॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Thursday, 9 March 2023 - IX.08 - The story of Sagara. his sons and grandson.
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The dynasty of Sri Rama is called Ikshwaku, Raghu and so on. Many famous kings ruled in this dynasty and uniformly, they exemplified Dharma. That is why we have the famous line,
रघुकुलरीति सदा चलि आयि, प्राण् जाये पर् वचन् न जायि
In this chapter is described briefly the story of King Sagara.
King Sagara was born to his mother, the queen of an ageing monarch who was doing Vanaprastha as an atonement for some offence. Sage Aurva (another great sage in the Bhrigu line) had blessed the king and queen that they would beget a son although the monarch died before she delivered. Indeed the Sage prevented the queen from doing Sati.
Comng to know this secret of a successor on the way, the other queens of the king poisoned the pregnant queen to see that she would die and abort the baby. Not only did she not die, her child, by the blessing of Sage Aurva, was born hale and hearty! He was thus named by the sage Sa-Gara = One born despite being poisoned!
King Sagara was famous. He undertook a big Ashwamedha Yajna under the guidance of Sage Aurva. As usual, a jealous Indra stole away the horse and hid him in the deep hinterland where Sage Kapila, the famous Avatara, was in deep meditation.
Sagara's sixty thousand sons were tasked to search for the Yajna horse. They were most diligent and dug up every spot on earth as they suspected that the horse had been hidden away. Indeed, their excavation was so deep, far and wide that the earth later was filled with rain waters and river floods aptly named after Sa-Gara as Saagara! In Sanskrit, सागर means the ocean or sea.
When the sixty thousand sons of Sagara saw Kapila Muni in meditation, they suspected that he was a charlatan who had stolen the horse and was pretending to be in meditation. They shouted abuses at him. Kapila opened his eyes. He was the personification of Bharman consciousness. He had no reaction to their abuse. But the Karma of abusing such a holy sage took its effect immediately and they were all instantly reduced to ashes. Kapila calmly continued his meditation.
King Sagara was plunged in sorrow with no idea of his sons or his Yajna horse. He had another son by the name of Asamajasa. The word means one who is illogical and unpredictable. Asamanjasa was true to his name as he would wantonly drown babies in Sarayu. This evil conduct was the effect of his past birth Karma. In fact, he had been a great Yogi in that birth but had done some uncharacteristic wrong.
Sagara banished Asamanjasa from the kingdom to the jungle. There, Asamanjasa recalled his past Yogic powers. he at once regretted his evil acts. He used his power to bring back to life all the infants he had drowned and restored them to the citizens of Ayodhya.
Asamanjasa's son was Prince Anshuman. He took upon himself the task of searching for the whereabouts of his uncles who had disappeared, and also to locate the Yajna horse. Indeed that horse had been given as a boon by Maha Vishnu himself to Sagara after the king had done prayers as taught by Aurva.
Finally, Anshuman saw the horse roaming near a hermitage where Sage Kapila was in meditation. When saw the big heap of ashes, he was intelligent enough to understand that his uncles had been burnt down. He at once prayed to Sage Kapila:
अंशुमांश्चोदितो राज्ञा तुरङ्गान्वेषणे ययौ । पितृव्यखातानुपथं भस्मान्ति ददृशे हयम् ॥
तत्रासीनं मुनिं वीक्ष्य कपिलाख्यमधोक्षजम् । अस्तौत्समाहितमनाः प्राञ्जलिः प्रणतो महान् ॥
अंशुमानुवाच
न पश्यति त्वां परमात्मनोऽजनो न बुध्यतेऽद्यापि समाधियुक्तिभिः ।
कुतोऽपरे तस्य मनःशरीरधीविसर्गसृष्टा वयमप्रकाशाः ॥
ये देहभाजस्त्रिगुणप्रधाना गुणान् विपश्यन्त्युत वा तमश्च ।
यन्मायया मोहितचेतसस्ते विदुः स्वसंस्थं न बहिःप्रकाशाः ॥
तं त्वामहं ज्ञानघनं स्वभावप्रध्वस्तमायागुणभेदमोहैः ।
सनन्दनाद्यैर्मुनिभिर्विभाव्यं कथं हि मूढः परिभावयामि ॥
प्रशान्तमायागुणकर्मलिङ्गमनामरूपं सदसद्विमुक्तम् ।
