Skandha 1
Story of Shuka
The story of Shuka, popularly known as Shukabrahmam, the son of Veda Vyasa, as recounted in Devi Bhagavatham and Mahabharatam is a bit different from that described in Shrimad Bhagavatam. Such differences exist also in the accounts of King Parikshit’s last days on earth, Vritrasura Vadha etc. All Puranas and the Itihasa of Mahabharata have been composed by the same sage Veda Vyasa. They are all real; no doubt. The reason for the differences is that the same stories are enacted in many yugas and while doing so, Devi sportingly introduces such variations. That is all. The multifarious lilas of Devi should enable strong growth of bhakti in our hearts and not encourage vain debate.
Sage Veda Vyasa once happened to observe the loving close-knit family of a sparrow on the banks of river Saraswathi and became despondent at not having a son of his own. Unlike sparrows, the human son would marry and look after his parents during his entire lifetime, and after their demise, satisfy them by performing all prescribed rites including funeral rituals (cremation, Nityavidhi for ten days, Asthi sanchayanam, Vrishotsargam, Sapindikaranam), Maasyam, Sodakumbham, Annual (Pratyabdika) Shraaddham, Gaya Shraadham etc. Vyasa was aggrieved that a son being essential for the parents’ salvation, he did not have such a son. He took the advice of sage Narada and performed Tapas for 100 years in Meru Mountain, chanting Devi’s Vagbija, ऐं. Parameshwara assuaged Devendra’s fears of his losing his exalted position at that time on seeing Vyasa’s intense Tapas. Shiva gave darshan along with Parvati to Vyasa. He gave him the boon of a son. He blessed:
सर्वतेजोमयी ज्ञानी कीर्तिकर्ता तवानघः ।
अखिलस्य जनस्यात्र वल्लभस्ते सुतः सदा ॥
“The child who would be born of you will be a Jnani of remarkable brilliance, pure, and who would augment your reputation and be loved by all people.”
Then Vyasa had occasion to see Ghritachi, an Apsaras woman, coming from the sky; Vyasa lost his mental balance for a while; but, remembering the story of Pururavas, he became self-controlled. Sudyumna, the son of Vaivasvata Manu, once entered a forest, the entry of which had been prohibited by Shiva. He turned into a woman called Ila, which was his earlier form. Ila met Budha soon after and begot a son named Pururavas. After Pururavas attained youth, he happened to get infatuated with Urvashi, the Apsaras, who had come down to earth. He lived with Urvashi; after a year, when Urvashi returned to Swarga, he was overcome with terrible grief and his state was like a lunatic’s. Vyasa remembered this story and abandoned the idea of marrying Ghritachi. Ghritachi, afraid on seeing Vyasa, took the form of a parrot and left. Vyasa went into his Agnishala and started to churn for fire with Arani sticks. Shuka appeared as a baby from the fire; he had the nose of a parrot. He shone like Agni with excessive brilliance. Ganga came on her own; the baby got gangasnan. Vyasa performed Jatakarma and other rituals. Shuka grew into a boy instantly and Vyasa performed his Upanayana. The ritual staff, the deerskin, kamandalu (waterpot) etc. came down from the sky. Mahabharata, while recounting this story, states that Shiva and Parvathi came themselves and performed the Upanayanam with their blessings. Just as all knowledge of Vedas and Shastras reached Vyasa immediately after his birth, all Vidyas on their own took abode in Shuka now at the time of Upanayanam. Still, Vyasa sent Shuka to Bhagavan Brihaspati for him to learn Vedas in his Gurukulam; Shuka spent some time there and returned to Vyasa after completing Samavartanam.
Vyasa then took up with Shuka the matter of his marriage; but he made no headway with that supreme Jnani. There were very detailed exchanges of thoughts between the father and the son; many were the arguments advanced. Shuka said: “The home is called ‘Griha’ because it grasps and binds the person. Having got the very rare human birth and studied Vedas and Shastras, one should not get trapped in Samsara in Grihasthashrama, but seek Atmajnana. Samsara is at the root of all misery. Further, Grihastha is not independent; he depends on others for living.” Vyasa’s response: “Shastras teach that of the four ashramas, Grihasthashrama is the best. Srimad Ramayana states:
चतुर्णामाश्रमाणां हि गार्हस्थ्यं श्रेष्टमुच्यते ।
Manusmriti also states the same. Persons of the other three ashramas (Brahmachari, Vanaprastha and Sanyasi) depend on Grihastha for food. Further, sense organs are very powerful. One should move from ashrama to ashrama in the specified order for getting Jnana. That alone is good.” Shuka found it difficult to believe that the great Jnani and author of Vedantasutras, Veda Vyasa had himself come under the spell of Maya; he felt miserable and prayed to Devi. Vyasa felt equally at sea like a trader having lost all his goods in a boat capsized in the ocean. Vyasa then taught Shuka Devi Bhagavatham and asked him to study it.
