Vishwamitra ,who was king of India,
once went for hunting in the Himalayan jungles with a big retinue of solders.
His troops felt hungry & weak after the long hunt was over. While returning
back they a saw a hermit & on enquiry found it to be that of Brahmarshi,
Vashishta, a sage of cosmic consciousness. The king met with the Sage &
saluted him. Finding them fatigued & run down, the Sage asked the King if
he could be of some help. The king said his troops were hungry & were in
need of rest as they had no food since the time they entered the dense jungle
in the morning. The Sage immediately called Kamadhenu, the cow
of plenty & asked her to feed the troops & the King. The wish-cow
produced the food by her mere will in a plentiful manner. She fed them all to
their hearts content.
The King was amazed at the
wish-fulfilling powers of the Cow. He requested the Sage to give the cow to
him, as he had a large population to feed & this cow would be useful to him
for the benefit of the people of his country. He argued that its utility
remained highly underutilised as it served just a handful of persons living in
the hermitage. The King was prepared to give in exchange a thousand cows &
take the cow of plenty with him.
The Sage told him that this cow was
specially given to him by God & he cannot give it even in exchange of
king’s whole kingdom. He told him emphatically that only those who have
realised Truth (Brahman in Vedanta) are given this wish fulfilling cow. At the
Sage’s refusal, the King got enraged & stated that he was insulted as no
one could refuse a king’s request. He ordered that the cow be removed by force.
As soon as troops tried to seize the cow, thousands of celestial men appeared
with their weapons & the troops were forced out. Thereafter, with
uncontrolled anger, Visvamitra began the fight with Sage Vashista, who held
his bramah-danda (monks staff) in the forefront & the challenge
started. All the arrows & weapons fired by Vishwamitra, were destroyed by
the monk’s staff & he was left defenceless. The bramah- danda was
now ready to strike the king, who immediately realised that time was over for
him. Finally, king realising the power of a Brahmarshi, sought
for forgiveness. Being kind & compassionate, Sage Vashista withdrew &
forgave him.
The king still felt insulted &
secretly he vowed revenge. For this he must have more powers than the Sage. The
kingdom, rulership, wealth & power & his vast possessions, were nothing
before the effulgence (tejas) of a Brahmarshi. It dawned on him that
nothing was greater than the knowledge of Truth. He renounced queen, sons &
kingdom & retired to Himalayas to practise tapasya. He was
in an unchartered area knowing nothing about yoga, pranayama, meditation
& austerity. Bereft of comforts, he felt despondent & miserable. But
his ego prevented him from seeking guidance of Sage Vashista. It was
the powerful urge to succeed & acquire knowledge that sustained him.
Vishvamitra proceeded to practise
meditation intensely on Cosmic self, like Lord Shiva, in the serene upper
reaches of Himalayas & never gave up. He was able to separate mind stuff
from the body & developed a deep sense of detachment. Ultimately he stilled
his thoughts & the yogic fire burst forth in him touching upper spheres of
consciousness. Indira, the celestial God, panicked as Vishwamitra could be
a threat to his throne. He sent a celestial beauty, Menaka to disrupt
his tapasys. Visvamitra was bewitched by her smile & charm
which disturbed his tapasya. He lived with Menaka for some
time in the forest & begot her a daughter who is well know in Sanskrit
literature as Shakuntala. After her, successful mission, Menaka returned to her
celestial abode. The daughter was brought up in the forest by a sage called
Kanva.
Vishvamitra now fully realised the
power of Maya & he moved to another forest. He now renounced food, drink
& was determined to achieve the goal. He is reported to have stood on one
leg with uplifted arms, & meditated in this way on Brahman for a number of
years. He reached the three worlds by austerity & yogic power. Indira again
panicked, & this time he sent Rambha, another celestial nymph, to spoil his
penance. No doubt Visvamitra’s meditation was shaken, but he realised his
earlier mistake when he fell because of lust. Knowing that she had come to
create a problem, he opened his eyes & uttered a curse that turned her into
a rock. True Knowledge was now dawning upon him: he realized that earlier it
was lust that disturbed him in penance, now it was anger. Although he now
understood that spiritual path is like walking on razor’s edge, he vowed to
push ahead with greater zeal & determination. He moved on to a new
Himalayan peak, where he held his breath for a number of years & acquired
great spiritual powers.
King Trishanku was ruler of India at
that time. He was in the midst of organizing, a great yagnya, to
help him to ascend to savrgalokain the human form. Sage Vashista,
who was his ‘kul-guru’, refused to conduct the fire sacrifice as it
was against divine law. He approached Vishvamitra, who was only willing to be
the chief priest as it was a godsend opportunity to display his yogic powers.
The yagnya was successfully performed in the king’s palace & by
Vishvamitra’s spiritual powers the king was sent to savargaloka in
the human form. Indira & other celestials finding Trishanku entering heaven
in earthly body, sent him back. With legs up & head down, Trishanku came
crashing down to earth & cried for help saying ”Vishvamiter, Vishvamiter
please protect me”. With enormous yogic power, Sage Vishvamitra stopped his
fall from heaven & created a new celestial world for him. Trishanku even
today is shinning as a star in the sky. To us, today, Trishanku means that one
is neither here nor there (latka hua manush).
This was one more fall for Vishvamitra
& he lost all his yogic powers as he used them for ulterior gain. Because
his spirit was indomitable, he took a final decision not to give up meditation.
He selected a new place in the Himalayas & new effort began earnestly.
Seasons rotated; years passed. He sat motionless fixing his gaze between the
eyebrows. This time his yogic power was so intense that it woke up Brahma
in Satyaloka. Brahma told him that he had attained great yogic
powers of a maharshi. But to become a Brahmarsi, Sage Vashista must bless him.
He was asked to go & meet him.
Sage Vishvamitra was frustrated as he
could not tolerate to seek blessings of his foe. He felt that so long as Sage
Vashista was alive, he could never become a Brahmarshi. Therefore he must
kill him. Vishvamitra collected a big rock & went to the hermitage of Sage
Vashista at midnight. He waited for the time the Sage would come out to the
river for morning meditations, when he would hurl the big rock on his head. As
he was standing close to the door of the hermitage, he heard Vashista speaking
to his wife, Arundhati that Visvamitra was a great man & he was close
to attaining the status of a Brahmarshi. But this could happen only if Vashista
comes to meet him. “But will you bless him?” Arundhati asked. ”Of course, I
will”, said Sage Vashishta.
On hearing this Visvamitra felt ashamed
of himself, rushed inside & prostrated himself before Sage Vashista. “Now
you have become a Bramarshi. You have conquered anger, lust, greed, attachment
& arrogance one by one. The last barrier you crossed was jealousy. You have
also shown that human spirit is invincible & accepts no defeat”, said
Vashishta to Visvamitra. Thereafter as Vashista touched his
brow centre, Visvamitra’s third eye opened & he saw the seven
rhythms with which cosmos was created. The sacred Gayatri Mantra, was revealed
to him at that time, thus:
The shorter form of the Gayatri is practiced far more commonly:
“OM BUHR,
BHUVA, SWAHA
OM TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYAT”
We meditate on the glory of the Creator;
Who has created the
Universe;
Who is worthy of Worship;
Who is the embodiment of
Knowledge and Light;
Who is the remover of Sin
and Ignorance;
May He open our hearts and
enlighten our Intellect.
The longer version is more profound.
“OM BHUR, OM BHUVAHA, OM
SWAHA,
OM MAHAHA, OM JANAHA, OM
TAPAHA, OM SATYAM
OM TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYAT”
