Anecdotes 19&20 of Part I: Myths

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Dear Bhagavatas,

Given below are Anecdotes 19 and 20 from Part I Myths

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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19. The power of Penance ( Bhagirata, Dhruva and Viswamitra )

Bhagirata

 

A king called Sagara performed a horse sacrifice.(Aswamedha yaga). Indra

captured the horse, took it to the nether world and left it in the hermitage

of Sage Kapila who was in deep meditation. Sagara's 60,000 sons came searching

for the horse and found it in the hermitage. Believing that the Sage it was

who had stolen the horse accused him vehemently. Rudely awakened from his

penance, the Sage cursed them to be reduced to ashes.

 

In the lineage of Sagara was born Bhagirata. He desired to perform the

obsequies to his forebears who had turned into cinders.He was advised that if

he could sprinkle the waters of Ganga, they could be saved. He performed a

penance for bringing down the waters of Ganga - the river that was flowing

in the celestial world then. Pleased, Ganga was prepared to come down but

stipulated that she would come down flowing so forcefully that the world would

be deluged. Bhagirata was in a fix and prayed to Siva to help in controlling

the force of the river.When Ganga came down with all her torrential and

terrific flow, Siva stood in her way and locked her up in his matted locks and

released her in the form of a mild and sudued stream which followed Sagara to

the nether world where lay the ashes of his ancestors. Sprinkled with the

waters of Ganga, the souls of the 60000 ancestors ascended the heavens.

 

Dhruva

 

There lived a great king by name, Uttaanapaada. He had two wives named

Suneethi and Suruchi. Once, when the 5 year old Dhruva, son through Suneethi

wanted to sit on the lap of his father, the stepmother dragged him and drove

him out saying that only a child born to herself could have the privelege of

sitting on the lap of the king. Hurt by her rude behavior, Dhruva reported the

incident to Suneethi and with her permission went into exile to do penance.

On the way, he met Sage Narada who initiated him into the sacred Narayana

Mantra. Dhruva reached

the banks of river Jamuna and did severe penance invoking Lord Narayana. When

the Lord appeared before him, he did not ask for any boon except God's grace.

The Lord was pleased and declared that after his present life, he would ascend

the heavens where he would shine forever as the Pole star in the firmament- a

place of honor no one could hope to achieve. It is believed that the North

Pole star is verily Dhruva.

 

Viswamitra

 

King Trisanku wanted to ascend to the heavens with his gross human body.

Vasishta, his preceptor refused to help him. He turned to Viswamitra who was

only too eager to help especially because his arch rival, Vasishta had

refused. With all the might of his penance, he sent up Trisanku but Indra, the

Lord of Heavens hurled him down. Trisanku dangling in mid air upside down

cried for help. Enraged, Viswamitra shone like another Brahma, used up all

his power of penance, stopped Trisanku midway, created a duplicate heaven

(Trisanku Svarga) with all

the appurtenances like the starry horizon, a duplicate Saptarishi Mandala (

Realm of the seven sages) galaxy

et al. He is even credited with having created a copy- cat - wise counterpart

beings like the buffalo for the cow, donkey for the horse etc.

 

Comment

 

The three episodes highlight the efficacy of penance. Penance does not mean

mere meditation. It means a severe self-inflicted discipline involving, as it

does, long and excruciating self abnegation of things sensual and extreme

devotion to things spiritual, with an incessant concentration on the deity

invoked. Sages who performed penance in this way acquired enormous powers

which they could use for conferring a boon or pronouncing a curse on others

out of anger or dissipate them through lust and other distractions. But, one

thing is certain. Every

exercise of the power diminished the store of merits so painfully accumulated.

 

In the case of Bhagirata, he used it up for a good cause;

 

In the case of Dhruva, penance helped him to attain the pinnacle of glory as

the Polestar.

 

In the case of Viswamitra, he had to forfeit all his merits and had to start

de novo only to lose the accumulated merit again in another outburst of anger

or lust. The bottomline of the story of Viswamitra is to emphasize the

importance of penance and how it could confer ceratin Siddhis like

materialization of objects and things much alike the real ones already

created. These Siddhis can endow extraordinary powers like performing

superhuman feats of weightlessness, being lighter than feather, becoming

unbelievably heavy, controlling others' minds and bodies, creating objects

from nowhere, becoming invisible etc.

 

But, all these Siddhis are distractions in the path of one desiring salvation.

Our scriptures advise that while these Siddhis are inevitable in one's

spiritual evolution, one should not fall for them. Even these Siddhis will

fade away after sometime so that them practioner will be a non-starter all the

time, having neither the powers on earth nor salvation in heaven. Thus, we

find the Rishis in our lores as very human ( maybe, wiser than the run of

the mill personalities ) liable to love. hate, lust, fear, anger and other

human failings.

 

20. The power of Pathi / Pitru Sisrusha ( Service to Husband / Parents)

-(Dharmavyadha)

 

Kousika, a brahmin had studied all the Vedas and was a righteous person. But,

he had one failing. He neglected his duties towards his aged parents. One

day, when he was on his tour, he sat under a tree. A crane perching on top of

the tree released its droppings on his head. When Kousika stared at it

angrily, it fell down dead.

 

After sometime, on his itinerary, he reached a house and begged for his food

as the brahmins were expected to live on alms. The lady of the house was a

little busy and asked him to wait. Just then, her husband returned home

hungry. She first attended to her husband. And, in the process, she forgot

Kousika. When she remembered, she begged pardon and offered the usual

courtesies. Kousika started staring at her angrily as he did to the crane. The

lady remarked "Don't think I am also a crane. Your anger can do no harm to me

since I was engaged in serving my husband as a dutiful wife ought to".

 

Kousika was surprised as to how she came to know the fate of thecrane and

begged her excuse. She advised him on Dharma of a wife and asked him to learn

further from one Dharmavyaada who was living in Mithila. Kousika straight made

it to Mithila where he saw Dharmavyaada who was selling meat. On seeing

Kousika, he came running to welcome Kousika and told him how he was aware of

the crane incident and the lady's directions to come to him for advice. This

second revelation astonished Kousika still further since there was no way for

them to have communicated to each other. Kousika pleaded with Dharmavyaada to

enlighten him.

 

Dharmavyaada advised him on several matters including Aachara, Anushtana,

Ahimsa,Way to salvation, Control of senses, and above all the value of parents

and the services to be rendered to them as a sine qua non for being fit to

perform other duties. Kousika realized his fault in neglecting his parents

and returning home, commenced doing loyal service to them.

 

 

Comment

 

Among the advice of the lady and Dharmavyaada, the importance of service to

husband and parents stand foremost. Time and again, our scriptures harp on the

theme of how an ideal wife would and should serve her husband and how an ideal

son would and should serve his parents. In these days of egalitarianism, these

values may seem out of place especially in the West where the concept of

family values is fast vanishing due to several factors.

 

No doubt, the husband should act in such a way as to deserve the service of a

dutiful wife and the parents

should act in such a way as to deserve the service of a dutiful son.

 

While there is no denying this, the values propounded in the stories are as

valid today as in the days of Dharmavyaada and cannot de disputed. Sometimes,

the morals emphasize one side of the picture. But, the other

side has to be inferred as prerequisite. This is because all human

relationship can only be reciprocal and both parties should strive consciously

for harmonious equations in life.

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