LEGENDS OF MAHA SHIVRATRI AND SAGE ASHTAVAKRA
Whilegoing to Trivandrum central Railway station near the over bridge I had seen anold tiled small building named Theosophical Society of India, Trivandrum. Oneday during 1992’s one of my colleagues R S Iyer invited me to attend discourses bylearnt men there. He was almost a permanentattendee there. Honouring him I attended the discourse next day. The hall was crowded with many standing and Ijoined them. Discourse was about sage Ashtavakra and his teachingsby a senior Iyer. Later I read of the founders Thecontemporary theosophical movement was born with the founding of theTheosophical Society in New York City in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky(1831–91), Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), and William Quan Judge (1851–96). Did Annie Besant founder of TheosophicalSociety? 1907she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose internationalheadquarters were, by then, located in Adyar, Madras, (Chennai). She alsobecame involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress. TodayI found a write up By Pt Vvidhushekhor Pandey & Aaadietya Pandeyin my pen drive about Sivaratriand about sage Ashtavakra. I thought of posting it today. Ihave read elsewhere Lord Krishna telling the story of sage Ashtavakra toRukmini while relaxing in the garden. Sincerely, GopalaKrishnan 23-5-2021 Thelegend of marriage of Shiva and Shakti is one the most important legends related to thefestival of MahaShivratri. The storytells us how Lord Shiva got married a second time to Shakti, his divineconsort. According to legend of Shiva and Shakti, the day Lord Shiva got married to Parvathi iscelebrated as Shivratri - the Nightof Lord Shiva. 1 Samudra Manthan Story of Maha Shivratri: DuringSamudra Manthan by the gods and demons,a highly toxic poison came out of the ocean. As per the advice of Lord Vishnu,gods approached Lord Shiva and prayed him to protect life by consuming this poison. Pleasedwith their prayers, out of compassion for living beings, Lord Shiva drank this poison and held it in his throat bybinding it with a snake. The throat became blue due to the poison (Thus Lord Shiva isalso known as Neelakantha) and Shiva remained unharmed. The wise men advised gods tokeep Lord Shiva awake during the night. Tokeep him awake, the Gods took turn performing various dances and playing music. A vigil was thuskept by the gods in contemplation ofShiva. Asthe day broke out, Shiva, pleased with their devotion blessed them all, andalso said thatwhosoever worshipped &contemplated on him on this day shall be blessed with the fulfillment of his or her wishes. Since then, on this day and night - devotees fast,keep vigil, sing glories of Lord andmeditate. 2 Manifested as a Jyotirlinga on Maha Shivratri: Manifestationof Lord Shiva in the form of the first effulgent linga was on this special day of Mahashivratri, and thus all devoteespray to the effulgent linga(jyotirlinga) of Lord Shiva. 3 Story of Chitrabhanu: In the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, Bhishma, whilst resting on the bed of arrows and discoursing on Dharma, refersto the observance of Maha Shivratri byKing Chitrabhanu. The story goes as follows. Onceupon a time King Chitrabhanu of the Ikshvaku dynasty, who ruled over the whole ofJambudvipa, was observing a fast with his wife, it being the day of Mahashivratri. Thesage Ashtavakra came on a visit to thecourt of the king. The sage asked, "Oking! Why are you observing a fast today?" KingChitrabhanu explained why. Hehad the gift of remembering theincidents of his previous birth. The king said to the sage: "Inmy past birth I was a hunter inVaranasi. My name was Suswara. My livelihood was to kill and sell birds and animals. One dayI was roaming the forests in search of animals. I was overtaken by the darkness of night. Unable to return home,I climbed a tree for shelter. It happened to be a bel tree.I had shot a deer that day but I had notime to take it home. I bundled it upand tied it to a branch on the tree. As I wastormented by hunger and thirst, I kept awake throughout the night. I shed profuse tears when I thought of my poor wife and children whowere starving and anxiously awaitingmy return. To pass away thetime that night I engaged myself inplucking the bel leaves and droppingthem down onto the ground. "The day dawned. I returned home and sold the deer. I bought somefood for myself and for my family. I was about to break my fast when a stranger came to me, begging for food. I served him first andthen took my food. " At the time of death,I saw two messengers of Lord Shiva. Theywere sent down to conduct my soul to theabode of Lord Shiva. I learnt then for the first time of the great merit I had earned by theunconscious worship of Lord Shivaduring the night of Shivratri. They told me that there was a Lingam atthe bottom of the tree. Theleaves I dropped fell on the Lingam. My tears which I had shed out of pure sorrow for my family fell onto the Lingam and washed it. And Ihad fasted all day and all night. Thus I unconsciously worshipped the Lord."I lived in the abode of the Lord and enjoyed divine bliss for long ages. I am now reborn as Chitrabhanu." 