Pranam

*Maharshi Bhrigu*
In the third chapter of Taittiriya Upanishad, sage Bhrigu  Varuna
requesting him to instruct about the Brahman.With full faith in the words
of Varuna, Bhrigu engaged in tapas. In this manner, Bhrigu had a third
period of austerity where he came upon *manas* (*Mind*) as Brahman and
later, a fourth when he revised that conclusion and believed that it was
*vijnana* (*Intelligence*). *You have now realised Brahman; you have merged
in that realisation." *This is known as the Bhargavi Vidya of the
Upanishads.
   Maharshi Bhrigu was one of the Manasputras (born by a wish) of Lord
Brahma. He was married to Khyati, the daughter of Daksha. He had three
sons, Dhata, Vidhata and Kavi, and a daughter by the name Shri. His
daughter Shri, was married to Lord Vishnu (Narayana). Maharshi Bhrigu is
also called Prajapati (creator) as he was created by Lord Brahma to help
him in the process of creation of the universe. He is one among the Sapta
Rishis of the 1st chatur yuga.
The second Mandala of Rigveda is accredited to Bhrigu and his family. Apart
from this and the Bhargavi Vidya in the Taittiriya Upanishad, another
important contribution of Rishi Bhrigu is the Bhrigusamhita, text on
predictive Astrology. Apart from the astrological discussions, this text
also contains remarkable medical descriptions on the circulation of blood,
cancer, embolism etc.
KR IRS 3621

On Thu, 3 Jun 2021 at 06:20, 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 <
[email protected]> wrote:

> DIVINE INFORMATION PART 24
>
> SAGE JAMADAGNI
>
> Dear friends,
>
> Sage Jamadagni is one of the pravara sages of Srivatsa Gothra. The
> following is a write up  about the sage appeared in Telugu Bhakthi pages
> and stored by me.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Gopalakrishnan 3-6-2021
>
> * 1.The lineage of  sage Bhrigu:*
>
> The lineage of sage Bhrigu is indeed illustrious: Chyavana, Jamadagn,
> Parasurama etc.
>
> The sage Bhrigu got Chyavana through Puloma and Chyavana begot a son
> Rucheeka, who married Satyavathi, daughter of Gadhi, son of King Kusika.
>
>
> We have an interesting story about this marriage. When sage Rucheeka
> approached King Gadhi for the hand of Satyavathi, the king put a
> condition   to the sage, that he would give his daughter in marriage if the
> sage gives    him a thousand horses white in body color but with dark ears.
> The concept       of Kanya Sulkam (a tax for giving one’s daughter)
> probably started that   time!
>
> It may be that the king wanted to test the powers of the sage and wanted
> to see whether the sage can take care of his daughter after the  marriage.
> In any case, sage Rucheeka accepted the challenge and prayed to  Varuna,
> who obliged the sage readily. Thus the condition was met and the  marriage
> took place.
>
> It may be noted that the concepts of Kanya Dan and Kanya Sulka got
> degraded in the later 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 and went to his ashram. When
> Satyavathi wanted children, sage Rucheeka told her that he would create a
> divine rice pudding, which would give her a child. Satyavathi requested
> her husband to help her mother too (Gadhi did not have a son and the life
> and marriage is considered incomplete without a male child). So, Rucheeka
> meditated on Para Brahma (The Ultimate Principle) and created two vessels
> with divine rice preparation.
>
> He showed her the two vessels and told her that one of them is brahmyam
> (full of the brahminic energies, Satva guna) and the second Kshatram
> (full of the fighting warrior clan’s energies, rajo guna). He tells her
> that after bath, she and her mother should hug a  fig tree and an Aswattha
> tree respectively and then they should consume  the respective rice
> puddings.
>
> However, due to destiny, the two vessels got interchanged and Satyavathi
> ate the pudding bearing kshatriya energies and her mother the brahminic
> one.
>
> There is another variant to the story that the mother of Satyavathi
> interchanged the vessels deliberately because she felt that Sage Rucheeka
> would give the ‘better’ child to his own wife. Thus jealousy played the
> part of destiny! Rucheeka saw with his divine vision about the mix up and
> told his wife that she was bearing a cruel kshatriya foetus in her womb
> and not a brahminic one. Satyavathi was saddened and prayed to her husband
> to prevent the calamity through his yogic powers. He agreed and with his
> yogic powers transferred the change to his grandson (to the next
> generation).
>
> Thus a brahminic sage Jamadagni was born to Rucheeka and the kshatriya
> energies took shape when Jamadagni got a son Rama in due course of time
> (Who becomes famous as Bhargava Rama and as Parashu Rama since He was
> carrying a divine Axe as His weapon).
>
> Satyavathi’s mother gave birth to a  wonderful child who was full of
> brahma teja (satvik qualities). Thus, though born as a king, Kusika’s
> grandson, variously known as Gadheya, Kausika and Viswamitra became world
> famous for his qualities as a Brahmarshi. We will learn more about him when
> we take up his story in   detail.
