Introduction
The Vedas appear in a language (form of Sanskrit) and style (symbolic) beyond easy comprehension. It is said that the epics have been written to convey the messages hidden in the Vedas. The main message is Dharma or the right path and conduct in life. What that is, depends on the adopted profession.
Many of the stories in the epics seem to suggest that following the Dharma in its letter and spirit gives human kind the ultimate goal in life, salvation. The following story tells something more.
There is something that pervades the entire universe, transcending both matter and force. What sages achieve through long years of penance seems to be the key to this substance that unifies the universe. Once that stage is achieved, then man is no more restrained by both space and time.
The following story is of a Brahmin, a housewife and a butcher. (The word used for the butcher is Vyadha which means a hunter. But, hunting was his way of collecting meat. His livelihood was by selling it. Hence, we use the word butcher in the story.) All the three follow their respective Dharmas. The Brahmin’s Dharma is the most difficult and he did not attain perfection in following his path. The other two did and, as a result, attained superior levels in spirituality.
Sage Markandeya told the following story to Yudhishthira in reply to the question on Dharma, especially, of a woman devoted to her husband.
The Brahmin
There was a Brahmin by name Kausika. He was once meditating under a tree. A crane was perched on one of the branches and its dropping fell right on the head of the meditating Kausika. He was upset and looked at the bird angrily. The poor bird was turned to ashes in the next instant by the Brahmin’s power from meditation. The Brahmin did feel sorry for the bird, but, at the same time was proud of his power.
The housewife
The Brahmin went to a housewife one day asking for food as was his custom. The lady received him with due respect and asked him to take seat. She would soon come back to him with food.
She was getting ready to serve the visiting Brahmin. Her husband arrived home in the meanwhile. The lady turned all her attention to him. She started helping him with his bath. She then served him food without even bothering about the waiting guest.
The Brahmin was getting furious. He called the lady and spoke. “Why are you ignoring me like this? I came hungry and you promised to serve me soon. Now, it looks like you have forgotten me. Are you not afraid of my wrath?”
The lady laughed and replied. “Don’t think I am like the crane that you burnt down with your anger. My supreme duty is to serve my husband. Everything else comes next. I do not think that your anger will work against me. I would have earned enough merit to make up for any shortcoming in serving a distinguished guest like you.”
She, then, went into the virtue of following one’s Dharma. She pointed out to the Brahmin that he did not follow his duty fully. As a Brahmin he should have overcome anger instead of punishing an innocent bird for a mistake it made unwittingly. She said that she was busy serving her husband. The Brahmin should visit the butcher in Mithila who was called a Dharma Vyadha or the righteous butcher to know more about one’s Dharma.
The Brahmin was surprised. How did the lady come to know what happened to him and the bird? She was so sure of what was right and wrong. There was something very convincing in the way she asked him to see the butcher. So, the Brahmin thanked the lady and left in search of the butcher.
And the Butcher
The butcher lived in the city of Mithila as the lady told him. The famous king Janaka was the ruler of Mithila at that time.
Dharma Vyadha was widely known for his wisdom. The Brahmin, Kausika, had no difficulty getting directions to the place where he worked. The butcher was busy cutting meat and serving his clients when the Brahmin reached him. Kausika was disgusted seeing the way carcasses were cut into meat.
The butcher spotted his guest from a distance and welcomed him as the one sent by the housewife. That came as the next surprise to the Brahmin. How did he and the lady get the sixth sense to know what happened elsewhere?
Dharma Vyadha took the Brahmin to his house as the butchery was not the right place to receive a distinguished guest. The Brahmin could not hide his repulsive feeling finding the wise man in the butchery.
The butcher replied. “For each man doing his duty properly is what is important. This was the profession of my father and all the other ancestors. If you are worried about the killing, try to understand that you cannot live in this world without that. You take lives even when you eat vegetables or fruit”.
Then, he went into the secret of his superior spirituality. He looked after his aged parents diligently and made an honest living by hunting and selling the meat.
He gave a long lecture to the Brahmin on Dharma. Veda Vyasa has nearly five hundred stanzas of poetry covering the advice given by the Dharma Vyadha. At the end the butcher asked the Brahmin to go to his parents and take good care of him. Meditation should take only the next place.
