Bala Kanda Sarga-66

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Bala Kanda Sarga-66

 

Om Asmadgurubhyo Namaha

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Until now we have heard the story of Vishvamithra from Sathananda, who was

Ahalya's son, and he was happy. Because of Vishvamithra, his mother Ahalya's

curse was removed. After explaining Visvamithra's greatness to Rama and

Lakshmana, he said that SriRamachandra was indeed very fortunate to have

Vishvamithra as his Guru and Rama as his Sishya.

Sathananda explained the greatness of this guru-Sishya (teacher-student)

relationship to the world. From Visvamithra's story, it is revealed that to get

siddhi (salvation), a person should work very hard for it. In Bhagavad-Gita it

said that, who ever are born with lobha (greediness), will get Kama (lust) and

krodha (anger). These three are doors to destruction.

 

"Thrividham narakasyedam, dvaaram naasanam aathmanah"

Lobha, Kama, krodha these three are doors to naraka (hell).

 

In Isavasya Upanishad it is said that everyone should understand, that

this universe is created, occupied and administered by God only. By

realizing this, a person should know that all his possessions are not his but,

God's gifts and should live a contended life, which will eventually lead to

Moksha (salvation). If one is not aware of this simple, but profound truth, it

will lead to greediness and from that comes attachment. Lobha gets attachments,

but sacrifice gets Moksha. Vishvamithra after doing thousand's of years of Tapas

became a Brahmarishi and what ever he considered his own, including knowledge,

control of vast array of weapons, fruits of his Tapas, he surrendered them to

Sri Ramachandra. With the help of Sri Ramachandra he destroyed his enemies and

attained Moksha. Visvamithra's life is a good example for living, and thus he

became Vishvamithra- friend to universe (Vishva - universe, mithra - friend). He

also had visions of Gayathri mantra which cleanses buddhi (mind). To achieve

this, a person should work diligently work-for it, and at it. Let us review the

life of Vishvamithra. He was a king with great pride and arrogance, and in spite

of his vast army, he couldn't defeat Vashishta and obtain the cow Sabala. That

obsession was the beginning of his downfall as a king and towards greatness as a

Brahmarishi. Because of the yearn (loba) for possess the best, krodha (anger)

surfaced, and made him disagree with Vashishta and then to become Brahmarishi.

Fighting for dreadful things with dreadful people will lead to awful results

where as Visvamithra's journey was to become Brahmarishi. A person should have

that kind of ambition; achieving Brahmajnaana (knowledge of supreme) is the sole

purpose of this life and that desire is a stepping stone for progress. To know

Brahman, Tapas is a vehicle and Vishvamithra did that. But that doesn't come

easily in short time and also Kama, krodha are the road blocks for higher

achievements. In Bhagavad-Gita it was named as "mahasanah, mahapapma".

Mahashanah- unlimited desire, which is Kama (lust). So Kama is mahasana. Krodha

(anger) makes people commit terrible sins, so krodha is mahaapapma (major sin).

To overcome these two, Vishvamithra did thousand's of years of Tapas traveling

all four directions and at the end became a Brahmarishi. Vishvamithra, after

attaining powers with his Tapas at southern side became proud and lost the

benefits of Tapas. If one's "EGO" - "self" is not destroyed; there will be no

benefits of Tapas. With that pride-ego, by not paying heed to Vashishta's words,

Vishvamithra decided to do yajna to send Thrisanku to Swarga loka with his own

body. Pride goes before fall, and also clouds judgment which eventually makes

one make wrong decisions, (like Vishvamithra cursing all the sons of Vashishta).