>
> *3 The curse of Sun God:*
>
> Jamadagni married Renuka and was leading a happy married life. He was as
> well read as his illustrious father and forefathers in all Vedas and
> Shastras and he acquired enormous powers because of his penance.
>
> Once he  went to the bank of river Narmada along with his wife Renuka and
> as fate would have it, felt the desire to have sexual relationship with her
> in the   day time. Since the area was uninhabited, the sage felt that there
> is no   problem for his privacy.
>
> When the 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 and told the sage that what he was doing is not  dharma (and
> especially a learned sage like him should set an example to others).
>
> Renuka felt shy at the sight of a brahmin as she was naked and    thus the
> whole mood was spoilt. (A similar story is there about Siva and   Parvathi
> and in that case, resulted in a curse that whoever enters that  area will
> become a woman!) The sage was angry at the interruption (that  act is also
> not dharma, one should not interrupt a person in sleep, in the   act of
> eating, sex, and other natural functions) and cursed Sun God to be
> afflicted by Rahu (the Surya Grahana has its origin in this curse).
>
> The  Sun God in turn cursed the sage to meet humiliation and death at the
> hands  of a king. In those times, the sages were beyond death because of
> their   great tapas and were free from disease. They were honored and
> respected by    all others, esp. the kshatriyas. This curse planted the
> seeds for the  death of Jamadagni at the hands of Kartaviryarjuna and then
> later again at   the hands of that king’s sons.
>
> It also 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 God that He will be
> considered as a  Paapi (malefic) and Lord Brahma came and intervened and
> pacified both of them. He modified the curses of sage Jamadagni so that the
> splendor of Sun God is unaffected (except temporarily like when covered by
> clouds and at a    few other times). This story has a lot of esoteric
> significance and also  has significance from the angle of astrology.
>
> *4  The beheading of Renuka and her coming back to life:*
>
> In course of time, Jamadagni and Renuka got five sons, Rushunvantha,
> Sushena, Vasu, Viswavasu and Rama (Parasurama). They were growing up
> nicely.
>
> It was the habit of Renuka (a temple and a pond in her honor –    Renuka
> ji is on the way from Ambala to Simla in Himachal Pradesh and is a
> picturesque spot) to go daily to river and bring water in an earthen pot.
> Once when the pot slipped from her hands, she just scooped some river sand
> and shaped it into a pot by her hands, and that held water because of her
> spiritual powers.
>
> One day, as fate would have it, she saw 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 was
> unaffected, at the subconscious   level her mental equilibrium was
> disturbed (the purer once aura is, the       easier it is for it to get
> affected. The wearing of white robes is to      remind oneself of utmost
> care in all the planes of consciousness). That   day the moist sand was not
> getting shaped as pot and she had to return       empty handed to the
> ashram.
>
> She realized her error and though she wanted   to end her life then and
> there, as a pativrata, she felt that she had no  individual rights over her
> body, mind and soul and returned to the ashram  to allow her husband, her
> Swami, her Master to deal with the situation as   he pleased. That is true
> egolessness, true surrender, true paativratya. Renuka had to ‘enjoy’ the
> bitter fruits of her aura contamination because of the seeds of latent
> desire as we shall see below.
>
> Jamadagni saw with his divine sight what happened and asked his sons to
> behead her as punishment. By accepting the punishment, one gets purified.
> The higher the status, the greater the punishment was the rule. The rishis
> had to set examples for others to follow and hence did not allow
> themselves the slightest benefit of doubt or lenience.
>
> The first four sons  refused because they could not see through the
> egoistic filters the true  intentions and the powers of their father. The
> youngest one, Rama obeyed  the father’s command and killed his mother and
> again at the father’s   command his brothers too for the sin of disobeying
> their father’s command.  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 of Rama and offered him a boon.
> Rama asked his father  to bring back his mother and brothers to life and
> the sage obliged. That  was the power of the sages in those ages! Their
> tapas gave them that   power! The beheaded body of Renuka is worshipped
> as a Goddess by name Chinna Masta (without head), who is shown holding
> her own head with her   left hand and three streams of blood shooting up
> representing the three  nadis, ida, pingala and sushumna.
>
> *5  The death of Jamadagni:*
>
> The mighty king Kartaviryarjuna of Haihaya clan was born with two short
> and weak hands. The cause of that deformity is another interesting story.
>  Sudarsana Chakra became rather proud of his own powers once and Sri Maha
> Vishnu cursed Sudarsana to take birth as a human with weak hands.
> When       Sudarsana realized his error (that is the benefit of a curse, to
> show theego its error, thus the curses were meant as boons indirectly),
> Vishnu assured him that he will rejoin Him soon and will become famous.
