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Sree Guru Charitra
Index
Chapter 17
Namadharaka was enthralled by the account of the divine acts of
Sree Guru and said, “Swami, when the young man Datta died on the
way to Gandharvapura, and when his wife Savitri was lamenting, a
sadhu came to her and expounded to her the most opportune and
precious teaching. Who was he?”
Siddha replied: “Namadharaka, listen to what happened next and you
will know it; after the young man Datta was brought back to life,
the youthful pair stayed away at the holy Sangama (as an act of
their grateful devotion to Sree Guru). The next morning, Savitri
again took darshan of Sree Guru and asked him the very same
question and the Great Master replied:
‘My daughter, I myself came to you in the form of that sadhu and
tested your mettle. You were blessed (in that you had my
darshan, teaching and prasad; also because you were
able to stand up to the highest ideals of womanhood). You did not
seek to advantage of the convenient portions of my teaching and
timidly opt for a life of widowhood, out of fear of death. Your
unswerving love and devotion to your husband have prompted you to
choose only Sahagamana, which is capable of securing the
greatest good to his departed soul. Only because you have
rigorously, but out of unbounded spontaneous love for your
husband, pursued the vow of paativratya ever since you were
married, you could so effortlessly and fearlessly court your death
by self-immolation on his funeral pyre. Out of appreciation of
your ideal conduct, I chose to alter the very writ of Brahma the
Creator. You are indeed blessed.’
Savitri then said: ‘Holy Sir, in the form of that sadhu, you have
given me some rudrakshas. May you be pleased to expound to
me the efficacy of the same’. Sree Guru replied, ‘My daughter,
your dear husband was brought back to life by the divine power of
those rudrakshas. Their power is in fact limitless. That is
why; they have come to be the ornaments of Lord Shiva himself.
They can bestow even liberation from birth and death for those who
are ever mindful of their power of holiness. Wearing them, one
wins the religious merit of having bathed in the holy river Ganga.
They contain very valuable medicinal substances. Just as Lord
Shiva wears the sacred ash on his body and bears the holy Ganga on
his head, he wears thousands of rudrakshas on his person.
If anyone wears them on his body with faith and reverence for the,
or performs japa with a rosary of rudrakshas, or
even simply wears them on his body, his sins are annihilated and
purity accrues to him. One who wears them with full faith is
unconquerable even to the deities. He who cannot utilize such an
easy but effective means of spiritual unfoldment is indeed a
beast. The proper manner of wearing them is 32 rudrakshas around
the neck, 40 around the tuft of hair, 1 between the eyebrows, 24
around the forearms and 107 about the chest. Now listen to an
ancient legend that brings out their greatness:
Once there was a king named Bhadrasena in Kashmir. He and his
minister had a son each. The two lads used to spurn precious
ornaments as of little worth as pebbles, but they used to wear
rudrakshas with the utmost faith and reverence. The king
wondered at their strange ways and once, when he took darshan
of sage Paraashara, asked him about the two boys. The great sage
who is uplifted with mystical knowledge explained thus:
“Bhadrasena, once there lived a beautiful courtesan in the ancient
township of Nandigrama. She was very rich and used to give away
huge amounts to the poor and the pious as gifts. As she was an
ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, she adorned even her tow pets, a
cock and a monkey, with rudrakshas and kept these creatures
in her dance hall. One day, Lord Shiva appeared at her threshold,
in the guise of a wealthy merchant, in order to test her faith. On
seeing his pious and learned demeanour, the courtesan sent word to
him through her female attendant, ‘If you would offer me the
entire religious merit of your devout study of the Vedas, I shall
live and serve you like a devoted wife for three days and abide by
every wish of yours.’ On hearing this, the merchant spoke lightly
of her virtue: ‘How can a courtesan ever have the truthfulness and
dedication like a devout house wife?’ Then the courtesan stepped
forward, swore by the holy Shiva Linga that she would live up to
her promise in thought, word and deed. Accepting the challenge,
the wealthy visitor swore by the sun and the moon that he would
keep up his part of the agreement and, as a token of accepting her
as his legitimate wife, tied a bracelet round her wrist and gave
her a precious Shiva Linga as his wedding gift. She too kept the
Linga in the court hall and pleased him in every way like a true
wife.
