May 19 - Sargas 57 and 58 of Balakanda.
King Vishwamitra is filled with dismay and anger at having been comprehensively defeated and shamed by sage Vasishtha. He proceeds in the southern direction to do severe penance along with his queen.
He is subsisting on roots and fruits and is self-controlled in all ways. The penance contonues for long. During this time he also fathers four sons with his queen and they all turn out be very good princes.
A thousand years pass. Lord Brahma appears before Vishwamitra and says his tapas has been successful and he has attained the status of a Rajarshi.
After Brahma leaves, Vishwamitra is in fact extremely unhappy. He has been doing the penance to become a Brahmarshi (like Vasishtha!)
He decides to continue the tapas until he achieves his goal.
***
At the same, a very good king ruled the Ikshwaku kingdom, by name Trishanku. He was a righteous and famous king. Suddenly he was swept by a desire to perform a special yajna which would enable him to go to heaven in his mortal body. He sent for his kula-guru sage Vasishtha and presented his plan. Sage Vasishtha at once brushed aside the idea, said it was impossible, and left.
King Ikshwaku who was obsessed with this desire then went in the southern direction to the ashrama of Vasishtha's hundred sons, all accomplished sages. He bowed to them with all due respect and hesitatingly presented his request:
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ते मां भवन्तः सिध्यर्थं याजयन्तु समाहिताः।
सशरीरो यथाहं हि देवलोकमवाप्नुयाम् ॥
प्रतिख्यातो वसिष्ठेन गतिमन्यां तपोधनाः ।
गुरुपुत्रानृते सर्वान्नाहं पश्यामि काञ्चन ॥
"Oh venerable sages, i beseech you to to help me perform the yajna and achieve my goal of attaining to heaven in my physical body.
" As I was turned away by sage Vasishtha, indeed I see for accomplishing my desire none as the one to go to, other than you all, the sons of my guru, who are full of powers acquired through tapas."
***
Although the king said that for the Ikshwaku dynasty, it had always been their gurus who showed the way to acconplishing their goals, the sons of Vasishtha were not pleased.
They replied in anger that he had been ill-minded to pursue this course when his guru sage Vasishtha had clearly denied him. How could he now explore any alternative? The kings of Ikshwaku never crossed the directives of their gurus. The king had been childish to come and request them, when sage Vasishtha, for whom there was no yajna he could not perform in the three worlds, had clearly told him to abandon that desire. How could they, the sons, now insult sage Vasishtha?
The king did not seem to understand their extreme anger. He again pressed his case.
The sons or Vasishtha had had enough. They cursed Trishanku to become a chandala, a social outcaste wandering in cemetaries.
The king returned to his palace. Next morning, everyone around him was repelled by his new state. His complexion was now dark, his features hideous, his clothes were inauspicious and dirty, his ornaments and crown were replaced with crematorial ashes.
Trishanku now went to Vishwamitra, engaged in his severe tapas. Vishwamitra felt extreme pity for him. He heard how the king had been rebuffed by sage Vasishtha and his sons also. How he had been cursed to become a chandala.
Trishanku submitted that he had always been a very righteous king and had acquired great merit over time by being devoted to his guru and doing several yajnas. He had ruled well and taken care of his subjects. But now he was accursed.
***
दैवेनाक्रम्यते सर्वं दैवं हि परमागतिः ।
तस्य मे परमार्तस्य प्रसादमभिकाङ्क्षतः ॥।
कर्तुमर्हसि भद्रं ते दैवोपहतकर्मणः ।
नान्यां गतिं गमिष्यामि नान्यः शरणमस्ति मे ॥
" Respected sage Vishwamitra, I think divine providence cannot be negated by anyone. Providence is ultimate (meaning his efforts so far were annulled by fate). In my most wretched state now, I am begging for your grace.
"Oh sage, for someone like me blighted by Providence, you alone are my refuge and you alone can help me".
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
