STORIES FROM YOGA VASISTHA - 3

FATHER  & SON

This is the story of a father and son. The father, Saralomavu was a seer. He stayed in a valley with his only son Dasooran. Together they contemplated about life and its ultimate purpose. They also did small-time farming to keep afloat. You can call it multi-tasking of yore! People who were engaged in the highest intellectual activity propped themselves all the way! They were not dependent on others to carry on with their research and always had a couple of income-generation activities in hand. The father - son duo did small-time farming and cow-rearing.

As time went by, Saralomavu became too old and decided to leave. He was set free from the cage as he wished and flew away happily. Poor Dasooran, in spite of his grounding in Vedanta, cried like a heron. He was reduced ‘like a lotus flower during winter time’.At this time, a jungle-fairy   who was invisible, approached him and said,

O dear! Stop crying like a child. Be brave. You are a learned man and you know the ways of the world. That which takes birth has to perish. Everything is transitory. Now cheer up and get going.

Dasooran brooded no more. He became emboldened ‘like a peacock at the break of thunder’. He did all the funeral rites of his father and decided to continue with his tapas more vigorously.

Even the start should be splendid, he mused. It should be unique. The place should be perfect for 

one-pointedness. The settings too…

He spent a lot of time weighing various options and finally decided that the most ideal place for tapas was tree-branch. But there was a hitch. How could a human torso be settled in a tree-branch without falling down? One needed special siddhi for the purpose.

So, Dasooran started a yajna for attaining this power. He lit the fire for homa and offered his own bit of flesh cut from the shoulders.  This (ferocious) act amply proved his sincerity and Agnideva, the God of Fire appeared before the young man.

Dasooran bowed to him and said,

Bhagwan, the Earth is so full of various creatures and I can’t start my tapas sitting on the ground. Kindly give me the siddhi that I can have a grip like a bird and remain undisturbed on a tree-top.

Tadaastu, the God okayed.

radha gomati -oil on canvas

Accordingly, Dasooran settled down in a kadambu tree (Euginia Racemosa) and embarked on his tapas. The negative thoughts waned away and he was progressively getting purified. It showed on his face.  Ten years to wipe off all impurities and the vessel was clean enough to receive jnana (Knowledge). And it happened “like switching-on the electric bulb”!

Dasooran continued to live a selfless life and one day he found an extremely beautiful jungle-fairy waiting for him by the branch. The young tapaswi was astonished.

She introduced herself as one  staying at a nearby tree. She didn’t drop in for a courtesy visit. She had a personal problem.

On the full moon day in the month of Chaitra, she had attended a bash only to get dejected. You know why?

All other fairies attended the event with their sons and she was the only one left out.

 I want to mother a baby-boy. Provide me with a son, O young saint…

Or else, I shall offer myself to Fire.

radha gomati -oil on canvas -2010

Muni Dasooran just smiled. He had a flower in his hand which he gave away to the fairy with deep affection.

Dear girl, please go back now. You’ll be blessed with a son very soon. He’ll strive hard to acquire Knowledge and he’ll accomplish it also. However, he‘ll desert you in the end! For the simple reason that you have approached me with a death-wish.

The lady had to take it in her stride. It was impossible to undo the death-wish.

She went back reluctantly.

As expected a baby-boy was born and she reared him up. When he attained 12 years of age, the mother  brought him to Dasooran.

The moon-faced paid respects to the Muni and sat in front of him. 

Bhagwan, Please accept our son. I have taught him the basics, the arts and whatever I could. Only the lessons in Tatwa remain. Kindly take care of him and impart the highest of teachings. He is impatient…

The Muni agreed to take him to his fold.

Dasooran started his lessons through a series of stories. Then he asked his son to contemplate on each of them and to come out with an inference.

radha gomati - oil on canvas -2010

The First Story – The Restless King

King Swodhan was known in three worlds. His main occupation was to annex other’s kingdom and territories to his own. He was quite successful in that! Invariably, he generated a kind of fear among people. All his orders were followed verbatim, lying down. Still, he was not vulnerable to sycophancy. Nobody could influence him by word or action. He would start off a thousand projects simultaneously.  Not all of them would be successful. Some ideas ended up as damp-squibs. Yet, he never got bogged down. His strength was not derived either from fire-power or from scheming. He had this ability to enter anywhere without a protocol. It was impossible for even Indra, Vishnu or Shiva to replicate his designs! In fact he was born in the sky and reigned it like a bird. What’s more , he built a city there with no entrance or exit. The sky-city was divided into three parts. Fourteen high-ways marked for traffic, seven ponds for aquatics, two lighting devices for conditioning air and water.

With all these gadgets working non-stop, Swodhan hurried through the streets to see if everything was in tune. He had also built seven doored transit- courts equidistantly in between, illuminated by five lamps.  This was the place where he relaxed. The decor was done in black.

King Swodhan visited the place at random, spent some time with the care-takers and buzzed off. Sometimes he got so crazy that he would decide to demolish everything and start construction afresh ! Dejected, he would try to destroy himself. Suddenly he’d be struck by its futility and would start repenting.

In another moment he got high for no reason.

In the next, he turned pleasant and congenial.  

Dasooran was winding up.

 He paused and asked his son,

Do you have any idea who’s the King? What’s the idea behind his strange kind of behavior?

The son didn't answer.

Want any clues?

The son didn't want any.

He had guessed it right.

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