One day during the stipulated period, the mansion caught fire and
was completely burnt down, along with the cock, monkey and the
merchant. Then the courtesan, not heeding the dissuasions of her
kinsfolk, gave away all her wealth in charity, bowed to the sun
god who is the eternal witness of all pledges, and leaped into the
flames by way of Sahagamana, as a devoted wife does. Then
the Lord appeared before her in his real form and said, “I have
tested you. Though you are a courtesan by the accident of your
birth, at heart you are a true wife. Seek any blessing and I shall
grant your wish!’ She prayed to him for external proximity of Lord
Shiva, both for her and for her kinsfolk and he granted the same
at once. That pet monkey is now reborn as your son, oh king, and
the cock is reborn as son of your minister. However, by virtue of
the subtle psychological tendencies of their former lives, they
now love to wear nothing but rudrakshas.”
Then king Bhadrasena enquired of the sage regarding the future
prospects of his son. The great sage Paraashara said: “Your son
will die on the seventh day hence. Yet, do not fear. For Lord
Rudra is the Savior.
At first, Brahma so made the creatures that by introversion of the
special senses and by discrimination; they would be able to
practice righteousness. On the other hand, he created
unrighteousness as the result of indiscrimination and extroversion
of the senses. It is Devendra (or Indra) who protects
righteousness and it is Yamadharma raja who punishes creatures for
their unrighteousness. The attendants of Death are indeed lust and
rancor. It is through their agency that Yamadharma raja drags
sinners to his realm of death. These moral failings like lust
assail the intellect, mind and the organs of sense and drag the
weak willed to the world of death. But they cannot affect the Self
(Atman), which is essentially eternal.
Brahma delivered the Yajurveda from his southern face and from it,
Lord Rudra, in the form of the hymn called Rudra Suktha.
Those who devoutly recite the latter with full knowledge of its
meaning and firm faith in its divine power are never touched by
lust and other failings. That is why, all mortals began to chant
it everyday. Eventually, there came a time when there were no
longer any sinners on earth. The realm of Death fell into disuse
and looked deserted. The god of Death complained of it to Brahma
and the latter showed him a way of regaining his way over at least
some souls, by ordaining thus, ‘He who chants Vedas with
irreverence i.e., while dozing, standing, walking, after drinking,
or even simply without faith in its holiness will be a sinner
against God Himself. You may legitimately drag them to your world
and chastise them for their sins. Hence the Lord, conqueror of
Death is the only true Savior of souls. Therefore, you get
abhishek (bathing the Shiva Linga with water and other
precious materials in honour of Lord Shiva) performed by pious and
learned Brahmins. If you do so, your son will be saved from
certain death.”
The king Bhadrasena did accordingly. On the seventh day, as per
the prophecy of the great sage, the attendants of Death arrived
there to drag the soul of the prince to that kingdom. Even at
their approach and their subtle and invisible presence, the prince
fainted. Then the priests sprinkled on him the holy water with
which Rudrabhisheka was performed. At once the attendants
of Lord Shiva arrived, drove away the attendants of Yama and thus
saved the young prince from certain death. The king who was happy
beyond all bounds gave away liberal gifts of money to the priests
and, having sent them away, took darshan of sage
Paraashara. In the meanwhile, the divine sage Narada appeared
there and explained to the king, whatever had happened at the
crucial hour in the subtler supra-sensuous plane and added: “Yama
questioned his divine accountant of the merits and sins of all
souls, Chitragupta, as to how the son of Bhadrasena, who was
destined to die at that time owing to his previous karma,
happened to be spared his life. The latter then showed the divine
writ which clearly stated that the prince would be saved from
untimely death by the sacred power of the rudraksha and
that he would live on to the full span of life. Thus is was
evident that when the counsel of sage Paraashara was obeyed, the
power of the rudraksha saved the life of the prince so that
the holy writ of Brahma the Creator Himself was altered, as
explained by Sree Guru earlier. Then Narada blessed the king and
went away.
Then Savitri said to Sree Guru: ‘I am blessed by your very
darshan. However, please initiate me with a sacred mantra, so
that I could always remember you with un flickering attention’.
Sree Guru replied: ‘My daughter, for a woman, unwavering devotion
to her husband is the only proper salvation. That is why no mantra
should ever be taught to a woman. Listen:
In ancient times, there was a terrible war between the gods and
the demons. As soon as some demons were killed, their guru
Shukraacharya was reviving them again with the power of his mantra
called Mrita Sanjeevini. On seeing this, Devendra,
the king of the gods, was scared and prayed to Lord Shiva. The
latter swallowed Shukraacharya himself. But the guru of the demons
emerged in his subtle form along with urine from Shiva’s body and
again resumed his mission of reviving the demons killed in the
war. Then Devendra approached the guru of the gods, sage
Brihaspathi, and sought his counsel. The latter determined that
the only way open, was to neutralize the efficacy of the Mrita
Sanjeevini mantra itself and he employed his own son Kacha
for the secret mission.
