King Vajrangada Pandya

While extolling the spiritual efficacy of pradakshina, Sri Bhagavan sometimes used to narrate the story of King Vajrangada Pandya, which is told in the Arunachala Mahatmyam. Vajrangada Pandya was a powerful monarch who ruled over most of South India, but one day he was told by some celestial beings that in this previous birth he had been Indra, the ruler of heaven, and that if he worshipped Arunachala he could regain his former position. On hearing this, he at once renounced his kingdom and, with the intense desire to become Indra, he began to worship Arunachala by going around the Hill three times a day. After three years of such worship, Lord Siva appeared before him and offered him any boon he wished to pray for. Though his original ambition had been to become Indra, his mind had been matured by doing so many pradakshinas, that he now realized that it was worthless to pray for such a transitory pleasure. Therefore he prayed to Lord Siva for the eternal happiness of Self-knowledge. This story thus aptly illustrates that even if a person begins to do pradakshina for the fulfillment of worldly desires his mind will in time be matured and he will gain proper discrimination (viveka), desirelessness (vairagya) and love for Self (swatma-bhakti).