DIVINE INFORMATION PART24 SAGE JAMADAGNI
Dearfriends, SageJamadagni is one of the pravara sages of Srivatsa Gothra. The following is awrite up about the sage appeared inTelugu Bhakthi pages and stored by me. Sincerely, Gopalakrishnan3-6-2021 1.The lineage of sage Bhrigu: Thelineage of sage Bhrigu is indeed illustrious: Chyavana, Jamadagn, Parasuramaetc. Thesage Bhrigu got Chyavana through Puloma and Chyavana begot a son Rucheeka, who married Satyavathi, daughterof Gadhi, son of King Kusika. Wehave an interesting story about this marriage. When sage Rucheeka approached King Gadhi for the hand ofSatyavathi, the king put a condition tothe sage, that he would give his daughter in marriage if the sage gives him a thousand horses white in body colorbut with dark ears. The concept ofKanya Sulkam (a tax for giving one’s daughter) probably started that time! Itmay be that the king wanted to test the powers of the sage and wanted to seewhether the sage can take care of his daughter after the marriage. In any case, sage Rucheeka acceptedthe challenge and prayed to Varuna, whoobliged the sage readily. Thus the condition was met and the marriage took place. Itmay be noted that the concepts of Kanya Dan and Kanya Sulka got degraded in thelater ages due to the Yuga Dharma. The original concepts were with a lot of insight. 2 Birth of Jamadagni: Sage Rucheeka took his wife Satyavathi andwent to his ashram. When Satyavathiwanted children, sage Rucheeka told her that he would create a divine rice pudding, which would give her achild. Satyavathi requested her husbandto help her mother too (Gadhi did not have a son and the life and marriage is considered incomplete withouta male child). So, Rucheeka meditated onPara Brahma (The Ultimate Principle) and created two vessels with divine rice preparation. Heshowed her the two vessels and told her that one of them is brahmyam (full of thebrahminic energies, Satva guna) and the second Kshatram (full of the fighting warrior clan’senergies, rajo guna). He tells her that after bath, she and her mother shouldhug a fig tree and an Aswattha tree respectivelyand then they should consume therespective rice puddings. However,due to destiny, the two vessels got interchanged and Satyavathi ate the puddingbearing kshatriya energies and her mother the brahminic one. There is another variant to the story thatthe mother of Satyavathi interchanged the vessels deliberately becauseshe felt that Sage Rucheeka would givethe ‘better’ child to his own wife. Thus jealousy played the part of destiny! Rucheeka saw with his divinevision about the mix up and told hiswife that she was bearing a cruel kshatriya foetus in her womb and not a brahminic one. Satyavathi wassaddened and prayed to her husband toprevent the calamity through his yogic powers. He agreed and with his yogic powers transferred the change to hisgrandson (to the next generation). Thusa brahminic sage Jamadagni was born to Rucheeka and the kshatriya energies took shape when Jamadagni got a sonRama in due course of time (Who becomesfamous as Bhargava Rama and as Parashu Rama since He was carrying a divine Axe as His weapon). Satyavathi’smother gave birth to a wonderful childwho was full of brahma teja (satvik qualities). Thus, though born as a king,Kusika’s grandson, variously known as Gadheya, Kausika and Viswamitra becameworld famous for his qualities as a Brahmarshi. We will learn more about himwhen we take up his story in detail. 3 The curse of Sun God: Jamadagnimarried Renuka and was leading a happy married life. He was as well read as hisillustrious father and forefathers in all Vedas and Shastras and he acquired enormous powersbecause of his penance. Oncehe went to the bank of river Narmadaalong with his wife Renuka and as fate would have it, felt the desire to havesexual relationship with her in the day time. Since the area was uninhabited, the sage felt that there isno problem for his privacy. Whenthe couple was thus sporting, the Sun God (who is also called as Karma Sakshi, the witness to all our actions)came in human form as a Brahmin andtold the sage that what he was doing is not dharma (and especially a learned sage like him should set an example toothers). Renukafelt shy at the sight of a brahmin as she was naked and thus the whole mood was spoilt. (A similarstory is there about Siva and Parvathiand in that case, resulted in a curse that whoever enters that area will become a woman!) The sage was angryat the interruption (that act is alsonot dharma, one should not interrupt a person in sleep, in the act of eating, sex, and other naturalfunctions) and cursed Sun Godto be afflicted by Rahu (the Surya Grahana has its origin in this