> Thus       Kartaviryarjuna was born as a cripple but became a great devotee
> of Sri  Dattatreya (the wonderful form of the Trinity in One) and got many
> boons  from Him.
>
> He became one of the mightiest kings on earth and punished the  mighty
> Ravana once and Ravana’s grandfather Pulastya had to visit Kartavirya and
> intercede on Ravana’s behalf. One of the boons that  Kartavirya got was
> that when the end comes (anything which has a beginning  has to have an
> end), it should be in the hands of a worthy opponent. To  fulfill that
> boon and as promised to Sudarsana, Sri Maha Vishnu took birth  as
> Parasurama to Jamadagni. Let us now enjoy that story.
>
> Jamadagni had a Kamadhenu named Surabhi (there were similar cows in many
> other ashrams and of course Indra had it in heaven. The cow was capable of
> fulfilling all the desires and was being treated with love and respect.
>
>
> Once King Kartaviryarjuna visited the ashram of sage Jamadagni along with
> his retinue (it was the custom of the kings to go hunting and visit
> the       ashrams of various sages who were living in the forest). The
> sages used to  play host as per their capacity. When the king visited sage
> Jamadagni, the whole retinue was treated lavishly with sumptuous food by
> the grace of       Surabhi. The king was impressed and requested the sage
> to give the holy   cow Surabhi to him. The sage refused.
>
> The king was angry and ordered his army to capture the cow by force. At
> a   glance from the sage Jamadagni, Surabhi created a counter army and in
> the fight that ensued, the king’s army was defeated. This game went on
> for   twenty times and each time, the divine army created by Surabhi was
> victorious. The king lost his patience and killed the sage Jamadagni (so
> that the divine power of Surabhi is reduced) and started searching for
> Surabhi, but She was to be seen nowhere. She vanished and went back to
> heaven.
>
> Renuka wanted to accompany Sage Jamadagni on the funeral pyre. Sage
> Bhrigu  (grandfather of Jamadagni) stopped her and brought her back to life
> along  with the Sage Jamadagni.
>
> Parasurama was very angry at the turn of events       and killed the king
> Kartaviryarjuna in battle (as per the boon given by Lord Dattatreya). When
> Parasurama returned from the battle and told his       illustrious father
> about it, the sage told him that it was wrong to kill  the king of the land
> (the king is considered to be an amsa of Vishnu and       killing the king
> and exposing the kingdom to anarchy is a sin) and asked  his son to go for
> tirthayatra (a visit to sacred places) for an year to achieve purification.
>
>
> Obeying the order of his father, Parasurama set off  on a pilgrimage.
> Seizing this opportunity, the sons of Kartaviryarjuna   killed Jamadagni.
> Renuka called out to her divine son twenty one times to   protect his
> father. As per the destiny and as per Sun God’s curse, the mother’s calls
> to her son went unanswered and the sage Jamadagni met his  end.
>
> *6 Jamadagni being cursed by Pitru Devatas:*
>
> There is yet another interesting story about sage Jamadagni. After death,  he
> took birth as a mongoose and this was caused by a curse from his Pitru
> Devatas. Let us now enjoy that story since these stories are not only
> entertaining but are highly educative too.
>
> As ordained in the scriptures, sage Jamadagni was performing the annual
> ceremonies for his ancestors and in those ages, they were manifesting
> before the person in divine forms and were accepting the offerings.
>
> As a   part of preparation for the ceremony, Jamadagni collected a pot of
> pure   cow milk and kept it aside. The Krodha Devatha (Goddess in charge
> of   Anger), heard that the sages in the lineage of Bhrigu were rather
> short  tempered (though their anger was always directed at world welfare
> similar to that of sage Durvasa, another great sage, the son of sage Atri),
> wanted to test sage Jamadagni and took a human form and under the pretext
> of  doing some service in the ashram, caused the pot of milk to overturn.
>
> The sage did not get angry and remained calm. Jamadagni was
> personification of true satvik energies.
>
> The annual 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 him that what he did was wrong   (not
> getting angry at a lapse of others that affected his performance of
> duties).
>
> They thus imparted a very important lesson that anger also is a useful
> tool if used properly and that the six internal enemies are enemies only
> for a weak mind and are good slaves in the case of a true Master.
>
> The  Pitru Devatas advised sage Bhrigu that he should atone that lapse by
> taking birth as a Nakula (a mongoose and a person who has no Kula, no
> clan, no ancestry in another sense).
>
> When requested for forgiveness, they   relented and gave the lifting of
> the curse to coincide with the mongoose contradicting the dharmic sayings
> of many Brahmins (the dharma like modern  day law is complicated and the
> nuances are brought out through such  stories).
>
> As per their curse and blessing, sage Jamadagni takes birth as a
> mongoose and gets release from that at the end of the Aswamedha Yaga
> performed by Yudhishtira in Maha Bharatha.
>
>
>
>
>
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