THE LIFTING OF THE BOW
After Rama’s fight with the demons Marica and Dusana, Visvamitra didn’t come back to Ayodhya, instead he told them, “There is going tobe a big fire sacrifice in Mithila.” King Janaka was ruling. So Visvamitra said, “A great sacrifice and all the rishis and pandits will be there. I will take you there so you can see it.”
On the way so many other pastimes happened, these are already famous
pastimes. Ahalya, the wife of Gautama Rishi had been cursed to become
stone, and she would not be released until Ramacandra touched her with
His lotus feet. Then she would come alive again. So those pastimes happened within the travel from Visvamitra’s ashrama to the present Lucknow, and from there up to Mithila.
Mithila, the country of Janaka is known as Mithila because long before
Janaka there was one king in the Iksvaku dynasty. Vasistha was the guru for a many generations, and the king at that time wanted to perform a yajna. Vasistha had agreed to perform a yajna for Indra in the heavenly planets, so he told him, “I will finish this yajna, then I will come back and perform yours.” The king did not say anything.
He didn’t want to displease Vasistha, he was a great devotee. Vasistha
went to the heavenly planets, and before he came back the king called some other rishis, Gautama and his brother, and he engaged them as priests and completed his yajna. He did not tell them that Vasistha was only in the heavenly planets.
Vasistha came back. Very quickly he completed his yajna, he didn’t
even wait for receiving payment for it. He told Indra, “Just keep it
in credit and I will collect it later.” Very quickly he returned, but
when he got back he saw that Brahmins were coming out of the palace
with cows. “What’s happening here?” he asked. “Oh, big yajna. It’s
all over now, though. We just received dakshina and now we are going.”So Vasistha was very upset. He called the king and said, “What is this? First you tell me that I should do the yajna, so I finished my job in the heavenly planet very quickly and even displeased Indra and his party, and I have come here because I am your Kula-guru, your family spiritual master. So how is this proper that you have taken some other person and performed the yajna?”
The king was still keeping quiet, not saying anything. Actually
Vasistha should not have gone to the heavenly planets to perform yajna
because he is the family guru of the Iksvaku dynasty. So if Iksvakus are having a yajna he is supposed to do that first, and then if it is necessary he can go to the heavenly planets. So it was actually a mistake on the part of Vasistha, because he was a little greedy from the great remuneration he would get from the heavenly planets. A Brahmin should not be greedy. By doing that, a great trouble happens. What was the trouble?
Vasistha became so angry that he said to the king, “You become
nirdeha.” Deha means “this body” and nir means “without.” “So you will
be without body.”
All this time the king was tolerating, but now he said, “What is this?I must perform my yajna on time, and you went there because you are greedy. Now you are cursing me.”
So the king got angry with Vasistha and said, “You also become
nirdeha.” So at the same time, both bodies were lost, and they both
became nirdeha. When Vasistha became nirdeha he was going here and
there and then one group of rishis who were meditating took him and
put him inside a pot and kept him inside the pot for a long time until
he could take another body. In the same pot another rishi’s soul was kept. They became brothers. Vasistha is therefore known as kumbha-muni, the rishi coming from a pot, and another kumbha-muni was Agastya. He was thumb sized. Not thumb sized of our thumb, but the thumb of the demigods, so he was much taller than us. In Dvapara-yuga people were ten times taller, eating was ten times bigger, lifetime was also ten times longer, and in Treta-yuga it was a hundred times. So now we are living a hundred years, in Dvapara yuga they lived 1000 years, in Treta-yuga it was rs was the lifetime in Satya-yuga. So that is why in Satya-yuga the process is meditation, because if you are living 100,000 years, what it the problem with spending 30,000 years meditation?
Agastya lived through all the yugas. He is even living now in the
southern part of India. There is a mountain in South India called
Kozwalla mountain, and on Kozwalla mountain there are caves, and the
scriptures say that Agastya is still there. These rishis are
chiran-jivas, meaning that up to Brahma’s life-span they will also
live. So Agastya and Vasistha came from the same pot. In this way
Vasistha got his body, and this person who became nirdeha couldn’t get
a body because of the rishi’s curse, no-one tried to give him an artificial room like Vasistha got. These test tubes are nothing new. The rishis have been doing it for ages. They take the sperm and put it in a pot, create some artificial climate and it would grow in there and become a saintly person.
These two rishis became test tube babies, but the other person just
remained nirdeha and he remained for a long time, and then he went to
the heavenly planets and from there to the spiritual world. His dead
body was there, so all the saintly people in the country churned the
body as there was no dynasty, just like in the Srimad-Bhagavatam there
is the story of how Vena’s body was churned and Prthu Maharaja came. So this churning was done, and this churning is called Mithi.
When churning the body you have to keep the foot from the body of that
person and take the leg and then churn it. So this is why it was
called Mithila, and the man who came out of that body was called Mithi
Janaka. Ja means “birth” and Janaka means “one who has taken birth by
churning.” So Mithi Janaka means “one who has taken his birth by
churning of someone’s body.” And this Mithi Janaka, he didn’t want to
be in Ayodhya because of all the prestige the family had. So he left
Ayodhya and created a separate kingdom, and that kingdom was known as
Mithila, because the Mithi Janaka created that kingdom so it was
called Mithila. And all his sons were known by the name Janaka. He was
Janaka, and then Janaka I, Janaka II, Janaka III and so on.
Janaka had a great property in his palace. This property was the bow
which was used by Mahadeva, Lord Siva, in a battle between him and
Visnu. Once there was a battle between Visnu and Siva. There was no
cause for this, it was just Narada Muni’s jubilation. He was once in
the assembly of Indra, and Indra was praising Mahadeva. He was saying,
“Lord Siva has three eyes, and fire comes out of his third eye and all
that.”
