Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
On the eastern side of the village of Maholī is Dhruva-ṭīlā, where the deities of the child Dhruva and his worshipful four-armed Śrī Nārāyaṇa splendidly reside. Dhruva performed severe austerities here to attract the Supreme Lord, using the mantra Devarṣi Nārada had given him. Being pleased with his worship, the Lord appeared before Dhruva and awarded him absolute monarchy over the entire Earth for 36,000 years, followed by rulership of Dhruvaloka, an imperishable abode of Śrī Hari within this material universe.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The word ’tila’ means a ‘small hill’, and this is the exact spot in Madhuvana forest where the famous boy-saint Dhruva Maharaja performed austerities to please the Supreme Lord during the Satya-yuga. This is also the same place where Dhruva received the divine darshana of Lord Vishnu in His form as Lord Prishnigarbha. Dhruva Maharaja was a royal prince and son of the Aryan Emperor Uttanapada in the dynasty of Swayambhuva Manu, but due to being insulted at the instance of his step-mother named Suruchi, he decided to leave home. On the advice of his birth-mother Suniti Devi, Dhruva left for the forest in search of Lord Krishna, whom his mother said was the only person who could help him to remove his feelings of hurt and also fulfill his desires to obtain a kingdom far greater than that of his father.
By the will of providence, the great sage Shrila Narada Muni, came to know that the five year old Dhruva had left the comfort of his father’s palace in order to live in the forest and perform penance. Therefore, Narada Muni went to meet Dhruva to enquire from him the reason why he left his father’s opulent kingdom in exchange for a life of solitude and austerity in the forest. On hearing that Dhruva had been badly insulted and wanted to achieve a kingdom that would be superior to his father’s own kingdom, Narada was very surprised that a mere boy of only five years of age could possess such a powerful kshatriya spirit. Narada was also moved by the child’s sincerity and was extremely pleased that Dhruva was determined to directly meet the Supreme Lord in order to achieve his heart’s desire. Narada Muni advised Dhruva to go to the Madhuvana forest and perform austerities there, as he would very quickly achieve the desired result. In the Shrimad Bhagavatam (4.8.42) Narada advises Dhruva by saying, “My dear boy, I therefore wish all good fortune for you. You should go to the bank of the Yamuna, where there is a virtuous forest named Madhuvana, and there be purified. Just by going there, one draws nearer the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who always lives there.” Narada also gave Dhruva a very powerful mantra by which he could propitiate the Lord directly. The mantra given by Narada to Dhruva was, “om namah bhagavate vasudevaya” which means, “I offer my respects to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Shri Krishna, the son of Vasudeva.” That a little boy of only five year of age was engaged in such severe forms of penance, like standing on only one leg and subsisting only on air, Lord Vishnu became very pleased with Dhruva’s sincerity and appeared before him in His four-armed Narayana feature known Prishnigarbha. After hearing the heartfelt prayers of Dhruva, the Lord awarded the child the highest benediction of pure devotional service and liberation from repeated birth and death. The Lord also granted Dhruva a kingdom far greater than any earthly kingdom including that of his father and appointed him as ruler of the localized Vaikuntha planet known as Swetadwipa, which is also called the Pole Star.
On top of the hill known as Dhruva-tila, where Dhruva performed his austerities, is a temple known as the Dhruva-Narayana Mandir, where two important shrines can be seen. One shrine contains the Deity of Lord Vishnu in His merciful feature as Prishnigarbha, also called Dhruva-Narayana, seen giving His blessings to Dhruva, who is offering his obeisance’s to the Lord’s lotus feet. Also present in the same shrine is Shrila Narada Muni, as well as Garuda, the eagle carrier of Lord Narayana. In the second shrine are the Deities of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Narayana, along with a Deity of Shri Nathaji and Lord Krishna’s dear friend Uddhava.
