Agastya continues with the story of
Brahmin named Karunya.
Karunya was the son of Agnivesya and
accomplished in the Vedas and all their branches. After finishing his studies
with his teacher, he returned to his own home. He remained a skeptic at home,
reluctant and impassive to do anything. When his father Agnivesya saw his son
so slack in his duties, he upbraided him for his good.
Agnivesya said, “My son, why do you not
discharge your duties? Why are you not observing the daily rituals and the
injunctions of the holy scriptures?
Tell me how can you succeed in anything
if you remain inactive? How can you attain salvation? Tell me why you are not
doing anything.”
Karunya replied, “The offering of daily
oblations, and performance of morning and evening devotions during life, are
inculcated in the Veda and law as the active duties. But it is neither by acts
or riches, nor by means of children that one obtains his liberation. It is
solely by self-denial that the great souls taste the ambrosia (of
emancipation).
Tell me my father! Which of these rules
am I to observe? Doubtful of this I have become indifferent to acts.” After so
saying, Karunya held his silence. His father seeing him quiet, continued
speaking.
Agnivesya said, “Hear me, My Son…” “My
Son, Let Me Tell You A Story… When you have fully considered its meaning, you
may do as you like…”
Agnivesya Started Speaking…:—
There was a lady named Suruchi, the
best of the apsara nymphs, who was seated on the mountain peak of Himalaya,
surrounded by peacocks. Here kinnaras inflamed by love sported with their
mates, and the fall of heavenly streams (Ganga and Yamuna) served to cleanse
the gravest sins of men. She saw a messenger of Indra making his way through
the sky. Then Suruchi, this most fortunate and best of apsaras, addressed the
messenger.
Suruchi said, “O you messenger of gods,
tell me kindly from where you come and what place are you going at present?”
The divine messenger replied, “Well
have you asked, O pretty browed maid, and I will tell you all as it is. The
royal sage, King Arishtanemi, has given his realm to his son, and with
religious indifference to the world, has set out to the forest to practice
asceticism. He is performing his austerities on the Gandha-madana Mountains. I
am now coming from there after discharge of my errand, and returning to Indra’s
palace to report the matter.”
Suruchi said, “Tell me, my lord, what
has taken place there? I am humbly very curious. You should not cause me the
pain of anxiety.”
The messenger replied:— Hear me, gentle
maiden… I will describe everything as it has occurred.
On hearing that the king was practicing
the utmost rigors of asceticism in that forest, Indra, the lord of gods, asked
me to take this heavenly car and proceed at once to the spot. “Take this car,”
said Indra, “bearing the apsaras equipped with all their musical instruments,
and furnished with a band of gandharvas, siddha spiritual masters, yakshas and
kinnaras. Convey them,” said Indra, “with all their string instruments, flutes
and drums to the woodland mount of Gandha-madana. There, having placed King
Arishtanemi in the car, bring him to the enjoyment of heavenly delight in this
city of Amaravati, the seat of immortals.”
The messenger added:—
Receiving this instruction from Indra
and taking the car with all its equipment, I proceeded to that mountain. Having
arrived at the mountain and advanced to the king’s hermitage, I delivered the
orders of the great Indra to him. Hearing my words, O happy lady, King
Arishtanemi reluctantly spoke to me saying, “I wish to ask you something, O
messenger, which I hope you will answer. Tell me what good and what evil are in
heaven, so that I may decide whether I want to settle there.”
I answered, saying, “In heaven there is
ample reward for merit, conferring perfect bliss (to all); but it is the degree
of merit that leads one to higher heavens. By moderate virtue, one is
certainly entitled to a middle station. Virtue of an inferior order leads a
person to a lower position. But one’s virtue is destroyed by impatience at the
excellence of his betters, by haughtiness to his equals, and by joy at the
inferiority of others. When one’s virtue is thus destroyed, he must enter the
abode of mortals. These and the like are the effects of good and evil in
heaven.”
Hearing this, O good maiden, King
Arishtanemi answered, “O divine messenger, I do not like heaven that has such
conditions. Henceforth I will practice the most austere form of asceticism and
abandon this my unhallowed human frame in the same way as a snake abandons his
time-worn skin. Be pleased, O messenger of the gods, to return with your
heavenly car to the presence of the great Indra from where you came. Travel in
good fortune.”
continued...
Love.
