Gunanidhi, who became an ardent devotee of Shiva now known as कुबेर (Kubera), the treasurer of gods, Kubera.
Once there lived a brahmin named Yagyadatta in kampilaya nagar. He was wise and righteous. He had one son named Gunachari. Yagyadatta sent his son Gunachari to the guru’s place of residence to gain knowledge. He was not interested in learning anything. He left his study, fell in with bad company, started blaming dharama and wasted his time in gambling. Yagyadatta was very busy with his work. He used to ask his wife about Gunanidhi’s progress. She used to lie about Gunanidhi’s studies and bad behaviour. She was also trying to explain to Gunanidhi how to behave well and study but he was ignoring all she was saying. Gunanidhi was consumed by his gambling habits. One day he stole the diamond ring of his father. While going to work he saw his ring in one gambler’s hand and he asked him about the ring. Yagyadatta came to know that his son was not studying and was busy in gambling. Yagyadatta came home and asked his wife about everything. He discovered that his wife was hiding the truth about their son Gunanidhi. Yagyadatta was angry with his wife; he left home and married another woman.
Gunanidhi learned about his father’s second marriage. Terrified about everything, Gunanidhi left his home and town. He was tired and hungry. He reached the Lord Shiva temple. He was sitting in the temple corner, recalling how his mother used to take care of him and used to feed him. He saw one devotee of Lord Shiva bring naivaidya for Lord Shiva. He thought that he would eat naivaidya once everybody left. Some people were sleeping outside the temple. Once they fell asleep, Gunanidhi entered the Gabhgriha. There was low light of diya, he could not see naivaidya anywhere. He tore up his clothes and made thread for a diya. There was enough light so that he could see naivaidya. He stole that naivaidya and started running out of the temple. People sleeping outside the temple heard his voice and shouted, ‘Thief!’. They caught him and beat him badly. Gunanidhi became blind and subsequently died from the beating. Yamaduta captured the soul and took him to Yamalok. They were reading his karma list and were about to give him punishment. At the same time his Shivduta came and told Yamaduta that despite doing many bad karma, he did one good thing, he tore up his clothes and made thread for a diya in Lord Shiva Temple. They took him to shivlok.He got the opportunity to see Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. He was amazed to see them. He stayed in Shivlok for some time and took rebirth as the King Dama, son of the King of Kaliga. He was a devotee of lord Shiva. He was rich and righteous king. He used to light a lamp in every Shiva temple.
He again got rebirth Kubera as the son of Sage Pulastya and Ilavida who was daughter of Bharadwaja. He did intense tapasya of Lord Shiva
Lord shiva and Goddess Parvati appeared before him. Their aura was more than he could stand so Lord Shiva gave him दिव्य दृष्टि (Divya Drishti) means celestial vision. When he opened his eyes he saw Goddess Parvati sitting next to Lord Shiva. Kubera was staring at her when his left eye suddenly burst. Kubera was terrified and felt sorry for his mistake. He begged Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati for forgiveness. Pitying him, she forgave him and gave his eye back but she made it small and yellow. Thus he is known as एकाक्षि पिङ्गल (Ekakshi Pingala) means one with a yellow eye. Lord Shiva too forgave him and made him Yaksha King and the treasurer of the निधि (Nidhi) means wealth or treasure .