which K cannot attend because of prior commitments. So G and V proceed.

On the way, V talks about Purandaradasa in great detail. G is very devoted to Purandaradasa, he informs how P used to recite songs on Lord’s behalf and how his children wrote down due to which most songs are now documented and sung. G asks how V knows so much about Purandaradasa. This may be due to V’s prior life (Vyasaraja) but V assimilates it to having studied a book on Purandaradasa.

It is pretty late in the night. G and V encounter a fork in the road. Both go to Chandrapura but one road is less traveled. G proceeds with the commonly used road but V informs that the less traveled road is a short cut. On their way, they encounter a person who recognizes them as TB’s sons. This person informs that the correct road is via the commonly used road and not this short cut. He then goes on to say that this particular road has a mango tree upon which are 3 devils. He relates his own story about how one night he was going on this path and the 3 devils attacked him. With great difficulty, he was able to get away from the 3 devils by chanting a Shiva sloka.

Hearing this, G and V are persuaded to go back and use the longer route but V runs away before anyone can stop him. G runs behind him but V would have gained lot of distance. V finally comes to the mango tree but he doesn’t see any devils. He rests near the tree to wait till G comes but G, meanwhile, has fallen down near a skull and is his in wit’s end. He is too scared to even more. He is perspiring as if he has seen his death. With fear, he faints.

The 3 devils attack G and decide to suck his blood. At the same time, Lord Venkateshwara enter V’s soul and saves G from dying. The 3 devils try to attack V but when they touch V, they get a shock. They suffer from severe shock and they feel captured. They are unable to move. But V tries to free their souls. They inform how they have lead their lives – the Brahmin devil had took money from pilgrims; the courier devil had spied on his king; the doctor devil had looted money. So they are not sure if they can free themselves from their enormous ‘paapa’.

So V informs that they have to chant Hari’s name so that they can be freed from devilhood. He advises them that this is the time to do some good and get freed; repent what was done in their lives, and they can finally reach Heaven. Since they are not doing good and since they made lot of mistakes during manhood, they were neither in earth nor in Heaven and hence they were devils and if they continue their current lifestyle, they will continue to be devils for millions of years. This makes sense to the devils and they agree to chant Narayan’s name. Once they start chanting, they will become good and vanish into thin air.

Meanwhile, V’s soul comes back into V whose body is still sleeping under the tree.

Sun rises and the person who had warned G and V not to venture comes back on the path with some more men to search for G and V. They find G’s fainted body.