॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Sunday, 6 November 2022 IV.13 - Dhruva's succession and the birth of Vena, an evil prince.
***
Sage Maitreya had mentioned that Sage Narada's eulogy to Dhruva was delivered in the presence of Prachetas. Who were these Prachetas? To which family did they belong? Whose sons were they, and where did they perform the great sacrifices?
Narada, the greatest of devotees, had laid down the Pancharatra procedure for worship of Bhagavan. So what was the Yajna of the Prachetas where he spoke thus?
These are the questions raised by Vidura and Sage Maitreya replied thus:
Prince Utkala, anointed as his successor by King Dhruva, was otherworldly by nature from birth. He refused to be involved in the worldly affairs of rulership. He was a liberated soul through Nirvana. His constant immersion in Bhakti and meditation on the Lord made him appear to be crazy to others.
Thus his younger brother, named Vatsara, the son of Bhrami, was elevated to the royal throne, and he became king of the world.
Maitreya catalogues now the succession of princes born to Vatsara and their sons and in turn their sons, and so on. It is a big list of a few generations which I shall not give here. The incumbent finally in this story was King Anga.
King Anga and his queen Sunitha had a son by the name of Vena. This Vena brought much trouble with his bad ways. In fact, he was cursed by sages to die.
Vidura is surprised that the sages could curse a king, and he enquires, is not a king the representative of the Lord Himself and, therefore, however bad he may be, he cannot be deposed or cursed or killed?
Sage Maitreya responds with a bit of a rewind.
Once, the great King Anga arranged to perform the great Yajna known as Ashwamedha. Despite all the meticulous arrangements and the proper ritualistic execution of the Yajna, the gods did not descend to accept their offerings. This perplexed the officiating priests who checked and confirmed that there was no lacuna in their execution. So what was the reason?
The king appealed to the Brahmins to use their insight and discover the cause of the failure of the Yajna. They then replied that Anga had indeed been a good king and Dharmic in this birth, but he was without a son owing to some Karma from the past birth. This was the reason for his failure.
तथा साधय भद्रं ते आत्मानं सुप्रजं नृप । इष्टस्ते पुत्रकामस्य पुत्रं दास्यति यज्ञभुक् ॥
T: They said, "Oh King, we wish all good fortune for you. You have no son, but if you pray at once to the Supreme Lord and ask for a son, and if you execute the required Yajna for that purpose, the enjoyer of the Yajna, Bhagavan, will fulfil your desire."
"When Sri Hari, the supreme enjoyer of all Yajnas, is invited to fulfil your desire for a son, all the gods will also come with Him and take their shares in the offering."
When King Anga did as he was directed, in that Yajna fire, a deity appeared and offered a golden pot of Payasam (something similar to what happened to Dasharatha in Ramayana).
With the permission of the Brahmins officiating there, King Anga accepted the boon of the Payasam, and inhaling its power, handed it over to his queen. The Payasam had the power to grant a male child, she became pregnant by her husband, and in due course of time, she gave birth to a son.
Anga's father had been evil, in a way a representative of Death. So the son of Anga was born with the same evil qualities as his grandfather. Vena, as he was named, began to hunt and kill wild animals in the forest recklessly. He even killed his playmates for fun.
Anga's punishments imposed on the boy had no effect. The king was extremely distressed.
कदपत्यं वरं मन्ये सदपत्याच्छुचां पदात् ।
निर्विद्येत गृहान्मर्त्यो यत्क्लेशनिवहा गृहा: ॥
T: The king thought bitterly to himself: "A bad son is in a way better than a good son because he will certainly make the family suffer unbearable unhappiness and drive the parents to detachment and disenchantment with life."
"Such an evil son destroys the family repute, creates quarrels and plunges the parents into constant anxiety."
Anga was so distressed that in the dead of the night, he went away from the palace and disappeared into the forest.
All the citizens, priests, ministers, and the king's wellwishers were greatly aggrieved. They began to search for him all over the world, and Vyasa compares that futile effort to the practices engaged in by a less experienced mystic to discover Paramatma within himself!
With tears in their eyes, the citizens offered respectful obeisances and informed the elders and sages in full detail that they were unable to find the king anywhere.
***