curse). The Sun God in turn cursed the sage to meethumiliation and death at the hands of aking. In those times, the sages were beyond death because of their great tapas and were free from disease. Theywere honored and respected by allothers, esp. the kshatriyas. This curse planted the seeds for the death of Jamadagni at the hands ofKartaviryarjuna and then later again at the hands of that king’s sons. Italso led to Parasu Rama slaughtering all the kshatriya kings on the earth. We will learn more of that later. Sage Jamadagni gave a further curse to Sun Godthat He will be considered as a Paapi(malefic) and Lord Brahma came and intervened and pacified both of them. Hemodified the curses of sage Jamadagni so that the splendor of Sun God isunaffected (except temporarily like when covered by clouds and at a few other times). This story has a lot ofesoteric significance and also hassignificance from the angle of astrology. 4 The beheading of Renuka and her coming back tolife: Incourse of time, Jamadagni and Renuka got five sons, Rushunvantha, Sushena,Vasu, Viswavasu and Rama (Parasurama). They were growing up nicely. Itwas the habit of Renuka (a temple and a pond in her honor – Renuka ji is on the way from Ambala toSimla in Himachal Pradesh and is a picturesque spot) to go daily to river and bring water in an earthenpot. Once when the pot slipped from herhands, she just scooped some river sand and shaped it into a pot by her hands,and that held water because of her spiritual powers. Oneday, as fate would have it, shesaw a Gandharva king named Chitraradha sporting with his many wives in the river. She stood watching the sport and though at the conscious level she wasunaffected, at the subconscious levelher mental equilibrium was disturbed (the purer once aura is, the easier it is for it to get affected. Thewearing of white robes is to remindoneself of utmost care in all the planes of consciousness). That day the moist sand was not getting shaped aspot and she had to return emptyhanded to the ashram. Sherealized her error and though she wanted to end her life then and there, as a pativrata, she felt that she hadno individual rights over her body, mindand soul and returned to the ashram toallow her husband, her Swami, her Master to deal with the situation as he pleased. That is true egolessness, truesurrender, true paativratya. Renuka had to ‘enjoy’ the bitter fruits of heraura contamination because of the seeds of latent desire as we shall see below. Jamadagnisaw with his divine sight what happened and asked his sons to behead her as punishment. By accepting thepunishment, one gets purified. The higher the status, the greater thepunishment was the rule. The rishis hadto set examples for others to follow and hence did not allow themselves the slightest benefit of doubt orlenience. The first four sons refused because they could notsee through the egoistic filters the true intentions and the powers of their father. The youngest one, Ramaobeyed the father’s command and killedhis mother and again at the father’s command his brothers too for the sin of disobeying their father’scommand. Thus we see that both Ramas(Parasurama and Dasaradha Rama) were great in obeying the commands of father,mother and preceptor. Jamadagni was pleased with the obedience ofRama and offered him a boon. Rama asked his father to bring back his mother and brothers to lifeand the sage obliged. That was the powerof the sages in those ages! Their tapas gave them that power! The beheaded body of Renuka is worshipped as a Goddess byname Chinna Masta (without head), who is shown holding her own head withher left hand and three streams ofblood shooting up representing the three nadis, ida, pingala and sushumna. 5 The death of Jamadagni: Themighty king Kartaviryarjuna of Haihaya clan was born with two short and weakhands. The cause of that deformity is another interesting story. Sudarsana Chakra became rather proud ofhis own powers once and Sri Maha Vishnu cursed Sudarsana to take birth as ahuman with weak hands. When Sudarsana realized his error (that is the benefit of a curse, to showtheego its error, thus the curses were meant as boons indirectly), Vishnuassured him that he will rejoin Him soon and will become famous. Thus Kartaviryarjuna was born as a cripplebut became a great devotee of Sri Dattatreya(the wonderful form of the Trinity in One) and got many boons from Him. Hebecame one of the mightiest kings on earth and punished the mighty Ravana once and Ravana’s grandfatherPulastya had to visit Kartavirya and intercede on Ravana’s behalf. One of theboons that Kartavirya got was thatwhen the end comes (anything which has a beginning has to have