As there was still no change in Shuka’s attitude, Vyasa instructed him to go to Mithila and learn from Maharaja Janaka. Krishna refers to Janaka even in Bhagavad Gita: कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिं आस्थिता जनकादयः ।
“Certain persons like Janaka attained Mukti even while performing their Karmas.” Shuka could not digest the fact that Janaka, while performing his royal functions, could yet achieve Jivanmukti. Still, obeying his father’s instruction, Shuka reached Mithila after three years, walking across Meru and Himalaya mountains. Being stopped at the gate by the gatekeeper, he felt sorry at having undertaken this long trip. Then he was taken to a guest house, where he spent the night. He did not bother about the special hospitality shown by young women who lusted after his divine radiance. He spent the first yaama in Sandhyopasana, meditation etc., the second and third yaamas on the floor on darbha grass mat and the fourth yaama in meditation and morning rites. Janaka, noting that Shuka had passed the test he had set for him, came personally to meet him. He greeted him by giving a cow and enquired of his welfare. Shuka conveyed his father’s wishes and requested him to teach the path of Moksha. Janaka responded in great detail. He clarified that advancing through the prescribed ashramas in the set order is the right path. After performing the forty samskaras, one should develop eight samskaras – Viveka (discrimination), Vairagya (dispassion), Shama (mind control), Dama (control of sense organs), Uparati (withdrawal), Titiksha (forbearance), Shraddha (faith), Samadhanam (perfect concentration on Paramatma). He should thus achieve control over the mind and attain Jnana; that is the right path. Sense organs are extremely powerful. One who sleeps on a cot can fall down; but the one who sleeps on the floor faces no such danger. If a sanyasi comes back to grihasthashrama, he has fallen from dharma (he is a patita). Shuka raised objections. Janaka finally advised: “The thought that body is one’s own is in fact bondage; the conviction that the body is not his is liberation. One can be detached and happy even in Grihasthashrama.
न बद्धोस्मीति बुद्ध्याहं सर्वदैव सुखी मुने ।
त्वं तु दुःखी सदैवासि बद्धोऽहमिति शंकया ॥
“O Muni, I am ever happy with the conviction that I am not bound. You are afraid that you are bound and hence always unhappy.” Shuka now agreed to enter Grihasthashrama. Vyasa here conveys to us the glory of the darshan of great Jnanis, how their very presence instils Jnana. Shuka offered respects to Janaka and returned to Vyasa and conveyed Janaka’s advice. Vyasa was happy beyond measure.
Shuka married Pivari, the daughter of Pitrus; four sons and a daughter were born. Shuka never swerved from his exalted state of Brahmajnana. One day he flew into the sky from atop the Kailasa mountain. Vyasa could not control his grief and cried ’Shuka, Shuka’; his voice was echoed by all the trees. As Shuka had attained Brahma Saayujya, the trees responded. As Vyasa was weeping, Shiva came and gave darshan and said: “Your son attained the exalted Mukti, not attainable for anyone; being a Jnani, you should not grieve.” Shiva pacified Vyasa and blessed that Shuka’s radiant shadow would ever be with him.
Skandha 2
Mahabharata
Bhagavan Vyasa brings out the story of Mahabharata in brief. While telling the story of Sathyavati, he mentions how a female baby Matsyagandha was born of Uparichara, the Vasu and Adrika, an Apsaras; how the king of fishermen took out Matsyagandha from the belly of a fish and brought her up as his daughter; how, by the grace of Maharishi Parashara, the fish-smelling Matsyagandha turned into Yojanagandha, whose sweet smell spread over long distances and gave birth to Krishna Dvaipayana, who became Vyasa; how Vyasa, who instantly grew up into a scholar and went on for Tapas, assuring his mother of his arrival whenever Sathyavati thought of him. Similarly Vyasa tells the story of king Shantanu and Ganga; how king Mahabhisha of Ikshvaku race became king Shantanu as a result of Brahma’s curse; how Devi Ganga was born as a girl on earth, cursed by Brahma again. Shantanu and Ganga got married. Ganga killed their first seven children by immersing them in river Ganga. When Ganga tried to extinguish the life of the eighth child, Shantanu prevented her. Ganga went away from Shantanu, brought up her son as a good warrior and entrusted him to Shantanu. The son’s name was Satyavrata. The reason why Ganga committed the terrible act of killing her children at birth was that when the eight sons were Ashtavasus in their previous birth, they stole the divine cow Nandini from sage Vasishtha’s ashram. Vasishtha, who then returned to the ashram, cursed them to be born on earth. Then at their request, he decreed that seven of them would be born on earth and immediately leave their bodies and return to their old status as Vasus, and the eighth Vasu would have to remain on earth for a long time because he had directly committed the crime of killing a cow. Because of this, Ganga, out of mercy, killed her seven children as soon as they were born. She handed over the eighth child Satyavrata to his father.
