The story of the hundred Rudras

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

I am sorry for a long mail, but I judt loved this story from Vashistha Yoga

and wanted to share!

 

With peace,

 

LIlia

 

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The story of the hundred Rudras

 

There once lived a mendicant who was devoted to meditation. His mind, having

been purified by such meditation, came to possess the power to materialize

its thoughts.

One day, being tired of continuous meditation, yet having his mind fully

concentrated, he thought of doing something. He fancied birth as one who was

illiterate and of a non-brahmana family. Instantly, he had become, as it

were, a tribesman: there arose in him the feeling 'I am Jivata'. This

dream-being roamed for some time in the city also built of dream-objects.

One day he got drunk and slept. he dreamt that he was a brahmana endowed

with knowledge of the scriptures. While he was living a righteous life, one

day this brahmana dreamt that he was a powerful king. He dreamt that he was

a mighty emperor of unequalled glory. One day he indulged in royal pleasures

and after that slept and dreamt of a celestial nymph.

Similarly, this nymph one day dreamt that she was a deer. And this deer

dreamt that it was a creeper. Surely, even animals behold dreams, for such

is the nature of the mind which can recollect what has been seen and what

has been heard. The deer became a creeper. The inner intelligence in the

creeper saw in its own heart a bee. It became a bee - and the bee began to

drink the nectar in the flowers on the creeper. It became attached to the

nectar in one of those flowers, surely for its own destruction!

At night an elephant approached this creeper and plucked it, along with the

bee, and crushed it in its mouth. However, the bee, having seen the

elephant, contemplated the elephant and became an elephant.

 

....The elephant become a bee, bee became a creeper, creeper become a swan...

 

One day this swan was roaming in the company of many other swans. While the

mendicant was meditating upon this swan, he was overcome by death. His

consciousness therefore became embodied in the swan.

That swan once beheld lord Rudra and in its heart there arose the conviction

'I am Rudra'. Instantly it abandoned its body as swan and became Rudra. And

that Rudra dwelt in the abode of Rudra. However, since Rudra was endowed

with true knowledge, he remembered all that has taken place!

 

Rudra recollected thus:

Behold! How mysterious is this Maya which deludes all the worlds: though it

is unreal it appears to be real. First of all, in that infinite

consciousness which was myself there arose the mind with objective

consciousness, though yet cosmic and omniscent. Then accidentally I happened

to be the jiva which felt attracted to and charmed by the finest part of the

cosmic elements. Therefore during a certain creation-cycle I became the

mendicant who remained totally unagitated. He was able to overcome all

distractions and remain immersed in the practice of contemplation.

However, every subsequent action is more powerful than a previous act. The

mendicant considered himself Jivata and so did he become. After that he

bethought he was a brahmana. Surely the more powerful thought-form

overwhelms the weaker one. Then in course of time and on account of

persistent contemplation, he became a king: surely, water imbibed by the

plant becomes its fruit! Associated with royal pleasures are nymphs;

contemplating them, the king became a nymph. Purely on account of

infatuation this nymph became a deer. The deer became a creeper which was

obsessed with the idea that it would be pierced and a hole would be made.

Contemplating the bee, it became a bee which then pierced a hole in the

creeper. The bee became an elephant.

I am Rudra who has been a Rudra during the past one hundred creation-cycles,

and I roam this world-appearance which is nothing more than a psychological

delusion. In one creation-cycle I was Jivata, in another I was the brahmana,

in another I was the king and in yet another I was the swan. Thus have I

been revolving in this wheel known as the mind and the body.

It is aeons since I slipped from that supreme self or infinite

consciousness. Soon after that fall I was that mendicant who was still

endowed with many incarnations, through the grace of Rudra whom I happened

to behold, I have become Rudra. When the jiva by coincidence comes into

contact with an enlightened person, then its impure tendencies turn away.

This happens to that person who constantly longs for such contact with an

enlightened person. Such constant longing itself materializes and becomes

and accomplished fact.

Surely it is because of one's inner conviction 'This body is my self' that

this unreal perception expands. If one were to enquiry into its true nature,

one would find that nothing remained! Enough of even such enquiry, which

leads to nothing. This world is an optical illusion like the blueness of the

sky. It is ignorance. Enough of even this effort to purify that ignorance!

If this world-appearance which is unreal continues to appear, let it: it can

do no harm. I shall retrace the chain of imaginary transformations and

restore their underlying unity.

Thus having resolved, Rudra went to where the body of the mendicant lay. He

awakened it and inspired it to remember all that had taken place. The

mendicant saw Rudra as his own self and also recollected all that had

happened.

Then both of them went to where Jivata lived in the same infinite

consciousness. They revived his body. The three were indeed one. These three

who were wonderstruck at this mystery, then proceeded to the place of the

brahmana who was asleep embraced by his wife. They awakened his

consciousness. Then they went to where the king was asleep in his royal

bedchamber surrounded by nymphs. They awakened his intelligence, too, He too

was amazed at the realization of the truth. Thus they went to where the swan

lived - the swan that become Rudra.

They roamed the world of the one hundred Rudras of the past. They realized

that it was all one infinite consciousness in which all these diverse

illusory events had apparently taken place. The one form had become many, as

it were. These on hundred Rudras pervaded the entire universe and were

omniplesent.