Thought of the week: Sage Vishvamitra

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Hare Krishna !!

 

Birth of Vishvamitra

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In the dynasty of the Ailas was a great king named Gadhi. His daughter

Satyavati was chaste and beautiful. The king was approached by sage Rcika

for the hand of his daughter. King Gadhi did want to refuse a brahman, but

at the same time did not consider him a fit match for his daughter. So he

fixed a dowry for his daughter, of at least one thousand horses, brilliant

as the sunshine, with one ear black and the other white. The great sage

understanding the mind of the king, procured this from Varuna, the demigod

of the ocean, and thus was married to Satyavati.

 

Soon Satyavati and her mother both approached sage Rcika and requested him

to perform a yajna (sacrifice) so that they could have a son. The sage

performed the yajna and prepared two oblations, one for his wife,

Satyavati and one for her mother. Since he was a Brahman, he instructed

his wife to eat the oblation prepared to induce Brahmanical qualities in

the child. The oblation for the mother-in-law was prepared with Ksatriya

mantra since she belonged to the ruling class.

 

The mother of Satyavati thinking that the oblation for her daughter was

superior to her, requested it from her daughter and ate it, while

Satyavati ate the oblation prepared for her mother. When Rcika found out

about this, he first declared that while Satyavati would have a fierce son

on Ksatriya qualities, her mother would have a learned son of Brahmanical

qualities. However, appeased by his remorseful wife, he later decreed that

while Satyavati would have a Brahmanical son, the son of that son would be

a fierce warrior.

 

In accordance with the decree of sage Rcika, Satyavati had Jamadagni as a

son, who was a gentle pious Brahman and whose youngest son would be Lord

Parasurama. The mother of Satyavati, the wife of King Gadhi had a son

named Kaushika, who though born in a ksatriya family would later become a

great Brahman rishi called Vishvamitra.

 

Visvamitra and Vasistha

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Visvamitra, the son of Maharaja Gadhi, was as powerful as the flames of

fire. With his hundred sons and vast army he traveled afar and subjugated

great kings. Once while returning from an extended campaign he came across

the hermitage of Sage Vasistha, a greatly powerful rishi. In accordance

with the Vedic custom, Visvamitra went to pay his obeisances to the

Brahman and Vasistha responded by serving the king, his sons and his

entire army with a great opulent feast. Mystified, Visvamitra, inquired

from Vaishista they could prepare such an opulent feast in such a short

time.

 

Vaishista revealed that once he desired to conduct a huge sacrifice, but

was unable to get all the ingredients for it. So he performed great

austerities and pleased Lord Brahma who had given him a special kama-dhena

cow named Nandani that was able to fulfill all desires. Vishvamitra,

struck by the potency of the cow, requested Vasistha to gift it to him.

However, Vasistha refused since he used the cow to maintain his ashram and

for performing sacrifices for the benefit of mankind.

 

This greatly angered the king who was used to having his way and thus he

forcibly tried to take the cow. Being a perfect brahman, Vasistha did not

stop the king.. However the cow refused to accompany the egoistical,

arrogant king and by its mystic powers produced hordes of celestial

soldiers that vanquished the great army of Visvamitra in no time.

 

Visvamitra performs austerities

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Realizing that his ksatriya powers were no match for the austerities of a

brahman, Visvamitra resolved to get power through austerities. After

performing such austerities for more than three hundred years, he received

from Lord Shiva the benediction of all kinds of celestial weapons.

Visvamitra immediately set for the ashram of Vasistha and once again

demanded the kama-dhenu cow, Nandini. Realizing that she was no match to

the greatly empowered Visvamitra, sought the refuge of Vasistha.

 

Once again Vasistha refused to relinquish one who has taken his shelter

and in the ensuing battle, Visvamitra released many divine weapons capable

of annihilating the entire universe. However by the power of his

austerities, Vasistha was able to neutralize all these weapons

effortlessly. The hundered sons of Visvamitra, enraged at seeing their

father humiliated like this, attacked Vasistha, but all except for the

eldest, all the others were immediately burnt to ashes by the powerful

sages. The sage, always compassionate, spared the eldest son, to look

after the affairs of the father.