4Mahashivratri Story ofLubdhak: Anotherlegend. There oncelived a tribal named Lubdhak, who was a devotee of Shiva. It was hisusual practice to go into the forest to collect firewood. One day he wandereddeeper than usual and night fell beforehe could come out. It was the night before the no moon night and the thincrescent moon offered no light. Hewas not able to find his way in the dark and soon got lost. A hungry tiger smelt him out andwith a loud roar made his intentions clear. Lubdhakknew he could not outrun the tiger and so he climbed up a bel tree. In order to keepawake so that he would not fall downin his sleep he began to pluck the leaves from the bel tree and drop them one by one, each time chanting Om Namah Shivaya, whichmeans I bow down to Shiva. In thismanner, he passed the night. Until dawn, he had dropped a thousand bel leaves. When he descended the tree in the morning, he sawa lingam, which he had missed in thedark. Unknowingly he had been dropping leaves on the lingam. This was the 14thnight of the waxing moon of the monthof Phalgun and came to be celebrated at Mahashivratri. 5 ASHTAVAKRA Narrated by: Kanai L Mukherjee(Grandpa), Edited by: Anuradha ChakravarthyCourtesy: Association of Grandparents of Indian Immigrants (AGII) The story of Ashtavakra is takenfrom the great ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata.It is the story of a deformed young boy whose intelligence surpassed many oldsages of his time. Sage Uddalaka ran a school (Ashram) teaching Vedicknowledge. Kahodawas one of his best disciples. Uddalaka was so pleased with him that he got his daughter Sujatamarried to him. Sujata, eventually got pregnant and wanted her childto surpass all the sages of his time. So, she began to sit in the classestaught by Uddalaka and Kahoda, listeningto their chanting with the unborn baby. It was one day, in a class taught byKahoda, theunborn baby spoke up from inside the womb, "This is not the way to chantthe verse, father." Kahoda felt insulted in front of the classand cursed, "You will be born deformed." Sujatadid not take the instance too seriously and was ambitious. She wanted more money to raiseher child the best. So she asked her husband to go to king Janak who was thenpreparing for a fire worship ceremony (Yagna) hoping that the ceremony willbring money to the family. WhenKahoda approached Janak, the king received him respectfully but said withregret "Kahoda, I am unable to perform the Yanja which I decided toperform several years back. Sage, Bandhi arrived from nowhere and asked me to start the Yanja onlyafter he is defeated in an academic discussion with the sages participating inthe Yana. Hiscondition further includes that the sages who come forth for the debate, if defeated, will be drowned.So far he has killed many learned sages. Now it is up to you to take thechallenge." Kahoda agreed to debate withBandhi. He was defeated and drowned in the nearby river. Thewidowed Sujata heard the news and repented her actions. A fewmonths later she gave birth to a boy who was deformed at eight joints and sonamed Ashtavakra. Hegot his education from his grandfather Uddalaka. Ashtavakra was extremely intelligent and hisgrandfather loved him dearly and was very proud of him. WhenAshtavakra was only twelve, he finished all that he needed to know from hisgrandfather. He also heard the fate of his father and the Yana of king Janakwhich still remained unfinished as no one could defeat Bandhi. One night Ashtavakra ran away from thehermitage and came to king Janak.Looking to his deformed body, the guards were amused. Ashtavakra retorted,"Do not judge a person by his appearance and age, judge himby what he knows. Informyour king that there is a person ready to challenge Bandhi." The king came and was surprisedto see a small deformed boy. He asked a few questions and wasgreatly impressed by his knowledge. King Janak soon arranged for the debatewith Bandhi. Whenthe spectators laughed on seeing the deformed Ashtavakra, Ashtavakra said withanger, "I did not know that the so called learned gatheringis no better than a bunch of cobblers who judge a person by the skin and not bythe knowledge he has." Toeveryone's surprise Ashtavakara defeated Bandhi in no time. Withvengeance he then requested the king to drown his father's killer. Bandhithen disclosed his identity. He said, "I am the son of Varuna, the god of water. I came toearth on the request of my father to get the best sages from here to performhis twelve years of Yagna. Theonly way I could get them to my father was to challenge them in a debate andthrow them into water. Nowthat my father has completed the Yajna, let us go to the river band and watchthe sages walk out of the river." Peoplerushed to the river bank and watched the sages return from the river. Kahodacame and embraced his learned son Ashtavakra. Hethen openly admitted that his son Ashtavakra was a lot more intelligent thanhe. Bandhi then asked Ashtavakra to take a dip in the river,with the blessings of his father, Varuna, which would make him normal. Ashtavakradid as he was told and came out of the river as a handsome young man. Janak rewarded Ashtavakra andKahoda. They went back to their hermitage to be united with thefamily. Uddalaka,was so happy to see his worthy grandson surpassing in knowledge to all thegreat sages of his time. Sujatarejoiced at seeing her handsome son and the husband. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1113833131.2439542.1621781298241%40mail.yahoo.com.
