A man who lived a life of sin and yet attained swargaloka. Once there lived a brahmin named Girinatha, who was wealthy, knowledgeable and an exponent of the vedas. To honour him, people called him Girinathadikshita. His son was Gunanidhi, and when he became older, he was educated by a guru named Sudhishana, who had a wife named Muktavali. After a while, Muktavali and Gunanidhi began having an affair. They finally poisoned the guru. Gunanidhi’s parents heard of this and berated their son. He was irritated and began conspiring with Muktavali to get rid of them. Finally they too were killed by the duo. But after a while, Gunanidhi lost all his wealth and became a thief and drunkard. The people exiled him and with Muktavali, he set out for the jungles.

After several years, Gunanidhi died under a rudraksha tree and Yama’s and Shiva’s soldiers both arrived to claim his soul. Yama’s soldiers declared that he was destined to go to naraka, but Shiva’s soldiers claimed that since he had died under a rudraksha, he would attain heaven. Yama’s soldiers finally lost the argument and Gunanidhi was taken to swargaloka. Shiva once narrated this story to illustrate the importance of rudraksha as per Devibhagavata Skanda 11.