Revisiting Indian Culture: Doorway To The Imperishable Part 2 of 4

The Rishi as teacher, considered to be an embodiment of the source is no ordinary person. Having attained to the truth, he not only draws the worthiest of students, he knows and has the power to even break down a highly accomplished king, if that is what it takes to spark off that revolution in him.  

EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS

1. The taming of a king
2. The assimilation of Raktabija
3. Romancing the imperishable

Transcript

THE TAMING OF A KING (*3)

Raja Harischandra was a powerful King who in ancient times ruled not just vast lands but also the hearts of his subjects. Once on a hunt, he came upon Rishi Vishwamitra who was sitting like a rock in a deep state of meditation and strangely, the King heard some voices crying for help emanating from the Rishi’s body. Raja Harishchandra belonged to a class of warriors who were sworn to the highest code of honour to protect the weak even at the cost of one’s own life. But he paused for a moment, it was considered sacrilege to disturb one who was sitting in meditation, a grave offence. Besides, it was Vishwamitra the most revered Sage, a man of wisdom, above even the greatest of Kings.

Rishi Vishwamitra himself was once a powerful king. Once when he was on a campaign to establish his dominion on the whole earth, his large army was camped outside the forest hermitage of the great seer, Rishi Vasishta. The Rishi warmly welcomed the King and prepared a sumptuous meal for the entire contingent. It was the most satisfying meal the King had had in his whole life, no food ever cooked in his royal kitchen was even a patch on this food.

“How did this sage who lived an austere life in his small forest dwelling, cook such heavenly food on such a massive scale”.

The King wanted to possess the secret behind this extraordinary power. To this day it is quiet common for powerful rulers to possess all that is the best in their kingdoms. They simply make an offer that you can’t refuse, the story goes that Rishi Vasishtha seemed to have no problem with this but the knowledge itself eluded the King. The King however, felt it was Rishi Vasishtha who was refusing to part with the secret, a battle ensued and the powerful king lost to the sage, warrior pride bruised. He swore to acquire that knowledge by himself. He gave up his kingdom and retired to the forest to do all it took to get what he wanted. Each time the King achieved a milestone through intense penance, he would attack Rishi Vasishta with a new power that he’d gained but would fail. Every new challenge he threw at the venerable Rishi, the sage dealt with them effortlessly. The King could now see that the peace and the poise that Rishi Vasishta emanated could not be won through a conquest. He thought about the Rishi’s constant state of joy, his immense knowledge, the power that he wielded effortlessly and the unconditional love he had shown in cooking and serving with his own hands for his whole army. He recalled how his disciples and he waited on their guests treating them like gods, most of them total strangers. It was the happiest he had seen his soldiers, even his personal staff couldn’t hide their joy and gratitude for the Rishi. Everyone seemed healed, light and happy beyond measure and then after all that the courage to take on the mightiest to defend a principle. They all seemed to be one seamless fabric that wrapped itself as a blessing around Rishi Vasithta, now the question in the King’s mind began to change, now his mental state was not very different from the great householder Saunaka’s, who asked Rishi Angiras:

“What is that? 0 revered sir, which being known, all this becomes known”

The King then did the one thing that was left for him to do. He bowed to Rishi Vasishita and from here began his transformation from a self-possessed warrior-King to the “friend of the Universe” Vishwamitra.

THE ASSIMILATION OF RAKTABIJA (4*)

Coming back to Raja Harischandra, the King realized he had committed an error of judgement in disturbing Rishi Vishwamitra who was working with some dark energies that were disturbing the peace of this forest and they had taken advantage of his protective instinct to disturb the rishi’s meditation just as he was about to assimilate them into himself. The great sages could consume these dark energies like how we digest a meal or a virus and then assimilate it where the body uses its usable parts and favorable energies and discards the toxins and poisons.

There is a story about assimilation from a different time narrated by Rishi Markandeya which will help us touch down on our current situation, our ground zero.

* 

Once there was a demon called ‘Raktabija’ who was causing havoc in the entire world. Raktabija literally means “the blood that sprouts like a seed”. He was called by this name because in the battle field, every drop of his blood that fell on the ground gave rise to countless more copies. Each exactly as the original. You slay one and from every drop of his blood ten thousand Raktabija emerge like a virus. Viruses get into a healthy cell by stealth, each cell of a healthy body has a formidable defence but sometimes they get fooled into letting a virus in when it is able to disguise itself as a friendly molecule that the body needs, disguise is the speciality of the virus and it keeps trying new ones and once in a while, it cracks the code and breaches the cells’ defence. Once it enters a cell the virus uses it like a copying machine making thousands of copies of itself and in the process devouring the healthy cell. The cell is thus wasted and the viruses burst out, each virus then does the same with neighbouring cells.

After a fierce battle, the entire battle field was filled with countless Raktabija. The powerful deity who was fighting the demon knew none of her big weapons will work with this multiplying monster. When she realised this, she didn’t really have to think. A fierce cry emanated from her gut and with that her powerful fire in the belly, the “jathra agni” got kindled. She started to chew the millions of Raktabeeja, blood spilled in her mouth and gut and every demon that was born was now an offering to her raging digestive fire which had a limitless appetite. They were all digested and assimilated, the demon’s powers was now the deity’s.

ROMANCING THE IMPERISHABLE

When covid started, let’s recall, we felt that a mere inhalation could spell death. We were afraid that a weak immune system could create a self-destructive cytokine storm, where the body’s immune system turns on itself, the panic of those times a year back is now gone but somewhere as we see more mutations occur, as we hear of vaccines being recalled one does not feel invincible anymore.

We feel what the King must have felt with all his weapons wasted in front of Rishi Vashishta “something is missing”.

A couple of decades before the end of British Rule in India, the then British Viceroy, Lord Irwin was suffering from acute diabetes. His personal physician, an Indian doctor who practised western medicine was unable to give him relief but he knew of a young man who was studying ‘tarka’, the Indian system of logic at the University in the ancient city of Kasi. He knew a thing or two about Yoga and Ayurveda. He was intending to travel to Tibet to study the Yoga Sutra with a Yogi who lived there. The doctor convinced the Viceroy to invite him. The young man was the 20th century legend of Yoga, Sri Krishnamacharya (*5). Over a few weeks, the Viceroy’s diabetic condition improved significantly under his care and he was more than happy to make Sri Krishnamacharya’s most difficult Tibet journey possible.

Ayurveda, “the science of life” is part of the Atharva Veda. The Vedas are revered by most scholars and intelligentsia as the very essence of the Indian civilisation. New research findings indicate the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Veda dates to times much older than 25,000 years back.

Yet, when the great householder Saunaka asks “What is that? which being known, all becomes known”.

Rishi Angiras replies:

“There are two kinds of knowledge to be acquired, say the knowledgable, namely ‘para’ or the beyond and ‘apara’ the lesser, that which comes later. The lower knowledge are the four Veda; Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. The six vedangas, phonetics, ritual, grammar, etymology, meter, astrology and the higher knowledge is that by which the imperishable is known”.