 

Vishvamitra now realized that with all this austerities he was still no

match for Vasistha and after installing his remaining son as the ruler

once again left to perform more penances.

 

Vishvamitra and Menaka

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The power of the austerities soon made Vishvamitra so powerful that Indra,

the king of the heaven, began to fear for his own kingdom. In order to

distract Visvamitra he send Menaka, an apsara or celestial maiden, famous

for her beauty. It is said that the deep meditation of Visvamitra was

broken simply by the clanging of the bangles of Menaka. Greatly attracted

by the beauty of Menaka, Visvamitra agreed to marry her and thus he spend

one hundred years with her completely immersed in sense gratification.

>From Menaka he fathered a daughter called Sakuntala, who would later marry

King Dushyanta, and their son would start the famous Bharat dynasty.

 

Eventually Visvamitra realized that he was being misled and sought to

control his senses. A greatly fearful Menaka stood trembling, expecting to

be cursed. However Visvamitra gently advised her to go back to the heavens

and immediately left to resume his intense austerities.

 

Visvamitra and Trisanku

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In the Surya vamsa (solar dynasty) there was a powerful king named

Satyavrata, who had the great desire to reside in heaven in his own

material body. He approached his spiritual master Vasistha for help in

this but was refused. It is said that he was also cursed to become a

candala (a dog-eater) by a brahman. Later he sought help for Visvamitra,

who determined to help him after hearing that Vasistha had refused.

 

Vishvamitra arranged for a elaborate yajna and to accomplish this. When

the hundred sons of Vasistha heard about this, they ridiculed the idea of

any one attempting to reach the heavens in the same body. Angered,

Visvamitra cursed them to die, which they did. When Vasistha found out, he

was greatly distressed and even tried to give up his own body by trying to

jump off a cliff. However the rocks became flowers. He then tried to jump

in the ocean, but the waves would gently bring him back. Finally Vasistha

realized that it was not proper for him, a self-realized brahman, to

grieve in such a manner and he then resumed his brahmanical duties.

 

In the meantime the demigods were not very keen to let enter Trisanku

enter the heavenly planets and cast him way. Held in between the heaven

and Earth, Trisanku finally received his ‘own’ planet created by the

mystical powers of Vishvamitra.

 

Vishvamitra and Hariscandra

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The son of Trisanku, Hariscandra, was extremely pious and famous for his

truthfulness. Once in order to further the fame of the king, Visvamitra

requested him donate his entire kingdom, all his wealth and possessions to

him. The king immediately did so and despite facing many hardships, never

wavered. Finally after a lot of tribulations, the king received the mercy

of Visvamitra and was blessed with perfect knowledge of the Vedas.

 

Vishvamitra becomes a Brahma-rishi

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Eventually by dint of extended penances that spanned several thousands of

years, Lord Brahma awarded the position of Brahma rishi, on par with

Vasistha to Vishvamitra. However by the purificatory effect of such

austerities, Vishvamitra lost all sense of false pride and completely

forgot his enmity to Vasistha. In the spirit of a true brahman, Vasistha

was the first to glorify the Vishvamitra and give him all his respects.

 

Vishvamitra plays an important role in the pastimes of Lord Rama. When

Lord Rama was a young boy of sixteen, Vishvamitra becomes his spiritual

master (with the blessings of Vasistha) and imparts the knowledge of many

celestial weapons to Him. On the instructions of Vishvamitra, Lord Rama

kills the demons Taraka which later sets the scene of the abduction of

Sita and the annihilation of Ravana and his demoniac forces. Millions of

years later, Vishvamitra also appears in Mahabharata to attend the Rajsuya

sacrifice of Maharaja Yudhistra.

 

In the Srimad Bhagavatam (8.13.5), Sukhadeva Goswami states: Kasyapa,

Atri, Vasistha, Visvamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bharadvaja are known as

the seven sages.

 

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His Holiness Jaipataka Swami will be giving a lecture in the ISKCON

Potomac temple on Tuesday, June 5th in the evening. Please contact

301-765-8948 for details.

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Jun 05 2001, Tuesday Disappearance Sri Mukunda Datta

Disappearance Sri Sridhara Pandita

Jun 06 2001, Wednesday Disappearance Sri Syamananda Prabhu

 

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