॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Thursday, 23 March 2023 - IX.21 - The story of Rantideva and many famous personalities of Hastinapura.
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In CHATGpt style, Sage Shuka reels off many names of the descendants of Bharata's line. I have a hard time keeping track of all those names. One story that stands out is that of Rantideva.
Rantideva is famous in both this world and the next, for he is glorified not only in human society but also in the society of the gods. Rantideva never endeavoured to earn anything. He would enjoy whatever he got by the arrangement of Providence to him as a dutiful king, but when guests came he would give them everything. Thus he underwent considerable suffering, along with the members of his family.
Indeed, he and his family members shivered for want of food and water, yet Rantideva always remained sober.
Once, after fasting for forty-eight days, in the morning Rantideva received some water and some foodstuffs made with milk and ghee, but when he and his family were about to eat, a Brahmin guest arrived. Because Rantideva perceived the presence of the Supreme Ishwara everywhere, and in every living entity, he received the guest with faith and respect and gave him a share of the food. The Brahmin guest ate his share and then went away.
Thereafter, having divided the remaining food with his family, Rantideva was just about to eat his own share when a shudra guest arrived. Seeing in the shudra iBhagavan Himself, King Rantideva gave him also a share of the food. When the shudra went away, another guest arrived, surrounded by dogs, and said, “O King, I and my company of dogs are very hungry. Please give us something to eat.”
With great respect, King Rantideva offered the balance of the food to the dogs and the master of the dogs, who had come as guests. The King offered them all respects and obeisances. Thereafter, only the drinking water remained, and there was only enough to satisfy one person, but when the king was just about to drink it, a Chandala appeared and said, “O King, although I am lowborn, kindly give me some drinking water.”Aggrieved at hearing the pitiable words of the poor fatigued Chandala, King Rantideva spoke the following nectarine words.
न कामयेऽहं गतिमीश्वरात् परामष्टर्द्धियुक्तामपुनर्भवं वा ।आर्तिं प्रपद्येऽखिलदेहभाजामन्त:स्थितो येन भवन्त्यदु:खा: ॥
T: "I do not pray to Ishwara for the eight perfections of Yoga, nor for salvation from repeated birth and death. I want only to stay among all the living entities and suffer all distresses on their behalf, so that they may be freed from suffering."
(This reminds me of the famous prayer:
न त्वहं कामये राज्यं न स्वर्गं नापुनर्भवम्। कामये दुःखतप्तानां प्राणिनाम् आर्तिनाशनम्॥ I do not know the source!)
"By offering my water to maintain the life of this poor Chandala, who is struggling to live, I have been freed from all hunger, thirst, fatigue, trembling of the body, moroseness, distress, lamentation and illusion."
Having spoken thus, King Rantideva, although on the verge of death because of thirst, gave his own portion of water to the Chandala without hesitation, for the King was naturally very kind and sober.
Gods like Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva, who can satisfy all materially ambitious men by giving them the rewards they desire, then manifested their own identities before King Rantideva, for it was they who had presented themselves as the Brahmin, shudra, Chandala and so on. King Rantideva had no ambition to enjoy material benefits from the gods. He offered them obeisances, but because he was factually attached to Lord Vishnu, Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he fixed his mind at Lord Vishnu’s lotus feet.
Sage Shuka concludes: "Oh, King Parikshit, because King Rantideva was a pure devotee, always Sri Krishna conscious and free from all material desires, the Lord’s illusory energy, Maya, could not exhibit herself before him. On the contrary, for him, Maya entirely vanished, exactly like a dream. All those who followed the principles of King Rantideva were totally favoured by his mercy and became pure devotees, attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan Sriman Narayana. Thus they all became the best of Yogis."
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The narrative continues with the mention of King Hasti who built Hastinapura. It refers to the birth of Ahalya who married Sage Gautama. It mentions King Shantanu and his role in retrieving two infants fathered by sage Shatananda's grandson Shardvan who met Urvashi. The two infants grew up to be Kripacharya of Mahabharata and his sister Kripi who married Dronacharya!
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