Then, to save his maternal nephew, Shunasepa he cursed his own sons. With the

power of his Tapas he saved Shunasepa but due to lack of control over his

emotions, his Tapas were ruined. Thus failing two times to control his feelings

he had to try again to become Brahmarishi. This time, with Menaka's appearance

he was distracted with Kama (lust). After spending time with Menaka for many

years, he realized his mistake. Because of Kama his Tapas was ruined again and

he went towards northern side where he met Rambha. With western side Tapas he

became Rishi, with southern side Tapas he became Rajarishi but he didn't attain

Brahmarishi-hood. When he saw Rambha, he again felt Kama, and by controlling it,

he moved from there. One should overcome Kama, but showing krodha which is the

out come of Kama, leads to destruction. Again he continued severe Tapas for

thousand's of years and conquered Maharishi level. That was not his goal, but

Brahmarishi-hood was and from that to posses all the knowledge of Vedas. Lobha,

Kama, krodha were three things which became obstacle to his accomplishment of

his objective, in three directions. He realized that food was the main reason

for those failures, so he started strict Tapas in northern side without

consuming food. Soon after he finished his Tapas, while attempting to consume

food Indra came in the form of a Brahmin and asked for that food. Without any

greed or hesitation he offered that food and started his Tapas again without

pride, lust and anger but only with one aspiration. At the end, Devathas, Brahma

and Vashishta came and blessed him as Brahmarishi. With so many obstacles he

became a Brahmarishi, but that was not enough, one should climb one more step to

attain siddhi (Moksha). To get that, he performed moksheshti yajna. With that he

destroyed avidya (ignorance), Kama, krodha etc. and reached The Supreme one). We

have seen this narration in Balakanda while Sathananda explained to

SriRamachandra Visvamithra's past life, but this is not part of Balakanda.

Brahmarishi Vishvamithra came to Dasaratha to ask SriRamachandra to protect his

yajna. This tells us that, after becoming Brahmarishi there are more things to

do. Accepting SriRamachandra as a protector he bequeathed all his weaponry to

him. He told Dasaratha, that he can't use his anger in the yajna to kill Maricha

and Subahu otherwise he could have killed them. Vishvamithra asked

SriRamachandra to kill them by using his weapons, but he didn't use his own

weapons. This is a real sacrifice. Giving up ego and getting protection by

accepting SriRamachandra as his protector is a kind of act only selflessly

mature people will do and this leads to Moksha. He had shown that age, training,

knowledge is not the only criteria to surrender to someone. Look at what

Vishvamithra had to go through to accomplish the status of Brahmarishi and here

he is accepting Sri Rama who is a mere boy to be his protector. He was seeing

Rama through his inner wisdom and not merely through his vision. He became a

true "Brahmarishi". Through SriRamachandra, he killed Thataka whom represented

avidya (ignorance), and her sons Maricha, Subahu represents sanchitha and agami

karmas. Along with SriRamachandra, he went to Mithila and witnessed Sitha Rama

Kalyana (wedding), and then Vishvamithra left to Northern direction for forever.

In Janakapuri, Sathananda narrated Visvamithra's story to young SriRamachandra

and Lakshmana along with king Janaka while Vishvamithra listened in. But, this

is not the old Vishvamithra with pomp and ego; but he is able to control his

senses and that was the reason when Sathananda was explaining his drawbacks in

character he didn't get angry. One who reaches that level will attain siddhi.

Vishvamithra heard his own story with no emotions attached, and participated in

this event as if he was a stranger. One should learn sacrifice and surrender to

attain Moksha and by following yajna, giving for good causes (charity), and

Tapas to overcome ego. When one realizes that, "I am not my own protector or

creator but the one who created me is the one who protects me" is called thyagam

sanyasam. This is the path to siddhi. Moksha means witnessing Lord

Srimannarayana. This is what Vishvamithra did in Mithila, witnessing

SriRamachandra and Sitha together. To illustrate Visvamithra's way to Moksha,

Janaka's yajna continued for twelve days. In the past we learned that

Visvamithra's yajna continued for six nights. This tells us, the journey to get

to Almighty is twelve days. After eliminating prarabdha Karmas, Jeevathma will

travel twelve places and then reaches Paramapatham to serve Lord Srimannarayana

and never comes back. To illustrate this, at the end of twelve days of Janaka's

yajna, Sita-Rama marriage happened and Vishvamithra exits. After removing

prarabdha karma and leaving the body, at first Agnyabhimana Devathas accepts the

jeeva. On the next 11 days following Devathas accept the Jeevathma. 2)