ज्ञानोपदेशाय गृहीतदेहं नमामहे त्वां पुरुषं पुराणम् ॥
त्वन्मायारचिते लोके वस्तुबुद्ध्या गृहादिषु । भ्रमन्ति कामलोभेर्ष्यामोहविभ्रान्तचेतसः ॥
अद्य नः सर्वभूतात्मन् कामकर्मेन्द्रियाशयः । मोहपाशो दृढश्छिन्नो भगवंस्तव दर्शनात् ॥
श्रीशुक उवाच
इत्थं गीतानुभावस्तं भगवान् कपिलो मुनिः । अंशुमन्तमुवाचेदमनुगृह्य धिया नृप ॥
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अश्वोऽयं नीयतां वत्स पितामहपशुस्तव । इमे च पितरो दग्धा गङ्गाम्भोऽर्हन्ति नेतरत् ॥
T: The great Anshuman saw Sage Kapila, the saint who is an incarnation of Vishnu, sitting there by the horse. Anshuman offered Him respectful obeisances, folded his hands and offered Him prayers with great attention. Anshuman said:
"My Lord, even Lord Brahma is to this very day unable to understand Your position, which is far beyond himself, either by meditation or by mental speculation. So what to speak of others like us, who have been created by Brahma in various forms as gods, animals, human beings, birds and beasts? We are completely in ignorance. Therefore, how can we know You, who are the Transcendence?
My Lord, You are fully situated in everyone’s heart, but the living entities, covered by the material body, cannot see You, for they are influenced by Your Maya, conducted by the three modes of material nature. Their intelligence being covered by Sattva Guna, Rajo Guna and Tamo Guṇa, they can see only the actions and reactions of these three modes of material nature. Because of the actions and reactions of the mode of ignorance, whether the living entities are awake or sleeping, they can see only the workings of material nature; they cannot see Your Lordship.Oh my Lord, sages freed from the influence of the three modes of material nature — sages such as the four Kumaras [Sanat, Sanaka, Sanandana and Sanatana] — are able to think of You, who are embodied Realisation. But how can an ignorant person like me think of You?Oh, Lord who exemplify eternal peace, although material nature, fruitive activities and their consequent material names and forms are Your creation, You are unaffected by them. Therefore, Your transcendental name is different from material names, and Your form is different from material forms. You assume a form resembling a material body just to give us instructions like those of the scriptures, but actually You are the supreme original person, Parama Purusha. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You.Oh my Lord, those whose hearts are bewildered by the influence of lust, greed, envy and illusion are interested only in false hearth and home in this world created by Your Maya. Attached to home, wife and children, they wander in this material world perpetually.O Paramatma of all living entities, Oh Bhagavan, simply by seeing You I have now been freed from all lusty desires, which are the root cause of insurmountable illusion and bondage in the material world."
Sage Shuka continue to Parikshit: When Anshuman had glorified the Lord, Bhagavan Kapila, in this way, the great sage Kapila, the powerful incarnation of Vishnu, the originator and preceptor of Sabnkya Yoga, being very merciful to him, explained to him the path of knowledge.
Bhagavan Kapila said: "My dear Anshuman, here is the Yajna horse, the animal sought by your grandfather for Ashwamedha Please take it. As for your forefathers, who have been burnt to ashes, they can be delivered only by Ganga water, and not by any other means.""
तं परिक्रम्य शिरसा प्रसाद्य हयमानयत् । सगरस्तेन पशुना क्रतुशेषं समापयत् ॥
राज्यमंशुमते न्यस्य निःस्पृहो मुक्तबन्धनः । और्वोपदिष्टमार्गेण लेभे गतिमनुत्तमाम् ॥
राज्यमंशुमते न्यस्य निःस्पृहो मुक्तबन्धनः । और्वोपदिष्टमार्गेण लेभे गतिमनुत्तमाम् ॥
T: A most grateful Anshuman circumambluated Sage Kapila and proceeded to take the horse home. Sagara completed the Yajna as prescribed. Then King Sagara anointed Anushman as the ruler of the Ikshwaku kingdom and proceeded to the forest under guidance from sage Aurva to attain his liberation.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