Once Shantanu fell in love with Matsyagandha on seeing her and asked her father Dasaraja for her hand in marriage. Dasarajan said that there was no chance of the child that would be born to them to become king, because there is already an elder son, Satyavrata. When Satyavrata saw that his father Shantanu was in deep grief, he asked him for the cause; Shantanu did not give a proper answer. Then Sathyavrathan spoke about the highest dharma of a son’s duty:
धिक् तं सुतं यः पितुरीप्सितार्थं क्षमोऽपि सन्नप्रतिपादयेद्यः ।
जातेन किं तेन सुतेन कामं पितुर्न चिन्तां हि समुद्धरेद्यः ॥
“What is the use of a son who is capable of fulfilling his father’s wish, does not solve his father’s worries even if the latter does not express it?” Didn’t Rama give up his kingdom to keep his father’s promise? Parasurama killed his own mother at the dictates of his father. Did not King Harischandra sell his wife and son to fulfill his promise? Although his father did not say anything, Satyavrata learned about the Matsyagandha matter through others and went to Dasaraja. There he found out about his condition that the child born to Matsyagandha should become the king. In order to fulfill his father’s wish, Satyavrata made a severe vow known on the spot that he would never marry. Because of his terrible vow, Satyavrata came to be known as Bhishma.
न दारसङ्ग्रहं नूनं करिष्यामि हि सर्वथा ।
सत्यं ते वचनं तात मया भीष्मं व्रतं कृतम् ॥
Kuntibhojan’s daughter Kunti, when she was a virgin, prayed to Devi when she was about to release Karna, the child born to her of Surya, into the river. Then she expressed her grief that she had never worshiped Devi in her previous birth, nor had she meditated on Devi’s lotus feet; that is why this kind of misery fell to her lot in this birth.
पूर्वस्मिन्नपि जन्मनि त्रिजगतां माता न चाराधिता ।
न ध्यातं पदपङ्कजं सुखकरं देव्याः शिवायाश्चिरम् ।
At the end of the Mahabharata war, Ashwatthama brutally murdered Draupadi’s five sons, and then, attempted to kill the child in the womb of Uttara, the wife of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, who would have been the sole heir to the Pandava dynasty, by using the Brahmastra. Then Krishna himself entered Uttara’s womb and saved the child. After the baby was born, they named him Parikshit.
परिक्षीणेषु वंशेषु जातो यस्माद्वरस्सुतः ।
तस्मात्परीक्षितो नाम विख्यातः पृथिवीतले ॥
During the time of extinction of the Pandava dynasty (Parikshina), the child who was saved was named Parikshit at birth. (In the Srimad Bhagavatam, this is mentioned in a different manner. The child would compare the human beings seen after the child is born, to Krishna seen in the womb , and conclude that none of them is Krishna; hence the name of Parikshit to the child.)
When the Pandavas saw Dhritarashtra and others in the forest after Vidura disappeared, Narada and Vyasa were also present. At that time Kunti wished to see Karna who had died in the battle, similarly Gandhari the Kauravas and Subhadra, her son Abhimanyu, and prayed to Vyasa. Hearing this strange request to see the dead, Vyasa was stunned and prayed to Devi:
इमं जीवलोकं समाधाय चित्ते गुणैर्लिङ्गकोशं च नीत्वा समाधौ ।
स्थिता कल्पकालं न यस्यात्मतन्त्रा न कोऽप्यस्ति वेत्ता विवेकं गतोऽपि॥
“You alone know the state of the dead. Even during the great deluge (Mahapralaya), you keep all the living beings with their qualities in subtle form. So you alone should fulfil the desires of these persons. I am powerless.” Devi then brought all those concerned persons, who were in Swarga after they died on earth and showed them. After Kunti and others were satisfied, they returned to Swarga.
(to be continued)