The Brahmin bowed before the Vyadha and took his leave. He returned to his parents and started looking after them with dedication.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Ashtavakra
Introduction
Ashtavakra was a child prodigy who rose to become one of the great philosophers of ancient times. He lived at the time of king Janaka of Videha who was the father of Sita of Ramayana fame. Janaka was himself a highly learned man. A philosophical work attributed to Ashtavakra, called the Ashtavakra Geeta, is considered by many as great as the famous Bhagavad Geeta. This Geeta is by way of a session in which king Janaka raises his doubts and Ashtavakra clarifies the points. Quite a few English translations are available of this Geeta on the Net. Sri Sri Ravishankar of The Art of Living has given a series of lectures on this.
Sage Lomasa pointed out the place where hermitage of Ashtavakra stood to Yudhishthira during their pilgrimage and narrated the story of the sage to the Pandava.
Born with eight bends
There was a famous Brahmin by name Uddalaka who had a son by name Swetaketu, daughter, Sujata and a disciple called Kahoda. Uddalaka was very pleased with his disciple, Kahoda, and gave his daughter Sujata in marriage to him.
Sujata soon became pregnant. It is said that the child, while in his mother’s womb, corrected the mistakes his father committed in chanting the Vedas. Kahoda got angry with his son for what he took to be his impudence. He cursed the child to be born with eight bends on his body.
Untimely death of Kahoda
Sujata was worried about their poverty when she knew about her pregnancy and that soon she would have to bring up a child. She pleaded with her husband to raise, somehow, some money. What Kahoda had with him as asset was his vast knowledge. He decided to approach king Janaka of Videha, who was himself a great scholar, for help. He was widely known for his generosity to learned men.
It was the custom those days for kings to set up debates among participating scholars and reward the winner by giving gifts of wealth. Often, there was also punishment for those who were defeated. When Kahoda reached the palace there was a great scholar there by name Vandi, who was the son of Varuna, the god of oceans. He was also ruthless in his dealings with his opponents in debates. He kept a stiff condition that those who lost should be thrown into the sea.
Kahoda had to accept the challenge as he was desperate for money. Unfortunately, he was defeated and was drowned in the sea by the king’s soldiers.
Ashtavakra learns the truth
The child was born to Kahoda only after his death. He had eight bends on his body exactly as cursed by his father. But, he was a genius from birth. The boy picked up all the Vedas and Sastras (sciences) in his early childhood.
Swetaketu lived in the hermitage along with his sister and nephew. Sujata tried to hide the truth about her husband’s untimely death from the boy. One day, Ashtavakra learnt the truth from his uncle Swetaketu. He was only in his teens at that time. Yet, he wanted to avenge the death of his father and went to king Janaka. Vandi was still living in great honour with king Janaka.
Too young for debate
But, Ashtavakra was denied entrance to the palace by the gate keepers. They told him that he was too young to challenge a great scholar like Vandi. There was a long argument between Ashtavakra and the sentry. The king’s gate keepers soon realized that they were in the presence of a boy of exceptional intelligence and learning. But, the king’s orders would not let the boy through. Finally, the gate keepers slipped him through pretending ignorance of his arrival.
In the presence of the mighty scholar
King Janaka was surprised finding a small boy arriving unannounced. The boy also had the audacity to ask for a debate with Vandi who was the greatest of all living scholars. Janaka tried to send the boy back and got into a debate with him in the process. The king soon realized that the boy was a child prodigy and indeed a match for the great Vandi in intelligence and scholarship. He was curious to know how he would fare against Vandi.
The debate between the two did not last long. The senior scholar had to accept defeat and the impending punishment. But, Vandi laughed and said that he would not drown in any ocean as he was the son of Varuna, the god of oceans. Instead, he promised to bring Kahoda back to life by appealing to his father, Varuna. True to his words, Kahoda rose from the ocean at the very instant, sent back by the god of oceans.
Ashtavakra regains form
Ashtavakra returned home to his mother with his father. Lomasa pointed the river called Samanga to Yudhiswhthira and said that Ashtavakra had regained the form of his body free from the bends by dipping into that river. Such was the power of its waters. Lomasa advised the Pandavas to take a holy dip and continue with their journey.
