Spiritual Stories by Ramana

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MUTUAL CURSE

 

INDRA APPROACHED AHALYA (wife of Gautama) taking the form of Gautama

and she yielded without knowing that he was not her husband. Without

ascertaining the truth, Gautama cursed her to become a stone. Angered

thereby Ahalya said, " Oh, you fool of a Muni! Without enquiring into

the truth, you have cursed me and have not even stated when I shall

be free from the curse. Tell me, when will the curse end and how? Why

not have some consideration for me and tell me at least that? " Gautama

thereupon told her that she would be released from the curse at the

time of Rama avatar when the dust from Rama's feet fell on her.

Immediately thereafter she became a stone.

 

Gautama left that place and tried to get into his daily rituals but

he could not, for he had no peace of mind. He tried his level best

but could not control his mind and became more and more troubled. On

thinking deeply over the matter, he realised that he had cursed his

wife Ahalya without proper enquiry and also recollected that she had

in turn cursed him by saying, " You fool of a Muni! " After all, she

was also a great tapasvini (a female ascetic). Hence those words

which were unusual must have resulted in an irrevocable curse on

himself.

 

He therefore decided to seek the help of Iswara, by seeing

his " Nataraja Dance " , in order to get relieved of the curse. He

therefore went to Chidambaram. At that place he heard an ethereal

voice saying, " I shall be pleased to give you darsan of my Thandava

dance in Trisulapura. " Gautama immediately left that place and went

on foot towards Trisulapura. On nearing the place, and at the mere

sight of it, even from a distance, his mind began to get clear. He

stayed there for a very long time doing tapas. At last Iswara was

pleased and gave him darsan of his " Nataraja Dance " in the month of

Dhanus when the Ardra star was predominant. It was at that time

Gautama is reported to have lived under the tree and performed tapas.

After seeing the dance of Iswara, Gautama worshipped Iswara, went to

his original place and began to perform his rituals as usual.

 

Later on Ahalya became purified by the dust of the feet of Sri Rama

and regained her normal form.

 

Devotee: " The statement that Ahalya turned into a stone applies only

to her mind and not to her body. Is that not so? "

 

Bhagavan: " That is so. If it is not for the mind, could it be for the

body? It is only ordinary people that say her body turned into a

stone and that Rama restored her to her original form by putting his

foot on the stone. How is that possible? It only means that the mind

lost its awareness of the Self, and unable to think of anything else,

she became dull like a stone. That dullness got relieved by the

darsan of a great personage. As she herself was a great tapasvini she

could immediately become aware of the Self. She worshipped Sri Rama

as the embodiment of the Self. This inner meaning could be found

in the Ramayana. The moment Rama set his foot in Gautamasrama, the

mind of Ahalya was restored to its original state, like the

blossoming of a flower. "