So Narada Muni said, “There are so many Sivas. In every universe there
are eleven Sivas. My Lord is different. He has no third eye but He knows everything.”
Then Indra said, “No no no, you don’t know. Visnu is alright, he’s the
avatar, but Siva is the great powerful person.”
“If it is so,” Narada said, “Why don’t you go and ask Siva to have a fight with Visnu? Then we will see who is more powerful.”
Then Indra thought, “That would be a nice thing to do,” so he went to Kailash.
Siva’s bull, Nandi, was asking, “What are you doing on Kailash? This is meant for people who meditate.” Nandi is a great yogi, and an astrologer too. He saw Indra and knew there would be trouble, so he said, “Get out of Kailash. You are an enjoyer, so what are you doing here?”
Indra said, “No no, I have only come here for Siva’s darshana without any motive.”
Nandi said, “I am an astrologer, and I can see on your face that you have come here to create trouble. Don’t give any trouble to my Lord, he is peacefully meditating.”
Then Indra said, “Let me in Nandi.”
So he was allowed. When he came in, Siva was in deep meditation. Indra
came in there and prayed to Mahadeva so much, and finally Siva opened his eyes. “Indra! Why are you here? There is no trouble happening. I don’t think you have come here to ask me to fight with someone.”
Indra said, “I must say that I only visit Kailash to ask you to fight with someone, but this time it’s not a demon.”
“Who is it then?” Mahadeva asked.
“Well we had a little argument,” Indra said. “Myself and Narada. I
said that you are the most powerful, but Narada said that Visnu is the
most powerful.”
Siva said, “You see this japa-mala I am holding? Do you know what I am
doing with this? Do you know what I am chanting?”
“I heard that you chant Rama’s name,” Indra replied.
Siva said, “So I am chanting Rama’s name. And then you are asking who is more powerful. If I am more powerful than Him, then He must be chanting my name. But it would never happen, I am chanting His name.”
Indra said, “That is right, that is Purana, but I want to see it.”
Siva said, “Why do you want to see it? I am telling you, He is the most powerful and all power comes from Him. I only destroy this universe, that is all the power I have.”
So Indra said, “Even though you say these things, I don’t believe it.”
“Why don’t you believe it?”
“Because you are so powerful that you burnt the fort which was flying in the sky.”
Then Siva said, “I know what you are up to. You want to have some
entertainment. So you go to Visvakarma and ask him to make a bow for
me. I am a babaji, but you want me to fight. So at least give me some
weapons.” So Visvakarma used his mystic power and made a bow. This bow
was so big that 300 people had to carry it. Actually it was in a
cart. The cart had so many wheels, and 300 people had to push it to
move it an inch, and then they had to rest for half an hour. So this
was the size of the bow. It was unstrung also, the thread was
separate. So that was brought in front of Lord Siva. “This is a good
bow,” the said, and took it up. When he took it up all the demigods
fainted. It was such a huge bow and Siva was just lifting it so
easily. Then Indra was saying, “See? I told you, he’s very
strong. Don’t think that he’s just a babaji meditating. He’s got so
much strength.” Siva then strung the bow and he said, “All right, I am
ready.” Then they went to Brahma and as ked, “Please bring Lord Visnu for a fight.” So Brahma went to the milk ocean and meditated.
Visnu was sitting there in the Svetadvipa, and he said to Laksmi, “I wonder what Brahma is calling for now?”
Laksmi said, “Maybe some demon is there.”
“How can a demon have come without My knowledge? There is no demon,” the Lord said.
“Then You must also know why he is calling You,” Laksmi said.
“Yes I do. He wants Me to have a fight with Lord Siva.”
“Oh,” Laksmi said. “I would like to see that.”
“Then I’ll have to do it,” the Lord said. So then He got up from His seat and He came to the other side of the milk ocean. He said, “All right Brahma, I am ready.”
And then Indra said, “But there is one condition - You don’t bring any
bow or anything from Your spiritual world. We will give You something from this world. Otherwise You will overpower him easily, we know that. We want a straightforward fight.” So Visvakarma made another bow. Siva’s bow was called Mahesh-chapa, and Visnu’s bow was called Visnu-chapa. Both were made by Visvakarma and were equal in strength. They were exactly the same. They were copies. So Visnu came and said, “No problem, I will take it.” So he took the bow, and he came and lifted it. When he lifted the bow, because He has got an eternal associate called Sarnga, who is His bow, and when Visnu touches any bow Sarnga will come in there and it will become Sarnga-dhanu. He took the bow and Sarnga entered. Nobody could see this happen.
So He came and Siva was there, and as soon as Visnu was in vision of Mahesh, Siva offered his obeisances and clapped his hands, rolling on the floor in ecstasy. Indra said, “What’s going on?” He turned to Narada Muni and said, “Go and tell him to give up his devotion and fight!”
Narada Muni went to Siva and said, “You have forgotten that there is supposed to be a fight. You have surrendered.”
So then Mahesa said, “Please, bless me so that I can fight with You.”
Visnu blessed him, “All right. You can fight with Me.” So they were fighting, fighti ng, fighting, and it was going on for a long time.
Finally Siva put the bow down and started running away from the
battlefield, and all sorts of astras were coming out of Sarnga, and
Siva ran away. He ran, and he was shouting to Indra, “I told you! I
told you! Now I am in trouble!” Of course, Visnu was not angry, he was
only smiling. But then all the demigods prayed to Visnu, “Please stop the war. We need Lord Siva.” So then the war was over, and Siva was saved.
CHAPTER FOUR **************** CHAPTER SIX
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