One day, the wise young man Kacha went to the hermitage of sage
Shukraacharya and sought to be accepted as his disciple. The
latter hesitated, but when his handsome daughter Devayaani who was
enamored of Kacha insisted, he acceded, out of extreme fondness
for her. Some of the shrewd demons suspected Kacha’s intention and
warned Shukraacharya. As he did not heed their counsel, they
secretly killed Kacha. When Devayaani was grief-stricken
Shukraacharya, in order to cheer her, revived Kacha. Next time,
the demons killed Kacha, burned his body, mixed the ashes in
liquor and made Shukraacharya drink it. Devayaani was again
disconsolate. Unable to stand her grief, Shukraacharya learned
through his yogic vision that Kacha was within his stomach in the
form of ash. He said to his daughter in utter helplessness, “If
Kacha is revived, he will emerge from my belly and I will die.
Then no one can raise me back to life, as none buy I know the
needed mantra.” Devayaani pressed her contention saying, “Teach me
the mantra and I shall bring back to life with its help.”
Shukraacharya, out of extreme fondness for her, did so and thereby
the mantra lost its entire efficacy. Thus Kacha’s mission was a
success. That is why no woman should be initiated with a mantra.
You may, in its stead, undertake some other spiritual practice if
you wish.
Savitri then said, ‘In such a case, please teach me a vow or some
ritual practice, as your memento’. Sree Guru replied, “A vow which
can help anyone to win salvation is Somavaara Vrata
i.e., Monday-Vow. I shall illustrate its efficacy: In ancient
times, in the land of Aryaavarta in North India, there ruled a
king named Chitravarma. He was blessed with a daughter who was a
paragon of all virtues, by the grace of Lord Shiva. When her
father enquired of her future prospect, many of the astrologers
asserted that she would live all her life as a housewife. But one
among them put forth the opposite view and said that she would be
widowed very early. The king was much depressed on hearing it.
When the child grew up to be a girl of 12, she too heard of it and
she was much dejected. She at once approached the great woman sage
Maitreyi and begged her to teach her a way out of the ominous
prospect. Maitreyi said: “Perform the Somavaara Vrata
and its presiding deity Lord Shiva, will protect you. The
procedure is as follows: Fast during day time on a Monday and
worship the Lord at night; dinner is optional. The abhisheka
offered during the ritual worship destroys sins; worship of the
pedestal bestows empire in a future birth; sandal offering bestows
the good fortune of being a life long house-wife; the incense
offering bestows Saugandhya, the offering of light bestows
devotion and faith; betel and nut offering bestows wealth;
salutation bestows all the Purusharthas (the legitimate
objects of life). The offering of the mind through japa
bestows lordship (Aiswarya); by offering food to pious and
learned Brahmins is obtained all sided contentment; by offering
dakshina (money) one accrues much money; Stotra or
glorification of the Lord with appropriate verses bestows heaven
after death.
Later the maiden was married to a prince named Chitraangada. The
king kept the happy pair with himself. One day, the prince went
out for a swim in river Kalindi and was drowned. Even his dead
body could not be discovered. The princess resolved to perform
Sahagamana but everyone forcibly prevented her from doing so.
So she undertook the vow of performing Somavaara Vrata
every Monday throughout her life. When Chitraangada was drowned,
there he was rescued by the river nymphs of the nether world (Naga
Kanyas) and they led him to their Lord Vasuki, the serpent
King. The latter lovingly poured ambrosia in the mouth of the
unconscious prince and brought him back to life. Later Vasuki
learned of his family background and of his devotion to Lord
Shiva. Then with great love and reverence sent him home on the
back of a heavenly horse. Thus the prince repaired to his young
wife and kinsfolk and lived very happily. Somavaara
Vrata is so efficacious. So you may observe it”.
Savitri then and there observed the Vrata in the company of
her husband. Later, with the consent of Sree Guru, she left for
Mahurapura. Henceforth, every year she used to visit Sree Guru for
his darshan and to receive his blessing. With his grace,
the happy pair attained both worldly and heavenly joys.
Namadharaka, in this way, Lord Dattatreya, who is of the essence
of the highest good of all existence, appeared in the human form
as Sree Guru and protected his devotees. Besides, by his
wanderings he sanctified the very earth,’ Siddha concluded.
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