Anec.17 & 18 from Part I: Myths

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Dear Bhagavatas,

Please find below Anecdotes 17 and 18 from Part I : Myths

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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17. The power of Mantra ( Kacha , Kumbakarna and Vritrasura)

 

Kacha

 

Gods and demons used to engage in bitter fights time and again. The

preceptor of Gods was Brihaspathi and that of the demons was

Sukracharya. Sukracharya knew the secret of Sanjeevani Mantra which

could revive the dead to life. So, the slain Asuras were brought back to

life by Sukracharya while the slain Devas were gone forever. The Devas

wanted to find a way out of this impasse and requested Kacha, the son of

Brihaspati to help them.

 

Kacha approached Sukracharya and beseeched him to take him as a

disciple. Sukracharya could not decline because in those days it was

incumbent on the teacher not to refuse a worthy pupil who sought

knowledge from him. So, the study sessions started. Kacha mastered

everything except the Sanjeevani Mantra. But, he won the love of

Devayani, the beautiful daughter of Sukracharya.

 

The Asuras in their natural enmity towards Devas and particularly

towards Kacha since he was the son of Devaguru wanted to finish him off.

Once, they tore him to pieces and cast his flesh to dogs. At the request

of Devayani, Sukracharya brought him back to life. Again, the Asuras

pounded Kacha's body into a paste and mixed it up in sea water. Again at

the insistence of Devayani, Sukracharya revived Kacha to life. Finally,

the Asuras burnt Kacha's body, mixed the ashes with wine and served it

to Sukracharya, who drank it without suspecting foulplay. When Devayani

requested her father for a third time, Sukracharya cited the invocatory

psalm of the mantra to find out the whereabouts of Kacha. He found that

he was locked inside his stomach. Angry at the deceit played on him,

Sukracharya pronounced that virtue would desert a person who drank

liquor and will be scorned by all. There was no way he could get Kacha

out alive without himself dying in the process since Kacha would have to

cut asunder his entrails to come out. Sukracharya decided to initiate

Kacha in the Sanjeevani mantra so that he could bring the Guru back to

life after coming out. Kacha learned the Mantra while still in the

stomach of his Guru and when he came out made use of the mantra to

revive Sukracharya. He, however, declined to marry Devayani on the

ground that since he came out of the body of Sukracharya, he became a

brother to her and marriage between siblings was not possible.

 

Kumbakarna

 

Kimbakarna was the brother of Ravana, the Rakshasa king. He did penance

invoking Brahma since he wanted to live forever. When Brahma appeared,

instead of asking for 'Nityatva' (live eternally) by slip of the

tongue,he pronounced it as ' Nidratva' (sleep eternally).Ever since,

Kumbakarna is known to be always sleeping except for brief periods as

modified by Brahma himself when prayed for by Ravana.

 

Vritrasura

 

Tvashta was the priest of the Asuras. His son Viswarupa was requested to

be the Devapurohita.(preceptor of Devas) by the Devas because they

wanted to know the secret of the Vaishnava vidya (otherwise known as

Narayana Kavacham) which was hidden concealed in the Sukra vidya which

itself was in the safe custody of the Asuraguru. He agreed to the

proposal,obtained and gave it to Indra. Indra learned the Vidya and

conquered the Asuras.

 

But since Viswarupa was partial to the Asuras who were closely

associated with him, he was suspected to have leaked out some secrets of

the Devas to the Asuras and also diverted some of the vital offerings to

the Asuras stealthily. Indra came to know of this. Also,he was acquiring

the potential to challenge the position of Indra himself. He had three

heads and Indra cut off all his three heads and killed him.

 

Tvashta having lost his son wanted to wreak vengeance on Indra.He did a

severe penance with view to obtaining another son who would be able to

kill Indra. When he sought the boon, he mispronounced the request to

mean that he should be blessed with a son who would be killed by Indra

instead of asking for one who would kill Indra.

>From out of the firepit arose a crude and violent figure and this was

Vritra. Lord Narayana gave a special weapon to Indra called Vajrayudha

and advised that only if that was used Vritra could be killed.In a

fight,Vritra actually devoured Indra along with his elephant mount,

Airavatam. Indra came out tearing open Vritra's belly and using the

Vajrayudha killed Vritra.

 

 

Comment

 

The infallibility of the power of Mantra is revealed in these stories.

Mantra means that which protects the person who utters it. When a mantra

is pronounced at the proper time, in a proper manner it will not fail to

yield the desired results as it happened in the case of Kacha.But,

Mantra is also a double edged weapon. If it is not uttered properly with

the proper accent and pronunciation or misspelled or distorted it will

not fail to yield the opposite results as it happened in the case of

Kumbakarna and Vritra.

 

That is why in Hindu tradition, a good amount of emphasis is placed on

the correct mode of uttering mantras, if one seeks the desired results.

This emphasis is as valid today as in the days of Kacha, Kumbakarna and

Vritra. Extreme caution is enjoined on those performing the various

yagnas including the Panchamahayagnas ordained for a

Grihasta(householder)to see that the mantras are used properly.

 

18. The power of Namasmarana (Ajamila and Anjaneya )

 

Ajamila

Ajamila was a bad person. A womaniser, he was always after prostitutes.

Besides, there was no sin that he had not committed. At the time of his

death, however, he had a vision of the messengers of death. Scared, he

called out his last son by name Narayana. The very utterance of the word

Narayana at that juncture, he was cleansed of all his sins. The

servitors of Lord Narayana descended down claiming Ajamila's soul and

drove away the messengers of death. The messengers complained to their

master, Yama, the Lord of death. Yama ordered that the messengers should

never go near anyone who uttered the name of Narayana at the time of

death willingly or unwittingly. Such is the power of Namasmarana of Sri

Narayana.

 

Anjaneya

In Ramayana, we see Sri Rama building the Sethu bridge across the

ocean, with the help of the monkey battallion, to cross over to Lanka.

But, Sri Anjaneya was able to jump over the ocean by merely reciting the

name of Sri Rama. Thus, Rama Nama proved more powerful than Sri Rama

himself.

 

Comment

 

We can allude to any number of instances from our scriptures and even

from contemporary experiences to bring out the potency of uttering God's

name. In fact , all religions set great store by the power of invoking

their respective God's name

(Ishta devata). Did not the English poet echo this when he said " More

things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of? ".

 

In the Hindu traditions reciting the 1000 names(Sahasranama),singing

alone or in group Bhajans are considered to yield the same results in

the present Kali yuga, which severe penance, doing Yagas and Yagnas were

said to have resulted in the earlier Yugas in ensuring spiritual

evolution.

 

It is said that congregational singing of God's names is really fruitful

as the comparison goes " One ripe banana in a bunch ripens the rest" -

One Bhakta leading the repetition of God's names can infuse the

requisite religious fervor in others so that each one's devotion ripens

sufficiently to ensure steps to attain salvation through Bhakti or

Prapatti.

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