an end), it should be in thehands of a worthy opponent. To fulfill that boon and as promised toSudarsana, Sri MahaVishnu took birth as Parasurama toJamadagni. Let us now enjoy that story. Jamadagnihad a Kamadhenu named Surabhi (there were similar cows in many other ashrams and of course Indra had it inheaven. The cow was capable of fulfilling all the desires and was being treated with love and respect. OnceKing Kartaviryarjuna visited the ashram of sage Jamadagni along with his retinue (it was the custom of the kingsto go hunting and visit the ashramsof various sages who were living in the forest). The sages used to play host as per their capacity. When theking visited sage Jamadagni, the whole retinue was treated lavishly withsumptuous food by the grace of Surabhi. The king was impressed and requested the sage to give theholy cow Surabhi to him. The sagerefused. Theking was angry and ordered his army to capture the cow by force. At a glance from the sage Jamadagni, Surabhicreated a counter army and in the fight that ensued, the king’s army wasdefeated. This game went onfor twenty times and each time, thedivine army created by Surabhi was victorious. The king lost his patience and killed the sageJamadagni (so that the divine power ofSurabhi is reduced) and started searching for Surabhi, but She was to be seen nowhere. She vanished and went back toheaven. Renukawanted to accompany Sage Jamadagni on the funeral pyre. Sage Bhrigu (grandfather of Jamadagni) stopped her and brought her back to lifealong with the Sage Jamadagni. Parasuramawas very angry at the turn of events and killed the king Kartaviryarjuna in battle (as per the boon given byLord Dattatreya). WhenParasurama returned from the battle and told his illustrious father about it, the sagetold him that it was wrong to kill theking of the land (the king is considered to be an amsa of Vishnuand killing the king and exposingthe kingdom to anarchy is a sin) and asked his son to go for tirthayatra (a visit to sacred places) for an year toachieve purification. Obeyingthe order of his father, Parasurama set off on a pilgrimage. Seizing this opportunity, the sons ofKartaviryarjuna killed Jamadagni.Renuka called out to her divine son twenty one times to protect his father. As per the destiny andas per Sun God’s curse, the mother’s calls to her son went unanswered and thesage Jamadagni met his end. 6 Jamadagni being cursed by PitruDevatas: Thereis yet another interesting story about sage Jamadagni. After death, he took birth as a mongoose and this was caused by a curse from hisPitru Devatas. Let us now enjoythat story since these stories are not only entertaining but are highly educative too. Asordained in the scriptures, sage Jamadagni was performing the annual ceremonies for his ancestors and in thoseages, they weremanifesting before the person indivine forms and were accepting the offerings. Asa part of preparation for the ceremony,Jamadagni collected a pot of pure cowmilk and kept it aside. The Krodha Devatha (Goddess in charge of Anger), heard that the sages in the lineageof Bhrigu were rather short tempered(though their anger was always directed at world welfare similar to that ofsage Durvasa, another great sage, the son of sage Atri), wanted to test sageJamadagni and took a human form and under the pretext of doing some service in the ashram, caused the pot of milk to overturn. Thesage did not get angry and remained calm. Jamadagni was personification of truesatvik energies. Theannual ceremony went off albeit with the minor lapse of non-availability of cow milk. The manes (the ancestors) of Jamadagni appeared to him and admonished himthat what he did was wrong (notgetting angry at a lapse of others that affected his performance of duties). They thus imparted a very important lessonthat anger also is a useful tool if used properly and that the six internalenemies are enemies only for a weak mind and are good slaves in the case of atrue Master. The Pitru Devatas advised sage Bhrigu that heshould atone that lapse by taking birth as a Nakula (a mongoose and a personwho has no Kula, no clan, no ancestryin another sense). Whenrequested for forgiveness, they relented and gave the lifting of the curse to coincide with the mongoosecontradicting the dharmic sayings of many Brahmins (the dharma like modern day law is complicated and the nuances arebrought out through such stories). As per their curse and blessing, sageJamadagni takes birth as a mongoose andgets release from that at the end of the Aswamedha Yaga performed by Yudhishtira in Maha Bharatha. -- 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/2129438330.1447641.1622681401944%40mail.yahoo.com.
