Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

I am surprised that nobody has answered this question. It is one of the archetypes of Bengali Vishnuism, to be a really good devotee you have to be materially deprived in some way, ideally a cripple. Cripples are usually very good actors and do not demand very high salaries in Bollywood (because they can not dance), thus they make an obvious choice. As one idiot, Vivek ananda used to say, "The more crippled you are the greater saint you become." For more information refer to Slim Dog Million ere movie, it is described in details.

Yes this probably all comes from the story of Sudhama, Sudhama was a Brahmin boy and had come to study the Vedas in the same gurukula as Krishna under the same guru. Sudhama was the poorest boy in the gurukula but was befriended by Krishna, both were disciples and students of Acharya Sandipani, Krishna went on to become the King of Dwarka and Sudhama remained an extremely poor brahmin. I often think the Hindi movies extend/speculate on this and make the poor brahmin a cripple just to increase the look of poverty. Of course as many of us know many years later Sudhama visted Krishna in Dwarka and took him some flat rice and when he returned to his impoverished house he found treasures and a kingdom waiting for him.

Out of interest the Sandipani ashram is still there in Madhya Pradesh I have heard the ashram conducts a summer courses in the Vedas, specifically the Shukla Yajur Veda. They even provide free boarding and lodging within the ashram for people attending..so I have heard.