Dinabhimana Devathas- 3) Shukla Paksha Abhimana Devathas- 4) Uttharayana Bahaman

Devathas- 5) Samvathsara Abhimana Devathas- 6) Vayavya Abhimana Devathas- 7)

Suryamandala Abhimana Devathas- 8) Chandra Mandala Abhimana Devathas- 9)

Vidhyuth Abhimana Devathas- 10) Indra Lokas Abhimana Devathas- 11) Varuna Loka

Abhimana Devathas- 12) Brahma Loka Abhimana Devathas. After being accepted by 12

Devathas at 12 different places Jeevathma reaches to Paramapatham. In Mithila,

"Dvadasa yajna" and, then kalyana was performed. At this point Sage Vishvamithra

leaves the scene never to return.

 

In Ramayana, first kanda is called "Bala Kanda" not because it deals with Rama's

childhood. Actually it didn't say much about Rama's childhood. In Bala Kanda,

birth of SriRamachandra, His father's thoughts on crowning Him as a prince,

Visvamithra's arrival and Rama's trip to the forest with Vishvamithra are

described. We also see Rama getting married. So, in Balakanda rather than

discussing Rama's youth, Visvamithra's story was explained and the main

character in this kanda was Vishvamithra and that was the reason Valmiki called

Vishvamithra as a child in this Kanda. In Upanishad it is said,

 

"Paandithym nirvidya baalyena thishTaaseeth, adh munih:"

(After attaining Brahmajnaana, he will become like a child, then later he

becomes muni).

 

After attaining Brahmajnaana, Vishvamithra came to Rama and surrendered to him

without showing his strength; that was early days. Like a child who depends on

someone for the protection, Vishvamithra depended on Ramachandra for protection.

Then he was doing Mananam (repeatedly reciting God in mind, meditating on

SriRamachandra) while Sathananda was narrating his own story, that was when he

became a muni. Because Vishvamithra appeared as a child in this Kanda, this

Kanda was named as Balakanda. Next morning, Janaka invited Ramachandra and

Lakshmana along with Vishvamithra to his palace and after offering performing

appropriate services to his guests, he said "Please command me what I need to do

for you. I am at your service". Knowing the meaning of these words, Vishvamithra

said, "King Janaka! These are Dasaratha's sons and very famous Kshathriyas. They

came to see the Dhanus (divine bow) you own. It is good for you to show them the

Dhanus and after viewing that Dhanus we will leave happily from here'. Janaka

said," Maharishi! I will narrate to them the story of this great Dhanus, which

once belonged to Siva who was kept it, with my ancestors. During Daksha Yajna,

Parama Siva used this Dhanus to punish Devathas who came to take part in the

yajna. The despaired Devathas prayed to Siva, who withdrew the Dhanus and

preserved it with my ancestors. Later, when I had to plough the ritual field to

do the yajna, a baby girl came out from that Kshetra (place). Since she was

found while sanctifying the ritual-field, she was named Sitha and was raised as

my daughter. Due to the circumstances of her birth, I have to find her a groom

who is valuable of her in marriage, one who is bold and strong, one who can

string the Dhanus of Parama Siva will be worthy of her. Hearing my declaration

many kings came and tried to string that Siva Dhanus, but they all failed. With

hostility, they assaulted and smothered the city of Mithila for many years.

After a while the wealth of this great city went into a decline. Then I prayed

to gods for their help and delighted gods gave me fourfold force. With the help

of their forces I have defeated all those kings. Sage! This is that supremely

radiant bow, and oh, saint of sacred vows, I will show that matchlessly glowing

bow to Ramachandra and Lakshmana. If Rama strings the bow, I will offer my

daughter, whose birth is divine; to Dasaratha's son Ramachandra", so said Janaka

to Vishvamitra.

 

JET USA Prajna Teachers

(To be cont)

Jai Srimannarayana