Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixty fifth sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
viSwAmitra continued his penance in the northern direction on the banks of river kauSiki (yamuna). As he inflicted direst of circumstances upon himself, such as heat in the summer, cold in the winter and open skies during rains. He further gave up food and largely practiced the vow of silence. At this time the gods sent the apsara rambha to distract him. Understanding that to be the ploy of gods, viSwAmitra flew into a rage and cursed rambha terribly! He then repented and having slid on merit on account of his angry outburst, he resumed his penance with even more rigour than before. Onwards…
O rAma, Satananda continued, viSwAmitra moved from the northern direction to the eastern and continued his most rigorous austerities that have no parallel anywhere by observing the vow of silence and abstaining from food completely for a thousand years. After the thousand years, as the sage sat to eat a small morsel of cooked rice, indra came in the disguise of a brAhmin and begged for food. The sage gave away the entire food without a murmur to the brAhmin who relished it completely. The sage continued his vow of silence and having been denied the little food he thought of taking, he now continued penance for another thousand years holding his breath!
As he practiced a never-before-seen penance observed with such a single minded determination suspending even his breath, the smoke of penance started to emanate out of his radiant being and permeated the three worlds. The entire creation including the gods, demigods, kinnaras beheld his glorious being in utter amazement as their glory dimmed away in the lustre viSwAmitra kept accumulating through his penance.
They went to the lord brahma and submitted thus – “O lord, for some reason, even if viSwAmitra is distracted and lured time and again in different ways, his glory and tapas have only been on the rise. No trace of sin is to be seen in him. If, in spite of this single minded penance, his wish is not granted, he might well destroy the entire creation. By virtue of his penance and the power of it, the creation has lost balance. The sea is agitated, wind blows fiercely, Sun glows dimly. People have become atheists with agitated minds and lack of clarity in their pursuits and the earth is quaking. Before, he gets angry and destroys even the gods with his fiery resolve and power of penance, he must be appeased by the grant of his wish, even if that is to rule the kingdom of gods!
Recommended thus rather desperately by the gods, lord brahma manifested in front of viSwAmitra and hailed him sweetly as “Oh brahmarshi, welcome! kauSika, you have attained the brAhmic knowledge through your intense penance. I am pleased with you. Wellness be to you. Please withdraw from this penance and go your way”. viSwAmitra spoke with delight upon this coveted conferment at long last of the title brahmaRshi upon him by lord brahma the accompanying gods.
He said, “O lord, if indeed I have attained the title of brahmaRshi and a long life with your grace, may the knowledge of the primal OmkAra and vashaTkAra, the eligibility to conduct sacrifices be conferred upon me. Further, may I be endowed with the knowledge of the vEdas that befits a kshatriya (such as archery) and that which befits a brAhmin! I also would like the son of lord brahma – vasisTha accept me as a brahmaRshi. If you can ensure all this, you may go your way, O gods”!
The gods approached the sage vasisTha and apprised him of the glorious achievement of sage viSwAmitra and his desire to be hailed and accepted as brahmaRshi by him. vasisTha, graciously admitted the sage viSwAmitra in the hall of the brahmaRshi fame! The gods also reiterated emphatically to viSwAmitra that he has achieved perfection with his penance and having stamped their approval of his pursuit of brahmaRshi, they all went back to their abode.
[In many local Indian languages there is adage that means to say that certified by vasisTha himself which is used to mean that the expert has given his stamp of approval This incident is the reason for that usage! This is a small glimpse of how much rAmAyaNam has been part of our culture!]
Having attained the exalted status of brahmaRshi viSwAmitra worshipped the best of them all – vasisTha and travelled the world with himself firmly fixed in tapas. O rAma, this is the wonderful account of viSwAmitra and his single pointed determined effort towards attaining the status of brahmaRshi. He is the best among the sages, he is the very embodiment of tapas (penance), he is ever established in virtue and he possesses the ultimate heroic valour.
The effulgent SatAnanda gave rest to his voice after a long and thorough account of the way in which sage viSwAMitra became brahmaRshi. In the presence of rAma and lakshmaNa, having heard the whole account janaka bowed to viSwAmitra and said with folded palms – “O great sage, I feel highly blessed and favoured that you have condescended to this yajna along with the kakutstha princes. By beholding you I have become sanctified and many beneficial qualities have accrued unto me. I have heard along with rAma, the narration of your incredible penance by SatAnanda. The members of this august assembly have also heard with wonder your achievements and have imbibed several qualities from there in. O sage, son of kuSika, your tapas (penance) is boundless and immeasurable, your might is unbounded, your attributes are unimaginable! I am never satiated by the amazing and wonderful stories of your exploits. However, the shadows are lengthening and it is time to perform the evening ablutions, therefore you may kindly excuse me for now. We will meet again tomorrow morning”.
तृप्तिराश्चर्यभूतानां कथानां नास्ति मे विभो।।1.65.35।।
कर्मकालो मुनिश्रेष्ठ लम्बते रविमण्डलम्।
viSwAmitra extolled the king and allowed him to leave. Permitted by the sage, king janaka along with the other preceptors and his family circumambulated sage viSwAmitra and left for the royal palace. viSwAmitra was honoured by the assembly of Rshis and left for his abode along with rAma and lakshmaNa.
viswAmitra’s resolute ascent
Here we conclude the sixty fifth sarga of the bAla kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Next: 1.66. Brilliant bow and the magnificent maiden
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 