Bits of life

J-2 Words-1600

company of their beloved sons and were not even aware how the days passed. The kingdom and the people of the land were very happy and prosperous under the protective wing of their just king.
One day, when king Dasaratha was holding court, a rishi named Viswamitra came to Ayodhya. He demanded to see the king on an urgent matter.

Now, we will talk a little about Viswamitra, whose name means the friend of the universe. He was a powerful king in the past. His mother was Satyavati and his father was a sage called Ruchika. He wanted to have a son who combined the qualities of a Brahmin (in Hinduism a Brahmin belongs to a class of people who specialize as teachers, priests and protectors of sacred learning) and a kshatriya( kshatriya belongs to that class of society which protects, guards and rules the land). He was valiant and passionate. As a typical king of the land he also made many conquests by launching war on various kingdoms and attached them to his own, thus increasing his geographical borders and population. His conquests made him one of the most powerful kings of the subcontinent. With power came pride. And this resulted in Viswamitra’s fall.

When Viswamitra was on one of his favorite occupations, that was hunting, he and his soldiers came upon a humble cottage made of thatch. This was the place where sage Vasistha was living and taught Vedas to a handful of pupils. When king Viswamitra and his men approached him and asked him to give them food and a place to rest Vasistha out of his goodness invited them into his hermitage.

Sage Vasistha had a cow named Kamadhenu (kamadhenu in Sanskrit means that which fulfills desires). He requested the holy cow to give food to serve the hungry king and his warriors.
In the next minute a wholesome lunch appeared before the guests. It appeased their hunger and satisfied their thirst. Viswamitra and his men were happy and thanked the rishi Vasistha.

Out of curiosity the king asked the sage as to how he was able to arrange lunch so fast and without much ado. Sage Vasistha told him of the holy cow kamadhenu which was a gift to him by Indra, the head deity of the devas (deities). After hearing about the holy cow’s miraculous qualities, the king was tempted to have it in his fort. He asked Vasistha to give to him because it would be more useful for the king to have it than be in possession of sage. When Vasistha refused to part with the holy cow, Viswamitra being powerful and ambitious seized it and took it away from the rishi. Kamadhenu was also powerful due its god given qualities. It produced an army from its pores on the skin which defeated the army of Viswamitra. Kamadhenu returned to Vasistha and lived in his hermitage as before. Viswamitra took his defeat as a challenge and an insult and vowed to match Vasistha in spiritual and mental powers. He renounced his kingdom and went to the forest to perform the penance to appease Brahma, the superior God in the Hindu pantheon. While he was immersed in the holy tapas the deities had sent one of their most beautiful dancers to disturb and divert viswamitra’s attention from the metaphysical to the physical. Obviously, they didn’t want a mortal to either to match or defeat the power of Vasistha. Unable to withstand the power of womanly charm, Viswamitra gave up his penance and passed his time in the company and conjugal happiness with Menaka the lovely dancer from the court of the devas. After a while Menaka gave birth to a pretty girl child and tried to give the responsibility of bringing it up to the estranged Viswamitra. He flatly refused to take care of the baby. He was disillusioned at the failure of his mission to be more powerful than Vasistha. He abandoned the child in the forest and went away to restart his penance.

Now what happened to the pretty girl child is another story, which marked the beginning of the Mahabharata, the next of the epics of India.

To return to the Ramayana, after a thousand years of concentrated and disciplined penance, Brahma appeared to Viswamitra and said that only Vasistha could grant him the title of Brahmarshi, which roughly means the sage who conquered his mind and thus attained the position of a superior yogi. He had to stretch arms begging Vasistha to grant him the boon of becoming a Brahmarshi. Vasistha looked at him and simply blessed him to become a Brahmarshi. His simplicity and absence of pride brought a change of heart in Viswamitra and he became a Brahmarshi. Vasistha and Viswamitra finally became friends and not foes anymore. Viswamitra thus gave up being a king of the powerful kingdom and became an ascetic, a man who renunciated the material pleasures and lived higher life in a hermitage in a thick forest. He had a few disciples of his own to whom he taught the spiritual practices and Vedas and various methods to attain the heavenly kingdom.

This was the rishi who visited Dasaratha on that day. Dasaratha welcomed the rishi by offering to worship his feet and garlanding him. Then he took him to his court with bugles and bagpipes playing in the background. After having him seated next to his throne, the king asked the sage,

“Oh holy one, how may I serve you sir?”
The sage having been pleased with the king’s obedient manner said,
“ O king, I came here to ask you for a special favor. And I hope you will not disappoint me.”
“No sire, the question of disappointing a sage like you never crossed my mind, nor will it ever,” replied the king.
Pleased with the king’s unhesitating response, sage Viswamitra expressed his wish thus.
“Oh, Dasaratha, in the forest where the rishis and I perform the holy rites like yagas, we are now-a-days being constantly disturbed by the demons of the forest. As the holy fire is lit in the midst of the yaga site, they quench it with blood and flesh and other unholy things. I want you to send your son Rama to the forest with me to guard our holy chanting and offerings to the gods in the fire. Rama, with his valiance and warrior qualities can defeat the demons within minutes and is thus capable of making our worship complete and effective.”
King Dasaratha trembled at the request of the sage. He could not think of sending Rama to the forest. He could not bear the thought of Rama living in a dense forest and fighting with the demons. He was only sixteen. He could not bring himself to part with his beloved eldest born.

He said,
“Oh, the greatest of the rishis, I beg your pardon for talking back to you. I have a request and a suggestion to make to your holy self. Kindly think and consider them. First, my son Rama is just sixteen and he is too young to match the demons of the forest that are cruel and cunning and cold in killing. Kindly, look at my helplessness in saying this. My second request is to let me come in place of Rama to do the needful for you in the forest. I have a lot of experience in fighting with enemy army and thousands of soldiers. I have powerful weapons at my disposal. I assure you that I can defeat the demons that are pestering you and interrupt your worshiping practices. I will teach them the right lessons. Let me come with you sir.”
Viswamitra’s hackles rose up in rage. He looked at the king in the most contemptuous manner and said, “King Dasaratha, I thought you to be truthful and honest. But you seem to have turned out to be liar and a cheat. You said you would fulfill my wish. So I expressed my wish to take Rama with me to the forest on an important mission. Now you turn back on your word and refuse to send Rama with me. You offer yourself for this vital work. But none suits it better than Rama. I am insisting on it for a cause. The cause is holy and cannot be revealed right now. But as time passes you will understand the hidden value of sending your son with me.”

Dasaratha was afraid to talk any further with the sage. Viswamitra’s anger was famous. If he got angry beyond limits, he had the power to curse the person who caused him to become emotionally high and hot with temper. So with his hands joined in a gesture of supplication, Dasaratha asked for forgiveness of the mendicant. Then he firmed his mind and heart and called Rama. Rama who was playing in the palace grounds came immediately to answer his father’s call. He was tall for his age. But his visage was still young and tender. He just grew out of his boyhood.

When the father saw his son approaching his heart swelled in pride and joy. Yet he was unhappy because he now had to part with him.
Then he went to Vasistha and consulted him about sending Rama with Viswamitra to kill the demons in the forest. Sage Vasistha assured him that Rama was not an ordinary man. To the father he might appear like a child. But in truth he was the very incarnation of Sri Maha Vishnu of the Hindu pantheon. He was an avatar and