Ashtavakra was a child prodigy who rose to become one of the great philosophers of ancient times. He lived at the time of king Janaka of Videha who was the father of Sita of Ramayana fame. Janaka was himself a highly learned man. A philosophical work attributed to Ashtavakra, called the Ashtavakra Geeta, is considered by many as great as the famous Bhagavad Geeta. This Geeta is by way of a session in which king Janaka raises his doubts and Ashtavakra clarifies the points. Quite a few English translations are available of this Geeta on the Net. Sri Sri Ravishankar of The Art of Living has given a series of lectures on this.
Sage Lomasa pointed out the place where hermitage of Ashtavakra stood to Yudhishthira during their pilgrimage and narrated the story of the sage to the Pandava.
Born with eight bends
There was a famous Brahmin by name Uddalaka who had a son by name Swetaketu, daughter, Sujata and a disciple called Kahoda. Uddalaka was very pleased with his disciple, Kahoda, and gave his daughter Sujata in marriage to him.
Sujata soon became pregnant. It is said that the child, while in his mother’s womb, corrected the mistakes his father committed in chanting the Vedas. Kahoda got angry with his son for what he took to be his impudence. He cursed the child to be born with eight bends on his body.
Untimely death of Kahoda
Sujata was worried about their poverty when she knew about her pregnancy and that soon she would have to bring up a child. She pleaded with her husband to raise, somehow, some money. What Kahoda had with him as asset was his vast knowledge. He decided to approach king Janaka of Videha, who was himself a great scholar, for help. He was widely known for his generosity to learned men.
It was the custom those days for kings to set up debates among participating scholars and reward the winner by giving gifts of wealth. Often, there was also punishment for those who were defeated. When Kahoda reached the palace there was a great scholar there by name Vandi, who was the son of Varuna, the god of oceans. He was also ruthless in his dealings with his opponents in debates. He kept a stiff condition that those who lost should be thrown into the sea.
Kahoda had to accept the challenge as he was desperate for money. Unfortunately, he was defeated and was drowned in the sea by the king’s soldiers.
Ashtavakra learns the truth
The child was born to Kahoda only after his death. He had eight bends on his body exactly as cursed by his father. But, he was a genius from birth. The boy picked up all the Vedas and Sastras (sciences) in his early childhood.
Swetaketu lived in the hermitage along with his sister and nephew. Sujata tried to hide the truth about her husband’s untimely death from the boy. One day, Ashtavakra learnt the truth from his uncle Swetaketu. He was only in his teens at that time. Yet, he wanted to avenge the death of his father and went to king Janaka. Vandi was still living in great honour with king Janaka.
Too young for debate
But, Ashtavakra was denied entrance to the palace by the gate keepers. They told him that he was too young to challenge a great scholar like Vandi. There was a long argument between Ashtavakra and the sentry. The king’s gate keepers soon realized that they were in the presence of a boy of exceptional intelligence and learning. But, the king’s orders would not let the boy through. Finally, the gate keepers slipped him through pretending ignorance of his arrival.
In the presence of the mighty scholar
King Janaka was surprised finding a small boy arriving unannounced. The boy also had the audacity to ask for a debate with Vandi who was the greatest of all living scholars. Janaka tried to send the boy back and got into a debate with him in the process. The king soon realized that the boy was a child prodigy and indeed a match for the great Vandi in intelligence and scholarship. He was curious to know how he would fare against Vandi.
The debate between the two did not last long. The senior scholar had to accept defeat and the impending punishment. But, Vandi laughed and said that he would not drown in any ocean as he was the son of Varuna, the god of oceans. Instead, he promised to bring Kahoda back to life by appealing to his father, Varuna. True to his words, Kahoda rose from the ocean at the very instant, sent back by the god of oceans.
Ashtavakra regains form
Ashtavakra returned home to his mother with his father. Lomasa pointed the river called Samanga to Yudhiswhthira and said that Ashtavakra had regained the form of his body free from the bends by dipping into that river. Such was the power of its waters. Lomasa advised the Pandavas to take a holy dip and continue with their journey.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)